HOOVER – Going into the halftime break on the heels of a Spain Park touchdown in the final seconds of the half, the top-ranked Thompson Warriors held a 21-14 lead, and one message resonated throughout the team—not good enough.That was evident by the way the Warriors came out ready to make a statement against the sixth-ranked Jaguars in the second half.
Thompson scored on the first play from scrimmage to start the second half thanks to a 78-yard touchdown pass from Trent Seaborn to Mason McClure.
Then, very quickly, the Warriors got an interception from Conner Williams on defense, and they were off to the races from there.
Thompson quickly turned that into a three-play touchdown drive capped off by another McClure touchdown catch of 18 yards, which became part of a 27-0 second half to lift the Warriors to a 48-14 win.
Head coach Mark Freeman, however, didn't avoid talking about the expectation for a complete game and the slow start.
"I'm thankful for the win, and Spain Park has a good football team, but I only worry about us, and we didn't do very good in the first half," Freeman said. "They responded good and they needed to. Obviously, we shut them out in the second half, but if we can shut them out there, why couldn't we do it in the first half? Effort? Attitude? Are we ready to play? My thing is, you have to want to play every down of every game and I don't think we did that in the first half. We did better in the second half, but we have things we have to be better at."
The first half did feature its share of back-and-forth moments, especially in the second quarter with 35 combined points between the two teams.
Thompson got the scoring started when CJ Cowley powered in a 4-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead with 8:45 left in the second quarter.
The Warriors then got the ball back quickly and made it 14-0 when Seaborn rolled to his right and hit Dedrick Kimbrough for a 19-yard touchdown pass.
Spain Park's CJ Davis, however, was coming off back-to-back 130-yard performances and was ready early against the daunting Thompson defense.
Davis reeled off a 57-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive to breathe some life into the Jags.
Thompson came right back with another great touchdown pass from Seaborn to Kimbrough, this time from 25 yards out to make it 21-7.
But Davis had one more special play in him. After the Jags drove deep into Thompson territory, a screen pass to Davis with 11 seconds left in the half saw him escape for a 24-yard touchdown as he powered through a defender and into the end zone with 2 seconds left on the clock, making it 21-14
That was a moment Freeman was disappointed in."We go down and score to get a touchdown with two minutes left in the half. Whether it be the first half or the second half, if you score a touchdown late in the half, you can't give up a late touchdown," he said. "Good teams don't do that. It's frustrating."
That frustration, however, led to determination in the second half.
Following the two touchdowns within the first three minutes of the half, the Warriors added another touchdown later in the third quarter on an 11-yard pass from Seaborn to Darion Moseley to make it 42-14, which became more than enough to put the game away as the Jags never could find the same offensive success.
Thompson capped off the scoring when backup quarterback Jahari Nation ran in a quarterback keeper from 3 yards out with 3:06 to play.
"You hope you can gather something out of the game, but there is no excuse for it," Freeman said. "I won't sugarcoat that with them in the locker room. Every week, you are playing someone who is gunning for your tail. The last thing I told them is that you can't let people want to win the game worse than you want to win."Seaborn finished the game 19-28 for 361 yards and five touchdowns in the win, but the storyline was McClure, who totaled 117 yards and two touchdowns but went down with an leg injury late in the game and was in a brace on crutches at the end.
"He means a lot. He's a tremendous teammate and tremendous guy. I pray we can get him fixed up and we can get him back. I am not sure exactly what it is right now, but he is going to be a great person whether he plays next week or not," Freeman said. "He's just a tremendous person and we love him."
McClure's special night was followed very closely by Kimbrough and Moseley at the receiver position. Kimbrough totaled 96 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions, while Moseley finished with 80 yards and a touchdown on five receptions.CJ Cowley, Latrell Sanders and Jafari Pegues combined for 129 yards on the ground with 52, 55 and 22 yards, respectively
The Thompson defense was led by Cam Pritchett with seven total tackles, while Trent McCorvey added six.
Meanwhile, CJ Davis' special performance included 18 carries for 136 yards and a touchdown as well as two receptions for 28 yards and a touchdown.
Thompson improved to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in region play with the win. The Warriors have now scored 37 or more and given up 14 or less in every game.They'll host Tuscaloosa County next week before a bye week and a matchup against Hoover.
Spain Park is now 3-1 overall and 1-1 in region play ahead of a road trip to take on Vestavia Hills, which will also be followed by a bye week.
