Hewitt-Trussville handles Rebels
VESTAVIA HILLS – Nearly half of Hewitt-Trussville High School’s starting offense is likely to play major college football.
That showed up early and often in the Huskies’ 41-6 victory over Vestavia Hills on Friday night at Thompson Reynolds Stadium in a Class 7A, Region 3 contest.
“They’ve got a good football team. They’re very talented. They’ve got six (Division I) players on offense, they’ve got a good defense, and their kicker did a great job,” said Vestavia Hills head coach Buddy Anderson following the game.
Hewitt-Trussville (6-1, 4-0 in region) scored all three times it had the ball in the first quarter and never let up. The Huskies marched 71 yards on 10 plays on the opening drive of the game, with Armoni Goodwin’s 11-yard burst making it 7-0.
Goodwin outran the defense for a 52-yard score on his next touch, and a perfect pass from Paul Tyson to Ja’Varrius Johnson for a 49-yard touchdown made it 21-0 just nine minutes into the contest.
“Offense came out really well in the first half,” said Hewitt-Trussville head coach Josh Floyd.
Goodwin carried the ball just 11 times on the evening, but piled up 155 yards and the pair of touchdowns.
Those big runs, coupled with a masterful performance from Tyson, allowed Hewitt-Trussville to roll up over 500 yards on the night. Tyson threw just two incomplete passes, as he went 20-of-22 for 266 yards and a pair of scores. He threw an 18-yard touchdown to Johnson in the fourth quarter. Johnson went for 154 yards and two receiving touchdowns and added a 5-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, as he took a direct snap and ran it in.
Vestavia Hills (4-2, 2-2) dropped its second region game in three weeks and struggled to gain much footing in the first half against Hewitt’s defense, which has improved greatly over the course of the season.
“I thought our defense came out and played really well,” Floyd said. “Any time you play a Buddy Anderson-coached team, you know they’re going to be physical and they’re going to try to run the ball downhill. We knew we we’d have to be physical tonight. I thought our defense played well.”
The Rebels ended up gaining 201 yards rushing, with much of that production coming on a 33-yard fake punt by Caleb Huber in the first quarter and Eli Sawyer’s 56-yard touchdown in the third quarter for Vestavia Hills’ only score of the evening.
Cooper Bishop gained 51 yards on the ground on 13 carries. Sawyer went 5-of-15 for 44 yards through the air, with Sean Smyth hauling in a 33-yard reception in the second quarter.
Anderson said, “These guys don’t quit. They have the heart of champions. They’re going to fight with everything they’ve got. But we’ve still got some work to do.”
Sean Jackson scored on a 12-yard run to put Hewitt up 28-0 at the half, and Jackson accumulated 83 yards on nine carries. Dazalin Worsham hauled in nine passes for 84 yards for the Huskies as well.
Vestavia Hills makes a trip to Thompson next week, as things will get no easier. Hewitt hosts Mountain Brook.
“We’ve still got a rough road. We’ve just got to try to get better for next week,” Anderson said.
Click here to purchase photos from the game.