Bucs suffer 1st loss in regular season finale
ALABASTER – For the second straight season, Thompson High School won the Class 7A, Region 3 title by virtue of its win over Hoover.
On Friday night at Warrior Stadium, Thompson held Hoover at arm’s length in the second half to finish off a 39-23 win and a perfect 10-0 regular season. The defending state champs finished with a 7-0 region mark and handed Hoover its lone loss of the regular season.
“We came over here believing that we were going to win the game,” Hoover head coach Josh Niblett said following the game. “We had opportunities in the game where we flipped the momentum and we just didn’t cash in when we had those opportunities. You’ve got to against teams like that.”
Hoover took its only lead of the evening midway through the second quarter on one of those momentum swings. With the game tied 7-7, Thompson was marching toward the end zone. The Warriors went for it on fourth down, but Conner Harrell’s pass found the arms of Hoover linebacker Marcus Williams, who returned it over 70 yards. That set up Constantine Hontzas’ 28-yard field goal and gave the Bucs a 10-7 edge.
Over the next 12 minutes of play, spanning the second and third quarters, Thompson showed why it has been so tough to beat in recent years. To wrap up the second quarter, Harrell hit J.B. Mitchell for a 65-yard touchdown and Gavin Shipman stepped in front of a pass and returned the interception 72 yards to make it 19-10 Warriors at the half.
On the first possession of the third quarter, Jarrett Crockett scored the second of his three touchdowns on the night to give the Warriors a 26-10 edge.
The Bucs got another spark midway through the third quarter, as Corey Warren sacked Harrell and forced a fumble, which was picked up by Markus Clark and returned 15 yards for a touchdown.
Warren and Clark combined on a sack earlier in the game as well and Massiah Tolen intercepted a Harrell pass in the second quarter.
Though Thompson piled up 411 total yards, Niblett felt like his defense did enough to keep the Bucs in the game.
“I thought our D played well,” Niblett said. “There were some times, sure, where there were some plays we’d like to have back, but also at the same time, our guys played hard the whole night.”
Harrell was nearly flawless outside of the two interceptions, as he finished 26-of-32 for 246 yards and two touchdowns on the night. Both of those scoring throws were to Mitchell, who had six grabs for 124 yards. Ryan Peppins caught 10 balls for 61 yards and Sam Reynolds had six catches for 76 yards.
Crockett gave the Warriors a balanced attack, as he ran 19 times for 115 yards and three touchdowns.
Niblett lauded Thompson’s ability to convert on third down, while citing the Bucs’ struggles in that department on the evening.
“When we were good on first down, we moved the sticks and carried the momentum of the game. When we weren’t good on first down, we were put in third and long and you can’t get third and long against them,” he said.
Hoover totaled just 230 yards of offense, 115 on the ground and 115 through the air. Josh Lundy completed 11-of-27 passes, with RJ Hamilton catching four of them for 58 yards. Jaylen Taylor scored a 3-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Dylan Pauley ran a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Brian Porter led Hoover with 33 yards on three carries.
Both teams have an open date next week ahead of the first round of the state playoffs Nov. 6.
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