Hackleburg rolls past Tharptown

J.R. Tidwell/FCT Tharptown sophomore running back Mike Rice bowls over a Hackleburg defender on his way into the end zone Thursday night.

THARPTOWN — The Hackleburg Panthers came into Tharptown Thursday night with a 7-1 record for the 2012 season.

Their only loss was the first game of the season. It was to Marion County, last year’s 1A state champ.

The Wildcats knew what they were in for, and the Panthers came out with a 49-20 victory to continue their win streak.

“Their team is always good and they always play physical,” Tharptown head coach Bill Smith said.

“I wanted our team to play hard tonight, and sometimes  we do play hard for a full game. They played hard tonight.”

Hackleburg had a 13-0 lead by the 3:46 mark of the first quarter.

Tharptown sophomore running back Mike Rice had a big night for Tharptown, accounting for all three of the touchdowns the Wildcats would score in the game.

The first of these came four minutes into the second quarter on a short touchdown run that cut the Panthers lead to 13-6.

Unfortunately that would be as close as Tharptown would get to the lead, as the Panthers had a 42-6 lead at halftime.

Hackleburg mad it 49-6 with 3:46 remaining in the third before the Wildcats scored again.

Rice scored on a 13-yard run five minutes later near the start of the fourth quarter.

Freshman Chris Rickard ran in the two-point conversion, narrowing the gap to 49-14.

The last score of the night came on a 3-yard run by Rice.

Tharptown (2-7) will travel to Talladega to face the Alabama School for the Deaf Silent Warriors (1-8) next Friday night.