By Brandon Sumrall / Special to the Advertiser

 

The theme this week for the Billingsley Bears football program was resiliency, and they showed plenty of it in a come-from-behind 33-14 win at home over the Prattville Christian Lions.

The Bears’ opening drive would come to an end at the Lions’ 38, but after a punt by Billingsley, the Lions’ first play from scrimmage would result in a fumble that would be scooped and scored from near midfield by Billingsley’s Carlton McCary to give the Bears an early 6-0 lead.

The lead would be short lived, however, as PCA would put together a 66-yard scoring drive that would be capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Lions quarterback Ethan Jones to make it 7-6 PCA.

A Billingsley punt near midfield would pin the Lions deep inside their own territory, but the poor field position would do little to slow the Lion offense, as a 91-yard scoring drive would be the result of PCA’s second possession of the game and would end on a 3-yard touchdown run by Sterling Berry that gave the Lions a 14-6 lead.

The back-and-fourth battle would continue with the next Billingsley possession, as the Bears would keep pace with the Lions thanks to a 51-yard scoring drive that would end with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Walker Motley to Brisen Tatum.

At the half, the Lions led 14-13

With both teams unable to put any more points on the board during the third period, action would move to the fourth with the Lions still leading by one.

With the Bears starting at deep in their own territory, a 10-yard run by McCary along with a personal foul against the Lions would move Billingsley out near midfield.

A first down run by Motley along with a 21-yard pass from Motley to Cameron Cook would set the Bears up first and goal at the Lions 9. After a short loss on first down, Motley would connect with McCary for a 14-yard touchdown pass that would give Billingsley their first lead of the game at 21-14.

An interception by Tatum on the Lions’ ensuing possession would set the Bears offense up first and 10 at the PCA 20, where three plays later a short pass from Motley to Tatum would find pay dirt as Billingsley would extend its lead to two scores, 27-14, with 7:33 to play.

The turnover bug would continue to plague the Lions, as a second interception by the Bears would come by way of Motley, who picked off PCA’s Jones to set Billingsley up first and 10 at the Lions 42.

One play later and Motley would connect with McCary, who would take it 42 yards for a touchdown that would bring the game to its final score of 33-14.

“We started off slow  but we came out after halftime and just kept pushing,” said Billingsley head Coach Marvin Morton. “I was very pleased with how our guys didn’t give up. We could have easily given up, but I was very, very pleased with our fight in the second half that eventually gave us the win.”

Motley finished the game with 193 yards through the air on 9-of-13 passing with four touchdowns while adding 36 yards on the ground. McCary hauled in four of those receptions for 97 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Jones threw for 86 yards on five completions of 13 attempts, while Preston Cox led the PCA ground game with 159 yards on 17 carries.