By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – …and then there were three. The Leeds Greenwave was the lone victim this week, the next victim in a long line this season for the Ramsay Rams, as they lost in round two 42-7. The Hewitt Trussville Huskies and Moody Blue Devils dominated their opponents in round two while the Clay Chalkville Cougars did just enough to beat Mountain Brook and advance.
Moody vs Ramsay:
Moody used dominating defense and a great performance by Charlie Johnston at quarterback to beat the Russellville Golden Tigers by a score of 42-21. One of the Tigers’ touchdowns came late in the game or else the defense would have allowed another great offense under 20 for the second week in a row. Despite that score, the Moody defense continued their dominance. This week, the Blue Devils will face their toughest test of the year and head coach Jake Ganus faces his toughest test as a head coach as they will play against the Ramsay Rams Friday night. Ramsay is the defending 5A champs and there is a reason for that. They dominate more times than not. The Rams whipped Leeds last week 42-7 and Leeds is a very good team. Ramsay is an absolute machine. It will take Moody’s best to beat Ramsay on Friday night. But Moody’s best just might beat Ramsay. The game will be played in Moody at The Bill, and you can bet, when the buses crank and begin to rock, the crowd will be hot and help their Blue Devils during this one. The two teams have never played one another. The winner of this one will take on the winner of the Guntersville vs Pleasant Grove game for the right to go to Tuscaloosa.
Clay Chalkville at Muscle Shoals:
The Cougars have had few close games this year, but when they have, they have recovered quite well by whipping the team they played next. Clay squeaked by a very good Mountain Brook team last Friday, beating them 17-13. Muscle Shoals finds themselves undefeated much like the Cougars with the Trojans’ offense scoring more this season than Clay, but also allowing more points. While Clay comes off of a nail-biter, Muscle Shoals dominated their second-round opponent Fort Payne by a score of 41-10. As long as the Cougars have Jaylen Mbakwe and company wearing their colors, they will have a chance to win any game they play in. On Friday, however, they depended heavily on the defense, who had a key stop late in the game that sealed the win. The Cougars and Trojans have only met one time in history and that was in the second round of the 2014 playoffs. Clay won that one 35-14. The winner of this game will play the winner of the Gadsden City at Parker game next Friday for a trip to Tuscaloosa for the state championship.
Hewitt Trussville at Thompson:
When you think of big games in 7A football, you cannot leave out these two names. Thompson’s name speaks for itself. They are defending 7A champions and they seem to appear in the championship game almost every year. They have been here before. The Hewitt Trussville Huskies have had quite the up-and-down season. At times they have looked unbeatable. At other times, they have looked very beatable. The Huskies lost a game to Spain Park that put their playoff hopes in jeopardy but the chips fell in the right order and they wound up with the second seed in the region and had the luxury of playing the first two playoff rounds at home. This week, they will travel to Alabaster to take on the Warriors, who have just one loss on the season and that was to the Clay Chalkville Cougars. Hewitt has gone from “bad Hewit” to “good Hewitt” and they are playing their best football right now. With a lot riding on this game, you hope to get the best out of each team on Friday night. If so, those in attendance will be in for quite the treat. You do not have to look far to find the last meeting between these two as Thompson beat “bad Hewitt” back on October 6 by a score of 40-14. The Huskies are 6-10 against Thompson all-time. The winner of this one punches their ticket to the 7A State Championship in Tuscaloosa to take on the winner of the Central-Phenix City vs Mary-Montgomery winner.
Best of luck to the remaining three Tribune teams!