Tigers’ hot start not enough in second round loss
For the Enquirer
The Hartselle Tigers season came to an end this past Friday with a 34-14 loss to No. 2 Oxford in the second round of the 6A state playoffs. The loss concludes the Tigers season with a 9-3 record.
The Tigers dominated the first 16 minutes of the game, controlling the ball for over 15 minutes.
On their opening drive, the Tigers held the ball for eight minutes and 34 seconds in taking a 7-0 lead. Hartselle ran the ball 14 times in the 17-play drive. Jaheim Pruitt ran three times for 22 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown run. Jayden Morris ran five times for nine yards, while Noah Lee ran five times for 17 yards. Pruitt’s scoring run came with 3:56 remaining in the first quarter.
The defense held the high-powered Oxford offense, led by Louisville commit Mason Mims, to five yards and 23 seconds of possession time on the Yellowjackets opening drive.
Hartselle took possession of the ball for their next drive with 3:21 remaining in the first quarter. The Tigers had possession of the ball for seven minutes and 29 seconds for the second touchdown drive. They ran the ball 12 times while passing twice in the 14-play drive. The drive was capped off by a 2-yard scoring run by Lee.
“We got off to the start we wanted to in the first half,” coach Bert Newton said. “We wanted to control the ball with our running game and we did just that in taking a 14-0 lead.” The Tigers ran 31 plays to Oxford’s three in the opening 16:08 of the game to take a 14-0 lead. Unfortunately for Hartselle, they would not get close to the endzone again as the Oxford offense and defense took over the game on the Yellowjackets next possession where they scored in less than a min-ute to cut the lead to 14-7.
After getting a turnover on downs, Oxford struck again in less than a minute to tie the game at 14-14 with 4:21 remaining in the first half. They would add another touchdown with a 30-yard pass with less than five seconds remaining in the half for a 21-14 lead.
Oxford would score two times in the third quarter to make the final score 34-14.
The Tigers finished with 245 yards of total offense, compared to Oxford’s 334 total yards. The Tigers ran for 176 yards and passed for 69 yards, while Oxford ran for 78 and passed for 256.
Noah Lee finished 8-of-24 for 69 yards and four interceptions, while rushing for 72 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Morris finished with 45 yards rushing on 11 carries, while Pruitt had 41 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Carter Lee finished with six carries for 20 yards.
Cole Miles had four receptions for 44 yards, while Marcus Tapscott had one catch for 10 yards.
“The Hartselle community has a lot to be proud of in the young men on this team,” Newton said. “We are going to lose a great group of seniors but we expect to come back next season with another successful team.”
