By Rich Durazzo
IRONDALE — Class 6A No. 5 Shades Valley hosted a surging Pinson Valley team Friday night. The battle of Mississippi State running back commits Nick Gibson and Keith Mixon did not disappoint.
Shades Valley’s first play from scrimmage was a fumble caused by Juray Smith and recovered by Jemarius Davis for Pinson Valley. After Pinson couldn’t get anything going on offense, Shades Valley took a 7-0 lead when Mixon went 27 yards on a pass from RaShad Louie.
Pinson Valley (5-4, 4-2 Class 6A, Region 6) responded with a 53-yard touchdown connection from freshman Jackie Matthews to Trey Underwood.
Pinson Valley rising senior running back Nick Gibson
file photo by Ron Burkett
After a Pinson Valley fumbled punt, Shades Valley took the ball on the Pinson 14-yard line. The Mounties capitalized on Pinson’s mistake with a 2-yard touchdown run on the legs of Mixon. Pinson didn’t slack, scoring on its next drive with a 2-yard run by Gibson.
The momentum shifted immediately back to Shades Valley (7-2, 4-2) when Mixon returned the kickoff 99 yards to take a 20-14 lead. Shades capitalized on another Pinson Valley mistake — a Matthews interception — just before halftime. LaDerrius Whitfield kicked a 24-yard field goal to give Shades a 23-14 lead heading into the locker room.
Pinson Valley came out fired up in the third quarter, scoring on its opening drive thanks to a 1-yard run by Gibson that capped a 16-play drive. With the score 23-21, Shades added to its lead with a 45-yard boot from Whitfield to make it 26-21 with just the fourth quarter to play.
The Indians took a 28-26 lead with 8:53 to play when Gibson found the end zone from six yards out. The Pinson Valley defense dominated the rest of the way. The only spark on offense came when Mixon scored on a 72-yard run, which came back due to a holding call.
“We’ve been close, knocking on the door, now it’s time to kick it down,” Pinson Valley head coach Matt Glover said he told his team before the game.
His team did just that Friday night with an inspiring upset win.
Gibson had to be helped off the field after injuring his knee on Pinson Valley’s last drive. He finished the game with 37 rushes for 144 yards and three touchdowns.
For Pinson Valley, Smith forced a fumble. Davis recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass. Deon Gregory also intercepted a pass for the Indians.
Due to tiebreakers, Pinson Valley remains the No. 4 seed from Region 6 and will travel to Southside-Gadsden on Nov. 7 for the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.
