By Staff
Justin Schuver, Sports Editor
Say what you want about complicated and intricate passing offenses that employ four and five-receiver sets and perfect timing on the part of the quarterback, I'll take smashmouth football any day.
If you went to Decatur last Friday, that's what you saw – a smashmouth rushing team in Hartselle making a pass-first team in Austin look silly. From the second quarter onward, it was obvious that the Tigers were simply wearing down the Black Bears on both sides of the line, a testament to Hartselle's conditioning.
If the Tigers can consistently run the football as well as they did last Friday, this will be a very productive and entertaining season. Here's my picks for this week.
Hartselle (1-0) at Curry (1-0): Sophomore running back Montrel Murphy opened a lot of eyes in Decatur last weekend with a standout performance in his first-ever start. It remains to be seen what we might do for an encore. Hartselle has to be careful not to look past Curry to Russellville next week. Coach Godsey will see to it that they don't…Tigers 35, Yellow Jackets 20.
Cleveland (1-0) at Falkville (0-1): Coach Estes' team played Danville about as tough as they could last Thursday, serving notice to everyone in the area that these are not last year's 0-10 Blue Devils. Cleveland was Falkville's closest loss in 2004 and they will be the team's first win in 2005…Blue Devils 17, Panthers 7.
Sulligent (0-1) at Danville (1-0): The Hawks' win over Falkville was ugly at times, with the team fumbling and turning the ball over seemingly every series. You can be sure that Coach Joey Burch will ride his team hard at practice, and they won't make the same mistakes against Sulligent…Hawks 24, Blue Devils 10.
Russellville (1-0) at Brewer (1-0): Congratulations go out to Coach Coleman and the Brewer Patriots for winning their third straight game. Your reward is getting to play the No. 2 team in the state…Golden Tigers 42, Patriots 10.
Lamar Co. (0-1) at Priceville (0-1): Two sets of winless Bulldogs go at each other this weekend. Priceville had trouble scoring points on Friday, and this one could be ugly if they can't hold on to the football…Visiting Bulldogs 24, Home Bulldogs 10.
Middle Tenn. St. (0-0) at Alabama (0-0): If Alabama's up by at least three touchdowns at the half, as they should be, Coach Mike Shula would be crazy not to take Brodie Croyle out of the game…Crimson Tide 45, Blue Raiders 13.
Georgia Tech (0-0) at Auburn (0-0): The Tigers won't have to wait long to prove they can win without the Cadillac and Ronnie Brown. Georgia Tech is going to be potent on offense with quarterback Reggie Ball coming into his own and first-team all-ACC PJ Daniels in the backfield…Yellow Jackets 20, Tigers 14.
Notre Dame (0-0) at Pittsburgh (0-0): I have all the confidence in the world that Coach Charlie Weis will get us (yes, I used "us.") back to being competitive. But Pittsburgh is a tough opener, featuring a quarterback that threw for five touchdowns against the Irish secondary last year…Panthers 35, Fighting Irish 21.
I'd like to finish by sending out a special message to perhaps our only subscriber in Gadsden. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!