Huskies suffer 1st loss
TRUSSVILLE – Early mistakes on both sides of the ball were too much to overcome on Friday night for the Hewitt-Trussville High School football team.
Hewitt-Trussville surrendered four touchdowns in a frenetic second quarter, ultimately falling 35-21 to Class 7A No. 1 Thompson at Hewitt-Trussville Stadium, in a contest televised by ESPNU.
“There’s no excuse for it,” Huskies head coach Josh Floyd said following the game. “We didn’t get it done. I didn’t do a good enough job getting our guys ready, obviously.”
The second quarter proved disastrous for Hewitt-Trussville (4-1, 2-1 in Region 3). Thompson scored 28 points in the quarter, as the Huskies defense busted coverages and the offense turned the ball over on downs twice.
“In the first half alone offensively, we had more mistakes combined than we’ve had all season,” Floyd said. “They’re dang good on defense, and you can’t give them hope. My frustration is we shot ourselves in the foot over and over.”
The Huskies’ only score of that quarter came on a one-play drive. Following Sean Jackson’s long kickoff return, Armoni Goodwin scored on the ensuing play with a 25-yard run. That score was sandwiched around four Thompson (5-0, 3-0) touchdowns, with the Warriors taking a 35-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The two teams exchanged touchdowns in the first quarter. Conner Harrell began the evening with a 31-yard touchdown strike to Tre Roberson, one of four scoring strikes he would fire. Hewitt responded with a long drive, which culminated in a 13-yard pass from Cade Ott Carruth to Omari Kelly. Kelly broke a tackle and tiptoed down the sideline to knot the score at 7-7.
Harrell continued to find open receivers in the second quarter, hitting Ryan Peppins for scores of 5 and 66 yards and Sam Reynolds for a 36-yard touchdown in the final minute of the half. Harrell was accurate, throwing for 276 yards in the first half. He finished the evening 14-of-20 for 328 yards.
Nathan Crockett scored on a 5-yard run in the second quarter as well. He was the Warriors’ leading rusher, going for 118 yards on 21 carries.
Floyd gave a tremendous amount of credit to his defense. Despite the rocky first half, the Huskies put up a zero on the scoreboard over the final two quarters.
“Defensively, we played really well in the second half. I’m really proud of our guys the way they came out. Even though we didn’t win the game, I thought we took a step in the right direction as far as the character shown by our guys,” he said.
Floyd attributed Hewitt’s early mistakes more to the youth of the team than jitters from being on the national stage in matchup of the top two teams in 7A.
“I do think we’ll get better up front, because we’ve got some young guys that are going to continue to jell up front,” Floyd said. “You’re not going to beat them making that many mistakes.”
The Huskies’ offense showed some life in the second half as well. Goodwin scored his second touchdown of the night on a 58-yard run to cut the deficit to 35-21 with 3:35 to play in the third quarter. He finished with 128 yards on 15 carries. Jackson also was effective, running for 91 yards on 10 rushes.
“If Armoni has a crease, he’s pretty dang good,” Floyd said. “We did move the ball better in the second half.”
Carruth finished his night 12-of-23 passing for 119 yards. Kelly was his top target, as he went for 77 yards on five grabs.
Both teams take a break from region play next week. Hewitt-Trussville will make a trip to Huffman, an improved team this fall, while Thompson hosts top-ranked 6A team Mountain Brook. With the win, Thompson is now tied with Hoover atop Region 3, while Hewitt joins Oak Mountain with one loss in region play.
“We’ve got to learn from it. It’s not the end of the season,” Floyd said.
Click here to view and purchase photos from the game.