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No arm tackles: Quen Pearson sheds a West Blocton defender on the way to the end zone during his 20-yard touchdown run in the first half of the Tigers’ 28-12 playoff win.

Dadeville eases past West Blocton

By Dusty Harper (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Saturday, November 7, 2009

The No. 8 Dadeville Tigers passed their first test of the postseason — now an even bigger one awaits.

Kyle Caldwell completed 16 of 22 passes, including 2 touchdowns to Chris Waldrep, and the Tigers contained the West Blocton Wing-T attack well enough to win 28-12 Friday night in Tiger Stadium in round one of the AHSAA playoffs.

Dadeville (10-1) now must travel to Cordova, to face the state’s No. 2 team which thrashed Montevallo 49-14 on Friday. After that, it could be top-ranked Trinity, who will take on Gordo next week.

“We have a heck of an opponent next week,” Dadeville head coach Richard White said. “I didn’t feel like we played as well as we could play, but I don’t want to take anything away from our win or the other team. West Blocton is a lot better than people give them credit for.

“I just want the kids to understand that if we don’t play better and continue to do the little things in practice, we’re liable to be putting our jerseys up next Monday.”

West Blocton took the opening kickoff and an early lead. From the DHS 35-yard line, WBHS quarterback Jacob Lindsey ran an option keeper for 31 yards to set up Jacob Bush, who scored from 4 yards out on the next play to give the visitors a 6-0 advantage.

But, a quick deficit didn’t phase Dadeville. Caldwell scrambled for 16 yards on his team’s third play to put the ball inside the WBHS 30, and, after a 15-yard pass from Caldwell to Andrew Padgett, Clint Westbrook scored on a 2-yard run three plays later to tie the game. Caldwell’s extra point gave the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish.

WBHS drove into Tiger territory on its next drive, but Desmond Tolbert recovered a fumble to end the threat.

Caldwell responded by finding Kieran Sturdivant twice and Padgett once on passes of more than 10 yards to put Dadeville into scoring range.

Quen Pearson then took a handoff and sprinted 20 yards for a score, and Dadeville led 14-6 midway through the second quarter.

On the ensuing drive, WBHS gave Dadeville a scare. Lindsey returned the kickoff 63 yards to the Dadeville 27-yard line, but a Rashad Blackwell sack on fourth down preserved the home team’s lead.

“That stop was really important,” White said. “If they tied it up, they get the momentum. When you give a team like that an edge, you can be in trouble. But, our kids did a good job of stepping up and stopping them. Then, we took the next one down and gave ourselves a little breathing room.”

After the stop, Dadeville moved 69 yards in eight plays to go up 21-6. Waldrep caught a 20-yard pass to get inside the 20, Westbrook carried down to the 5 and Caldwell hooked up with Waldrep again on a 5-yard play-action pass for the score.

Dadeville drove down to start the second half, but a pass on fourth-and-8 to Westbrook was inches short of a first down. Lindsey scampered 36 yards on WBHS’ first play after the turnover on downs, but Deshawn Redden later recovered a fumble to kill another WBHS scoring opportunity.

The Tigers proceeded to chew 6:23 off the clock in their next scoring drive of 86 yardst, which was capped by Waldrep’s second touchdown reception, an 8-yard crossing route on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Both teams would exchange punts, and WBHS scored a late touchdown on a 34-yard screen pass from Lindsey to Justin White.

Caldwell finished with 179 yards passing on the night. Westbrook ran 15 times for 72 yards to lead Dadeville. Sturdivant caught 5 passes for 68 yards and picked off a pass on defense. Lindsey paced WBHS with 102 yards on 11 attempts. Fullback Derwin Kelser closed with 66 yards for the losing Tigers (7-4).

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