Huskies down Huffman
BIRMINGHAM – There was no hint of a letdown Thursday night.
From start to finish, the Hewitt-Trussville High School football team was equal parts powerful and efficient in a 49-8 win over Huffman in a non-region matchup at Viking Stadium.
The result was a much less stressful one than the last time the Huskies visited Huffman, a 2020 game in which the Huskies survived to win 3-0 on a late field goal.
There was no threat of a sluggish evening this time around, as the Hewitt-Trussville (4-2) offense operated with elite precision, scoring all seven times it had the ball in the first two quarters.
The defense hardly allowed anything either, forcing seven straight punt attempts to begin the contest.
“I’m proud of how we came out here and took care of business early on,” Hewitt-Trussville head coach Josh Floyd said. “I’m proud of how we responded after a tough one last week. It’s hard to come back after a game like that. Our guys came out here and did a really nice job.”
Hewitt-Trussville struggled to get things going offensively last week in a loss to region rival Hoover, but there were no such issues Thursday.
Peyton Floyd has done plenty of damage as a dual-threat quarterback this season, but made all of his plays with his arm in this game. He was nearly flawless, completing 13-of-15 passes for 186 yards and five touchdowns.
Running backs Kennedy Mitchell and Jaqson Melton bookended the first half scoring with touchdown runs, Mitchell’s coming from 13 yards out and Melton’s on a 45-yard sprint.
In between those two, Floyd connected with Ka’Darius Barnes on a 21-yarder, Donovan Price on a 3-yard pass, Jadon Loving on passes of 10 and 31 yards, and fired another strike to Barnes, who made a nice play for a 22-yard score.
Riley Rigg nailed all seven extra-point attempts.
The Huskies worked in such great sync on both sides of the ball that the offense only ran five plays in its own territory the whole first half.
“We have leaders on this team that want to be great and they want this team to be great,” Josh Floyd said. “A lot of how your team is is how you respond to adversity. The defense set the tone early on tonight and didn’t really give them much offensively, and didn’t let them get going. We contained them pretty well. The offense executed really well.”
Hunter Osborne, Tyrell Averhart and Ayden Moore were among the Huskies defenders to notch sacks on the night. Huffman gained only 121 total yards, many of those coming in the second half against the younger players.
Mitchell finished as the game’s leading rusher, with 69 yards on six carries. Melton had 56 yards on two rushes. Loving led the way in the passing game with 73 yards on four grabs. Barnes had three catches for 51 yards and Price finished with three receptions for 23 yards.
Brett Moseley and Jacob Sanders also caught passes for Hewitt-Trussville. Connor Rhodes, Michael Igbinoghene, Jamal Hobbs, Steven Fisher and Cameron Simpson were among those to receive carries as well.
Mekail Alexander Johnson hit Joshual McAdory for a 36-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, then threw a pass Orlando Norris for the two-point conversion to make it 49-8.
Jakobe Hall led Huffman with 24 rushing yards. Christian Gorman had Jaylan Groce had 25 and 22 receiving yards, respectively.
Hewitt-Trussville has one of its biggest games of the season next week, as the Huskies visit Thompson. Huffman returns to region play as well and visits Pinson Valley.