On Friday night, the Hillcrest Patriots (Tuscaloosa, AL) defeated their 7A Division opponent Florence Falcons (Florence, AL) 32-20 in their first game since being promoted to the 7A Division. The Patriots did not disappoint and offered their fans a hard-fought game at home.

Hillcrest took a 16-0 lead thanks to quarterback Bryson Kimbrough catching a 13-yard pass in the corner of the end zone to wide receiver Jordan Chambers Smith to give the Patriots a 14-0 lead. A successful two-point conversion put the Patriots ahead 16-0 with 11:53 left in the first half.

The Patriots defense was great in this game as they forced the Falcons into two consecutive goal line stands that only resulted in six points. One goal line stand came after Florence blocked Hillcrest’s punt and recovered the ball at the Patriots’ nine-yard line.

Hillcrest scored a field goal to take a 19-6 lead with 18 seconds left in the first half. Shortly after, Florence junior running back K’lon Tripplet made a powerful 80-yard kickoff return for the Falcons’ first touchdown of the game, cutting the Falcons’ deficit to 7 points at halftime.

Florence received the ball early in the half and managed four scores on the next three drives to get out of the game. Hillcrest’s offense wasn’t great in the second half, but their special teams got the job done: Junior running back Kahden Smith returned a punt 24 yards into the red zone, where Hillcrest QB Bryson Kimbrough ran a quarterback sneak for a touchdown, putting the Patriots ahead 25-13.

The next drive was déjà vu: Florence made another four-and-out and punted another ball to the dangerous returner, who this time took it 40 yards to the Falcons’ 11-yard line. That was followed by a 1-yard touchdown run, with sophomore running back Christian Richey punching it in for six yards after the successful PAT put Hillcrest ahead 32-13.

The Falcons quickly answered with their first offensive touchdown of the game by K’lon Tripplet, who scored his second touchdown of the game with a 75-yard run into the end zone. This quickly brought life back into the Florence Falcons, who cut their deficit to 12 with 2:55 left of the third quarter.

The score remained 32-20 for the rest of the game, with Florence’s offense unable to overcome the Patriots’ pressing defense. Hillcrest ran down the clock and picked up its first win as a 7A school.

My player of the game for this matchup is Hillcrest’s defensive unit, which had many sacks and tackles for loss and one interception. This defense allowed only one offensive touchdown and held the Falcons to six points after two attempts at the end zone that resulted in goal line stands. The Patriots would not have been able to pull off such a commanding win if this defense had not made the play it did.

Hillcrest will play on the road next Friday, August 30th against the 0-1, 7A Sparkman Senators (Harvest, AL).