By Chris Yow
Editor
MADISON — This wasn’t how the season was supposed to end. A senior-laden Hewitt-Trussville (6-5) team was poised to make some noise in the Class 7A playoffs this season, but injuries and untimely errors combined to put an early end to a promising season.
Playing a wet field, the Huskies could never get much offense going in a game that was a defensive struggle all night, and James Clemens (10-1) came away with a 22-0 win Thursday night at Madison City Stadium.
Neither team’s offense was able to put a solid drive together and complete it with a touchdown. All of the scores were either defensive, special teams or set up by a special teams play.
“Field conditions were awful,” Hewitt-Trussville head coach Josh Floyd said after the game. “The thing they did, and they’ve done it all year, was they were opportunistic.”
Opportunistic the Jets were, indeed. A safety was called on the Huskies’ second possession of the night when James Clemens defenders hemmed up quarterback Davis Burgin and forced a pass from the end zone that was deemed intentional grounding. Elliot McElwain was standing next to Burgin, but the officials decided he was not an eligible receiver in the area of the pass, giving the Jets a safety.
Both teams struggled to get anything going on the ground, and through the first quarter, both teams had negative total offensive yards. It was the last play of the first quarter, however, that gave James Clemens the edge.
Following a penalty on a punt, the Huskies were forced to punt again. That’s when James Clemens’ Immanuel Wilder took the punt 80 yards to the end zone for a touchdown.
Trailing by only eight points, Hewitt-Trussville earned two first downs on their next drive — their only two first downs of the half — but could not put a drive together and were forced to punt again.
On the ensuing drive, James Clemens found their way all the way down on the Husky 10-yard-line, much in part to a 43-yard scamper from running back Devon Atkinson. Hewitt-Trussville stood tall, however, and forced a turnover on downs.
A 4-yard run from Grayson Cash on first down gave the Huskies some life, but a holding penalty brought them back inside the 10-yard-line. On the next play, the snap sailed over Cash’s head and James Clemens fell on the ball for another touchdown. At the half, the Jets led 15-0 in a game with absolutely no offense.
At the half, Hewitt-Trussville had 34 yards of total offense, while the Jets only had 88 yards, 43 of which came on one long run.
Hewitt-Trussville kicked to the Jets to open the second half, and Wilder made his presence known once again, as he took the kick all the way to the 11-yard-line, and a facemask penalty set up the Jets at the Husky 6-yard-line. Monty Rice then took the direct snap and plunged into the end zone for the game’s final score.
“Our defense did a great job,” Floyd said. “They never drove the field on our defense and scored.”
Hewitt’s defense gave up just 163 yards on the ground, but 90 of those yards came on two long runs. Offensively, the Huskies were led by Burgin who threw for 110 yards, but three interceptions. On the ground, Jarrion Street had 16 carries for just 28 yards to lead Hewitt-Trussville.
“It was tough getting our pace going (on offense). We never got in a rhythm,” Floyd said.
The closest the Huskies came to scoring was a drive where Burgin hit Noah Igbinoghene for a 44-yard completion and Hewitt was as close as the 3-yard-line, but couldn’t punch it in.
“I thought we had a chance to score down there; we just didn’t get it done,” Floyd said.
After the game, emotions were strong, and Floyd was very proud of the seniors.
“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of seniors. That is a really special group to me. They really bought into everything we are doing here, and they have really laid a great foundation for the future. I hate that it had to end this way,” Floyd said.