MUSCLE SHOALS – Hartselle (8-5) will not get an opportunity to defend its state title, as top-ranked Muscle Shoals pulled away from the Tigers 49-21, ending the Tigers’ seven-game winning streak in the playoffs.

The Trojans left little doubt who was the better team this time, as the Trojans jumped out to a 28-0 lead and coasted to the big third-round win.

Head coach Bob Godsey might not pleased with the outcome of Friday’s game, but that will not affect how he will remember this team.

Even when the Tigers finished fourth in the region with a 6-4 record, losing a number of close games along the way, Godsey said his team never took that opportunity to give up.

“There’s a lot of group of professional or college players or whatever that would have tanked this season a long time ago because for whatever reason, the ball bounce our way a lot,” Godsey said. “This group would quit – wouldn’t lay down. and that’s because of this senior class. They won a lot of big football games. We won’t let this one influence the way we remember this group. We just got beat by a good football team.”

The trio of Jemarcus Nance, Tyler Jackson and Weston Allen for Muscle Shoals proved to be a lethal combination. They combined for 222 rushing yards and 151 receiving yards. The rest of the team only accounted for 13 total yards.