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Tigers lose region opener

By Michael Butler

Tallassee could not overcome a rough first quarter and dropped its opening region game to Greenville at J. E. “Hot” O’Brien Stadium on Friday, 40-21.  The Tigers fall to 2-1 overall.

THS came into the game as the 6th ranked team in Class 5A, riding an eight-game home winning streak.  The visiting Tigers jumped out to a 19-0 lead after the opening stanza and never looked back.

Kalvin Levett’s 52-yard run set up Tallassee’s first touchdown, a two-yard score by Markevious Matthews early in the second period.  It looked as though the Tigers would cash in a Greenville turnover but were turned away from the end zone after a first-and-goal from the three.

Greenville added insult to injury with another scoring drive and a blocked punt for a score right before the conclusion of the first half for a 34-6 lead.

Matt Justiss made an acrobatic fourth-down touchdown catch on an 18-yard pass from Levett and was named the Spectrum Player of the Game.  Dalton Lanier grabbed another 55-yard pass reception from Dylan Turner. Turner connected with Trent Cochran-Gill from 14 yards out for Tallassee’s final score in the waning minutes.

Greenville outgained Tallassee 325-237.

“They played well. We played poorly. That’s on me,” THS head coach Mike Battles said. “I guess we didn’t prepare them well. Our kids weren’t ready to play for whatever reason. We’re going to have to figure it out.

“I thought our effort was good and we hung in there. They are a really good team, but they didn’t get to see the best Tallassee team tonight. Hats off to them.  A lot of the things that we couldn’t execute was because of them. They showed a lot of class.”

Tallassee will go on the road for the first time this season on Friday as they travel to Ozark to take on No. 4 ranked Carroll. The two last played in 2011 with the Tigers winning 35-34. Tallassee is 6-0 all-time against the Eagles.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Airtime on 1300 WTLS/106.5 FM is at 6. The game will be simulcast on Spectrum Channel 97 with audio streaming on the TuneIn app and video streaming on YouTub

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