And still, the only team to beat the No. 5 St. Michael Cardinals in 2024 remains the No. 1 Jackson Aggies who earned a 49-28 victory at home in Friday’s Class 4A state semifinals.

Jackson beat St. Michael once on the 7-on-7 circuit over the summer and once in the regular season during a Week 7 meeting. The Aggies’ semifinal victory ended the Cardinals’ historic season at 12-2 overall in St. Michael’s first trip to the fourth round in its seventh varsity season. Jackson advanced to its first state title game since winning the 2011 championship undefeated.

Tomlinson, for three

Friday night, it was junior receiver Tucker Tomlinson who helped the Cardinals with his sixth multi-touchdown night thanks to three scoring catches from sophomore Gunner Rivers.

Tomlinson’s first touchdown tied the game at 14-14 with 9:59 left in the second quarter for a second and final tie before the Aggies built a lead they would not relinquish. Tomlinson finished with 219 total yards as Rivers racked up 371 total yards according to stats from the Wild Cardinal Network. Already a 1,000-yard receiver on the year, Tomlinson pushed his junior-year total to 17 receiving touchdowns.

Junior running back Noah Moss opened the St. Michael scoring in the first quarter with a 3-yard rushing touchdown which served as his 32nd scoring run in his 12th game played. Friday night, Moss also had a 47-yard receiving touchdown called back for an illegal touching penalty right before halftime which kept the Cardinals’ deficit at 28-14 at intermission.

Jackson stars shine

The Aggies were led by junior quarterback Landon Duckworth who scored his team’s first two touchdowns on the ground before he uncorked a 77-yard deep ball to classmate Jamarrion Gordon. Sophomore Ezavier Crowell did the rest with three rushing touchdowns, including the final two that pushed Jackson’s lead to its final resting place.

With the Class 4A state championship on the line, Jackson will square off with Cherokee County at Protective Stadium in Birmingham with kickoff scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 6.

St. Michael season records

Program records were rewritten in 2024 as St. Michael used a team-best seven-game win streak to reach the state semifinals for the first time following the squad’s first three postseason victories.

The Cardinals scored at least 20 points in all but one game this year to help set a single-season scoring record at 538 total points. With seven efforts of at least 40 points, including a single-game record at 63 points, St. Michael improved to 23-0 all-time when scoring 40 or more points.

Ranked in the last 11-consecutive state polls, the Cardinals climbed to their highest ranking in the final edition at No. 5 in Class 4A with 111 total poll points.