Caleb Suggs

Hartselle Enquirer

“Everything didn’t go just right and we didn’t respond very well.” The words of Hartselle head coach Bob Godsey summed up the night perfectly for the Hartselle Tigers. The Tigers were riding high off a three game winning streak and an absolute drumming of Athens last week. However, the Tigers fell back down to earth hard Friday night when they welcomed the Florence Falcons (1-2).

Florence busted the game open on the very first drive when Armoni Goodwin went 65 yards for the score. The Falcons added to that by picking Hartselle’s Luke Godsey off on the next drive. Hartselle managed to block a field goal try by the Falcons, but after a three and out by Hartselle, Florence got the ball back inside Hartselle territory. The Falcons added to their lead with a 22-yard touchdown run by Goodwin.

It seemed like nothing was going to go right for Hartselle as they faced the danger of another three and out. That is until Godsey connected with Taylor Easterling for 21 yards into Florence territory. The Tigers moved methodically down the rest of the field with short runs until Easterling banged it in from three yards out to cut the lead to 14-7. Florence tried to add more points just before the half, but the Falcons missed a 34-yard field goal.

Florence picked up where it left off in the second half as a miscommunication and busted coverage led to an 87-yard touchdown catch from Caddarrious Thompson that put the Falcons up 21-7.

Hartselle punched back by putting together another methodical drive. Keondre Swoopes had the highlight of the drive when he rushed for 15 yards plus a personal foul penalty to get to the Florence 15 yard line. A few plays later and Ian Bodine capped the drive off with a two-yard touchdown run.

Florence went back up by two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Bradley Dorin to J’Mir Oliver.

Hartselle had a chance to get back in the ballgame. Luke Godsey found Riley Wood for a 26-yard pass to open up the next drive and a 19-yard run by Keondre Swoopes put the Tigers at the Florence 10. However, Hartselle would turn it over on downs on the Florence two-yard line. The Falcons put the final nail in the coffin when Armoni Goodwin carried it 90 yards for a score.

Hartselle tried to end things on a positive not as Godsey connected on two big passes to Ian Bodine and David Hayes into Florence territory, but a late interception sealed the game as Florence won 35-14.

For Hartselle, there’s plenty to take from this game. “We’re going to learn from it and were going to be ok,” head coach Bob Godsey said. “We played a real athletic team and we didn’t respond well. Some our of youth showed up tonight but the main thing is we just didn’t get it done.” The hard loss comes at an interesting time for the Tigers, as they will now prepare for a big rivalry road game at Muscle Shoals, a place the Tigers have not won at since 2007. “We’re going to find out a little bit about ourselves this week. I think we jumped out to 3-0 and had a false impression and lost our edge, “ Godsey said. “ They were 0-2 and hungrier than we were tonight and it showed, they made all the big plays. You can’t do the things we did in our region and expect to win.”

Hartselle falls to 3-1 on the season and 1-1 in region play. The Tigers will travel to Muscle Shoals next Friday. Last season’s meeting between the two was an instant classic, and another one is sure to be on the horizon.