Holden Langston (42) and Connor Shelton bring down Huntsville’s Deonta Moore during a preseason jamboree Thursday night at Milton Frank Stadium in Huntsville. | Brent Maze

HUNTSVILLE – Hartselle’s coaching staff got one final chance to evaluate their players heading to the regular season after their preseason jamboree game against Huntsville at Milton Frank Stadium on Thursday night.

While the Panthers won the game 20-13, Hartselle head coach Bob Godsey said they jamboree was a chance to try a few things that they might not do in a normal game.

One was giving starting quarterback Jake Tiffin and the new receiving corps a chance to get more reps, especially in the second quarter. Tiffin threw it 14 times, most of which came in the second quarter.

Huntsville scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, thanks to big plays.

“We threw the ball a lot in the second quarter too, just to try to work him in situations where we wouldn’t have,” Godsey said. “It was not only for him, but for many of our guys. We tried to look at a lot of people so that we can make decisions down the road that could help us win some ball games.”

In the first quarter, Hartselle used its running game to get the early lead. D’Andre Mack rushed five times for 68 yards while Masio Stover, who is coming off an ACL injury, had eight carries for 32 yards.

The Tigers had drives 54 and 34 yards to open the game, but both drives stalled inside the red zone. Jack Waterman still managed to give Hartselle a 6-0 lead, thanks to successful field goals of 30 and 25 yards.

In the second quarter, however, Hartselle was flat on both sides of the ball. Godsey wasn’t sure what happened.

“We’ve got to figure out if we didn’t spend it all in practice on Monday and Tuesday because we worked awful hard,” Godsey said. “We were awful flat in the second quarter.”

Huntsville had three runs of more than 30 yards in the second quarter. Two of them came via quarterback Charles Hicklen. He had a 54-yard touchdown scamper and then had another 32-yard run, which set up a Deonta Moore 3-yard touchdown. Moore also added another score on a 2-yard run.

“They did a couple of schemes that we hadn’t worked on – mid line and that kind of things– and that makes you look bad,” Godsey said. “It’s a concern – big plays. Just like last week, we had too many big plays on defense and not enough little plays tonight, but we’ll get it worked out.”

In the second half, Hartselle took advantage of a bad punt snap, which set up Jamal Jackson on a 7-yard touchdown run. Junior varsity kicker Cody Salem added the extra point for the final points of the night.

Overall, Godsey was pleased with how the younger players performed.

“They played well and seemed to understand at times a little more of what we’re doing than maybe our older guys,” Godsey said. “We’re going to go back and correct some things in practice because the real thing begins next week.”