Going into senior night Friday, the Fort Payne Wildcats knew that all they had to do was win one of the next two games, and they would be region champions. The Wildcats took care of business with a 38-12 victory over the Hazel Green Trojans Friday night to clinch the Class-6A Region 8 Championship.
“It has been fun to watch our kids improve each week and see the results on the field. We tried to set the tune with the run game, but also wanted to be more balanced,” said Fort Payne Head Coach Chris Elmore. ‘We wanted to mix in the pass too, I thought Blake (Griggs) made some good plays with the pro game, we just need to protect him better.”
Fort Payne opened the game with a 10-play drive that stalled at the Hazel Green 35-yard line. Facing a fourth and four, Hayden Chambers lined up for a 52-yard field goal attempt. Chambers pushed the kick to the right. The Trojans took over on downs with 7:35 to go in the first quarter. The Wildcat defense got the ball back for the offense, forcing a three-and-out on Hazel Green’s first possession.
Fort Payne took over at the 47-yard line with 5:03 to go in the quarter. The fans at Wildcat Stadium saw a heavy dose of the law firm of Adams and Blalock Friday night as the duo took turns running the ball, and that continued on the second drive of the game. Fort Payne drove the ball 47 yards in six plays to put the first points on the board with 3:18 remaining in the quarter when Carter Black scored from two yards out. Wildcats took a 7-0 lead.
The score was set up by a 33-yard run from Kaiden Adams that moved the ball to the five-yard line.
The Wildcat defense forced another punt after Wildcat senior Mason Chandler recorded a sack on third down. That was Chandler’s sixth sack of the season.
As the first quarter was coming to a close, the Wildcat offense only took three plays to find the end zone for the second time of the time as Blake Griggs found Ryker Shankles for a 20-yard touchdown catch. Fort Payne took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter.
A long Hazel Green drive was stopped as Shankles intercepted a ball from the Hazel Green quarterback. Fort Payne was unable to put points on the board; the Wildcats punted the ball back to the Trojans.
After Hazel Green punted the ball back to the Wildcats with two minutes remaining in the half. Fort Payne went on an 11-play drive that was capped by a 3-yard touchdown pass as Griggs found Jayden Jackson in the end zone to end the first half. Fort Payne led 21-0 at halftime.
Hazel Green opened the second half with a three-and-out and was forced to punt. Fort Payne went 8 plays and had to settle for a 22-yard Chambers field goal that extended the Wildcats’ lead to 24-0 with 6:30 to go in the quarter.
The Trojans found the end zone after a 51-yard touchdown pass to cap an eight-play drive.
Fort Payne responded as Eli Goggans took the Hazel Green kickoff to the house for an 80-yard touchdown. Fort Payne led 31-6.
“Eli’s return broke the game wide open. We practice that every day, Coach Phillips and Coach Peters do an outstanding job of scheming our returns, the credit goes to them,” said Coach Elmore.
The Wildcats’ Joseph Greathouse forced and recovered a fumble at the 18-yard line. Fort Payne wasted no time as it took only three plays and Blalock found the end zone for the second time on the night to give Fort Payne a 38-6 lead with 1:15 to go in the third.
Fort Payne gave up another touchdown in the fourth quarter, making the score 38-12, which it stayed for the remainder of the game.
Fort Payne moves to 7-1 (5-0) on the season and is the Region champions in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2018 and 2019. The Wildcats will travel to Huntsville next week to play the Lee-Huntsville Generals.