This Friday at the Hoover Met is the huge matchup between the #3 Thompson Warriors and the #2 Hoover Bucs. The winner will win the Class 7A, Region 3 Championship and get that #1 seed in the region.

Thompson and Hoover are both undefeated in the region and both come into the game with long winning streaks. If you just look at score comparison, you might thing Thompson could just run away with this game but as Lee Corso often says "not so fast my friend." Hoover is 20-0 against Thompson in their series and the game is played at the Hoover Met where they are very unkind to visiting teams coming out with wins along with dealing with the crowd noise from the Hoover side. The Bucs play really, really well at the Met.

Thompson (8-0, 6-0) has a lot of confidence coming into the game as they are undefeated and playing well since their first game of the season. "The kids need to thrive off of playing in a game like this," said Thompson Head coach Mark Freeman. "We need to look forward to the adversity and use it as momentum and adrenaline for themselves. We tell them, it is an important game for a lot of reasons but it is week nine and there is going to be a week ten after this game. Our goal is to get into the playoffs and we want to win the game, to beat Hoover, be successful every Friday night but we have a short week coming up and we have to get ready for Huffman and the playoffs after that. There is a lot of hoopla for the fans, but we have more football after this game coming up."

Thompson has an offense that has been rolling all season long. The Warriors offense is averaging 43.8 points per game on offense. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa has been playing at a high level. For the season, the junior quarterback has completed 160-of-219 passing for a 73% completion rate for 2,382 yards with 24 touchdowns and only three interceptions. 

The Warriors have two running backs, a slasher and a bruiser. Shadrick Byrd is the slasher. The junior running back has 731 yards on 83 carries for a 8.8 yard per carry average with 12 touchdowns. Jojo Ford, the bruiser, has 463 yards on 46 carries for a first down on every carry. Ford is averaging 10.1 yards per carry and has six touchdowns on the season.

At receiver, Thompson has some good ones. Mo Edwards, a 3-year starter with the Warriors, has 614 yards on 32 receptions with nine touchdowns. "Mo is very important to us," added Freeman. "He knows our system and is very smart player. We use him as a possession receiver, but has top end ability but he really gets open and gets that underneath receptions that our team needs." With Edwards is his cousin Ahmad Edwards. An explosive receiver that can go get the deep ball. Ahmad has 80 receptions for 1,051 yards with nine touchdowns.

The offensive line is improving week to week. Amari Kight has been improving at left tackle. He has offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Oregon and Tennessee. Alex Pearman has battled a broken foot to start the season but is getting healthy. "Alex is our vocal leader," said Freeman. "A great leader while Amari is just very talented and works real hard. The offensive line is getting better each week and we are not where we want to be yet, but they are super, super great kids."

On defense, Thompson is giving up 16.1 points per game. You talk about the Warriors defense, the one name that comes up is Jalen Rayam. The senior linebacker has 98 total tackles with 19.0 tackles for loss and with 5.5 sacks on the season. Rayam has offers from UAB, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, Kent State, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama, Tulane, Western Carolina and Western Kentucky. UAB seems to be the front runner for his services.

Two other linebackers are important to the Warriors defense. KJ Robertson has 86 total tackles with nine tackles for loss while Will Connor has 84 tackles and 10 tackles for loss on the season. In the secondary, David Douglas who had to fill in in at defensive back against Spain Park scored on a tipped pass from the Jags and scored on a 32-yard touchdown interception. Myles Brown will have to make sure the Warriors defense keeps their eyes on two Hoover receivers that are game changers. Defensive lineman Mackie Mcneal will need to put pressure on stopping a very good Hoover run game.

The Hoover Bucs (7-1, 6-0) are averaging 37.9 points per game on offense and look to keep up the scoring with Thompson if this game becomes a shootout. "First of all we have to score one more point than they do to get the win," said Bucs Head coach Josh Niblett. "We have to contain their offense, get off the field on third downs and not give up the big plays. We have to contain their quarterback because he can run with the ball so we have to get him down or out of bounds. We can't get caught where we are not supposed to be on defense. On offense, we have to stay ahead of the sticks, make sure we come away with points in the red zone. Touchdowns in the red zone are going to be a premium. We have to take care of the football. Usually special teams play an important roll in big games so we have to win the battle of special teams. We work hard on special teams. We have to be mentally ready to play this game. We can't be to high or to low. We have to let the kids enjoy the atmosphere. Our kids like playing in these types of games. We have been here before and we need to use this to our advantage."

Everything on the offensive side of the ball starts up front. Hoover has Mike Maye, a Georgia Tech commit, and Sam McDaniel on the offensive line. If they struggle most of the Hoover offense could struggle but they have been a rock on the Bucs offensive line.

Jalen Parker leads the Bucs offense this season. The senior quarterback has completed 105-of-169 passing for 1,463 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions. At running back, the Bucs have a couple of good ones. Larry McCammon has 709 yards on 89 carries for a 8.0 yard per carry average with 10 touchdowns and senior Vonte Brackett has 374 yards on 53 carries for a 7.1 yard per carry average with five touchdowns. Jacquez Allen has 272 yards on 44 carries with eight touchdowns. "Larry is a very good running back, very explosive," added Niblett. "He can run inside and outside and can break a long one at anytime. He is a game changer. We need to get him touches. Vonte is a little different runner. He has his own style. Some games he is good inside but sometimes he is better running outside. He is always a guy that knows what to do. He doens't mind getting downhill and that helps. He has pretty good speed to get on the edge. Jacquez is just smooth being really fast. He just rolls out of stuff keeping those feet chopping at all times. He understands the game. We run him at receiver along at running back."

Hoover has two of the best receiving combos in the state right along with Thompson. Shedrick Jackson has 530 yards on 28 receptions for a whopping 18.9 yard per catch average with three touchdowns while George Pickens has 331 yards on 22 receptions with a touchdown. Allen has 105 yards on 10 receptions and Shaw Niblett has 109 yards on 10 receptions and a touchdown. Jackson, who returns punts, can take it back on a punt return at anytime like he did against Spain Park earlier in the season.

On defense, nose guard Khamari Brown is a run stuffer. Look for the Warriors offense to go around Brown and not even try much up the middle. Linebackers Nick Curtis and Isaiah Hubbard will put pressure on the Warriors offense. Chase Brown, Adrian Hill and Tyrell Goldsmith will have their hands full with the Warriors receivers.

Kicker Barret Pickering is 7-of-10 on field goals along being 31-of-31 on extra points. I believe Hoover has a step up in special teams and they will look to make a difference in this area in the game. 

The key in this game is Tagovailoa being able to escape pressure in the pocket with his quick release and his running ability. Hoover does a good job of blitzing at the right time and putting heavy pressure on the opposing quarterback so we shall see. Two great teams playing one game for the region title. Remember win or loose, there could be a rematch in the playoffs. Let us see!