Montgomery Catholic relied on several stars to offset the running of Andalusia junior tailback J’Marion Burnette, holding the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half to pull off a surprisingly easy 45-23 win for the Class 4A, Region 2 championship on Friday.

“We just challenged our kids,” Catholic coach Kirk Johnson said. “You can’t stop him, you just do your best to contain him and stay the course. We knew he was tough. But we also knew we were tough.”

Burnette rushed for 244 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 31 carries but managed just 63 in the second half as the Knights’ defense held Andalusia without a first down in the third quarter and grabbed control of the game.

Linebacker Jaden Jones had 10 tackles to lead the Catholic defense while quarterback Caleb McCreary was 14-of-20 passing for 366 yards and three touchdowns

He returned to the field in the fourth quarter despite a severely sprained ankle that required his teammates to carry him off the field following the game.

Tailback Jeremiah Cobb, nursing an ankle injury of his own, had 14 rushes for 84 yards and 6 catches for 187 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

“We had to definitely change it up to deal with my injury,” said Cobb, an Auburn commitment. “I couldn’t run the ball to my full potential, so I had to go out wide (as a receiver) and change it up because we knew they were going to key on me.”

Catholic improved to 10-0 and finished 7-0 in the region. The Knights have outscored their opponents 568-80 this year. They are idle next week.

Andalusia fell to 9-1, 6-1. Trent Taylor’s team is also idle in the final week of the regular season.