Montgomery Catholic hosting Houston Academy in first round of playoffs

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - The luxury of playing next week is no more, which means when Montgomery Catholic takes the field Friday night, it’ll be a must-win game for the Knights.

“We’re really excited. Another year where Montgomery Catholic is hosting a playoff game here, and each year that’s a goal,” said Catholic head coach Kirk Johnson. “We want to be able to bring a playoff game here to our fans and they do a great job of packing this place out, so we’re extremely excited.”

Since dropping the state championship game to Fyffe in 2020, Montgomery Catholic has once again risen to the top of the class 3A rankings. The Knights will take an undefeated record into the first round of the playoffs against Houston Academy on Friday.

“They’re very elusive, have a very good quarterback. He does a good job of extending plays with his legs and has a big time arm. Really reminds me of our quarterback Caleb McCreary,” said Johnson about the Raiders. “We feel that there’s a couple matchups that we might can exploit, so we’re going to try our best to do those things, which in every game plan that’s what you want to do.”

The Knights own the number one defense in the state with seven shutouts in 2021. In fact, Catholic has given up just 20 points this season, and none of their opponents have scored more than seven points against them.

And in case you’re wondering, they’re just as a good on the other side of the ball. Through 10 games, the Knights have been averaging 50 points per contest, dropping a season high 65 against Dadeville in week three.

Johnson says it’s the seniors who have really led the charge this season.

“They’ve done some things that a lot of senior classes don’t get to do, and they’ve done some things that they’ll look back years from now and be very, very proud of. One of them is just changing the culture of how people view Montgomery Catholic football,” he said. “While all that stuff is cool, the goal now is to beat Houston Academy. That’s the only goal.”

A chance for those seniors to continue the legacy left before them, and it all starts at 7 p.m. Friday.

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