Fort Payne Top Cats
By Nick Hall
The Fort Payne Wildcats took back the Top Cat title and the trophy that goes with it, from the Scottsboro Wildcats in a 42-7 victory Friday night. Matthew Shaddix accounted for five touchdowns in the blowout win. His first came on a pass over the middle from J.D. Blalock. Shaddix caught the ball and rambled 52 yards to put Fort Payne in front. Alex McPherson drilled his first of six PATs to put Fort Payne up 7-0. Early in the second quarter, Shaddix took another short completion to the house from 34 yards out to increase Fort Payne’s lead to 14-0. Once again, Scottsboro couldn’t get anything going on offense and had to punt. On the next play, Hunter Love rambled 63 yards to the Scottsboro 5-yard line. That set up Darwin Camp to punch it in and stretch the lead to 21-0. Later, Shaddix would score again to give Fort Payne a 28-0 halftime lead. Fort Payne found themselves on the Scottsboro 9-yard line late in the third and ran the Wildcat with Shaddix who scored again to stretch the lead to 35-0. Scottsboro narrowly avoided the shutout when Chris Manning orchestrated a 14 play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown dive by Manning. Fort Payne answered with one more touchdown, a 19-yard strike from Blalock to Shaddix to end the game at 42-7 and take back the TopCat title. Shaddix caught seven passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns while running seven times for 58 yards and two more touchdowns. Blalock went 9-of-15 passing for 182 yards and three touchdowns.
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