Varsity game moved to Thursday night
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions clinched the No. 1 playoff seed out of District 6-2A Division II last week with a 55-6 victory at Hamlin.
The Lions (7-2 overall, 4-0 district) close out the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, when Abilene Texas Leadership Charter Academy visits Robert Nail Memorial Stadium.
The game, which will be preceded by Senior Night activities starting at 7:15 p.m., was moved up from Friday, Nov. 4, in part because of the forecast for rain.
On Friday, Oct. 28 at rain-soaked Piper Stadium, Coy Lefevre and Adam Hill each scored four touchdowns as Albany hit the 50-point mark for the third game in a row.
“We keep preaching to the players about keeping focused, worrying about getting better, thinking about what’s down the road,” Lions head coach Denney Faith said. “Even though we’ve got the No. 1 seed sewn up, we still want to be able to execute, continue to keep doing things right and not get sloppy. We want to stay efficient and keep playing good, hard defense.”
The next step for the Lions is to complete an unbeaten run to another district title and prepare for the postseason.
“We’ve just got to work hard in practice and get ready for the playoffs now,” senior Koy Cauble said. “We’ve got to go out and take care of business on the field.”
Two of Lefevre’s scores came on interception returns as the Lions again scored enough to win without a point from the offense.
“Everybody played very efficiently even if the field conditions weren’t ideal,” Faith said. “Defensively, we had some kids sliding around and missing some tackles just because they weren’t able to keep their feet. It was the same thing offensively – it’s hard for an offensive lineman to come off and move somebody when you can’t get any traction. But Hamlin was playing on the same field we were, so they were sliding, too.”
Lefevre rushed for 191 yards on 12 carries with touchdown runs of 30 and 45 yards. His interception returns covered 14 and 40 yards.
Hill, who went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season, added 95 rushing yards on 10 carries with TDs of 24, 14, and 11 yards. He also caught two passes for 35 yards with a 14-yard touchdown.
Cole Chapman completed 10 of 19 passes for 99 yards. London Fuentes led Albany with five receptions for 44 yards. Albany finished with 442 total yards, averaging 9.0 yards per rush and 9.0 yards per completion.
The Lions scored on six of their first seven offensive possessions with Lefevre’s first return making up for the one miss. The first three drives were capped by Hill’s 24-yard run, Lefevre’s 30-yard run, and Chapman’s 14-yard pass to Hill.
The fourth reached the Hamlin 5-yard line, but two dropped passes in the end zone and two penalties led to Albany losing the ball on downs. Lefevre’s interception came two plays later.
“We had a little bit of lack of execution on that drive, but I think we rebounded well,” Faith said. “We got the pick six a couple of plays later and got back into a groove.”
Hill’s last two touchdowns gave Albany a 41-0 halftime lead, then Lefevre provided his second interception return on the first play of the third quarter.
“A lot of that was the defensive line putting pressure on their quarterback,” Lefevre said. “Having a freshman quarterback, he’s not really used to the pressure. When he gets back there with two or three guys in his face, he’s pretty prone to make a mistake.”
While the Lions did not record a sack, Pied Pipers quarterback Ian Gruben was under duress most of the night. Parker Shelton had two of Albany’s five quarterback hurries and seven Lion defenders – including three linemen – broke up passes.
Lefevre said that made his part quite simple.
“I had to take the football where it belongs,” he said.
The Lions came within one tipped pass of recording their third consecutive shutout. Hamlin’s Benjamin White pulled in a pass from Gruben that went through the hands of two Albany defenders for a 46-yard touchdown with 10:01 remaining in the game. The score was the first allowed by Albany since the 7:22 mark of the fourth quarter against Miles, a span of 141 minutes, 21 seconds.
The play represented nearly a third of Hamlin’s 148 total yards. Gruben, a freshman playing in place of injured starter Swenson Benavides, finished 15 of 34 passing for 87 yards with Colton Spalding rushing for 62.
“Hamlin is very well coached,” Faith said. “They acted like they knew what they were doing. Their skill kids are young, but their offensive and defensive linemen are really good.”
Tye Edgar led with eight tackles as 19 Lions were in on at least one tackle. Jayden Lucas and Wyatt Windham were each in on seven stops, while Branson Beal and Cason Fairchild had five apiece. Windham also recovered a fumble to set up a score.
Facing Abilene TLC
Albany will celebrate senior night around 7:15 p.m. Thursday with senior football players and cheerleaders being honored.
The Eagles (0-9, 0-4) have struggled in their first season of 11-man football, being outscored 621-83. TLC has allowed more than 60 points in every district game and has held only one opponent to less than 50 points. The Eagles have been shut out in four of their last five games.
Albany, meanwhile, has outscored district opponents by an average of 54-6 with its 49-18 win at Miles in the district opener being the closest game.
Faith said one of the main issues facing the Lions is to have everyone available for the playoffs.
“We want to make sure we come out healthy,” he said. “We’re still going to have to play those guys and execute. We’ll do what we can as far as keeping people protected but still have a game plan where the starters are getting some reps. We don’t want to get out of shape.”
Albany will have plenty of depth, as the JV players, who played just two games in district, will suit up for the second week in a row.
“The plan is to get some of the JV kids into the ballgame and get them a little experience in a varsity game setting,” Faith said.
