Crimson team wins 2023 A-Day game
By WVUA 23 Sports Reporter Grace Brister
The Crimson team shut out the White team 30-21 in the annual Golden Flake A-Day game which served as the 15th and final practice of the spring.
The game took place inside of Bryant-Denny Stadium, and a total of 58,710 fans attended. This was Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban’s 17th A-Day, and he said he was pleased with how the scrimmage went.
“It was good to go out and play in front of a crowd today,” Saban said. “I think that energized players to some degree, and I was very pleased with the crowd that we had. I think it goes a long way to helping people see what kind of passion we have for the football program here, the football team, and how we support the team. It’s really simple. It’s all about people being committed to the team, respecting what they have to do to play winning football, which I’ve said this all spring long, you have to eliminate some of the negative plays.”
Senior defensive back for the Crimson Tide Malachi Moore won the Dixie Howell Memorial Award, the MVP of the A-Day Game. Moore finished with nine tackles, three tackles for loss and a pass breakup. Moore said the team wanted to show fans what they could do.
“I was just preaching to guys from the start to finish just finish, finish, finish, and play with relentless effort and everything will take care of itself,” Moore said.
Senior defensive lineman Tim Smith won the Dwight Stephenson Award, which is the Most Valuable Lineman of the A-Day Game. Overall, the Crimson team’s defense had three interceptions, four pass breakups and 10 tackles for loss.
Freshman running back Justice Haynes had 64 total yards and three touchdowns to lead the Crimson for his first game inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The White team’s freshman Malik Benson led the receivers with five catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback Jalen Milroe threw a game-high 245 yards on 19-of-37 passing yards and two touchdowns for the White team. Ty Simson started at quarterback the Crimson team and completed 12-of-26 passes for 155 yards. Dylan Lonergan came in halfway through the second quarter and finished the game with 8-of-14 pass attempts for 79 yards and a touchdown.
The White team scored first when Milroe rushed for a 35-yard touchdown which finished off a seven play 75-yard drive for a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter.
Haynes came fighting back for the Crimson team with a 3-yard touchdown to tie the score 7-7. Lonergan followed up with an 80-yard drive sent to Haynes. Haynes ran in 6-yards to complete the first passing touchdown of the game. The Crimson team advanced their lead to 14-7.
With nearly 20-seconds to go, kicker Will Reichard kicked a 22-yard field goal to advance the Crimson team’s lead to 17-7 at halftime.
The next touchdown did not come until late in the third quarter when the Crimson’s Upton Bellenfant 39-yard field goal. Emmanuel Henderson Jr. cut that lead to 20-14 with a 36-yard touchdown pass.
With less than five minutes in the fourth, Haynes made his third touchdown of the day followed by a 49-yard field goal from Bellenfant to put the Crimson team up 30-14.
Milroe found Benson who made the last touchdown of the game for the White team with 20-seconds left in the game.
Alabama’s first game of the season will be Saturday, Sept. 2 against Middle Tennessee in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
