By Shannon Allen Sand Mountain Reporter
ALBERTVILLE – The Austin Black Bears seized control of Class 7A, Region 4 on Friday night, rolling past Albertville 47-10 in a game that left the Black Bears as the lone unbeaten team atop the region standings.
Austin sits at 3-0 in region play, ahead of Bob Jones, Florence and Sparkman, which are all 2-1. Austin has victories over Sparkman and Florence and travels to Bob Jones next month.
Quarterback De’Air Young got Austin on the board early, scoring on a 46-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the first quarter.
Young extended the Austin lead to 14-0 with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Maddox Mitchell with eight minutes to play in the quarter. A 7-yard scoring run by Gavin Fuqua extended the lead to 20-0 after one quarter.
A 2-yard touchdown run by Kenneth Joshua and Young’s second touchdown pass of the half, a 44-yarder to Nicholas Crayton, pushed the lead to 34-0. Albertville converted a 30-yard field goal on the last play of the half to cut Austin’s lead to 34-3 at the break.
Young’s third and final touchdown pass came early in the third quarter on a 6-yard strike to Cameron Collins. Joshua rounded out the Austin scoring with a 12-yard touchdown run that pushed the lead to 47-3 with less than two minutes to play in the third quarter.
Albertville got a late 16-yard touchdown pass to put the final score at 47-10. Ethan Wynn and Charles Perry had one interception each for the Black Bears.
Austin (3-2, 3-0) hosts Gardendale in non-region play next week before hosting Grissom in a region game on Sept. 30. Albertville (1-4, 0-3) is off next week before hosting Huntsville.