Eye opener
- Updated: September 20, 2024
Hokes Bluff asserts its running game, gets big performances from Hale and Whitaker en route to 37-18 victory in 4A, Region 6 play at Anniston
This week’s area scores
FRIDAY, Sept. 20
Alexandria 38, Oneonta 21, FINAL
Hokes Bluff 37, Anniston 18, FINAL
Central-Clay 48, Sylacauga 9, FINAL
Cherokee County 47, White Plains 0, FINAL
Booker T. Washington 41, Cleburne County 14, FINAL
Coosa Christian 59, Susan Moore 0, FINAL
Winterboro 42, Donoho 7, FINAL
Handley 63, Munford 21, FINAL
Leeds 42, Jacksonville 13, FINAL
Jacksonville Christian 49, Russell 16, FINAL
Springville 31, Lincoln 15, FINAL
Ohatchee 64, Weaver 37, FINAL
Oxford 29, Mountain Brook 28, FINAL
Piedmont 38, Westbrook Christian 10, FINAL
Pleasant Valley 20, Sand Rock 13, FINAL
Ranburne 50, Central-Coosa 32, FINAL
Randolph County 44, Lee-Scott 21, FINAL
Wellborn 26, Saks 14, FINAL
Spring Garden 32, Valley Head 13, FINAL
St. James 35, Talladega 12, FINAL
Wadley 62, Victory Christian 7, FINAL
Open: Glencoe, Southside, Woodland.
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
ANNISTON — Hokes Bluff keeps giving Alabama Class 4A high school football watchers reason to sit up and notice.
Sophomore Brenton Hale rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns, and the undefeated Eagles won a Class 4A, Region 6 showdown at Anniston 37-18 on Friday.
Having vanquished Southside, Etowah, White Plains and Anniston, Hokes Bluff improved to 4-0, 2-0 region while telling slow comers to the party something the Eagles already knew.
“We can play with anybody,” said quarterback Bryce Whitaker, who added 101 rushing yards and two touchdowns. “That’s the statement. We knew that all year, and I think we proved it tonight.”
This season began a new two-year reclassification and realignment cycle, and Hokes Bluff moved up from 3A for the first time since 2019. They made the playoffs once in four 3A seasons and didn’t win a playoff game.
Perhaps that’s why the Eagles remain among others receiving votes in 4A in the Alabama Sports Writers Association poll. It takes time for voters to notice.
Knocking off No. 8 Anniston (2-2, 2-1) on the road just might win Hokes Bluff more believers. Count Anniston coach Rico Jackson among them.
“They whipped us,” he said. “There’s nothing else to say. We got physically whipped, and we’ve got to get back to the drawing board and see what we can fix.”
Hokes Bluff hasn’t changed much over under 29th-year head coach Michael Robertson. The Eagles run the ball. Period.
This year’s team looks like some of Robertson’s best teams while doing it. The sustain long drives and make an opponent’s every drive matter.
That’s why Anniston’s two fourth-down misses in the red zone on the Bulldogs’ first two drives put the Anniston in a hole. The first threat ended when Damon Pope’s fourth-down pass was knocked out of Ahmad Kelley’s grasp at the goal line, and Pope’s fourth-down pass to the end zone fell incomplete to end their next possession.
“Those stops were huge,” Hokes Bluff safety Anderson Morgan said. “When we get a rush on the quarterback, and he’s got to scramble, we’ve got time, we just made some great stops, and that’s why we won.
“We held them out of the end zone twice, and they didn’t get any two-point conversions. We talked about that all week, so that was real big.”
Meanwhile, Hokes Bluff churned out yards and touchdowns. Hale’s 17-yard run opened the scoring with 25.7 seconds left in the first quarter, and Whitaker’s 3-yard keeper made it 14-0 at 2:59 in the second.
That score stood up at halftime, and Hale broke a 54-yarder at 10:20 of the third quarter to make it 21-0.
The Eagles ran Blaine Barron and Alex Carter between the tackles then used Hale’s and Whitaker’s speed to hit the corners.
“That’s us,” Robertson said. “We’re going to run between the tackles. I’m old-fashioned, and I get criticized for it, but … we run between the tackles and got them pinching inside and bounced it out.
“Of course, Whitaker, the quarterback, was tremendous tonight. He was the best player on this field tonight.”
Anniston gpt on the board after Pope hit a cross-field bomb to Khyree Patrick. That set up Pope’s 6-yard touchdown run on fourth down to make it 21-6 at 6:28 of the third.
After Anniston’s defense stopped Whitaker’s fourth-and-one sneak from Hokes Bluff’s 34-yard line, Pope scrambled and threw to Quintavius Cunningham for a 19-yard touchdown to close the gap within 21-12.
That was Anniston’s high-water mark.
Hale broke a 67-yard touchdown run around right end at 11:48 of the fourth, and Blake Green’s 76-yard interception return set up Leon Chen’s 22-yard field goal to make it 30-12.
Whitaker’s 35-yard keeper around right end spread the gap to 37-12 at 1:30, and Jamorris Young’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Ahmad Kelley on the game’s final play trimmed the final margin.
Pope hit on 15 of 27 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns, but Hokes Bluff outrushed the Bulldogs 362 yards to 185.
“We think we’re OK,” Robertson said. “We’ve played good most of the year. … Our offensive line is pretty good, one through five.
“It’s just fourth game. A lot of things can happen between now and then. We’ve got to go to Alexandria, then Cherokee County and Ashville. This region is SEC central.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login