Tigers drop region opener

By Michael Butler

Tallassee made its third road trip in three weeks to Greenville on Friday. The region opener was close early but a one-score game at halftime became a 33-7 win for the homestanding team.

Greenville picked up where it left off last season after running the table with a 6-0 record in Class 5A/Region 2.

The game was scoreless after the opening quarter, but that changed early in the second with a deflected interception that turned into a touchdown for Greenville. It would be the first of two pick six scores on the night. After no turnovers at Handley, the Tigers turned it over three times against Greenville.

"We made some mistakes," head coach Mike Battles said. "We had situations come up that don't every Friday night. None of them went our way. I hate it for the kids."

Tallassee's only TD came on an end-around run by Zavion Carr for 64 yards. Tallassee trailed 13-7 at the intermission.

Tyler Ellis was 13-of-22 for 93 yards passing. Matt Justiss led THS receivers with five catches for 61 yards.

Greenville (2-1) improved to 5-0 in the series vs. Tallassee (1-2).

"This is just the first region game. We can still make every goal we want," Battles added. "We've had a tough run of three games to start the season. It's a young team. It's a tough start, but somewhere along the line we're going to grow up and be a lot tougher for it."

Tallassee plays its home opener on Friday, Sept. 13 at J. E. "Hot" O'Brien Stadium vs. Carroll-Ozark at 7 p.m. 1300 WTLS/106.5 FM will have live coverage of the game beginning at 6 simulcast on Tallassee Times TV through YouTube, Spectrum Channel 97 and the TuneIn app.

Photo by Jacoby Cole