By David Knox
Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – A perfect game? Not by a long shot. But a perfect ending to a perfect regular season?
The Hewitt-Trussville Huskies could deliver on that.
Connor Adair’s 18-yard pass to a lunging, laid-out Grayson Cash with 24 seconds left gave the Huskies a touchdown for the history books, and Parker Colburn’s extra point provided the crucial decisive point as Hewitt-Trussville won its first Class 7A region title and completed its first 10-0 regular season with a 21-20 win over James Clemons on Friday night at Hewitt-Trussville Stadium.
The Huskies (10-0, 7-0) won the showdown for the Region 4 title with the Jets (6-3, 5-2). After a week off, the Huskies will begin the quest for their first state championship when the playoffs begin. Hewitt will host the fourth-place team from Region 3 on Nov. 4, probably Oak Mountain.
The Jets aren’t known for their offense, but their defense lived up to its billing. Defensive lineman LaBryan Ray, linebacker Monty Rice and defensive back Kyriq McDonald made things tough on the high-powered Huskies offense, which was held to its lowest to5tal of the season by far.
The Huskies set a school record with 461 points this season.
The Huskies scored first when Adair connected with Logan Pitts for a 5-yard TD pass, set up by an Adair-to-Noah Igbinoghene pickup of 53 yards. Colburn’s Pat with 3:33 left in the opening period gave Hewitt a 7-0 lead.
James Clemens couldn’t move the ball but the Jets caught a break on a deflected ball that was intercepted. A 45-yard run by Austin McGhee set up his own 1-yard TD run with 11:30 till halftime. But Matthew Randel’s extra point was blocked by 6-foot-4 sophomore Tyler Antkowiak leaving the score 7-6, Huskies – and that point proved to be critical.
“We talk about it all the time,” Huskies coach Josh Floyd said, “You never know which play is going to make the difference in the game. He squirted through there and blocked it.”
The Huskies took a short kickoff and moved down the field as Adair completed 3-of-4 passes for 55 yards, the payoff on a 15-yarder to Cash right on the goal line. Colburn’s PAT made it 14-6 with 9:11 left.
But the Jets caught a break when quarterback Jamil Muhammad lofted a deep pass that the Huskies defenders deflected into the hands of Eris Skelton on a third-and-10 from the HT 40. Skelton gobbled up the gift and sped into the end zone to cut the margin to 14-13 with Randel’s PAT.
A little over three minutes were left until half, and Hewitt tried to move down the field for a score. But a gamble on fourth-and-8 at midfield backfired with an incomplete pass at the 1:48 mark.
The Jets turned to bruising running back Bradley Belt, and he picked up 23 tough yards on the ground. Then McDonald entered the game at wide receiver and Muhammad made his best throw of the game to the Alabama commitment for a 13-yard score. The extra point left the Jets with a stunning 20-14 lead at half.
The third quarter was scoreless. James Clemens was able to run the ball effectively at times and eat up the clock, and Hewitt shot itself in the foot with mistakes.
But Adair was confident before the final drive.
“We were thinking we had enough time to score. We knew we could get down there if we executed. We had the matchup we wanted with Grayson and he won. It was a fantastic catch.
Adair drove the Huskies to the game-winner from their own 33 with 2:10 to go. He hit 6-of-7 passes in the drive.
Cash said, “I saw the defender was inside me and it was an outside route, so I knew from the start we could make it and I outran him and it was a great ball by Carson. That whole last drive he put it right where he needed to.
“It was awesome.”
Defensively, Simon Miskelly and Nicholas Jackson made plays all night, as did David Acfalle in the secondary.
“I’m just proud of the kids and happy for the Trussville community,” said Floyd. “We’re going to enjoy this and then get back to work.”
10 Comments
Anissa Hicks
Proud of what the Husky football team has accomplished this season & as a Hewitt alumni I wish them nothing but continued success & before much longer a state title.
Susan Harper
Proud of the Huskies!
Kellie Crittenden Yarbrough
Go Huskies!
Marie Stewart Stewart
Great game Huskies!
Charles Bush
Go Huskies!!
Becky Vann Woo
Congratulations Huskies!
James Michael Mike Sims
Way to go Huskies!
You make our school, our city, and especially us ‘old’ Huskies PROUD!!
Heidi Johnson Hulwi
Is the injured player okay?
Jay Kelley
Awesome, but I would really like to know if our injured player is ok!
Alma Speed Null
So proud of the Huskies, my grand daughter ivy null played in the high school band . From Demopolis,Al…….GO HUSKIES