Hartselle hangs on for 21-19 win over Athens
For the Enquirer
The Hartselle Tigers have now won two consecutive one-score games after their 21-19 win over Athens last Friday. Going back to the 2020 season, the Tigers are now 8-4 in one-score games with two of those losses coming in overtime games.
“We were able to get a good win over a well-coached Athens team,” coach Bert Newton said. “The defense did what they had to do to keep us in the game, while the offense made some good plays to get points on the board.” The Tigers’ defense kept Athens off the board after an 11-play drive that ended with a failed fourth down attempt following a third down sack by Justin Metz for an 11-yard loss.
After the teams swapped punts, Hartselle took possession with 2:13 remaining in the first quarter at their own 13-yard line. It took the Tigers three plays to move the ball out to the 43-yard line with big runs by Jayden Morris and Jaheim Pruitt. On the fourth play of the drive, Noah Lee connected with Cain Falciani for a 57-yard touchdown pass to put Hartselle up 7-0 after the extra point.
Defenses dominated the second quarter as Hartselle held Athens to 14 total yards, while the Golden Eagles defense held the Tigers to 43 yards.
After halftime, Athens came out and took the first possession and scored on a nineplay, 60-yard drive that took two minutes off the clock. After a TJ Sanders sack on the two-point conversion, Hartselle led 7-6.
On the Tigers’ next drive, Lee forced a pass to Falciani that was intercepted by the Athens defense that was returned to the Hartselle 48-yard line, giving the Golden Eagles excellent field position. Five plays later, Athens took their first lead of the game on a 9-yard touchdown pass making the score 12-7.
The Tiger bounced right back on their next possession with a 17-play, 69-yard scoring drive, capped off by a seven-yard touchdown run by Pruitt to put Hartselle up 14-12. The Tigers ran the ball on 14 of the 17 plays and took 5:26 off the clock.
The fourth quarter played out like the second quarter up until the final three minutes. Hartselle increased their lead to 21-12 with a six-play, 46-yard drive capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by Lee with 0:54.6 seconds remaining.
Athens added a touchdown with 0:01.4 seconds left to make the final score 21-19.
Hartselle finished with 323 total yards, 217 yards rushing and 106 yards passing. Athens finished with 319 total yards, 122 rushing and 197 passing.
Noah Lee finished 7-of-16 for 93 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Falciani had five receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown.
Pruitt had a career-high 107 yards rushing on 16 carries with a touchdown, while Carter Lee had 44 yards rushing on seven carries. Morris added 29 yards on 12 carries, while Noah Lee had 22 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown.
Hartselle (6-1, 4-0) hosts Jasper (5-2, 2-2) on Friday night. The Vikings are coming off a 49-48 win over Muscle Shoals.
