Hartselle opens region play by dismantling Columbia
For the Enquirer
The Hartselle Tigers opened region play with a 65-0 win over Columbia last Friday afternoon. The game was moved to Friday afternoon due to inclement weather forecasted for Thursday night.
“I am proud of guys for staying focused throughout the win,” Coach Bert Newton said. “This game was challenging for us due to the time change and playing it at 3 p.m. However, the team remained focused on the task at hand and came out victorious.” The Tigers opened the game with a 7-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Jaheim Preuitt scored on a fiveyard run to put the Tigers up 7-0 with 9:04 left in the first quarter.
Three minutes later, Hartselle pushed the lead to 14-0 with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Noah Lee to Cain Falciani with 6:03 left in the first.
Another Pruitt touchdown run extended the Tigers’ lead to 21-0 with 4:21 left in the first. Hartselle added a safety on the next play to push the lead to 23-0.
Hartselle capped the first quarter scoring with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Noah Lee to Cole Miles with 42 seconds left in the quarter.
The Tigers’ defense held Columbia to -24 yards of total offense in the first quarter.
Hartselle continued the onslaught with a 45-yard scoring drive to open the second quarter. The drive was capped off by a Carter Lee 19-yard touchdown pass to Markus Tapscott with 9:25 remaining in the first half.
With 3:42 remaining in the first half, the Tigers extended the lead to 44-0 when Carter Lee connected with Cain Falciani for a 71-yard touchdown pass.
In the final 2:38 of the half, the Tigers got scoring runs from Chandler Keel (6-yards) and Ethan Haynes (10-yards) to take a 58-0 lead into halftime.
The second half saw the quarters shortened to eight minutes with a running clock. The Tigers added one final score when Witt Chrisler connected with Aiden Porter for a 7-yard touchdown pass with 5:54 remaining in the game.
Hartselle finished with a seasonhigh 429 yards of total offense. They ran for 176 yards and four touchdowns while passing for 253 yards and five touchdowns.
The Tigers’ defense held Columbia to -11 yards of total offense. The Eagles ran for -42 yards while passing for 31 yards.
Hartselle (2-1, 1-0) will travel to Decatur on Friday for a region matchup with the Red Raiders (0-4, 0-2).
