The well-traveled and controversial coach got a tie-breaking 20-yard touchdown run from sophomore quarterback
Mac Long with 22 seconds left in the game and the defense held for the victory. It was the first Alabama state title for Propst in 19 years.
"It's big, it's special," Propst said in a postgame interview on the NFHS Network. "A little emotional. I didn't think it would be but it was.
"The biggest thing is what we did for those kids this year. They deserved to win a championship. ... I have felt it seven times, now eight, but that's the first time they have felt it."
After starting the season 0-2, Rush Propst led Coosa Christian to 13 straight wins and Alabama's Class 2A state championship. (FILE PHOTO: Gary McCullough)
Coosa Christian (13-2) struck first with a 26-yard TD pass from Long to
Kylen Johnson with just under six minutes left in the first quarter and led 14-12 at half.
But Lanett scored 10 straight out of intermission to take a 22-14 lead. Propst's team responded as Johnson scored with three minutes left on a short TD run and then hit
L.J. Mostella for the tying 2-point conversion.
After the Coosa Christian defense held,
Joseph East provided a spark for the Conquerors with Johnson on the sideline after being dinged. Long then provided the game-winner.
Propst won five titles at
Hoover (Ala.) and another two at
Colquitt County (Norman Park, Ga.). Controversy followed at most of those stops, including one
season at
Valdosta (Ga.). In that season, which was filmed for the Netflix
special "Title Town," he was dismissed amid allegations of the coach
illegally recruiting
five players and that he
was involved in recruiting, mishandling money and even interfering in
the hiring process that brought him to the program to begin with.
After
a few seasons outside of football, he re-emerged at Coosa Christian as
an assistant coach and athletic director in 2023
before
leaving for the head coaching job at
Pell City (Ala.). He spent one season at
Pell City, going 1-10.
He was named interim
head coach at Coosa Christian before the season after Mark O'Bryant
was suspended by the school in August.
