2 weeks Ago By By R. Sirvell Carter For The Decatur Daily
Class 7A No. 6 Austin capped an unblemished Region 4 schedule with a 52-21 win over Grissom on Friday. The Black Bears broke out to a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter and carried a 42-14 advantage into halftime.
JL Davis totaled six touchdowns in the first half on four passes and two runs. He finished with five scoring throws. Jaxon Potter caught three of Davis' touchdown passes, and Channing Patton and Landon Baker each had one.
Landon Buttleman picked off a Grissom pass in the second quarter. Last week, the Black Bears clinched their fifth region title under head coach Jeremy Perkins and ninth postseason berth in the last 10 years. Although Austin (9-0, 7-0) remained perfect, Perkins still sees room for improvement.
"We've got to continue to get better," Perkins said. "We've got to get healthy. We've got some guys banged up right now and it's been a grind and a stretch.
We've got some key guys that didn't play tonight and some didn't play very much." Davis also emphasized Austin's need step up its playoff preparation. "We've got to be more consistent," Davis said.
"We have drives where we play well. Then we'll have a couple of drives where we can't move the ball at all. We've also got to clean up the penalties and (bad) snaps.
" Grissom (2-7, 1-6) suffered its fourth straight loss. Tristian Taylor had a kickoff-return touchdown and passed for a score. Ken Johnson finished with a scoring catch.
Keshuan Barnes ran for a touchdown and CJ Washington had an interception. Austin will host Muscle Shoals on Thursday to close out the regular season. Grissom will travel to Buckhorn.
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