Vincent turns in complete performance to beat 5A Montevallo for second-straight year
Published 11:46 pm Thursday, October 30, 2025
Vincent finished the regular season 8-2 for the second-straight year as a 257-yard rushing performance and three turnovers helped the Jackets beat Class 5A Montevallo for the second season in a row. (Reporter Photos/Andrew Simonson)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
MONTEVALLO – The Vincent Yellow Jackets followed up an 8-2 regular season in 2024 with another one in 2025, and they achieved that feat with another win in their 95-year-long rivalry series with the Montevallo Bulldogs.
Vincent used a flurry of offense in the second and third quarter plus three turnovers to secure a 48-19 win over Montevallo on Thursday, Oct. 30 at Theron Fisher Stadium, the Jackets’ second-straight win over the Class 5A Bulldogs as a Class 2A school.
Making an even bigger statement than last year’s 23-20 win and finishing with an identical place in Class 2A, Region 5 has Vincent coach Lucas Weatherford beaming with pride.
“I’m proud, because nobody gave these guys a chance, because they lost all the senior class last year, and their whole MO was always going to prove everybody wrong, and they did it,” Weatherford said. “I think we did what they did last year in a very, very, very tough region. So, I’m really proud of these guys.”
Chaos ensued on the opening kickoff as the ball went nowhere and Montevallo landed on it. Two false starts ensued before the Bulldogs got off a solid run, but Cayden Carroll popped the ball out on a wrap-up, allowing Vincent to take over on the fumble.
Both teams traded punts on their ensuing drives, but the Jackets hit the end zone on their second drive. Lane Mims got to the doorstep on a 42-yard run, and Jayden Roberts finished off the rest with a 3-yard scoring rush for the 6-0 lead with 5:00 left in the first.
The Bulldogs methodically worked their way down the field on their next drive behind Nahjear Naugher and Caleb Meriweather, but it was the air that delivered the points. Jaedyn Rutledge was on the receiving end of a bomb from Kamar Ross on the left sideline, and he took it in stride to the house to take the 7-6 lead with 0:39 remaining in the first.
Vincent kept the scoring pace going on its next drive. Archer scrambled and found a wide-open Roberts, who ran for 34 yards to the 11-yard line. From there, Archer finished the drive himself with a 2-yard score to extend the lead to 12-7 with 9:24 left in the half, following a blocked extra point by the Bulldogs.
Montevallo went out on downs after missing a fourth-down shot, and the Jackets capitalized. Mims scanned and found Archer on a short route, but the junior playmaker took it all the way down the left sideline for the 50-yard touchdown catch-and-run. Christopher Wills added a 2-point conversion to increase the lead to 20-7 with 4:42 left in the half.
That proved to be the halftime score as the next three drives ended in interceptions. Both of Vincent’s by Wyatt Carlisle and Calvin Johnson initially went to the house, but the pick-sixes were both called back by block-in-the-back fouls.
However, the Jackets couldn’t take advantage as the first pick was followed by an interception from Jakob Fowler and the second one happened as time expired in the second quarter.
Vincent burst out of the gate with big plays on offense and special teams to pull away to an even more commanding lead.
On the first offensive play of the game, Roberts took the ball right up the gut and all the way to the end zone for a 60-yard rushing touchdown.
Then, Zach Morehead recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to give the ball right back to the Jackets. Two plays later, Archer rolled left to find Mims near the sideline, and the two quarterbacks combined for their second touchdown of the night as Mims took it 45 yards to score.
That made the Vincent lead 35-7 with still 9:41 left in the third.
Both teams excelled on the ground for the remainder of the game. While the Jackets went fast, Montevallo went slow and steady on its next drive, melting 7:19 off the game clock and going 75 yards before Meriweather scored up the middle from 17 yards out to make it a 35-13 game.
Two minutes later on the first play of the fourth quarter, Roberts capped off his banner night with a 20-yard touchdown run, increasing the lead to 41-13.
After a Rutledge carry to the 17-yard line, Meriweather took the ball 13 yards to the house for his second rushing touchdown of the fourth quarter, making it 41-19 with 7:43 left.
Joshua Wyatt then finished off the 48-19 win with a 15-yard rushing touchdown along the left side with 4:15 left as the Jackets forced a turnover on downs and ran out the clock to earn their fourth-straight win.
Roberts finished with 13 carries for 120 yards and three touchdowns as well as 35 receiving yards on one catch. Carlisle earned 48 yards off nine carries and Wyatt earned 35 yards and a touchdown from three carries. Overall, the Jackets ran for 257 yards and five touchdowns.
After the game, Weatherford complimented his two quarterbacks Mims and Archer, the former of which returned after a multi-week absence that saw Archer step in and command the offense. The two split time under center against the Bulldogs and each even threw a pass to the other and celebrated afterwards.
Archer earned 63 yards and a touchdown receiving, 3-of-4 passing for 86 yards and a touchdown as well as a rushing touchdown, finishing with three total scores. Mims was 3-of-5 passing for a touchdown and an interception, and he also added a receiving touchdown on his lone catch for 45 yards.
“Proud of those two guys, especially, but proud of our team for rallying around those guys and those guys leading the team to carry them,” Weatherford said of Mims and Archer.
With their playoff fate sealed after the Isabella win, the Jackets staff stressed the need to carry their momentum through the next two weeks and into their first-round matchup, which is at home against fellow 8-2 side Falkville next week.
“I told the guys, ‘We can’t go backwards,’” Weatherford said. “‘We’ve got to get better these two weeks.’ So, we were able to do that. We got a lot of guys reps, played a lot of guys tonight, used multiple quarterbacks and all that. But it was good. It was good practice time. I’m proud of the guys that didn’t get complacent. They just go through the motions and we got better these two weeks going into the playoffs.”
Now, it’s about keeping that mentality heading into the playoffs where each week could decide their season. Vincent will likely enter as a top-10 team in Class 2A, but the program has still never reached the quarterfinals in school history.
That’s a stat that the Jackets are hungry to change.
“Just win the next one,” Weatherford said of the mentality. “We’ve got to be 1-0 now. I just told them in the huddle, I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to come back like it’s fall camp energy, like we’re starting back over again. Let’s go win five more.’ And you heard them celebrating, so they know what’s at stake. They want to go further. They know where we’ve been. They want to be further than that.”
As for Montevallo, Meriweather took 21 carries for 137 yards and two touchdowns while Naugher had 11 carries for 70 yards. Rutledge finished with three catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Holsomback earned eight tackles, Meriweather had seven tackles and both Naugher and Fowler secured six tackles while Fowler added an interception as well.
The Bulldogs now end the year 1-9 for the second-straight season, just their second year in Class 5A after decades in Class 4A.
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