Flame burns Wildcats 48-20

THARPTOWN — With sole possession of fourth place in the region standings on the line, Tharptown made a big defensive stand early, but a turnover by the offense proved the spark Shoals Christian needed to fuel a 48-20 victory for the Flame.

Shoals Christian (2-2, 2-1) took the opening drive to the Wildcat 1-yard line, but the Tharptown defense turned kept the Flame off the scoreboard.

The stand was negated moments later when Shoals Christian intercepted a pass at the 11-yard line and scored one play later. The Flame added another touchdown in the first quarter and scored three times in the second quarter.

Tharptown (1-3, 1-2) put together a solid drive in the second after Kelby Hallmark returned a kickoff 25 yards and completed a pair of third-down passes of 19 and 6 yards to Brandon Cothrum to keep the drive alive.

Hallmark ended the drive with a 1-yard run and the Wildcats trailed 35-7 at halftime.

Austin Daniel scored on a 1-yard run with 6:46 to play in the fourth and Hallmark completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Parker with 1:10 remaining in the game.

Hallmark completed 11-of-20 passes for 125 yards, one touchdown and one interception.