Top ranked Thompson’s second round rematch with Hewitt-Trussville will be this week’s AHSAA TV Game of the Week

Montgomery, AL – When Thompson and Hewitt-Trussville high schools clash on the gridiron, one thing is certain, fans are promised a classic battle of two of the AHSAA’s premier Class 7A football teams.

The defending Class 7A state champion and No. 1 ranked Warriors (11-0) roll into Friday’s AHSAA TV Network/NFHS Network Game of the Week riding a 15-game winning streak. Third ranked Hewitt-Trussville (9-2) comes into Alabaster as the last AHSAA team to beat Thompson, taking down the Warriors 35-29 in the final game of the 2019 regular season.

The much anticipated quarterfinal re-match will be broadcast statewide and nationally Friday night from Alabaster’s Warrior Stadium as the AHSAA TV Network/NFHS Network Football Game of the Week.  WOTM TV is also producing a second small-school Game of the Week featuring a Class 2A second round matchup between B.B. Comer (10-1) and Abbeville (10-1), which will be shown over the AHSAA TV Network of WOTM cable affiliates as well as over the NFHS Network.

The NFHS Network’s AHSAA School Broadcast Program has scheduled 40 of the 52 AHSAA state-playoff games on the live-streaming subscriber-based platform this week and member schools in the NFHS Network are producing another 170 boys’ and girls’ varsity, junior varsity, freshman and middle school basketball games through Saturday. A total of 74 varsity girls’ and boys’ contests have been scheduled as the 2020-21 AHSAA basketball season closes out its second week of the young season.

Plenty of attention will be paid to Thompson head coach Mark Freeman and Hewitt-Trussville’s Josh Floyd. The two coaches careers and their success at their current schools closely mirror each other.  Consider these facts:

  • Hewitt-Trussville played its first season in 1922. The Huskies are currently 450-428-28 overall. Thompson fielded its first football team in 1928 and currently stands at 449-381-14 all-time.
  • The Warriors and Huskies have meet on the gridiron twelve times with claiming winning six victories apiece .  The two schools split a six-game stint played from 1972-78 and have also gone 3-3 in their more modern series – playing six times in the last seven years with each winning three games apiece. 
  • The series has been close – with Hewitt outscoring Thompson 309-302 in the series – including 194-188 in the last six meetings.
  • Thompson’s Freeman and Hewitt’s Floyd are both in their sixth seasons at their prospective schools. Freeman is 56-14 in that span with the school’s only Class 7A state crown, and Floyd is 56-23 with back-to-back 11-1 seasons in 2017 and 2018.
  • Freeman is 220-51 overall with stops at Spanish Fort, Gulf Shores and AISA Bessemer Academy. His teams won two state titles at Spanish Fort and four AISA state championships at Bessemer Academy.
  • Floyd, who came to Alabama from Arkansas, is 140-46-1 in 16 seasons with four state titles and one state runner-up finish at Springdale’s Shiloh Christian.

Both teams are loaded with talent this season. Thompson won the regular-season battle 35-21 over the Huskies.  Second ranked Hoover handed Hewitt its second loss 29-28.  In the first round of the 7A postseason both squads knocked out teams from the Huntsville area in impressive fashion.  Thompson took down Grissom 49-7, Hewitt downed James Clemens 55-12.

The winner will advance to the Class 7A semifinals to face the winner of the No. 2 Hoover Buccaneers and Oak Mountain Eagles

Abbeville (9-1) and B.B. Comer (10-1) roll into their Class 2A second-round playoff contest with a lot of momentum. The Yellow Jacketsknocked off  Thorsby 44-6 last week while the Tigers advanced with a first-round COVID 19 forfeit from St. Luke’s Episcopal.

For a preview of both games, check out the AHSAA TV Weekly Program at the following link: https://youtu.be/w3UBPK1yODw

Kickoff for both games is set for 7 p.m., and can be seen over the subscriber-based NFHS Network and the WOTM TV Network’s cable station affiliates across the state.

WOTM will also feature a playoff game of the week in the quarterfinals and semifinals and will produce all seven state finals at the 2020 Super 7 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa in December for the AHSAA TV Network.

The NFHS Network link for the Thompson-Hewitt Game of the Week is:
http://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/ahsaa/gambf0ad8861b?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=ahsaa.com&utm_campaign=ahsaaweekly
    
    

The NFHS Network link for B.B. Comer vs. Abbeville is:
http://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/ahsaa/gam585303fb4d?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=ahsaa.com&utm_campaign=ahsaaweekly 

For information concerning the AHSAA TV Network’s WOTM cable availability, check out the following link:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/WOTM-Coverage-2019_1.jpg
 

A subscription allows the viewer access to any events on the NFHS Network. Monthly and yearly subscriptions are available. For more information on how to subscribe, checkout:
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/subscribe/retail

The complete AHSAA schedule of events set to be livestreamed over the NFHS Network tonight through October 17 can be found at:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/11-11%20events.pdf