Houston Academy ready to face Millry in playoffs

Houston Academy head coach Jimmy Addison said his team hasn’t had a real good home crowd this year.

He hopes that changes tonight, especially since he said the Raiders will need every bit of energy against an explosive Millry team.

“We haven’t had a big or as good a crowd as we would like in the last couple of games,” Addison said.

“I don’t know if they will show up or not. I certainly hope they do. We need a big and good crowd to help us against a good Millry team.”

The eighth-ranked Raiders (8-1) entertain Millry at Northcutt Field in a Class 2A state playoff opener. The Wildcats (8-2) are just two plays from being undefeated, losing by a combined four points in games to the top two teams in rugged Region 1.

Tonight’s game was originally planned for Rip Hewes Stadium, but Raider players requested to play at Northcutt, in part because of the home crowd. Addison hopes the fans prove the players right.

“The kids decided they wanted to play at Northcutt as they felt that was their home field,” Addison said. “One of the reasons the kids wanted to play there is that the crowd is closer and they could feed off it more.”

HA has played only three games this year at Northcutt, going 2-1.

The Raiders have had good success at Northcutt in playoff games, going 8-3 there since 2001, including 3-0 in playoff openers. HA also won a home player opener last year at Rip Hewes. However, the Raiders haven’t faced an opening-round opponent as good as Millry.

The Wildcats rank third in scoring offense in Class 2A and 10th in scoring defense. They have scored 363 (36.3 a game) and given up just 117 (11.7 a game).

“They have speed, and they are athletic and big,” Addison said. “They are a really good football team.”

The Raider secondary is expected to get a workout from the pass-happy Wildcats, who have thrown for 2,155 yards.

Quarterback Dylan Whitsett, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior, has 2,097 yards off 137-of-210 passes (65.2 percent) with a whopping 29 touchdowns to just six interceptions.

Five of Whitsett’s six interceptions, though, came in the Wildcats’ two losses, an area HA hopes to cash in as well.

Wesley Moss and Jack Cramer (three interceptions) along with Will Andre (two) and Andrew Tarwater (two) could be key in helping the Raiders contain Millry. The four have helped HA earn 11 interceptions on the year.

Four receivers have caught 20 or more passes for Millry, led by Nehemiah Henry and Cameron Smallwood.

Henry,  who will play for Alabama in the Alabama-Mississippi game, has caught 41 passes for 597 yards with six scores. Smallwood, perhaps a better athlete, has fewer catches (33), but more yards (721) and touchdowns (nine).

Diminutive Kendrick Gray, a 5-foot-3, 135-pound speedster, has caught 23 passes for 333 yards and a team-high 10 touchdowns. Dakota Jones, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound tight end / receiver, has caught 10 passes for 109 yards and three scores.

The receivers are also an active part of the running game out of its shotgun spread offense, mostly on speed sweeps. Smallwood, Henry, Jones and Gray have 98 of the team’s 236 carries.

Smallwood, in fact, leads Millry in rushing with 304 yards and five touchdowns.

Addison said Millry’s offense is similar to Houston County, whom the Raiders saw in week two.

“They are probably the closest like them, except this group may have more overall team speed,” Addison said.

Defensively, Millry bases out of a 4-4 alignment and has been stingy on most teams. Only two teams have scored more than two touchdowns on the Wildcats — and those teams scored late after the game was not in doubt.

“They are big, fast and have guys that can run,” Addison said.

Linebacker Quinton Land leads the unit with 8.1 tackles per game. Six other players have between 5.6 and 5.8 tackles a game.

The Raiders go into the game rested after an off week.

“We got a chance to work on some of our fundamentals which we haven’t been able to do because we had been worrying about opponents,” Addison said.

HA got a little momentum prior to the off week, putting together a solid performance on both sides of the ball in a 38-7 win over Barbour County.

“It was huge because we had a couple of games where we didn’t perform as well as were capable of,” Addison said. “To get back and play offense and defense like we were capable of certainly renewed the confidence in all our players.”

Quarterback J.H. Johnson, who had struggled two straight weeks, was 10-of-12 for 143 yards with three touchdowns in the win.

Jack Cramer caught seven passes — the most in a game by an HA receiver this decade — for 143 yards and two scores, increasing his total to 27 receptions for 401 yards, both Raider bests this decade.

Johnson now has 1,147 yards passing, giving the Raiders a 1,000 rusher and passer for perhaps the first time in school history. Running back Andrew Dauphin has been over 1,000 for some time and now has 1,511.

Stehle Kornegay continues to lead the Raider defense, moving over 100 tackles for the second straight year. Kornegay, who has 305 career tackles, has 104 for the year.

Britt Owen (9.0 tackles a game), Andrew Tarwater (8.1) and Michael Ragan (7.3) are other top tacklers.