THS looks to build on victory
By Staff
Scot Beard
THARPTOWN – With the tight race for the final playoff berth in Class 1A, Region 8 heating up, the Tharptown football team helped its chances of earning that spot with a 28-26 victory against Brilliant last Friday.
The game was not a region contest, but if the Wildcats, Waterloo and Vina end in a three-way tie for the playoff spot, that win would help in the tiebreaker scenarios.
The Wildcats fell behind early in the second quarter, but cut the deficit to 7-6 on a 17-yard run by Nathan Gray.
Tharptown took the lead six minutes later when Gray scored on a 15-yard run. Jacob Parker scored on the 2-point conversion to push the Wildcat lead to 14-0.
Brilliant added another score but missed the extra point to cut Tharptown lead to 14-13.
The Wildcats answered with a 17-yard scoring pass from Parker to Brandon Cothrum. Tharptown missed the extra point.
Brilliant tied the game with 8:35 remaining in the game on a 4-yard run.
Tharptown got the ball first in overtime and scored on a 2-yard run by Trevor Hallmark. Parker completed a pass to Hallmark for the 2-point conversion to give the Wildcats a 28-20 lead.
Brilliant scored on its possession, but Tharptown's Kent Allen stopped the Brilliant runner on the 1-yard line on the 2-point play to preserve the win.
The Wildcats rolled up 259 yards of total offense.
Gray led Tharptown with 98 rushing yards while Hallmark had 56 rushing yards.
Parker completed 8-of-21 passes for 103 yards. Cothrum led the receivers with 65 yards.
This week the Wildcats will travel to Shoals Christian for a rematch against the Flame.
Shoals Christian won the first meeting of the season 20-6 two weeks ago.
Both teams need this victory for playoff purposes. Tharptown needs the victory to boost its tiebreaker chances for the final playoff spot. Shoals Christian needs the victory to boost its chances for a possible region title.
The Flame are averaging 26.2 points per game and allowing 25.5 points while Tharptown is scoring an average of 17 points and giving up 37.5 points.
The game begins at 7 p.m.
