THS principal Drew Glass crowning Laci Hammonds homcoming queen. Photo by Kyle Thornton .

Tallassee dominant in homecoming win

By Michael Butler

Things could not have started any better. The very first touch of the night turned into an 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Cade Everson. Tallassee was off and running and did not look back in a 25-7 homecoming win over Valley.

Laci Hammonds was crowned homecoming queen. And before the flash bulbs had stopped flashing, the Tigers were up 6-0.

It quickly became the Lil' Josh Griffin show. Griffin put up a career high 218 yards on 20 carries with three touchdowns.

It was a stellar effort by the defense as well with guys like Griffin and Caden Griffith wreaking havoc on Valley quarterback Cam'ron Dooley, who was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter. The Tigers Travarious Langford intercepted one of Dooley's passes.

"We came out and played well," THS head coach Mike Battles said. "We didn't turn the ball over. There were two things that we wanted to do that we control - turnovers and stupid penalties."

Tallassee had nine turnovers in the previous two games. They had 95 yards in penalties in the win over Elmore County. On Friday night, there was just one turnover and 45 penalty yards.

With Tallassee up 12-7 after a half, Valley got the opening possession of the second half. The Tigers got a stop and another Griffin score shortly afterwards.

"We came out in the second half and stopped them that first drive," said Battles. "That's always a big momentum changer. Our defense played great. They played lights out. And our offense - once we got going and blocking and hammering - I felt like we out-physicalled them."

Battles improved to 10-1 in homecoming games at Tallassee.

"I"m just glad we got through this week and the players had enough rest for tonight," the coach said. "I'm proud for the kids. This was one of those where if we win, we may prolong the season. If we lose, we could get into a situation where we don't control our own destiny."

With the victory, the Tigers are now the No. 3 seed in the Class 5A/Region 4 with tiebreakers over Elmore County and Valley who play next week. The top seed will be determined with the Beauregard/Clay Central game on Friday.

Tallassee 4-4 (2-2) faces Sylacauga (0-8/0-4) for Senior Night on Friday at 7 p.m. at J. E. "Hot" O'Brien Stadium. Score 94.7/Hit 106.9 will have live coverage beginning at 6. Audio streaming is available at: www.1300wtls.com with an audio simulcast on Spectrum Cable Channel 340. Video is streamed on Tallassee Times TV through YouTube.

*View more Photos by Kyle Thornton from Homcoming '22