Gophers ground Warriors
Published 2:05 am Saturday, August 23, 2008
The Hueytown Golden Gophers ran, then ran and then ran some more Friday night en route to a dominating performance over the Thompson Warriors in a jamboree game, 35-0.
In two quarters of varsity play, the Gophers scored four times on the ground and once through the air.
The Gophers opened things in a hurry, scoring in four plays, with all four plays being run on first downs.
Following Hueytown running back Leonard Stephens’ opening touchdown run, the Warriors were forced to punt and the Gophers went right back to work.
Stephens scampered in from 15 yards out to put the Gophers up 14-0 on the ensuing drive, but the Warriors showed some life on the next possession.
However, a fumble resulting in a turnover killed the Warriors’ most productive drive of the night.
With just seconds remaining in the opening quarter, the Gophers tacked on another touchdown run to increase the lead to 21-0.
In the second quarter, it was more of the same for the Gophers.
Stephens hauled in a 24-yard touchdown pass as Hueytown took a 28-0 lead midway through the final quarter, and then the Gophers added one last rushing touchdown from 9 yards out to close out the scoring.
Prior to the varsity game, the junior varsity squad had an equally tough time dealing with the Gopher rushing attack as Hueytown scored three rushing touchdowns in one quarter of play and cruised to the 22-0 win.
The freshman Warrior squad faired much better in its scrimmage, but the Gopher running game still proved to be too much.
The Gophers opened a 16-0 lead off of two rushing touchdowns before the Warriors answered with a 31-yard touchdown run.
The Gophers went right back to work and scored on a 46-yard run before the Warriors closed out the scoring with a 70-yard run as time expired.
For the middle school Warriors, time ran out on Thompson as the Gophers put two scores on the board and held on for the 16-0 shutout victory.
The varsity Warriors will open the regular season Friday at home against Region 6 opponent Mountain Brook.
Kickoff for Friday’s game is at 7 p.m.