Surprise party

By Staff
Defense is strong as Tigers shock No. 2 Decatur 17-7 on Godsey’s 40th
birthday
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
A 10-point second half effort by the offense and a shutout performance by the defense was icing on the cake for Hartselle coach Bob Godsey’s 40th birthday Friday night as the Hartselle Tigers upset Decatur’s Red Raiders 17-7 at J. P Cain Stadium.
The win was Hartselle’s first against Decatur since 2003, the year before Godsey came on board as head coach. It left the Tigers with an unblemished record after two games and gave them a step up in the race for the 5A Region 8 championship. The Red Raiders entered the game as the state’s No. 2-ranked 5A team. They slipped to 1-1 on the season and 0-1 in region competition.
Hartselle’s defenders met every challenge they faced in the second half. The defense took the ball away from the Red Raiders four times on three fumble recoveries and a pass interception, forced punts after three downs on three possessions and held the Red Raiders to four first downs and 61 total yards. To add insult to injury, they broke up a fourth-and-4 pass play at the Red Raiders’12-yard line and set the stage for the offense to ice the game with a field goal.
The fumble recoveries were made by Jordan Lee, Trey Stephenson and Matt Zartuche. Caleb Blanton picked off a pass to stop a Decatur drive with eight seconds left.
The Tigers also forced two Decatur turnovers in the first half. Luke Bole intercepted a pass in the first quarter and Quinn Dunlap denied the Red Raiders a score with 10 seconds left in the half by picking off a pass in the end zone.
The Tigers had the first scoring opportunity but failed to capitalize on Bole’s pass interception. After taking over on Decatur’s 33-yard line, they ran three plays and gained four yards before calling on Ray Canafax to attempt a 46-yard field goal. His kick was short and wide to the right.
The Red Raiders answered by marching 80 yards on 12 plays and grabbing the lead with 2:27 left in first quarter. A 12-yard pass from Joe Lothspeich to Justin Bishop capped the drive. Michael Schuster booted the extra point to make the score 7-0.
Big plays in the drive were a 27-yard pass from Lothspeich to Michael Foster and a 13-yard run by Chris Coffey.
Hartselle responded by marching 63 yards on eight plays and reaching Decatur’s 8-yard line before stalling and losing the ball on downs. On fourth down, quarterback Wes Chenault was stopped a foot short of getting the yard he needed for a first down.
Key plays in the drive included runs of 21 and 17 yards by Josh Slaten and Marquez Jones, respectively, and a 15-yard pass from Chenault to Tyler Young.
The next time the Tigers got the ball they drove 53 yards on six plays and scored on an 8-yard pass from Chenault to Dunlap. Canafax added the extra point to tie the score at 7-all with 7:16 left in the first half.
Marquez Jones started the drive with a 27-yard run and a Chenault-to-Young pass covered 16 yards.
A fumbled Hartselle punt and recovery by Stephenson set up Hartselle’s go-ahead touchdown. On a first down call from seven yards out Jones found an opening in the middle of the line and reached the end zone after refusing to be knocked off his feet by several would-be tacklers. Canafax converted the extra point to give the Tigers a 14-7 advantage with 4:29 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers iced the game with 1:33 left when Canafax booted a 27-yard field goal to make the score 17-7.
The scoring opportunity resulted from the defense shutting the door on a desperation fourth down pass play by the Red Raiders with 3:14 left. As a result the Tigers got the ball just 13 yards from paydirt. They opted to go for the field goal three running plays later.
The Red Raiders had the ball at midfield with 8.2 seconds left when a Riley Adcock pass was picked off by Blanton.
Jones led the Tigers in rushing with 68 yards on 16 carries. Slaten had 51 yards on seven carries and Young caught two passes for 31 yards.
Coffey gained 73 yards on 17 caries for the Red Raiders. David Westbrook caught three passes for 35 yards.
Hartselle travels to face No. 1 Russellville Friday night.