Red-hot Gadsden City team awaits Bucs

Don’t let Gadsden City’s 7-5 record fool you.

Surely that is the message Hoover High School head football coach Josh Niblett is conveying to his troops ahead of a Class 7A semifinal game, set to take place on Friday at 7 p.m. at Titan Stadium.

The Titans began the season by losing their first four and were 1-5 through the season’s first six weeks. For whatever reason, the light switch flipped on, and Gadsden City has won its last six games, including four straight to conclude the regular season.

“We’ve got to prepare in a way that we’ve never prepared before so we’re ready to play,” Niblett said following Hoover’s tight 14-7 win over James Clemens last week.

Gadsden City has taken to the road in each of the first two rounds and won games it was not expected to, as the Titans knocked off a Mountain Brook team that won eight games in the regular season and followed that up with a 29-28 upset over previously unbeaten Hewitt-Trussville last week.

This week, the Titans return home to face their toughest challenger of the year in Hoover.

Hoover is 10-0 against in-state teams this year, including a season-opening win over Central-Phenix City, who is facing off against McGill-Toolen in the opposite 7A semifinal.

The Bucs are facing a team from Region 4 for the third consecutive week. Following a 31-10 win over Bob Jones in the opening round of the postseason, Hoover knocked off James Clemens a week ago in a defensive struggle.

In that game, Hoover’s offense got on the board first with a Vonte’ Brackett touchdown run, which would be the only offensive score in the game. Will Singleton scored on a 15-yard fumble return to give the Bucs a 14-0 lead in the third quarter.

James Clemens found the end zone just once, on a blocked punt late in the third quarter to cut the lead in half, but Hoover’s defense did what it has done all season, and made it nearly impossible to score.

If Hoover’s defense continues to play the way it is capable – allowing a paltry 10.2 points per game – and the offense makes enough plays, the Bucs could find themselves back at the Super 7 once again.

- Sam Chandler contributed to this story.