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Fort Dale Academy’s postseason hopes in Alabama Independent Schools Association’s Class AAA came to an end after a 49-14 loss to Lee-Scott Academy on Friday night.

The defeat, combined with Autauga Academy’s 22-16 loss to Monroe Academy, left the Eagles and Autauga tied in the region with one playoff spot remaining. The Generals held the tiebreaker courtesy of a 35-10 win over Fort Dale on Sept. 9.

“Certainly, we were hoping to get a little help Friday from Autauga, but I spoke with their coach (Trey Dunbar) this weekend, and they had seven kids out,” said Eagles head coach Eric Folmar. “They had four starters get the flu Friday morning that couldn’t play in the game. That’s just been our luck all year. Autauga is definitely a much better football team, but when you’re missing a bunch of your guys, it just makes it tough on them.”

Lee-Scott jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but Fort Dale answered back with a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ethan Alford to wide receiver Alan Alvarez to cut the deficit to 14-7.

“Friday against Lee-Scott was tough,” Folmar said. “We knew we were going to have to play a perfect game. That’s probably the best team in our association, and they don’t really do anything to beat themselves. 

“We kept it close for a little while. It was 14-7 with four minutes left in the first half. We just let it get away from us a little bit, made a couple of mistakes, and they capitalized. That’s what good football teams do.”

Alvarez finished the evening with nine catches for 87 yards and a touchdown while etching his name in the Eagles’ history books in the process. Alvarez extended his career receiving yards total to 1,358 yards and career touchdowns total to 15, besting previous school records of 1,305 and 14 set in 1976 by Reid Crowe.

“It’s huge,” Folmar said of Alvarez’s accomplishment. “Alan missed a couple of games early in the season. Had that not happened, he probably would have broken the record a lot sooner than now. It’s really big for him, and it’s big for our football team. We talked about it a little yesterday at practice about how it’s an individual award, but it never would have happened without the teammates he’s got around him doing their jobs and giving him a chance to go be successful and do what he does. We’re proud of him, he works really hard, and he’s definitely one of our better athletes.”

Lee-Scott added a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter and reached the end zone three more times after the intermission.

The Eagles surrendered 191 yards of offense to the Generals on the ground and four rushing touchdowns. 

Fort Dale broke the scoring drought with a 1-yard touchdown run by Garrett Simmons with 2:21 to play in the game to make the score 49-14.

The Eagles will host Escambia Academy on Friday night.

“I think we’ve had a really positive outlook since Friday night,” Folmar said. “I think everybody was a little bummed with the result and not finding a way to get into the playoffs, but I think our kids are really excited about having one more opportunity to play together as a team, hopefully send our seniors out with a win, and just hopefully go out on a high note.”