The Thompson Warriors entered Protective Stadium for the second time ever in a
rematch against the Central-Phenix City Red Devils and improved to 2-0 in the stadium
and 5-1 in the last six state championship games with a 21-7 win to earn yet another
blue map.
The Warriors entered the game at 10-3 this season, having never trailed after four
quarters and kept that streak alive until the end. Central entered as the defending
champions, looking to use many of the same players as last season to try and win back-
to-back titles for the first time in their school's history.
After Central received the opening kickoff, they drove it down the field over 8 plays to
put the first points on the board after a Daylyn Upshaw 4-yard touchdown run. The
Thompson offense struggled to get going at first, going 3-and-out on their first three
drives of the game, only gaining seven total yards. However, the defense stood strong
and shifted field position back in favor of the Warriors at the 50-yard line for a short field
in the second quarter.
It only took four plays for Thompson to punch it in and tie the game up with 6:02 left in
the half as Trent Seaborn connected with Darion Moseley on a 5-yard touchdown catch.
The very next drive saw a huge sack on third down by Noah Streeter to force Central
into a 4 th and 19 to punt the ball back to Thompson with a chance to take the lead.
Michael Dujon ran for 14 yards, then Seaborn scrambled for another 32, followed by RJ
Evans finding a hole for 13 yards before Dujon came back in and punched it in from 19
yards out to give Thompson a 14-7 lead with 2:23 left in the first half.
Central answered in a big way, with Upshaw taking a short pass for 35 yards to get the
ball in Thompson territory. Upshaw then caught another pass for 20 more yards, but
when it looked like Central was going to be set up in the red zone with a chance to tie
the game going into halftime, Payton Lewis stepped up and stripped the ball from
Upshaw, allowing Anquon Fegans to jump on it and give it back to Thompson with 2:02
remaining.
Seaborn immediately found Dedrick Kimbrough for 39 yards to get back in Central
territory before RJ Evans got another first down, then Pryce Lewis gained another 17
yards before Seaborn and Moseley connected again in the front corner of the endzone
for a 12-yard touchdown strike to go up 21-7 at the end of the half.
Central started the second half with a stop against the Thompson offense, then drove
down to the Thompson 11-yard line before a huge stop came from the Thompson
defense to give a turnover on downs. After Thompson drained some more clock,
Central got the ball back and drove into Thompson territory again before Anquon
Fegans came up with a big interception.

On Central's final drive to try and put points on the board, they got down as close as the
Thompson 6-yard line, but a huge loss on third down set up a 4th and 10 that saw
Thompson get yet another redzone turnover on downs, which led to the Thompson
offense gaining 82 yards down to the goal line where they had run enough clock to take
a knee and win the game 21-7.
Seaborn finished the game 9/17 for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception. He
also added 36 yards rushing. Dujon finished with 15 carries for 104 yards and a
touchdown to put him over 1,000 yards on the season, while Evans had 10 carries for
101 yards. Moseley earned Super 7 MVP honors for his performance with 4 catches for
61 yards and two touchdowns. Kimbrough also had two catches for 44 yards.
On defense, Fegans led the way with eight total tackles, an interception and a fumble
recovery. Noah Streeter ended with 2.5 tackles for loss while Cam Pritchett accounted
for 1.5 sacks with Trent Cheatom and Jared Smith also getting credit for sacks. The
Thompson defense accounted for 11 total tackles for loss and four sacks.
Thompson outgained Central in total yardage 368 to 277 despite 13 less plays and was
+1 in turnover margin.
This is Thompson's sixth state championship overall and fifth under head coach Mark
Freeman. The Warriors now move ahead in the series against the Red Devils 3-2 and
remain unbeaten in Protective Stadium.
Thompson now moves into a tie for the fifth most state titles ever in the playoff era with
six, tied with Homewood, TR Miller, Colbert County and Clay County. It's the second
most titles among 7A schools, only behind Hoover. Their seventh straight appearance in
the Super 7 ties a record with Hoover, as the Warriors look to shatter the record books
next season.
Head Coach Mark Freeman now has the most state championships won of any coach
across the AISA and AHSAA with 11 combined titles and is tied for third for most titles at
one school with five championships at Thompson, tied with Steve Smith (Piedmont),
Bob Newton (Homewood), Rush Propst (Hoover), Steve Mask (St. Paul's) and Lynn
Wright (Pickens Academy).
Congrats to the Warriors on an incredible championship season!