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By Staff
Hartselle shows it's not going away in Region 8 playoff race with 42-0 drubbing of Athens
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
Hartselle coach Bob Godsey and his players have said the Tigers have been in a fog for most of the 2007 season. Friday night, Hartselle might have cleared the air for good.
The Tigers scored on five of their first six offensive drives on the way to a 42-0 shutout of defending Class 5A champion Athens at J.P. Cain Stadium. Hartselle quarterback Luke Bole completed 12-of-15 passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for a score as the Tigers (3-4, 3-2 in Region 8) won their third straight region game.
"I think we've maybe been in a bit of a daze from last year and hopefully we were able to get out of it after this win," junior center Russell Powell said.
The "fog" or "daze" the Tigers refer to goes back to last season's playoffs, where Athens defeated Hartselle 23-13 in the Class 5A quarterfinals. Friday night, the Tigers got a chance to exercise a lot of those demons in a game Hartselle dominated from the opening kickoff.
"That was probably the worst butt-whipping I've ever been a part of," said Athens coach Allen Creasy, whose team fell to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in region play. "(Hartselle) obviously had a more burning desire to continue their season than we had."
Hartselle broke out to a 35-0 lead at halftime with a first half performance that was as close as the Tigers could get to perfection. Hartselle amassed 323 yards of offense in the first half while holding Athens to just 9 total offensive yards.
The Tigers took the opening kickoff and put together a 10-play drive that ended with a 3-yard pass from Bole to Tyler Watson. Tyler Bennich added the first of his six extra points.
Hartselle then scored on each of its next four offensive drives in the first half, increasing its lead to 21-0 after one quarter of play following a 2-yard touchdown run by Bole and a 28-yard reception by Marquez Jones. Jones' score was set up by his own interception of a Todd Pepper pass at the Hartselle 24-yard line.
Montrell Murphy had a 49-yard touchdown run and Weaver caught a 17-yard pass from Bole to close out the first half's scoring.
"You hope and want that kind of start every night, but you certainly don't expect it against a team like Athens," Godsey said. "We felt good about our game plan coming in and our guys did an excellent job of executing. We've had some games where we were on the other side of a score like this, so it was nice to have one where it went our way."
Hartselle showed the ability to rattle off some big plays against an Athens defense that came into Friday night's game allowing just 14.7 points per game.
Some of those big plays in the first half included a 43-yard run by Murphy, a 49-yard reception by Braddock Wilson and a 22-yard scramble by Bole.
"Hartselle just knocked us off the ball all night and we didn't respond," Creasy said. "They were able to do everything they needed to do."
The Tigers added a touchdown in the third quarter when Jones ran for a 7-yard touchdown with 3:49 left. David Reeves intercepted a Pepper pass earlier in the quarter.
The win puts Hartselle right back in the mix for the postseason in Region 8, with the Tigers scheduled to face J.O. Johnson tonight at Goldsmith-Schiffman Field in Huntsville. Both teams are 3-2 in region play and the winner of the game is all but assured of the No. 3 seed in Region 8. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
Tiger notes:
