Bessemer Academy Rebels (2-1, 1-1) revolted against the Tuscaloosa Academy Knights (1-2, 1-1) on Thursday night. The final score was 40-27.

The Rebels and the Knights started the game slowly offensively. In the first half of the game the teams had 12 penalties. By the end of the game, the teams had over 30 penalties collectively.

"There were some mistakes against Autauga that we cleaned up, but we reverted back to those things tonight," Tuscaloosa Academy head coach Todd Bradford said. "We made some unforced errors and penalties, lots of things we gotta address, and we are gonna hit those things hard going into next week."

Regardless of the penalties, that didn't stop either offense from eventually finding their strides. Bessemer QB PJ McDonald had 221 yards passing with two touchdowns and added another one on the ground. Tuscaloosa Academy QB Whitt Winfield aided the Knights in their valiant effort with 253 passing yards and three touchdowns.

The Rebels broke the deadlock first, finding the end zone on a six-yard run from Bessemer Academy running back Samad Muhammad. Unfortunately, the extra two-point conversion was no good. Bessemer Academy ended the first quarter, leading 6-0 against Tuscaloosa Academy.

The Knights struck first in the second quarter on a 33-yard Winfield pass to WR Jack Standeffer. The Rebels answered quickly when McDonald threw a 57-yard touchdown to Jacob Barry. This play did not hold back the Knights though, as Tuscaloosa Academy came back with another touchdown.

The Rebels traded another blow when they successfully pulled off a two minute offense, capitalizing with another Muhammad touchdown to bring the score to 20-13 with 34 seconds remaining in the first half.

Both teams had stalled drives to begin the third quarter, but an interception returned to the Tuscaloosa Academy 3-yard line by Barry led to a McDonald rushing touchdown to bring the score to 27-13.

Yet again, Tuscaloosa Academy answered, driving right back down the field and closing the deficit to 27-20 off a Winfield touchdown pass to WR Luke Kilgore. Another tough defensive stop by Tuscaloosa Academy gave them the ball back, and less than three minutes later, in what seemed like deja vu, Winfield found the end zone again with the help of Kilgore.

Tied up at 27 with 11 minutes remaining it seemed like anyone's game, however the Rebels took control from here on out.  The Rebels scored two more touchdowns in the game. Bessemer Academy ended the game with a McDonald 79-yard pass to Barry. The final score was 40-27.

The Bessemer Academy head coach Josh Wright was very proud of his players."Dylan Lee number 14 played extremely well, our quarterback had some big plays, I thought our defensive front played well tonight."

Tuscaloosa Academy travels to Patrician Academy for their first road game of the season next week. Bessemer Academy is on a bye.

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