A full slate of Thursday night high school football produced some memorable games. The remainder of the games will be played on what is supposed to be a soggy Friday night.

*Hoover almost always finds a way to beat Vestavia Hills. It’s not always easy. It’s not always pretty. Some are close games. Some are blowouts. On Thursday, Hoover beat the Rebels for the 15th time in the last 16 meetings. The win fell into the not-always-easy category.

The Bucs scored two touchdowns in the final minutes, including a short scoring run by Lamarion McCammon with 1:06 left, to pull out the 20-14 win. Hoover also had touchdowns by Ahamari Williams and Kamal Amerson.

*Pretty fitting that, on a night when Ramsay held one of the most prolific scoring offenses in the state to two touchdowns, the Rams’ defense provided the game-winner. Ramsay’s Caleb Patterson forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown in the final seconds of the game to lift the Rams to a 21-14 victory.

Pleasant Grove entered averaging 53 points per game. The Spartans turned the ball over five times against Ramsay.

*It took three overtimes but Decatur remained undefeated with a 39-36 win at Cullman. The winning points came on a pass from Ellis Dickman to Dayton Swoopes.

The Red Raiders haven’t started 4-0 since the 2010 season. Over the past five seasons, they have won more than four games just once, finishing 7-5 in 2018.

Staying in Morgan County, West Morgan improved to 4-0 with a 42-0 win over Central-Florence. The Rebels haven’t started 4-0 since winning the first six games in 2003. The Rebels went 3-1 over the first four games four times since that season. Second-year head coach Drew Phillips turned the program around quickly.

*One more for the improving to 4-0 theme. The last time Beauregard won its first four was when LaDamian Webb was doing the heavy lifting for the state championship team in 2016. Webb’s senior season came the following year and he led the Hornets to a 10-2 record. In the four seasons since, the Hornets were 14-26.

On Thursday, quarterback AJ Wallace helped the Hornets remain unbeaten with a 14-6 win over Tallassee.  

*Not much happened in the annual tussle between Hazel Green and Buckhorn. Just your ho-hum 49-42 win by Hazel Green with the winning points coming with 20 seconds left on a 15-yard run by Armond Caldwell. Just a night where the teams combined for more than 500 rushing yards and Buckhorn had leads of 20-0 in the first half and 27-14 at halftime.

Truth is, obviously, a lot happened. It was the 61st renewal of the rivalry, and not many of those games can match this one for excitement.

*Pelham’s comeback was even more impressive. The Panthers trailed visiting Briarwood Christian by 20 points heading into the fourth quarter. They erased every bit of that deficit and pulled out an improbable 35-34 win, with the winning points coming on a touchdown pass from Clayton Mains to Trey Corkill.

*Alvin Henderson owned the spotlight in Elba’s 42-35 victory over Brantley. The sophomore running back rushed for more than 250 yards and scored five touchdowns against the top-ranked Class 1A team in the state. Elba was the No. 3 ranked team entering the game.

To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email steve.irvine@1819news.com.

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