The Thompson Warriors defeated Florence 45-13 on the road to advance to the second round of the state playoffs last Friday night. Their reward . . . to host to top 6A football team in the state, Hoover, this Friday night.

Against Florence, the Warriors rushed for 391 yards thanks to Adrian Marcus, who rushed 21 times for 164 and a touchdown, quarterback Alan Reeves, who rushed 11 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns and Sideeq Cooper, who rushed 10 times for 80 yards and two touchdowns.

The Warriors also gained 87 yards through the air as Reeves went three for six for one touchdown and no interceptions.

Justin Carter caught two passes for 50 yards and a touchdown while Chris Johnson caught one pass for 37 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, Paul Bennett had nine tackles, a sack and a forced fumble; Jordan Chism had nine sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Darius Ausmer had nine sacks.

The Warriors got off to a quick start when David Perot returned a Florence fumble 35 yards for a score.

Adam McKinney added a 24-yard field goal to make it 10-0 in the first quarter.

Cooper scored on a 14-yard run in the second quarter and Carter scored on a 44-yard pass from Reeves in the third.

While Florence got two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, it was much ado about nothing. The Warriors added three more of their own for good measure.

Marcus scored on a 27-yard run, Cooper completed a 43-yard scoring sprint and B.J. Prince rushed in from 15 yards out.

McKinney made all his PAT attempts.

This Friday the heat gets turned up quite a bit as Thompson (8-3) gets set to host the (10-1) Hoover Bucs.