By Michael Butler
The first few minutes of Friday night’s matchup with Tallassee and Munford were not an indication of things to come. Tallassee (2-1/1-0) won their Class 4A/Region 3 opener 53-21 despite falling behind by two scores in the early minutes.
Many fans had not settled into their seats yet at J.E. “Hot” O’Brien Stadium before they saw their hometown Tigers down 14-0. On the game’s opening drive, Munford (0-2/0-1) hit an 89-yard bomb on their first pass to set up a one-yard touchdown run on the next play.
On the ensuing drive, the Lions recovered a THS fumble in Tallassee territory. Six plays later they added another TD.
There were not many more highlights for the Lions after that. Tallassee scored 36 unanswered points and rolled to a fairly comfortable victory.
“I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Tallassee head coach L.A. O’Neal said of Munford’s hot start. “They got in that heavy package and hit that homerun on us, but our kids fought back.”
Tallassee got their first points of the night with a 38-yard field goal by Yuren Rodriguez in the first quarter. They led 17-14 at halftime after a pair of scores from Jaiden “J-Man” Gordon. Gordon was on the receiving end of a 36-yard touchdown pass from John Carter. His other touchdown came on a run of 14 yards.
Rodriguez hit another 44-yard field goal in the third quarter. Channing Johnson split the uprights as well on a 28-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Tallassee also got touchdowns from Hamp Love, Jeremiah Reeves, John Carter and Tiny Green. The Tigers ran for 330 yards led by Green’s 96 yards on 16 carries.
The defense picked up another safety after recording two in last week’s win over Elmore County. Mason Henderson got credit for the deuce after a grounding call in the endzone. The Tigers’ Kaleb Jackson added an interception on the night.
“We were able to take control of the game,” O’Neal added. “We’re working every week to put the kids in the best spot to be successful.”
Booker T. Washington (1-1/1-0) comes to Tallassee next week. The Eagles handed the Tigers their only region loss last year with a fourth-quarter 26-21 comeback win in Tuskegee.
Kickoff will be at 7 p.m. Airtime on WTLS – Score 94.7/Fun 101.1 and Tallassee Times TV on YouTube will be at 6.
Tallassee Times 
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