By Staff
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
Colin Morrow's 3-yard touchdown run with 6:28 left in the game proved the difference as Hartselle won its preseason jamboree 21-14 over Deshler last Thursday night at J.P. Cain Stadium.
The game did not count toward regular season records, but did offer Hartselle coach Bob Godsey a chance to play every member of the team in a game-like situation.
"We got a lot of guys a lot of work and that's what we wanted to do," he said.
Hartselle's first two offensive drives each went for a touchdown. Montrell Murphy's 1-yard run with 9:51 left in the first quarter put Hartselle up 7-0 and the Tigers increased their lead to 14-0 on Marquez Jones' 2-yard run with 2:53 left in the quarter.
The drives were eight plays and 10 plays long, respectively.
"We did some good things on those first drives; we were really pleased with those," Godsey said. "After that, we kind of stopped executing the way we'd wanted to, but we told the guys at halftime that we can learn from that."
Deshler closed to within a touchdown with 1:14 left in the first half and tied the game with 9:27 left in the third quarter. Deshler had the chance to take the lead at the end of the third quarter, but a 35-yard field goal attempt hit the crossbar.
"I thought we played very well on defense," Godsey said. "Especially when you consider that Deshler plays the Wing-T and we didn't spend a lot of time preparing for it because it was just a jamboree game. We wanted our kids to have to learn to make adjustments on the run defensively, because we're going to have to do that at times during the regular season."
The varsity starters played the first half and the second string took over in the second half. Led by freshman quarterback Will Lang, the second-string offense put together the six-play game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, starting the drive after recovering a fumble on the Deshler 41-yard line.
"I was proud of our second offense," Godsey said. "They really put together a nice drive there at the end. There are a lot of positives to take away from this game."
Before the game, Hartselle's city youth league football players and cheerleaders were introduced and ran onto the field. At halftime, a special ceremony was held to honor over 100 former Hartselle/Morgan County High School football players and two former head coaches who were in attendance. The alumni represented classes from 1943-2006. Following the game, the alumni met with current members of the Hartselle football program for a dinner.
Hartselle's first game of the regular season is tonight at 7 p.m. against Austin at J.P. Cain Stadium.
Tiger notebook: