Hartselle remains perfect in region

CURRY – Hartselle stepped closer to three season goals with its 47-6 dismantling of Curry Friday night at Hudson-O’Rear Stadium in a Class 5A, Region 6 game.
The Tigers defended their top-ranking for the second straight week by dominating the Yellow Jackets early and often.
Hartselle improved to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the region.
A playoff berth – the fifth straight for the Tigers – is all but mathematically assured, and Hartselle needs just one win to at least clinch a share of the region championship.
“I’m very proud of our guys,” said Hartselle head coach Bob Godsey. “We had a good week of practice and I’m sensing some maturity, which is good to see. I saw a lot of maturity tonight.
“We’re so young and we’ve been so banged up – especially offensively – its really been hard to get a lot of continuity and consistency going. We’re finally getting close to finding ourselves.”
Hartselle piled up 508 yards of total offense against Curry with 325 yards coming on the ground.
But more importantly, the Tigers didn’t turn the ball over for the second week in a row. The Tigers’ last turnover came on the final play of a 20-14 loss to Decatur in the fifth week of the season.
Hartselle has a chance to gain a share of the region championship with a win over Mortimer Jordan Friday at J.P. Cain Stadium, but the top spot probably won’t be decided until after the Tigers face rival Cullman.
“We’re at a point right now where the next two weeks are huge for us,” Godsey said. “We have three goals – we want to qualify for the playoffs, we want to get a home playoff game in the first round and we want to win the region.
“All of those goals are still out there for us.”
Blake Slayton ran for a pair of touchdowns as the Tigers dominated the Yellow Jackets.
Slayton finished the night with 129 yards on just five carries. He now has five touchdowns this season.
The Tigers scored three touchdowns in the second quarter to jump in front 27-0 at the half over the struggling Yellow Jackets.
Hartselle opened with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Will Lang to James Seiglock just three minutes into the game.
Malcolm Fossett, who has played sparingly since suffering a shoulder injury against Walker three weeks ago, scored on a 6-yard run midway through the second quarter to give the Tigers a 13-0 margin.
Fossett picked up 90 yards rushing on just eight carries. He leads the Tigers with 401 yards on the ground this season despite missing the Decatur game and playing in the first half the last two weeks.
“It was good to get Malcolm some carries,” Godsey said.
Lang threw two more touchdown passes in the final six minutes of the first half to stretch the lead to 27 points.
The senior threw a 33-yard touchdown to Will Tiffin and added another score on a 27-yarder to Chance Partlow.
Slayton scored on runs of 32 and 65 yards in the second half.
Keno Stover capped the Hartselle scoring with a 10-yard touchdown run just seven seconds into the fourth quarter to give the Tigers a 47-0 lead.
Hartselle lost its shutout bid in the fourth quarter when Curry’s Nathan Humphries went 86 yards for a score with 3:49 remaining.
Hartselle has held opponents to seven points or less five times this season with one shutout.
The Tigers are allowing just 8.6 points per game through seven games, meaning the Tigers currently have the stingiest defense in Class 5A.
Hartselle’s defense ranks 14th in all classifications in fewest points allowed per game.