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Decatur Heritage boys advance to state

David Elwell, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·3 min read

Feb. 25—JACKSONVILLE — For the Decatur Heritage boys basketball team, it's on to the state tournament in Birmingham.

Decatur Heritage rolled to the Northeast Regional Class 1A championship Wednesday with a 58-33 smashing of Jacksonville Christian.

The Eagles have a date in the state tournament semifinals Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. vs. the winner of today's Keith vs. Autaugaville championship game out of the Southwest Regional.

This is Decatur Heritage's first trip to the state tournament after winning the 1A championship in 2019. The Eagles have played in six straight regional finals.

"We're super excited about going back to the state tournament," senior Clay Smith said. "We have all worked hard to get back there."

Smith, who played on the 2019 team, led the Eagles with 20 points. He had 15 in the first half that saw Decatur Heritage jump out to a 39-15 lead. At one point in the second half he had more points than Jacksonville Christian.

For the Decatur Heritage girls, it's on to next season. The girls got a lesson on how high the bar is to advance to the state tournament from the Skyline Vikings in a 62-18 blowout.

"Wow, they were like a well-oiled machine today," Decatur Heritage coach Johnny Jones said. "We knew what we were going to get, and they never let up."

Skyline took advantage of 31 Decatur Heritage turnovers.

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Decatur Heritage boys 58, Jacksonville Christian 33: Eagles' head coach Jason Marshall likes for his team to get off to a fast start. They did against Jacksonville Christian. It was 10-0 before the Thunder dented the scoreboard.

"When our shooters start off hot, it brings energy to the gym," junior Brayden Kyle said.

As the shots kept falling, the energy for the Eagles kept building. In the first half they out-shot Jacksonville Christian, 16 of 41 to 3 of 20. The Eagles had 11 offensive rebounds and 11 second chance points with 24 points scored in the paint.

"That's just a testament to how hard our team likes to play," Marshall said.

Decatur Heritage ended the game hitting 24 of 70 shots to 9 of 37 for Jacksonville Christian.

Kyle had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sean Zerkle claimed 13 rebounds to go with eight points.

The other 1A semifinal game is Tuesday morning at 11:30. It will be the Northwest Regional champion between Pickens County vs. Belgreen and the Southeast Regional champion between Winterboro vs. Notasulga.

The 1A state championship game is March 5 at 4:30 p.m.

All the Class 1A state tournament games will be played at the Bill Harris Arena at the CrossPlex due to construction at the BJCC. — Skyline girls 62, Decatur Heritage 18: The first points of the game were scored by Decatur Heritage's Brantleigh Williams, but that lead would last for just 29 seconds.

Skyline rattled off the next 12 points and never looked back. It was 14-4 after the first quarter and 41-10 at halftime.

The Eagles had trouble all game with Skyline's pressure defense.

"We practiced against boys at school this week," Decatur Heritage junior Ellie Metzgar said. "It's hard to practice for something like this. It's 24/7 non-stop."

Decatur Heritage hit just 8 of 32 from the field. Skyline hit eight 3-point field goals.

Senior Gracie Stucky led the Skyline charge with 18 points in the first half. She ended the day with 21. Freshman Grace Rowell scored 20 with most of that coming on five 3s.

Metzgar led Decatur Heritage with eight points.

The Eagles lose no seniors off this team. With a talented eighth-grade group moving up, Decatur Heritage should be in the running for a return to the Northeast Regional next season.

"There's no doubt our program is at a better place right now," Metzgar said. "This experience should help us a lot going forward."

— david.elwell@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @DD_DavidElwell.