Mary G. Montgomery’s entire season — and perhaps Central-Phenix City’s — tilted on one yard in the first quarter.

The Vikings seemed destined to tie the game 7-7 after driving 80 yards in 18 plays and siphoning 8½ minutes off the clock, but Shondell Harris was stopped for a yard’s loss on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and the No. 1-ranked Red Devils went on to beat No. 3-ranked MGM 21-7 in the Class 7A semifinals at Garrett-Harrison Stadium on Friday night.

The loss ended the best season in Mary Montgomery history and sent Central (12-0) into the Super 7 against four-time defending state champion Thompson (11-1) on Dec. 6 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Red Devils quarterback Andrew Alford was 17-of-26 passing for 286 yards and all three touchdowns, two of them to Daylyn Upshaw, who took advantage of double coverage on Texas A&M commitment Cam Coleman to grab nine receptions for 174 yards.

“They doubled Cam and when you do that, you single Daylyn,” Central coach Patrick Nix said. “I don’t think people realize how good he is. You have to pick your poison.”

After MGM’s almost flawless first drive from its 29 to Central’s 26 was stopped on downs, Upshaw shook free on two slants and gathered in passes of 36 and 33 yards from Alford for a 7-0 lead.

The Vikings shook that off and — in their best chance to get the wind behind their sails — drove from their 19 to a first-and-goal at the 5. But Harris, playing Wildcat quarterback, was stopped on three of the next four plays, including on fourth down when he got swarmed and stopped by linebacker Trent Hood.

“That was a big stop for sure,” Nix said. “They moved the ball well on us early and we had some big stops.”

MGM coach Zach Golson knew a rare opportunity to affect the outcome had slipped away.

“The fourth-and-1 was huge,” he said. “Shondell has gotten the ball into the end zone a lot for us. That set’s been good to us. But I think if he had it back, he’d have cut left instead of right. We tell him to stick it up in there and (Hood) made a great play.”

This post will be updated