By james art BIRMINGHAM – Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa scored a touchdown on its first seven possessions and ran away with a 50-36 victory over Oak Mountain at Heardmont Park on Friday night.
In fact, the only possession Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa failed to find the end zone came in the waning seconds of the game when the Patriots bled the clock.
“Defensively, we played hard, they just got our asses kicked,” Oak Mountain head coach Shane McComb said. “In the beginning, we didn’t do what we should have done. Almost every single game we had to go down low and we stood up and they got us back. We couldn’t stop them up front. We played hard, we fought hard, they were just bigger and stronger than us.”
Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa quarterback Bryson Kimbrough was superb, completing 11 of 15 passes for 204 yards while running 14 times for 94 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore running back Christian Ritchie led the Patriots in the ground game with 159 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Freshman Jacoby Harris finished with 12 carries for 62 yards and two touchdowns.
Oak Mountain quarterback Will O’Dell had a monster night, completing 18 of 25 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 109 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. He did, however, make three interceptions.
The first came in the closing seconds of the first half as Oak Mountain (3-6, 1-6 in Class 7A, Region 3) threatened to cut a 28-13 deficit. Hillcrest’s Miles Madden hauled the interception out of the end zone, but was then tackled in the end zone for a safety.
Trailing 43-29 after three quarters, O’Dell was intercepted in the end zone again, this time on a fourth down by Hillcrest’s Jemichael Watson. Hillcrest subsequently scored on Kimbrough’s third rushing score of the game. Oak Mountain answered quickly on a 20-yard touchdown run from O’Dell to Jacob Moore, cutting the deficit to 50-36, and two plays after O’Dell’s fumble recovery was picked off by Ja’Marion Bennett.
Between the two teams, Herdmont Park was treated to 1,011 yards of combined offense. Hillcrest (6-4, 3-4 in region) lit up the scoreboard first on Ritchie’s 38-yard run. The Eagles tied the game two minutes later when O’Dell scored on a 1-yard keeper. Harris restored the lead for Hillcrest with a 3-yard run in the first quarter, and Kimbrough’s 2-yard keeper pushed the Patriots to a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter. O’Dell broke free for a 53-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 21-13 before Kimbrough capped a 10-play, 64-yard drive with a 2-yarder.
Oak Mountain quickly scored after halftime on a 56-yard touchdown pass from O’Dell to running back Marty Myricks, making it a 28-22 game. Ritchie then broke off a 30-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-2 to put the Patriots up 36-22. Oak Mountain scored four plays later on a 55-yard pass from O’Dell to Zach Fitzgerald. Harris answered the ensuing kickoff with an 18-yard touchdown run to put Hillcrest up 43-29. Hillcrest’s final touchdown was Kimbrough’s 12-yard keeper that capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive and ate five minutes off the fourth-quarter clock.
For Oak Mountain, Myricks finished with 27 yards on seven carries and four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. Fitzgerald caught four passes for 173 yards and a score. Moore had three catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, and the Boston Brewer caught three passes for 55 yards.
“Last week [at Hewitt-Trussville] we didn’t even get off the bus,” McComb said. “We weren’t ready to play at all. We didn’t want to play. This week we came out and wanted to play. We just didn’t deliver. We played strong defensively, but we didn’t execute the defense up front at all.”
The 2024 season is now over for Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa. Oak Mountain will wrap up its season next week in a non-region game against rival Chelsea at Herdmont Park.
“I don’t care if you’re 0-9 or 3-6 like we are right now if you can’t get fired up to go play your international rival at home and finish the season to send the seniors on the right way and also create momentum going into our next off-season and making another big jump into Year 3 – obviously we were a much better football team than last year – if we make the same kind of jump for Year 3, we’re going to be right in the mix.” McComb said. “It’s important for us next week to finish the season and give us some momentum going into the offseason.”
The Hornets were eliminated in the region final
Chelsea High School suffered a 34-0 loss to Benjamin Russell on Friday night in the Class 6A, Region 5 final.
Benjamin Russell, running back TJ Wilson ran for 136 yards to lead the way for the home team, while receiver Sederian Morgan had 101 receiving yards and two touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown.
Chase Strassener led the Hornets’ offense, breaking off long runs of 45 and 35 yards, but was otherwise blocked.
“The offense didn’t play very well at all,” Chelsea head coach Todd Cassity said. “Probably the worst offensive performance we’ve had all year. We’ve had some health issues, sickness issues all week. I don’t know if it bothered us or what, but we can’t find an excuse.
With the loss, Chelsea fell to the No. 4 seed in the region, meaning the Hornets will travel to Saraland for the first round of the state playoffs on Nov. 8.
Chelsea will travel to district rival Oak Mountain next week to close out the regular season.
“We’ve got at least two more, we’re going to play like we’re ready to play three, four, five more,” Cassiti said. “It’s not going to be a problem for these guys to go up for the last one, which is Oak Mountain. We must lick our wounds; we got beat up a bit tonight, just get ready for next week.
Samuel Higgs contributed to this report.
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