North Jefferson News, North Jefferson, AL

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September 28, 2009

Gardendale 21, Thompson 14: Tidwell throws on TD pass, catches another in Rockets win

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By Mark Monosky
The North Jefferson News

Two second-half touchdowns helped Gardendale secure their second win of the season 21-14 over Thompson. The Gardendale defense shut down Thompson’s offense in the second half, and the Rocket offense took advantage.

“It was great win and great job by our assistant coaches,” said coach Chris Fancher. “It was a great job by our football team. They deserve all of the credit. We had a great week of practice. An adverse situation caused us not to practice much this week, but our team and our assistant coaches did a great job.”

Gardendale started the scoring on the opening possession. The Rockets drove the ball 68 yards in 10 plays. Christian Green gave Gardendale the lead 7-0 when he ran it in from two yards out.

The Rockets were able to maintain the lead for the rest of the first quarter and through half of the second.

Thompson was able to answer back midway in the second quarter. After the Warriors recovered a Gardendale fumble at the Rockets 14 yard line, it only took them four plays to score. Running back Monterious Drake tied the score 7-7 when he punched it in from two yards out.

Thompson took the lead late in the first half. After forcing Gardendale (2-3, 1-1 in Region 6) to punt, the Warriors drove the ball 81 yards in 8 plays. A 14 yard run by Drake gave Thompson the lead. It was Drake’s second touchdown of the quarter and it gave Thompson the 14-7 advantage going into halftime.

In the second half, Gardendale’s defense took command. On the opening possession of the half the Rockets were able to force Thompson to punt. Gardendale’s offense quickly took advantage.

On the opening play of the possession Tidwell found an open JaMicheal Willis for 30 yards, which set up a Gardendale score. The Rockets tied the score 14-14 when Christian Green lined up at quarterback and threw a 10- yard pass to Tidwell.

The defenses soon took over the game. Both teams’ offenses struggled for most of the second half. Finally with less than three minutes to go in the game Gardendale was able to take the lead for good when Tidwell found a wide open Cameron Groce for a 2 yard touchdown pass. The touchdown help to give the Rockets the lead 21-14.

Thompson tried to answer back late. But a broken-up pass by Matt Oliver helped stop the Thompson’s offense, and preserved the victory.

Tidwell was 11-for-23 for the night with one interception for 101 yards. Xavier Morrow had 12 rushes for 95 yards. Guy Van Zant led the Rockets in tackles with 11 in the game. Casey Carroll and Michael Burgess also had seven tackles each.

Gardendale travels to Mountain Brook next week.

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