The Tigers take the field against the Brewer patriots
| Caleb Suggs

Caleb Suggs

Hartselle Enquirer

When new Brewer head coach Geoff Walters saw that he would start his career at Brewer against Hartselle, he knew he had a tough task ahead. There was plenty of pressure as fans packed the newly done Patriot Hill, a spot created just for tail gating.To make things worse for the Brewer Patriots, the tigers of Hartselle were coming in off a loss against Pinson Valley and were hungry to redeem themselves. Walters wasn’t just about to lie down though. “I love these kind of games” Walters said, “Nobody expects you win so you have nothing to lose and you can do whatever you want.”

The fireworks would start early as Hartselle running back Jordan Stover would take the opening kickoff to the house to give the Tigers the early 7-0 lead. Walters would roll the dice early and go for it on fourth and one from his own 38-yard line on Brewer’s first drive. Hartselle’s defense would make the big stop however and give their offense the ball back at the Brewer 38 yard line. Hartselle would make the Patriots pay for their gamble as Kyle Hamlett would make a leaping 34 yard touchdown grab from Jake Tiffin to give the Tigers the 14-0 with 9:20 left in the first quarter. Brewer would attempt to fight back though on the next drive as a big pass from Hunter Swafford to Cole Weaver and a personal foul penalty would give them the ball first down at Hartselle’s 44 yard line. The Tiger defense would stop the Patriots right there though and then block the Patriots punt attempt to give the offense the ball at their own 40-yard line. Quarterback Jake Tiffin would hit running back Taylor Easterling on a 30 yard strike to get the Tigers to the Brewer 23, then Easterling would fight his way up the middle for the 14 yard touchdown run a few plays later as Hartselle would take the lead 21-0 with 4:38 left in the first quarter. Brewer would get their offense going on the next drive but a penalty would bring it back and then a bad punt would give the Tigers the ball at the patriot’s 34-yard line. Backup quarterback Trevor Oakes would enter the game and lead the offense down the field capping off the drive with a 15 yard td toss to Zeth Malcolm to give the Tigers the lead 28-0 and end the first quarter.

Brewer would fumble and Hartselle would recover on the ensuing kickoff but Brewer’s defense would hold strong and force the Tigers to turnover on downs. Despite the strong rally from the defense, the Patriot’s offense would still not be able to get anything going. Hartselle’s offense however, would keep it rolling as Taylor Easterling would take the ball 41 yards to the Brewer six yard line. Easterling would pound it in a few plays later as Hartselle took the lead 34-0. Hartselle would finish the first half with Trevor Oakes throwing a 28 yard fade pass to Garrett Wade to make it 41-0 at halftime. As the second half started, the Tigers’ began to mix in its backups with its starters. Brewer however, would continue to fight as they would take the ball down the field and cap off the drive with a three yard Cole Weaver touchdown run to cut Hartselle’s lead to 41-7. Hartselle would tack on one more touchdown, as Nicholas Steele would take it in for the score after third string quarterback Luke Godsey ran it to Brewer 15 yard line on a fourth and one play. The lead would be too much for Brewer to overcome, as the Patriots would fall to the Tigers 48-7.

After the game Hartselle head coach Bob Godsey was very pleased with his team’s performance. “It’s a start but were not there yet” said Godsey “I think we practiced well this week and were more fast and physical and kind of got back to what we do, but were still not where we want to be just yet.” Brewer will host Scottsboro next week while Hartselle will host Athens to start region play.