Friday night the Hillcrest Patriots (Tuscaloosa, AL) defeated 7A opponent the Florence Falcons (Florence, AL) 32-20 in their first game since being moved up to 7A. The Patriots did not disappoint putting on a hard-fought game at home for their fans.

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Hillcrest Jumped to a 16-0 lead thanks to Senior quarterback Bryson Kimbrough who connected with Senior wide receiver Jordan Chambers Smith for a 13-yard reception in the corner of the endzone to put the Patriots up 14-0, after a successful two-point conversion the Patriots went up 16-0 with 11:53 remaining in the first half.

The Patriots' defense came up huge in this game as they held the Falcons to two straight goal-line stands which resulted in only six points.  One goal-line stand came after Florence blocked Hillcrest's punt and recovered the ball at the Patriots' nine-yard line.

Hillcrest punched in a field goal putting them up 19-6 with 18 seconds left in the first half. Moments after this Florence's Junior running back K'lon Tripplet returned a powerful 80-yard kick-off return to the house to give the Falcons their first touchdown of the game. This cut the Falcons deficit down to 7 points going into halftime.

Florence received the ball to start the half and they went four and out for their next three drives. Hillcrest's offense wasn't stunning in the second half but their special teams got the job done with Junior running back Kahden Smith returning a punt 24 yards into the red zone where Hillcrest's QB Bryson Kimbrough ran a quarterback sneak for the touchdown to put the Patriots up 25-13.

The next drive was deja vu with Florence going another four and out and punting another one to the dangerous return man who took it 40 yards this time to the Falcons' 11-yard line. This was followed by a 1-yard touchdown run with Sophmore running back Christian Richey punching it in for six, after the successful PAT Hillcrest held a dominating 32-13 lead.

The Falcons quickly answered back with their first offensive touchdown of the game coming from K'lon Tripplet who scored his second touchdown of the game on a 75-yard run for the endzone. This quickly put life back into the Florence Falcons who cut their deficit down to the 12 with there being 2:55 left in the third quarter.

32-20 stayed the score for the rest of the game with Florence's offense not being able to get anything going against the swarming Patriots' defense. Hillcrest would go on to run the clock out and earn their first victory as a 7A school.

Player of the Game

My player of the game for this matchup has to go to Hillcrest's defensive unit who came away with many sacks and tackles for loss and came away with one interception. This defense only gave up one offensive touchdown and held the Falcons to six points after two trips to the endzone resulting in goal-line stands. The Patriots couldn't have gotten this win as comfortable as they did without this defense having the game they did.

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