Looking at this matchup on paper before the game, it could have been easy for Thompson to overlook Tuscaloosa County and come out of the gates slowly, as the Warriors did last week against Spain Park. Those concerns were put to rest very quickly, as the Warriors intercepted a pass on the Wildcats' very first drive and never looked back.
After getting what ended up being a rare first down, Wildcats quarterback Kaleb Marcum saw his first pass of the game tipped and intercepted by Warrior defensive back Conner Williams. Two plays later, Thompson quarterback Trent Seaborn found receiver Darion Moseley for a 42-yard touchdown pass.
From there, the game largely rotated between a Tuscaloosa County three-and-out or turnover followed by a Thompson touchdown. After the initial Warrior drive, the following offensive drives ended in a 3-yard touchdown run by C.J. Cowley, a 22-yard touchdown pass from Seaborn to Dedrick Kimbrough, another Seaborn-to-Moseley connection for a 22-yard touchdown, and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Seaborn to sophomore Bralen Coleman to put the Warriors up 34-0 early in the second quarter.
The backups came in for the Warriors at that point, but that did not slow down the offensive onslaught. Coleman hauled in another touchdown pass before halftime, this time a 3-yarder from Jahari Nation, to bring the score to 41-0 at halftime.
It was more of the same in the second half on both offense and defense, although the game went much faster with both teams chewing clock. Latrell Sanders continued the scoring spree to open the half with a 21-yard touchdown run. On the next drive, Nation connected for another touchdown pass, this time finding Tristan Mosley from 18 yards out. On their final full drive, Jensen Edwards led the Warrior third-string team down the field on the ground, capping it off with a 25-yard score.
Thompson head coach Mark Freeman was happy to be able to give playing time tonight to players who do not always see the field.
"That's a great thing," Freeman said. "We had some ninth-graders we brought up tonight in anticipation that we might get to play them. I asked the coaches repeatedly to make sure they got all their guys in. With a hundred kids, I just pray we got them all in. It's great for them because they work out year-round. All the kids work the same amount of hours. It's great to have nights where they can all get on the field and feel like they get restitution for all the hard work they've put in. I'm proud of the kids and thankful to God we got out with no injuries."
On the offensive side of the ball, Thompson capped off every drive with a touchdown except for the final one, which ended the game. Defensively, the Warriors did not allow the Wildcats to cross midfield until late in the second quarter. That would not happen again until the Wildcats' final drive of the game, when they drove down the field against the Thompson third-stringers for their only score of the game, a 19-yard Nolan Whigham touchdown run.
In total, both Warrior quarterbacks who threw the ball had only one incompletion, as All-Stater Seaborn went 13-of-14 for 216 yards and four scores, while Nation went 5-of-5 for 58 yards and two scores. Moseley led all receivers with 79 yards on three receptions for two scores, while Coleman was not far behind with 77 yards on four receptions and two scores. Behind them, Kimbrough had two receptions for 50 yards and a score, Mosley had three receptions for 32 yards and a score, and Rome Bell had four receptions for 23 yards.
Edwards led the Warriors on the ground, going for 63 yards on four carries with a score. Cowley and Sanders each had two carries for 34 and 28 total yards, respectively, each with a score. Nicolas McKissic also had four carries for 27 yards.
Defensively, Johnathan Hayes, King Golson and Tysley Gaison-Salanoa led the way with four tackles each, with Golson also recording a forced fumble. Undonte Oden and Xeyanni Tafisi each followed with three tackles and a fumble recovery, respectively, while Antonio Wynn and Sean-Christian Sigler also each had three tackles. Williams ended up with two interceptions.
The state's top-ranked team will have a bye week next week, then will start the second half of its season the following week against region foe Hoover.
"We got a lot to work on," Freeman said. "We'll spend next week critiquing ourselves. We got all of our breakdowns — we're going to watch ourselves, our tendencies, what we do. We're going to try to break tendencies that fit and still do, and really just learn about ourselves next week. Then the following week we will go into game prep for Hoover."
