McKinstry scores game-winner, Indians claim state title
TUSCALOOSA – Ga’Quincy “Kool-Aid” McKinstry made it right.
After a dropping a sure touchdown late in the first quarter, he found his way to the end zone early in the fourth quarter. He capped off his Pinson Valley High School career by scoring the go-ahead touchdown in the Indians’ 23-13 win over Spanish Fort on Friday night in the Class 6A state championship game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
With Pinson Valley (12-2) seemingly ready to score its second touchdown in as many drives to begin the game, McKinstry dropped Zach Pyron’s pass in the end zone. But in the fourth quarter, McKinstry caught a short pass, shed his defender and bolted 52 yards to turn a 13-10 deficit into a 17-13 lead.
“I told the guys I let them down and I was going to make up for it,” McKinstry said.
McKinstry, a University of Alabama signee, notched his first touchdown on the Bryant-Denny grass in his final high school game.
“It will not be my last,” he said, with a smile. He finished the game with five grabs for 89 yards and was named the state championship MVP.
Jaquel Fells caught a 12-yard touchdown from Pyron with 2:44 to play in the contest to put the bow on the Indians’ third state title in four years. After winning back-to-back championships under previous coach Patrick Nix in 2017 and 2018, first-year coach Sam Shade led Pinson Valley to claim yet another blue map.
“We had some ups and down this year, but we came through it as a family and kept fighting,” Shade said.
It looked as if Pinson Valley may have a simple path to victory on Friday night after the first few minutes of action. The Indians marched right down the field on its opening drive of the game, scoring on Mike Sharpe’s 26-yard burst to go ahead 7-0.
Sharpe was Pinson’s leading rusher on the night, going for 60 yards on 13 carries.
Zaylen McCray drilled a 26-yard field goal to make it 10-0 Pinson before Spanish Fort found its legs and put together a pair of scoring drives. Toros quarterback Brendon Byrd scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the latter portion of the second quarter to give Spanish Fort a 13-10 lead at the halftime break.
The Indians only gave up one sustained drive in the first half, but the defense locked down the Toros in the second half. Spanish Fort gained just 91 yards in the second half, punting four times and turning the ball over on downs on six drives.
After Byrd scored the two touchdowns in the first half, he was unable to get on track over the final two quarters.
“We stopped the quarterback from doing what he wanted to do,” senior defensive lineman James Perkins said. “We tried to eliminate him from the game.”
Despite feeling like they outplayed Spanish Fort in the first half, the Indians exhibited no frustration despite trailing. They had a simple mindset after the halftime break.
“We knew if our players played the way they could play, they could get it done,” Shade said. “We just talked about winning the second half.”
Defensively, Perkins led the way with seven tackles, two of them sacks and 5.5 of them going for loss. Tomas Wesley intercepted a pass in the first half and finished with six tackles. Amon Scarbrough had 5.5 tackels and Noah Steen finished with five tackles.
After not completing a pass in the semifinal victory last week, Pyron was solid on Friday night, completing 13-of-21 passes for 166 yards and two scoring strikes. He also rushed for 50 yards.
The Pinson Valley senior class graduates having lost just six games in four years and is by far the winningest class in school history.
“That’s pretty special,” Shade said.
Pinson Valley suffered a 44-19 loss to a strong Hewitt-Trussville team to begin the season, before four straight victories. The Indians then lost to 5A semifinalist Ramsay 14-13, a loss that Shade said resulted in Pinson’s torrid pace the rest of the year.
After the loss, Pinson capped the year with impressive region wins over Clay-Chalkville and Jasper. In the playoffs, the Indians turned it up another notch, posting dominant victories over Arab, Shades Valley, Oxford (last year’s champion) and, last week, Mountain Brook in the semifinals.
“It’s a great way to end a journey,” Perkins said.