Pirates football closes season at Monticello

Park Center football ended its 2024 season last week in the Section 6AAAAA semifinals, losing to Monticello Oct. 26, four days after beating Irondale at home. The Pirates ended the season 4-4 in the regular season and 1-1 in playoff-play.

Irondale

Park Center opened the Section 6AAAAA tournament with a 32-14 win over Irondale at home on Oct. 22.

Ty’John Brooks and DeAnthony Miller starred in moments in the first quarter, coordinating with junior quarterback Jerry Wise, but unable to find a scoring drive early. Park Center built a good drive at the end of the quarter, which featured a successful fake punt from Wise to escape a fourth down and reach the Irondale 35 yard line.

Park Center reached the three yard line early in the second quarter, held to a fourth down with a key first touchdown on the horizon. Wise found the solution, rushing in a touchdown before Mark Vah scored an extra point to make it 7-0.

Randy Kweyete, Meli Sanders, Xavier Fleming got big hits to help Park Center secure a shutout first half for Park Center, before the Pirates almost added a second touchdown after a promising drive from Denero Fellows, now playing as quarterback, Ronald Brown, and Rico Calvert. Irondale held Calvert to the one yard line in the final play of the half.

Both teams exchanged points in the third quarter, with the Pirates adding 12 points while Irondale scored their first of the night. Brooks notably added a 55-yard carry for one of the touchdowns. Park Center led 19-7 heading into the night’s final chapter.

Park Center kept working offensively in the fourth quarter. Miller got back on the board three minutes into the quarter to extend the lead to 26-7 after a good extra point attempt, before a 70-yard carry by Wise got Park Center to 32 points, leading 32-14 after an Irondale touchdown.

The Pirates defense came up big toward the end of the game, with big tackles by Etiene Isuk and Agnes Cooper, plus a game-clinching interception by Bryce Bullard. The night ended 32-14 to Park Center.

Head coach Jordan Sallis told the Sun Post that the Pirates have been hard to handle when they are flowing as a team, as seen on Tuesday.

“When we’re going, we’re hard to stop. We have a lot of talent, a lot of athleticism,” he said. “We’ve got some tough injuries, four ACL’s, a shoulder, but when we’re clicking we go. Offensive and defensive, we can run, we can jump, we can do it all. Last week we showed discipline in the comeback, tonight was about not letting Irondale come in here and ruin our opportunity to go play Monticello.”

Monticello

Park Center then lost to No. 1 seed Monticello 32-7 on the road on Oct. 26.

Monticello have starred this season with a 4-0 conference record, including a 36-0 win over Park Center. They went 6-2 overall this regular season and had three shutouts in their remaining six games and conceded just 40 points in that stretch.

The highlight of the game for the Pirates was an early touchdown in the third quarter to make it 14-7. The touchdown saw Wise find Ronald Brown for a two-yard reception to cap off a good drive. Vah scored the extra point.

With the game already secured by Monticello, Brooks almost added another touchdown in the final moments, personally driving the Pirates down the field with a series of carries as a makeshift quarterback. An incomplete pass into the end zone in the final play of the drive resulted in no additional points.

It is the end of a season with plenty of positives. Even with injuries to navigate, Park Center improved on its 3-5 regular season record from 2023 and secured a second-consecutive section semifinal appearance. The team also has several juniors to get excited about.

Sallis noted that Park Center has benefited from both a strong senior class and a long list of ambitious younger players this season, including junior Jerry Wise, who emerged as a potent option at quarterback late in the season.

“I have a lot of players in my classes. At the beginning of the year, some of them weren’t happy about being JV players,” Sallis said. “I asked a couple of them, guys like Jerry Wise, Jerome Gregory, Martavias Todric, is it better to earn it or be given it. All three of them said earn it. That’s what we’re doing here, that’s what we’re trying to build it. We’ve had great senior players this season, but we also have some great juniors coming in that are like, hey, I’m here too.”