What happens when two physical high school football teams with nothing to lose are pitted against each other on a Friday night in late October? The fans get their money’s worth as the hometown Tallassee withstood the sting of the Beauregard Hornets en route to a 35-28 win in Class 5A Region 2 action.
“That was just a 12-round slugfest of a high school football game,” Tallassee coach Mike Battles said. “(Beauregard) came to play and they had a good game plan and did some things that were tough for us to stop. They were ready and I thought we were dragging in that first half.”
The win over the Hornets (1-9, 1-5) marked Battles’ first since he arrived in Tallassee.
Beauregard, which tasted victory for the first and only time last week in front of their blue-clad faithful, jumped out front Friday night thanks to a 40-yard touchdown run by Hunter Gasaway.
The senior signal-caller finished with nearly 300 yards highlighted by 195 yards passing.
“We’ve got a tough football team,” Hornet coach Rob Carter said. “We’ve endured a season not like we’re used too. But these kids were prepared (Friday) and, these seniors wanted to go out with a hard-fought battle and have us in a position to win the game at the end. That’s what they did.”
The Tigers crashed the point after but trailed 6-0.
However, Tallassee (4-4, 3-3) found its stride in the second quarter scoring twice to take a 13-6 lead.
Truck Griffin, who finished with 214 yards on 23 carries, struck first on a 1-yard run that was set up by a 9-yard Zavion Carr run. Carr contributed 12 carries for 75 yards and that touchdown put Tallassee ahead 7-6.
The Tigers scored again at the 2:35 mark on a 6-yard Griffin eruption into the end zone. The senior left laying a swarm of Hornets on his way to the end zone for the score.
The Tigers went for two but it was stymied, moving the mark to 13-6.
Playing the final game of their 2019 campaign, the Hornets answered with a 24-yard scoring pass from Gasaway to Lazerious Tolefree.
“(Gasaway) is an excellent athlete. He’s good with his legs and his arm and he’s got the great ability,” Carter said. “He absolutely gave us an opportunity to move the sticks on some drives with his legs.”
Gasaway called his own number on the 2-point attempt and fielded a bad snap around the 10-yard line, turned the corner and outran the defense for the score.
“We were letting them get some big plays,” Griffin said. “But we’re able to tighten up.”
The Hornets carried a 14-13 lead into intermission.
“You have two teams that are traditionally pretty strong that haven’t had the year they wanted too,” Battles said. “It was a war of attrition. You look out there and you see who can hang in there and play at that level for 48 minutes.”
Physicality became the keyword in the Tallassee locker room.
“Tougher … That’s it,” Battles said. “That’s what we needed to be. I felt like in the first half they were hitting us and we were out there standing around. I tried to explain to our kids that (Beauregard) is coming off their first win of the season where they scored a lot of points and this is their last game of the season. You better believe that’s an extra motivation. We are catching them at the absolute worse time.”
The Hornets took flight late in the third quarter on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Gasaway to Tolefree for the score.
The Tigers answered with Jalyn Daniels fielding the ensuing kickoff and returning it across midfield. Griffin eventually capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. Tallassee elected to go for two on a fake point after, but the pass fluttered to the ground.
Trailing 21-19 in the fourth, the Tigers took the lead thanks to a turnover. Dalton Lanier intercepted a pass and Griffin eventually scored again.
“When we took the lead,” Griffin said, “that’s when we knew that we could take it to them and take control of the game.”
Battles said, “I challenged those kids to dig down deep and find that little extra. And Truck does what he does. He took the team and put them on his back like he’s done all year.”
Leading 27-21, Tallassee got breathing room a few minutes later when Griffin broke loose on a 58-yard touchdown run, his longest run of the night, and Daniels scored the two points after to put Tallassee ahead 35-21.
Beauregard answered though on a 1-yard Gasaway run at the 2:17 mark and found itself in position to tie the game with under a minute to go.
“This is what our kids have done all year, they’ve played tough and put us in positions to win,” Carter said. “We just weren’t able to stick it in there at the end.”
But, on fourth and long, the pass to the end zone fell to the turf ending the threat and securing the Tigers victory.
“I’m happy for these kids,” Battles said. “This is one of those keynote wins that some of our other classes who may have won more game didn’t get. This class got that win, so I’m proud of them for that.”
Tigers win key Region matchup against Rehobeth for Homecoming
The Tallassee football team turned back the clock and welcomed back the Class of 2000 for a larger than life homecoming victory over Class 5A Region 2 foe Rehobeth, 21-6, on Friday night.
“It’s a big win for us. This senior class has never lost a homecoming,” Tallassee coach Mike Battles said. “We’ve got the 2000 class back in town. They were 13-1 and set the benchmark. We wanted to make sure they knew we were still playing football around here in Tallassee. It was a great game; a great win.”
Taking the field after a 34-12 loss to Valley the week prior, the Tigers (3-3, 2-2) seemed to have the blueprint to victory, forgoing the passing game and relying on their stable of workhorses to stymie the Rebel march in the first quarter.
After forcing a Rehobeth (5-2, 3-2) punt on its first drive, Tallassee brought the hometown faithful to life on the first play of the game. Jalyn Daniels took the snap and bullied his way through a Rebel defense that, through the first six games of the season, proved to be as tight as a choker necklace for a gain of 33 yards.
“We came out flat,” Rebels coach Donny Gillilan said. “We didn’t play with a lot of intensity. It was a long bus ride for us and we just didn’t play with any emotion. I’ve been pleased with the way our season has gone so far, but tonight, we just weren‘t able to get anything going.”
Daniels finished the night with 74 yards rushing. A handful of plays later, Zavion Carr moved the ball to the 10 then Tavarious “Truck” Griffin finished the drive with a 10-yard run into the end zone. Out of the shotgun, Griffin took the snap, bounced off a blocker then stiff-armed a Rebel defender to the ground en route to the touchdown with 5:41 left to go in the opening stanza.
Carr finished the night with 59 yards rushing. Griffin posted 135 yards.
“We played good (Friday night),” Carr said. “We made a few mistakes but we were able to come back and make up for them.”
Clay Johnson added the point after and the Tigers pushed ahead 7-0. Johnson finished the night perfect on point-after tries.
Rehobeth’s rebuttal to the Tiger touchdown fell short as quarterback Jay Trawick was sacked on a fourth-down scramble.
The Tigers took over at their own 26 and quickly moved the ball down the field thanks to a 31-yard Griffin run then a pair of Daniels’ runs for a combined 38 yards.
On first down, Tyler Ellis capped the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Griffin. Coming out of a timeout, the Tigers dialed up a slant and Griffin’s first step to the inside was all it took to beat the defender to the end zone and catch the perfectly timed pass.
Tallassee turned up the defensive pressure and led 14-0 at halftime.
Through the first three quarters, the Rebels offensive output seemed to come in fits and stops. But that changed in the fourth quarter. Aided by a facemask call on top of a run by Chris Hovey (57 yards on the night), Rehobeth moved into the red zone for the first time.
The Rebels marched to the Tallassee 15 then inside the 5 thanks to a long run by Treshaun Turner on a reverse. The Rebels finally punched through the Tallassee defense on a fourth and goal from the 2 for their only score of the night. On fourth and goal, Hovey fell in behind his blockers and stretched the ball over the goal line.
“He’s been a tough kid for us for a couple of years,” said Gillilan. “He’s got that warriors instinct. He goes hard and he’s a great kid.”
The Rebels attempted to convert the two points, but Trawick’s pass was broken up.
That score proved to be the only fourth down they converted as Tallassee turned them away four times.
“That was a total team effort,” Battles said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game and the points were going to be at a minimum. So, when we had the opportunities, we had to take advantage of them. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times on penalties. But when it came down to it, our offense drove and we were able to put the final nail in the coffin.”
Late the final period, the Rebels pounced on a Tigers fumble to take over possession.
Their offensive outing proved to be as futile as a pair of jeans with no pockets and saw it stalled on a reverse attempt that was stuffed by Griffin and an errant pass.
“Our defense stepped up and next week we’ve got to come back and do it again,” Carr said.
Tallassee took over at their own 27 and moved the ball across midfield to the 36.
On back-to-back carries, Griffin drove the final nail into the coffin, scoring from 31 yards out.
“That was huge,” Carr said. “Truck is a big and imposing guy and he did a great job on that run.”