Caleb Suggs

Hartselle Enquirer

The Hartselle Tigers will return to Ogle Stadium this Friday night, this time to take on the Decatur Red Raiders. This game is do or die for the Tigers if they want to make playoffs, as it would be hard to get in with a loss. The Raiders have already been eliminated from playoff contention and have nothing to lose, so they would love nothing more than to play spoiler for the Tiger’s playoff hopes.

Schedule overview:

Hartselle comes into this game with a 5-3 record while Decatur has a 2-5 record. The Tigers are coming off a tough loss and it will be interesting to see how they respond. The 28-6 score was misleading as Hartselle played the top ranked Black Bears about as good as any team has this season. The Tigers had a touchdown called back just before halftime that would’ve cut the lead down to 14-7, and they turned the ball over on downs three more times in Austin territory. Decatur has improved since their 49-0 beatdown by Austin early in the season, but the Raiders haven’t been able to find ways to win as they have suffered close losses to Hazel Green (41-38), Athens (27-14) and Florence (41-37).

Series history:

The Decatur and Hartselle rivalry is one of the longest if not the longest standing rivalries in Alabama High School football history. The history is very lopsided in Decatur’s favor up until the recent history. Decatur won last year’s meeting by a score of 41-29.

Keys to victory:

Hartselle’s defense has been playing exceptional this season, holding three teams without an offensive touchdown. For the Tigers, the key to not only making playoffs but also making a decent run comes form the offensive side of the ball. Against non-region foes the Tigers are averaging 40 points per gam, but against region opponents just 12 points per game. The key I believe will come from opening the offense up. The Tigers have ran an option offense all year long and have become more run heavy with each game. Against Hazel Green Hartselle attempted just 10 passes, just 2 in the second half, and against Austin they attempted just 11, with 5 being behind the line of scrimmage screen passes. Teams are beginning to load the box against the Tigers, making the running the ball very hard. Loosening up the defense with some passes with help a lot.

Decatur needs to find ways to force the Tigers into mistakes. In all three losses of Hartselle’s, there was a common theme. Hartselle had several drives against Florence, Muscle Shoals and Austin were they were able to drive deep into the opponent’s territory, but they came away with no points. If Decatur can do the same thing, that will spell trouble for the Tigers.

Did You Know?

Neither team has won back-to-back games in this rivalry since 2009-2010. Decatur won the 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 meetings, while Hartselle won the 2011, 2013 and 2015 meetings.

The home team has not won in this series since Decatur won at Ogle stadium in 2010.

Hartselle’s pass defense is playing lights out. Since their bad game against Florence, a game in which senior safety Jackson Terry left with an injury after the second play, the Tiger’s have yielded just one passing touchdown and have picked off six passes since that game.

Hartselle head coach Bob Godsey and Decatur head coach Jere Adcock coached together at Decatur high school under then head coach Steve Rivers, father of NFL quarterback Phillip Rivers.

Players to watch:

Taylor Easterling- the senior running back had what would have been a game changing 60-yard touchdown run called back against Austin, it will be interesting to see how he responds in this game. Easterling will be making his fourth straight start against Decatur.

Will Lawrimore- Nose tackle Eason Mizell left the game last week with an undisclosed knee injury, and it doesn’t seem likely he will be making a return anytime soon. Colin Springer filled his role for a short time but then he moved back out to defensive end and the other end Will Lawrimore moved there. He seemed to hold his own well in the game. We will see how he progresses now that he will likely stay there for the immediate future.

Josh Marsh- Decatur’s senior running back and Auburn football commit is a tackling machine and is a force against the run.

Collin Smiley- last year Ladarious Woods wreaked havoc against Hartselle’s defense. The 2,000 plus yard running back is no longer at Decatur, so can Smiley make a similar impact?

Overall:

Decatur is having a down year for sure. Hartselle is the favorite in this game and should bring home the win. However, I won’t be surprised in the least bit if Decatur makes this a much closer game than is anticipated. Decatur has improved since the beginning of the year and they have nothing to lose. Meanwhile, Hartselle has plenty to lose so all the pressure is on them. Last year Hartselle suffered a tough loss to Austin and it led to a letdown against Decatur the next week. Could the same thing happen this year? For Hartselle’s sake, they had better hope not. This is a rivalry game after all, crazy things happen in rivalry games.