AUBURN — Patrick Nix knew the questions were coming because he'd heard them all before. In the five years since his son Bo Nix first played a high school playoff game as an eighth grader at Scottsboro, just about everyone with a notepad or recorder had asked some variation of questions about the father-son, player-coach tandem — the former Auburn quarterback with the future Auburn quarterback son.

Patrick, understandably, didn't want this moment to be about that. Pinson Valley had just won the Alabama 6A state championship against Saraland to claim back-to-back titles.

The Indians coach sat at the podium with Bo and four other key playmakers from the win Ga'Quincy McKinstry, Keyonteze Johnson, Geordon Pollard and Joel Parker. Two Bo-and-Patrick questions into the post-game presser, and the championship coach tried to make something clear.

"I don't mean to be like this, but let's not make this all about Bo and I, if you don't mind," Patrick said.

"We've about beat that horse to death. It's obviously been a great run. Very proud of him as a dad, very proud of him as a coach, but quite honestly, I'm very proud of all these guys as a dad and as a coach, too, because they might as well be my sons, too. So out of respect — I totally get it; I understand the storyline and what y'all have got — but at the same time, it's not about Bo and I. It's about Pinson."

Humbly spoken, yet true.

There was Pollard's 83-yard catch-and-run from Nix that the senior wide receiver did most of the leg work on, outracing the entire Saraland secondary. McKinstry, the rising Class of 2021 star, played both ways against former Auburn commit Cordale Flott who also played both ways and neutralized him, breaking up three pass attempts at corner. He and Johnson combined for 16 receptions and 158 yards. Parker finished the night with two sacks for 15 yards. And that just covers the guys at the podium with Patrick and Bo.

There was the fourth-quarter pick-six by Kendall Thornton that Bo labeled as the dagger — and admitted it took much-needed pressure off the offense to close out the game.

"That pick-six was absolutely huge," Bo said. "It was the difference in the game. After that, the game was really out of reach for them."

So no, this wasn't just about Patrick and Bo. It was about Pinson Valley's collective repeat as state champions.

But prior to 2017 when the Nix family moved from Scottsboro to Pinson Valley, the Indians had never won a state title. The last region championship hadn't even been claimed this century. Yet this team with Alabama's Gatorade Player of the Year and former college coordinator at the helm had just capped off a 28-1 run in two seasons at Pinson, finalized by a 374-yard, 3-touchdown performance by Bo.

Moreover, Bo's 2-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass — with its broken-down, backyard-football flare — set the AHSAA career record for touchdowns accounted for with 161 (127 passing and 34 rushing). That touchdown took place in the same corner of the same end zone of Jordan-Hare Stadium where Patrick completed his folklore-ish pass to Frank Sanders in the 1993 Iron Bowl, a moment Bo has grown up idolizing.

In other words, how could you possibly not make it about Patrick and Bo?

"You couldn't have written it any better. Obviously, I think that's kinda obvious. It's a great feeling. I don't even think I understand it right now," Bo said after the win. "I had no idea until you just told me [that it was same spot as Nix-to-Sanders]. It's God. That's the only answer. The Lord has blessed my family and this team in incredible ways."

Following the win, just as he did in pregame, Patrick went one-by-one to congratulate and hug his Pinson Valley championship players.

The final hug before the trophy ceremony went to Bo. For what both said they presume to be the last time they step on a field together as player and coach, the father-son title duo shared an extended embrace at midfield of Jordan-Hare Stadium as back-to-back state champions.

"God has truly blessed us. He’s given us the opportunity to truly be around each other about 24/7 for the last several years, five years. Quite honestly, I got out of college coaching for that reason. You can't really put into words the relationship we have," Patrick said. "It’s time for him to move on and time for me to move on to others. But I’ll never not be his dad. I’ll never truly, quite honestly, not be his coach. That’s the relationship I have with my dad. My dad is still my coach. That’s just the way it is. Just because we won’t play another game together, that doesn’t mean he’s still not my quarterback and my son."

So despite Patrick's wishes, this father-son storybook ending was too good not to be written.