Albany to face Miles at bi-district

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lion football team is having to wait another week to attempt to hit the 700-win mark for the program after a surprising 66-20 loss last Friday in Hamlin that broke both a district winning streak and district championship run.

Albany (7-3, 3-1) now advances into the playoffs as the second seed from District 7-2A to face the Miles Bulldogs (7-3, 2-2) on Thursday (tonight) at Brownwood’s Gordon Wood Stadium.

Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for students, with the usual passes accepted.

The Lions will serve as the home team for the game.

“Miles has a very athletic quarterback, and they run out of multiple formations,” head coach Denney Faith said. “They are also very aggressive on defense and run a lot of man coverage.”

He added that Miles stunts a lot on defense.

“We are going to have to make sure we pick those up,” he said.

The Bulldogs are the third place team in District 8-2A, with losses to Eldorado, Christoval, and Cross Plains.

Hamlin Loss

The Lions held their own in the first quarter with Hamlin last Friday, but then the game got away from them.

“Hamlin played really well, and obviously we didn’t,” Faith said. “It was one of those nights where everything went well for them but not for us.”

The coach predicted last week that the winner of the turnover war would end up as district champion.

“They played really fast on defense, so we had a hard time getting anything going,” he said. “They had 532 yards of offense to our 150 yards, and we gave them four turnovers.”

He added that the Lion defense didn’t tackle well.

“We had several missed tackles, and you can’t do that against a really good team,” he said.

The loss broke the 66 district game winning streak for Albany, dating back to 2007, as well as coming up short for the Lions’ 12th consecutive district championship.

Scoring Summary

Hamlin – 1st quarter – 9:38. Jackson Sepeda runs one yard for touchdown. Kick by Braydin Warner was good. Score 0-7.

Albany – 1st quarter – 7:06. Dillon Hindman runs seven yards for touchdown. Colby Hargett kicks PAT. Score 7-7.

Hamlin – 1st quarter – 4:10. Jevon Williams scores on 17-yard run. Warner kicks PAT. Score 7-14.

Hamlin – 2nd quarter – 8:21 – Williams runs 61 yards for touchdown. Warner kicks PAT. Score 7-21.

Hamlin – 2nd quarter – 5:32. A.J. Ramirez runs 18 yards for touchdown. Warner’s PAT attempt fails. Score 7-27.

Hamlin – 2nd quarter – 1:37. Austin Lozano runs four yards for touchdown. Warner’s kick is good. Score 7-34.

Albany – 2nd quarter – 1:18. Robert Bailey returns kickoff 84 yards for touchdown. Hargett’s PAT blocked. Score 13-34.

Hamlin – 2nd quarter – 0:11. Warner passes to Cutter Martin for 18-yard TD. Warner’s PAT good. Score 13-41.

Hamlin – 3rd quarter – 11:34. Williams grabs fumble and runs 37 yards for score. Warner’s PAT fails. Score 13-47.

Hamlin – 3rd quarter – 6:28. Williams runs 41 yards for touchdown. Kick by Warner fails. Score 13-53.

Hamlin – 3rd quarter – 2:17. Williams runs 39 yards for touchdown. Warner kicks PAT. Score 13-60.

Hamlin – 3rd quarter – 0:13. Ramirez runs three yards for touchdown. Warner’s kick fails. Score 13-66.

Albany – 4th quarter – 5:58. Robert Bailey runs six yards for touchdown. Hargett’s PAT is good. Score 20-66.