FLORENCE – Hewitt-Trussville got a Class 7A playoff win on Friday night, beating Florence, 38-20, at Braly Stadium.
Now it's back into Region 4 play.
"We just got to win the region now," said Hewitt-Trussville head coach Josh Floyd.
Officially, Class 7A Region 4 play ended two weeks ago, with Hoover claiming the region title, Thompson finishing second and Hewitt-Trussville coming in third place. In the northern half of the bracket, though, it's an all-Region 4 second round next week. Hoover and Thompson won at home on Friday night, and Hewitt-Trussville and Vestavia Hills went on the road for victories.
That sets up a second round that sees Hewitt-Trussville visiting Hoover and Thompson playing host to Vestavia Hills.
Floyd said the experience of playing that type of competition definitely is an advantage come playoff time.
"I think it definitely does," Floyd said. "We've been in dogfights several times this year. We're pretty battle-tested, we feel like. The thing about our region, it's a physical region. There are a lot of good defenses. Florence is a good defense. They're one of the better defenses in the state if you look at the points they've given up. But, we have seen good defenses throughout the year."
The Florence defense was no match for a Hewitt-Trussville offense that was led by quarterback Peyton Floyd, who had 310 yards in total offense, threw for three touchdowns, and ran for two more. Running back Jaqson Melton had 145 yards rushing in the victory and receiver Brett Moseley also had a pair of touchdown receptions.
The Huskies scored on the first and last possessions of the first half and led 28-13 at halftime. The opening possession took 18 plays, and the Huskies went 85 yards. Hewitt-Trussville converted a pair of fourth-down plays on the drive, and the 17-yard touchdown pass from Floyd to Donovan Price came on 3rd-and-13.
The final possession came right after Florence cut the deficit to 21-13 on a 35-yard pass from Leo Glover to five-star recruit Jahlil Hurley, an Alabama commit.
Hewitt-Trussville took over on its own 12 with 55 seconds on the clock. Floyd quickly connected with Jadon Loving for 18 yards to get things moving. Six plays later, Floyd and Moseley connected on a 16-yard pass on the last play from scrimmage in the first half.
At halftime, Floyd had three touchdown passes and a touchdown run.
The Huskies extended the lead to 31-13 on a 26-yard Riley Rigg field goal early in the fourth quarter. Then things got a little nervous for the Huskies. The Falcons scored on a 62-yard pass from Glover to Hurley with just over nine minutes remaining, cutting the deficit to 31-20, and got the ball back just past midfield about four minutes later.
Florence appeared to score on a 31-yard run by Jaylen Simpson, which would have trimmed the deficit to one score. But holding was called on the Falcons, negating the touchdown. Hewitt-Trussville then made a huge defensive play when a botched handoff on a reverse was recovered by Huskies defensive end Hunter Osborne to end the threat.
Hewitt-Trussville put the game on ice on a 6-yard run by Floyd.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email steve.irvine@1819news.com.
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