Senior night for Fort Dale Academy's football players didn't turn out like hoped.

The Eagles (6n3, 4n3) were bitten by the fumble bug and hampered by penalties as the Monroe Academy Volunteers

(7n2, 5n2) captured a 28n8 region win earning them third seed in the Alabama Independent School Association Class AAA state playoffs which begin in two weeks. With the loss, FDA slips in the playoffs in the fourth spot.

Monroe scored all but one of its touchdowns following Fort Dale Academy turnovers. The Eagles

Head Coach James "Speed" Sampley said it is hard to capture a win with mistakes.

"You can't turn the ball over that many times and beat a good team," Sampley said. "We turned it over several times."

Monroe scored its first touchdown early in the first quarter on a 14nyard run by Running Back Bonner Williams. The point after kick was no good, but the Volunteers claimed an early 6n0 lead. The score was setup after the Eagles fumbled a punt.

The Volunteers got on the scoreboard a second time halfway through the second quarter when Bonner bulled his way into the end zone from 1nyard out to cap off a 13nplay, 68nyard drive. Bonner dove in to add the twonpoint conversion and pad Monroe's lead to 14n0. Again, the score followed a FDA fumble.

With 35 seconds remaining in the half, Monroe scored on a 34nyard pass play. After the kick, the Volunteers had a 21n0 lead. The score capped off a 5nplay, 44nyard drive that started following a blocked punt.

The Volunteers scored their last time of the evening on a 37nyard pass play. The kick made it 28n0.

The Eagles did manage to put points on the scoreboard when Senior Quarterback Brett Paulk ran in from 1nyard out.

Senior Fullback Digger Kimbro ran in for the twonpoint conversion to make it 28n8. The score was setup by a 40nyard catch to the 1nyard line by Senior Receiver Andrew Hollis.

"Defensively, we didn't play as good as we should," Sampley said. "Missed tackles are still killing us. We ran the option pretty good, but we're not finishing anything. We had some good plays, but they don't outweigh the bad ones. That's what's killing us."

Senior Clay Beverly led the Eagles' ground game with 61 yards on 11 carries followed closely by Kimbro, who had 58 yards on 10 carries. Paulk finished 3nofn8 for 61 yards.

Kimbro led FDA's defense with 20 tackles.

The Eagles will face Crenshaw on the road next Friday night in the last regular season game of the season. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Fort Dale will face No. 1nseeded Pickens Academy in the first round of the AISA state playoffs in Carrolton the following week.