Huskies cruise past Tuscaloosa County
TRUSSVILLE — There’s no place like home.
Class 7A No. 4 Hewitt-Trussville High School cruised to a 42-7 victory Friday over region foe Tuscaloosa County in its fourth straight home game to open the season.
Cade Carruth completed 23-of-36 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for two more, to pace the Huskies (4-0, 2-0 in Region 3). James Hammonds rushed for 56 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries to lead the rushing attack. Five different Hewitt-Trussville receivers caught at least three passes each in a game that saw a number of missed opportunities in the passing attack.
“We put the ball on the ground too many times,” said Hewitt-Trussville head coach Josh Floyd. “We’ve got to do a better job of throwing and catching if we want to win big football games. We had it open sometimes deep and we just didn’t connect.”
It certainly wasn’t a bad showing, perhaps just a little bit of rust. Carruth capped a 15-play opening drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jordan McCants to go up 7-0. Two drives later, Carruth called his own number and scored from a yard out. Hammonds found the end zone from 5 yards out early in the second quarter to go up 21-0. The Huskies’ final drive of the first half lasted 12 plays and culminated with Carruth finding Ryan Shoop for an 8-yard touchdown.
“They were playing off our receivers so we were just trying to take what we could get,” Floyd said. “I thought we did a good job being patient. Drives took a little longer than we’re used to, but that’s part of it. You’ve got to take what the defense gives you. Sometimes that's shots over the top. Sometimes that’s some plays underneath. Tonight they were trying not to get beat deep, so we just tried to take what they gave us.
Carruth added a 13-yard scamper in the third quarter to go up 35-0. Peyton Floyd rushed for 31 yards on the Huskies’ final scoring drive, capping it with a 3-yard touchdown run.
Tuscaloosa County added a touchdown with 2:26 to play when Alexander Ott found Gavin Gardner on a 15-yard strike. The Wildcats (1-3, 0-2) managed just 107 total yards and eight first downs in the game. Riggs Dunn had an interception and Tyrell Averhart practically spent the night in the Wildcats’ backfield. He had a sack and a couple tackles for loss.
“Our defense played great,” Floyd said. “I just think we did a good job of getting some penetration and did a great job of tackling.”
McCants led the Hewitt-Trussville receivers with 77 yards and a touchdown on three receptions. Kadarius Barnes caught five passes for 63 yards, Omari Kelly hauled in seven passes for 57 yards and Shoop had 45 yards on five grabs. Cayson Zackery caught six passes for 38 yards.
Hewitt-Trussville travels to top-ranked Thompson (4-0) next week. The Warriors’ last loss was a 35-29 defeat at Hewitt-Trussville in October 2019. Thompson has won 22 straight games, including two over the Huskies, since then. Thompson has allowed just three points across its four wins this season.
“You’ve got to play good football when you’re playing a big game,” Floyd said. “That’s playing well on special teams, winning the turnover battle, winning the battle up front. Those are big things no matter who you’re playing. You get in a big game, you’ve got to play well. That’s the only way you’re going to beat a team like that.”