Hartselle scored three touchdowns in the first half to pull away from Brewer for the Tigers’ 27th victory in the series in 28 meetings.
“I think we can play better, but Brewer just did some things that gave us some problems. We were able to overcome those. We got a win and we just need to move on.”
“Brewer did some things that we normally don’t see on defense,” Godsey said. “I thought we played well defensively all night. I just wish we could have gotten the shutout.”
The sixth-ranked Tigers improved to 2-0 with the win. Hartselle is now 1-0 against Region 6 opponents. Brewer dropped to 0-2 and 0-1.
The Patriots were playing without several key starters who were injured last week. Brewer also lost a starting linebacker during the Hartselle loss.
“Our guys played hard,” said Brewer head coach Daniel Gullion. “We’ll learn from this game. We’ll just build from this. I’m proud of our kids.”
Hartselle took control of the game in the first quarter with touchdowns by Malcolm Fossett and Isaiah Fowler.
Fossett scored the game’s first touchdown on a 3-yard run early in the first quarter.
Hartselle added to the lead when Will Lang threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Fowler just before the end of the half.
“We had some opportunities for some big plays in the first half, but we had a touchdown called back and thngs like that. You’re going to have some things like that happen and we were able to overcome it and get some things accomplished.”
Lang finished the night with a pair of touchdown passes as the Tigers’ exploited the Patriots’ injury-depleted defense.
Hartselle had a chance to add to the lead in the second quarter but the Brewer defense held the Tigers on downs inside the 5-yard line.
The Tigers’ Austin Borden tipped a pass on the next Brewer possession and Alec Durand grabbed the loose football and went into the end zone for the touchdown and the 21-0 advantage.
Lang teamed up with Will Tiffin in the second half on a 35-yard scoring strike that stretched the lead to 28-0.
Fossett added a 33-yard touchdown run that gave the Tigers a commanding 35-0 lead.
Brewer avoided the shutout with a late touchdown run by Will Vest.
Hartselle will return to action this week when the Tigers host Hayden in a Class 5A, Region 6 matchup.
Brewer will travel to Curry seeking its first win of the season.