Florence Falcons @ Baker 11/07/25 (First Round AHSAA State Playoffs)
93.9 The Score WYTK - November 7, 2025
https://www.939thescore.com/florence-falcons-baker-11-07-25-first-round-ahsaa-state-playoffs/

This transcript was generated automatically from the broadcast audio. Names and some words may be misspelt; the audio is the official record.

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Now let's join the Falcons radio crew live from the stadium for pre-game coverage.
On the road in Mobile, Alabama.
The Florence Falcons class 7A won a 16 team for Maine.
And tonight we're all the way down to the Gulf of America to play the longest road trip of any team ever in 7A history and any of high school history in the state of Alabama tonight.
That's the Florence Falcons getting ready to tangle with the Hornets of Baker High School.
And welcome to Falcon football and welcome to the T&T Fireworks pre-game show.
Kevin Johnson, along with John McDaniel, and along with my good friend Jeffrey Jones running a three-man crew tonight.
Our good friend Mike Albertson away on assignment.
We'll talk more about him in a few minutes.
We're glad to be with you here, though, live at Baker High School.
And it's going to be a lot of fun tonight.
We're excited about it.
When we come back, we'll start to break down all the game.
Tell you what's going on here tonight.
Both teams out on the fields, you're listening to the T&T Fireworks pre-game show, Florence Falcons football.
We're back in one minute.
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Welcome back to the TNT Fireworks pregame show here at Baker High School.
Kevin Johnson, glad to be with you and the crew.
We are furiously and feverishly putting everything together to bring you to broadcast tonight on the visitor side of Baker High School.
Looking forward to this one tonight.
I believe the name of the stadium, if I'm not mistaken, is Clem Richardson Stadium.
That's correct.
We'll have that here tonight.
So, both teams warming up tonight.
And it is a long trip, but we have made it down here to Mobile and glad to bring you to broadcast here on 93.9 The Score.
And Jeffrey Jones, the Florence Falcons, have traveled as many miles as a team today, maybe, in the state, I would say, maybe, as we have all season.
I've gone through so many numbers looking at Google Maps on this place.
I'm not sure how far we've traveled today, but it seems like a long way.
But, you know, like I said, I've told you all this before, you know, when we drive to Birmingham, it feels like we're driving to Coleman.
It's just the conversation's great.
We figure out all the world's problems and solve most of them.
But, yeah, it's really, part of me wants to say it's not that bad.
But then again, I'm not on the way back yet.
We're not on the way back yet.
You know, we got here in Mobile about 3.30 today.
But then I found out that Jeffrey Jones knows everybody in Mobile like he does in Florence, Alabama.
And so he said, hey, let's go here.
I know somebody here.
Hey, let's go here.
We know somebody here.
Before long, we're eating a nice meal.
And we're like, guys, we've got to hurry up and get married.
We come back through back roads, potholes, but we have gotten here to Baker High School.
We did hit a dirt road on the way here.
A dirt road and a couple of alligators.
In the heart of Mobile, that's for sure.
But we have made it here.
Leave it to me.
It's okay.
But real quickly, Jeffrey, it's a human night.
It's not what we had last week.
Last Thursday night at Oxford, we were getting gloves and scarves and hats.
And now we're all out here in beach wear.
It is a balmy 77 degrees with about, I would say, it's got to be 120% humidity down here right now.
I mean, and John McDaniel's forehead will tell you the truth.
We're sweating out here.
We've only been out here for about 20, 30 minutes.
And let me say this.
These two guys have carried the load of getting everything together and unpacking and getting things together.
We appreciate the help from Baker High School as well.
They've been very gracious to us.
But we are on the visitor's side.
If you want to know a comparison to stadiums, maybe, I was trying to think in my mind, a stadium that we could compare it to.
Maybe like a little bit of a miniature Decatur Ogle Stadium.
That might be one, I would say, on the visitor's side.
About 12 rows of concrete bleachers.
And then across the way, probably about double that, 24 up.
And then a small press box.
And when we asked, hey, could we maybe do the press?
They said, oh, no room in the press box up here.
So they set us a 10 up.
We're on the outside.
It has been raining here in Mobile, Alabama, but not as much as it has been across the rest of Alabama.
We came through a good bit of rain coming down.
But here, showers have been here.
But it's supposed to look like, hopefully, fingers crossed, clear the rest of the night.
There's no rain on the radar as of now here in Mobile.
But there's a nice little breeze starting to blow from behind us here today.
And it's not a fan.
So I'm glad about that as well.
And, you know, Jeffrey, when I look at this matchup tonight, we're going to go off script a little bit.
We've been off script all day.
But you're taking on a team that has been rested.
They've been at home.
They've been in their beds.
They have not had to pack.
They've not had to do all the logistics.
Baker said, oh, this number one seat is so nice.
Meanwhile, Florence, it has been a busy, crazy week.
Yeah, it has been a busy, crazy week.
It's starting on Sunday with our third denial on our appeal.
But you know what?
We're here.
There's something to be said for sometimes traveling on the road is an experience.
And, you know, a lot of these guys spent the night in a hotel further than they ever have in their lives.
So one thing that Baker has been very comfortable, their number one seed, they've earned it.
There's no doubt about that.
But in my opinion, as far as where we were placed, I'd rather be playing Baker than I would be Mary G. Montgomery right now.
That's for sure.
Now, Baker did beat Mary G. Montgomery, but, you know, looking at them on film, I think that Baker shows up, or I think they match up better with us.
Yeah, they're a pretty good-looking team, that's for sure.
And let's bring in John McDaniel, who has been working feverishly.
First of all, good trip now?
Yeah, it was a great trip.
You know, you and I, it's just sort of kicked back and relaxed and let our driver do all the work.
A couple white-knuckle events, but other than that, we made it.
I appreciate you referring to those potholes as such, as opposed to the sinkholes that they actually were.
And he said we hit a couple.
He should have said a dozen, because I thought the car was going to get lost in one.
But we want to say thank you to Garner Pierce Auto for taking care of us.
If it wasn't for such an awesome car, we would have been stopped.
Emmer, the car is fine.
The car is fine.
I know that's what they're thinking back there as well.
Hey, John, real quickly, just want to ask you a quick question, and that is this.
Florence, last week against Oxford, what an impressive on-the-road victory.
Plays big tonight, too, but just talk about that game last week just for a few seconds.
The Falcons did a terrific job of coming out ready to play after rebounding after a tough loss at home.
And they came out and played one of the best games all season.
Really sent shockwaves throughout the state.
Lots of people talking about the upset that the Falcons did.
Climbed rankings all over all different places on the Internet.
A great job of playing team ball and making your own breaks.
That's the Falcons.
And hopefully those are the kind of things the Falcons can do tonight.
I agree as well.
We had an opportunity, I did at least, to sit down with Coach Kenny Marson before he left for Mobile.
They came down early on Thursday.
Got to talk to him about tonight's game.
Here's the thoughts from the head coach, Kenny Marson.
Joined now by head coach Kenny Marson of the Florence Falcons.
And, Coach, first of all, let's rewind as the regular season comes to an end.
What a win on the road at Oxford High School.
Great win for our program.
Our kids went down there in a hostile environment.
Really good football team.
And came out of there with a 12-11 win.
And just so proud of those guys.
They never wavered.
They never thought they were not going to do it.
And just proud of them.
And that's the culture that's been built around here with this senior class and what we've tried to preach.
And these guys are bought in.
I want to highlight two guys from that game.
One, Nate Pride.
Nate Pride.
People don't realize it.
May have made the play of the game on a blocked extra point up the middle.
And then he gets an interception later in the game.
Two big plays by a defensive lineman.
100%.
As soon as he blocked it, the guys were coming off the field.
And I don't think some of those young guys realized what an eight-point game difference and a nine-point game.
And it brought me back to Muscle Shoals last year when they picked sixth us and they were up eight.
And I went through our sideline begging and pleading with our guys that it's an eight-point game.
It's a one-score game.
And it never registered with them.
And it turned ugly in the fourth quarter.
We got to beat 34-13 or whatever.
But this group, they were coming off.
And I was telling them, hey, that left it on eight.
That's a one-score game, one-score game.
And they were fired up over there.
So they got it.
Then let's turn to another guy that I've set a school record.
How about Charlie Graves with four field goals?
Ice water in his veins.
I mean, he stepped up.
We didn't know that we'd need him for four of them.
But he was ready every time.
We know we were back there one time a little far.
And, you know, he just missed that one.
But they were offside, moved it five yards closer.
Hey, worked to our advantage.
He knocked the next one through.
So four for four, proud of him.
Couldn't happen to a better young man.
Speaking of Coach Kenny Marson of the Florence Falcons.
And, Coach, I want to say on behalf of the city of Florence, thank you for fighting for your team this past week.
You went above and beyond to fight for your team.
It did not come out the way we wanted.
But we truly appreciate what you did for your team to try to get them where they should be.
But now you have to turn the page.
And it's that time to do that.
How do you get that page turned?
Well, you know, first off, I appreciate what you said.
And I appreciate the Facebook messages and the Facebook posts and everything, the calls that I've gotten and text.
I didn't want it about me, and everybody that knows me knows it's not about me.
And I've never been that guy.
So, but it kind of turned that way.
But end of the day, it's about these kids.
And it's about fighting for what's right.
And we don't feel like it was done right.
Hard pill to swallow.
But you know what?
We've got to swallow it and move on.
If we preach adversity to these young men and handle it in this locker room since I got here.
And when I got here four years ago, adversity was a tough pill to swallow for us.
And we've fought that and fought that about handling it.
How are you going to handle it?
How are you going to react to bad things that happen to you?
Because it's going to happen in life.
And just like I told them after the Spartan game, if that's the worst thing that ever happens to you in your lifetime, you're going to be okay.
At the end of the day, it's just a game.
And I told them again the other day, I said, guys, hey, God's got a plan.
He keeps, this is in his plan.
It's going to be a hard road, I guess, for us.
But, hey, we're going to learn from this and be better.
And proud of these young men.
They believe that, heck, they turned the page quicker than I did.
I kept fighting and kept fighting all the way through Sunday.
Those guys were in here before I even went up there on Sunday's deal for the Zoom meeting for the appeal.
Guys were coming through here working out and going out on the field.
They said, coach, we don't care where we're going.
Load the buses, let's go.
So, they were never phased.
And that's the senior class.
Impressive.
Impressive there.
Talking about your team here at Florence High School.
And, coach, your opponent tonight, the Baker Hornets, how fast are they?
Well, when you're watching them on film, I had to check the film to make sure that I wasn't in a little faster speed on the thing.
Sometimes that huddle thing will get off at 1.5 speed and they'll look a little faster than they are.
I tried to slow the thing down.
Even in slow-mo, they look fast.
So, I mean, they're talented.
There's no question.
They're a one seed down there in a tough, tough region.
And they're one seed for a region.
Got a talented running back that's a load and he's fast.
And there's a couple of receivers that are Division I guys that we just got to hem them up.
The quarterback's going to stand in there and throw it all over the place.
They don't want him to run.
We just got to get to him.
We can't let him stand in there and pick us apart and let that speed get out there on us.
We've got to contain it.
And our guys have done a good job all year of that.
We've faced speed in this region all year.
So, we hadn't maybe faced it as a whole at one time on the field.
But you know what?
Only one guy can carry the ball at one time.
So, we've told the guys they may have three or four, but only one guy can tote it.
So, we've got to get to that one guy.
Logistics are different.
You have to leave a little early, but that's okay.
You've got everything worked out.
The city of Florence has really backed you on this and the others as well.
It's been impressive.
I cannot begin to thank the folks out here in this community.
This is a $25,000 to $27,000 trip that was unexpected.
We felt like, again, we're the one seed.
We should be at home.
We didn't.
And so, we had to scramble to come up with $27,000 in a few days.
And we're loading the bus tomorrow.
We're locking the guys in at 8 a.m.
And we'll have them all day.
We're leaving at 1.30.
We're staying overnight at the Battle House Riverview down there, one of the nicest hotels
down there.
We actually got a really good rate compared to some of the other places.
We've got 37 rooms, two floors.
We're going to treat it like a college trip.
But at the end of the day, the thanks that's going out there to this community, and we're
going down there with a zero bill when we go.
$27,000, around $26,000 in about a two-day span and a fully covered trip.
That's Florence.
That's why I came home.
That's why I wanted to be a part of this.
This is what this community's been about.
And they love these kids.
They're loving up on me right now.
We just got to keep winning.
Ready to play some football?
Let's do it.
It's been a long week.
That's why I hired good coaches as well.
Our coaches on Monday, they handled the practice.
I was in here with Coach Sawyer, who's handling our football operations stuff, and itineraries
and hotels and meals and bus lists and room lists.
It was about a two-day ordeal just to get this thing up and running and going.
And again, you've got to trust the people you hire, and we've had some really good practices
this week.
And I hadn't necessarily seen all of it, but slipped in and out.
And got out there yesterday, was able to be able to coach and not worry about it, and had
probably one of the best practices we've had this year.
So, excited about these guys.
They're ready to play.
Should be fun.
We're looking forward to it.
This is the TNT Fireworks pregame show, Florence Falcons football.
We're back in one minute.
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Welcome back to the TNT Fireworks pregame show.
Florence Falcons football 7-8 playoffs here on 93-9 to score.
Kevin Johnson, John McDaniel, Jeffrey Jones, glad to be with you.
Mike Albertson away on assignment.
Mike, we miss you.
Guys, it was a lot different coming out without Mike being here.
He's pretty special, J.J.
Yeah, he sure is.
We miss him.
He said good things about me when I missed a game a couple years ago, so I'm going to
say some good things about him.
He adds a lot to our crew.
He's my wingman.
Usually rides shotgun.
I got stuck with John tonight.
I guess it's acceptable, but he ain't no Mike Albertson up front.
That's for sure.
I'm definitely not Mike Albertson.
Mike, brother, we understand.
Miss you.
Look forward to seeing you again soon.
Hey, Mike, we'll see you next week.
Let's pull off a victory night.
Let's go back to Brawley Stadium.
They'll allow us to play it there, and we'll play it over there, which brings me to, as
most of you know, there was a ruling of AHA that said Florence protested, disagreed with
over who was awarded the region championship, those type things.
So it was one of those things where, hey, it is what it is.
Nothing about it.
Kenny Marson, the head coach, went to bat for his team, fought for the tiebreaker rules to
be interpreted as he saw fit the way they were written, but a four-way tie.
The way I put it for most, it was more like a Rubik's Cube.
There's two ways to solve a Rubik's Cube.
You can twist and turn and twist and turn and finally get it fixed, or you can take all the
stickers off and place them where you want to, and well, that's what the Rubik's Cube
was.
So fact is fact, and the Falcons have to come on the road.
Now you've got to make the best of the opportunity.
And you know, John, one of the things is, is this Falcon team, whenever they faced a test
that, hey, it's going to be tougher, it's going to be tougher, they seem to rise to the occasion.
That's one thing I like about this team.
You've got to put the, you know, bad things are going to happen as a sports team.
Things are going to go against you, whatever the ruling, hey, so what, now what?
Let's get ready to go play.
We're here.
We've got the same field that they've got.
The Falcons are ready to go.
They seem to be excited about playing this road trip.
They were able to come down yesterday, so that's no excuse anymore.
They're ready to go.
We're going to see if they can give it their best game tonight, and I think their best game
is good enough to win tonight here in Mobile.
That's the thing about it.
Let's be honest about it, John, is that this Falcon team has been on the road to Thompson.
They've been on the road to Opelika, and they were mismatches, and we sort of knew it going in.
This one, I'm not saying it's not a mismatch.
I'm just saying it's a much more winnable game.
Would you not agree?
You know, I'm so hesitant to say it.
We've talked about it a couple of times this week.
But I will say that it seems to me when you're watching them, when we played Thompson and Opelika
the last two years, they've been loaded with Division I talent that just happened to play
high school football, a lot of SEC guys.
And it was a mismatch.
We were beat for the most part before we got started.
This team has got a lot of good players, and I don't want to denigrate anyone.
We're watching some of these guys warm up, and they're really exciting.
But the Falcons have the best chance to win a playoff game that they've had in a long time.
Jeffrey Jones with us here.
The Falcons found a kicker last week.
Oh, Uncle Charlie come through pretty good, didn't he?
Uncle Charlie, that's a good one for him.
Yeah, he's really impressed us all year with the ability.
He's pretty accurate.
He has missed one extra point, I believe, this year, and I'm not too happy about that.
But the rest of them, he's been pretty spot on.
You know, it's such an amazing difference in this program when we have a good, reliable kicker,
and we don't have to worry about that.
And it changes up our offense and what we can do.
You know, Charlie doesn't have the longest leg we've seen at Florence,
but he's been very accurate and been very serviceable,
and I'm very impressed with what he's done.
And, you know, last week it was Charlie 12, Oxford 11.
That's how it fell.
So, very proud of the young man and very proud of all these seniors.
You know, he can't kick them unless the offensive line and the long snapper
and the holder do their job as well.
You know, and by the way, we're here at Baker High School down in Mobile,
just about 10, 15 minutes away from the Gulf.
And that's how close we are and not too far away at all.
So, it's a warm night, humid night.
This stadium, as I said, is turf-filled.
They'll have the Navy end zone with white lettering that says Hornets on one end
and Baker on the other.
They got the Hornet emblem there on the 50-yard line.
Matter of fact, I think it may be the first time Florence has ever played a team
named the Hornets in football.
I'll have to go back and check on that, but I think I was right when I looked at that.
But, J.J., one of the things about this game, and Coach Kenny Marson alluded to it,
the city of Florence has truly come behind this team with a big time this week.
No doubt.
No doubt they have.
They've definitely stepped up.
And, you know, it's not just this game.
All year we've seen a little bit more enthusiasm for the Falcons.
It's just been a delight to see.
It's been a very refreshing season so far.
You know, no matter what happens tonight, I call the season a success.
You know, we struggled out the gate.
But look where we are today compared to where we were then.
And as far as I'm concerned, you know, we might not have the trophy case,
but we should be region champions, and we certainly have earned it.
You know, had a lot of things go our way.
Just like with everything, you got to have things go your way.
And no matter what, we battled through some injuries.
But, you know, overall, we've had some players really step up.
A lot of seniors step up and a lot of younger guys stepping up.
So it's been a good year.
It's been a great year traveling with you guys too.
I mean, this is game 11 already, and it feels like game five to me.
But just a good around atmosphere.
Well, Florence was one and three earlier this season.
What a turnaround they've made.
You heard Jeffrey Jones talk about it.
The cheerleaders have arrived.
The band, the big blue band, has arrived now.
They're marching in, getting a few waves and smiles from some of them
as they're excited about being here tonight.
Lots of fans already have made the trip down from Florence, and more on the way.
Baker has a good crowd on hand.
It's 7-8 playoffs.
It's the way it should be in playoff football, round one in 7-8.
And we'll keep you updated on all the scores in the 93.9 The Score studios.
All the way up at the North Pole is James Moody.
James, take it away.
Tell us about tonight.
Ho, ho, ho.
Yes, we'll be keeping up with all of the playoff action in the North.
Well, it's not even the North bracket anymore, but involving the North Alabama teams.
I had some last night.
Just going to mention a few.
Hackelberg beat Spring Garden 32-16.
Also, Red Bay beat Sand Rock 53-14.
Lakson beat North Sand Mountain 52-23.
Also, Mars Hill beat Whitesburg Christian 70-14.
Rodgers fell to Geraldine 59-27.
Phil Campbell fell to Piedmont 59-19.
Lauderdale County fell to Fife 34-7.
Also, Brooks fell to Plainview 35-12.
Hamilton beat Asheville 35-28.
Also, Priceville over Guntersville.
That was quite the game, 24-21.
And Muscle Shoals beat Mae Jemison 38-12.
So, we'll be keeping up with all the games and all the brackets.
We'll also be keeping up with Hewitt-Trustman Opelika, which is what feeds into the winner of this game.
Also, the Tennessee scores.
Lawrence County has advanced in the playoffs.
Also, Jaws County advanced in the playoffs.
So, we'll be keeping up with all of that.
Also, we have some college football.
We've got Northwestern USC, Tulane Memphis, Houston, and Central Florida.
And so, we'll be keeping up with all that.
Just a jam-packed scoreboard show tonight from 10 to midnight right here on 93.9 The Score.
Now, back to the stadium for more of the pregame show.
Thank you, James Moody.
I appreciate him taking care of us.
We are on the other end of the state in Mobile.
The longest trip, as I said, that any school has ever made for a high school game in state.
We're in playoffs or regular season.
The Florence Falcons eclipse that today coming down here.
Well, you know you've gone a long way when you get from exit 310 in Coleman.
When you come down to exit 1 to go out to eat, you're all the way down at the other end.
So, it's been a good day, a good trip.
The Falcon team, they got here yesterday.
So, they look rested.
They look loose as they warm up.
They're going to have to play their A game tonight, though, against a really good Baker team
who has been at home all week long.
We want to say again thank you to Garner Pierce Auto, especially tonight.
They took care of us to get us down here for this long trip and long journey.
They've got, though, a car for you waiting for you for Christmas.
Go by and tell them you send them that way.
That's Garner Pierce Auto in Florence.
And also to our good friends at Lost Pizza.
Lost Pizza, we appreciate you for all the great meals all season long.
You've taken care of us.
Lost Pizza will have you taken care of this week as well.
And John McDaniel, let's talk for a few minutes.
Two big defensive tackles for Florence.
Sophomores.
They're growing up a whole lot this season.
Nate Pryde, 6'1", 250.
Jaden White, 6'3", 265.
Those guys have been the anchor of this Falcons defense.
As a matter of fact, at this point in the season, they've been playing so much, they're really no longer sophomores.
They're more like juniors, and they're playing like upperclassmen.
They set the table.
They make it hard for offenses to get going.
They are accountable.
Not one person can block most of them.
They take two, and that frees up so many guys on the back end to be able to run and tackle.
It's part of Coach Wisdom's system to be able to free up more guys.
But Jaden White and Nate Pryde are the starting blocks of this Falcons defense.
Baker comes in tonight, region champions for a reason.
They are a very good team.
What's the scouting report?
Well, good is an understatement.
When you win region one, you're a really good team.
You're an excellent team.
Matter of fact, we've touted all night about the other teams in their region that are traveling,
and these guys just happen to beat them all.
Even the other teams maybe are higher ranked in the state,
and yet Baker is the one seed tonight.
They have got a really tall, strong-armed quarterback.
I've been watching him in warm-ups.
He is a prototype passer.
He does high delivery.
He's not going to get any passes batted down,
and the thing he has is great wide receivers.
He's got at least two that are going to play.
One is committed to South Alabama right now.
The other has been offered by South and UNA,
along with a running back who's been offered by UNA.
Speed, speed, and more speed, Kevin.
They're not big, overly big, but they run really, really well.
It's not good when they're a running back, their top running back.
I talked to their athletic director who was very kind to us this week, Mr. Curtis,
and Mr. Curtis, I said, hey, tell me about your running back.
And he said, well, his nickname is Speedy.
And it isn't ironic.
And it's not ironic, no doubt about that.
John, one other thing.
Don't you feel, though, tonight, after last week's road win in Oxford,
that place a huge confidence boost for this unreal trip that Florence has had to take.
If nothing else, they know they can take a long trip and they can win on the road.
Hey, three hours is a long trip for these guys.
It's essentially they traveled less today than they did last week.
When you go to Oxford and play a program like that and really dominate the game, make all your breaks, people take note.
And you should take note of the confidence that gives you.
Oxford is a hard place to play.
People around the state know it.
Go ahead, Jay Gray.
I'm sorry.
I don't mean to interrupt.
I got coach here.
I don't want to hold him up too long.
Coach, a little bit longer trip than last week.
Yeah, just a tad.
But, hey, we've been down here a couple of days.
Kids have been great.
Proud of them.
Well, they've represented Florence the right way in these hotels, in these restaurants.
Can't say enough about them.
What a class act our guys have been.
Yeah, there's no doubt about that.
How about the community?
You know, the community support we've had this week has been –
I haven't seen it in a long time, and I'm glad to see it, though.
No, we'd just be getting off the bus a little while ago if we didn't have the support that we've got.
I mean, the community stepped up.
When we loaded up yesterday at 8 a.m., zero cost for this trip.
Twenty-six, probably get home, $27,000 trip, and we left with a zero bill.
Outstanding.
Thank you to this community for stepping up for these young men.
They have experienced something.
Some of these guys experienced something that they'll never experience in their lifetime.
A hotel that we stayed in at the Renaissance Riverview was phenomenal.
I mean, it was a college experience for these guys at a high school level, and first class for them.
Thank you for Florence stepping up for these guys.
Coming down here is a four seed, playing the number one seed.
One seed.
One seed.
All right, coming down here to play the one seed.
We know what we're up against.
Baker's a good, fast, strong team, but they're beatable.
They are.
We're fast.
We're strong, too.
They're, you know, two ones matching up in the first round.
I've posted it all over social media.
I don't care.
We're region champs.
We're down here.
We've got to prove ourselves down here.
This is a different brand of football now.
This is some speed all over the field.
We've got to hem them up.
We've got some guys that can run, too.
It's just going to be a great night for football, and we've got to one play at a time.
Luckily, we've played some good teams this year so far, and it prepares us for times like this.
As far as the game plan, are we just going to stick with what's worked throughout the year so far?
Yes.
I mean, you know, a lot of people question the schedule that I had made for us, and this is why you make it.
You know, you make those schedules.
You don't worry about the record itself.
You play really good people to prepare you for this tonight, and that's what we did.
Our out-of-region folks were really good teams, and that's why you play them, to see what happens here.
And just proud of these guys for continuing to fight all year long, from 1-3 to where we are.
So proud of them.
But, hey, everybody's 0-0 right now.
It's playoff time.
It's win or go home.
No matter what happens, I think we can all admit we're all proud to be Florence Falcons, right?
No doubt.
No doubt.
Thank you.
Have a good night.
Coach Kenny Marson with a long interview there telling us what he thought about tonight's game.
We're excited about it as well.
I know the folks in Florence are fired up about it as well.
I know Florence comes in underdogs, but anything can happen on any given Friday night in the state of Alabama.
You're listening to the TNT Fireworks pregame show.
We're back in one minute.
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This is Miranda Haddock with the Florence Education Foundation.
We would like to extend an invitation to our 8th annual Shoal Salsa Showdown on Saturday, November 15th from 2 to 5 p.m. at Singing River Brewery.
Local restaurants and individuals will compete to see who has the most delicious salsa and queso, which will be judged by you, our supporters.
For tickets and more information, visit our website at FlorenceEducationFoundation.org.
We would like to thank our gold and silver sponsors, T&T Fireworks, Forsyth & Long, United Community Bank, First Southern Bank,
Grisby Properties, First Metro Bank, Chick-fil-A, Bank Independent, United Benefits, and Johnson & Mayhem Dental.
We want to wish Coach Morrison and the Falcon football team good luck this season.
The great philosopher Forrest Gump once said,
Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.
That statement holds true for the Florence Falcons this season.
I recently compared the 2025 team to the first region champion team of 2007.
Not necessarily the most talented, but a united team that believed a little more each week.
In 2007, the Falcons won the region, but due to an ineligible player for Hoover High School being played in the regular season,
the Bucs, who were ranked number one in the state, dropped all the way to number four in the region.
So the reward for Florence for winning the region was to play the number one team instead of the true number four team.
Let's fast forward to 2025, and once again, the Falcons find themselves in a similar situation.
This time, the Falcons should be the number one team in the region and playing at home,
but instead, they have been sent to Mobile as the number four seed.
So the Falcons' reward for winning the region is to face the top team of the road of Region 1.
Life is not always fair, and it's a great life lesson, but now it's time for the 2025 Falcons to let their anger turn into effort.
This season has been a storybook in many ways.
Why not write a few more chapters?
And if the Falcons of 2025 play like the Falcons of 2007 tonight,
the Hornets will wish that someone else would have made the trip from up north down to Mobile.
Buckle up, boys in blue.
It's Florence High School versus the state of Alabama.
Florence Falcons football starts right now.
Back here at Baker High School, Kevin Johnson, along with John McDaniel and Jeffrey Jones.
Florence keeps making big plays throughout the season.
Florence has made play after play, continues to do all they can to get where they want to be here in the playoffs.
A team that started out 1-3, and now the team sits here waiting to see if they possibly can go to the second round
in the Elite Eight of high school football.
That would be great in Class 7A.
We are still setting up here.
Please forgive us.
It has been a massive undertaking.
Maybe without Mike Albertson, who always is there, but these guys have worked effortlessly
to try to get everything put on the air.
We're glad to be with you here on 93-9, the score today.
And Jeffrey Jones, we're sort of settling down ourselves here.
Let's talk about this Florence team.
Have they settled down a little bit?
What did it seem like they ended up outside and they were warming up?
Yeah, very, very calm.
You know, they've done this before.
This is week 11, so they kind of know their role.
Everything, you know, from the field goals we kicked to the punts we kicked, everyone's pumped up.
I don't think they were too pumped up, which is a good thing.
I think that they, you know, we've still got a good 20 minutes at least until game time.
The Hornet band's out there about to do their pregame show, and so they're back there in the locker room right now.
I'll tell you, one thing that we always talk about before the game is the weather.
Obviously, it's warm.
It's about 77 degrees, very humid.
It feels like game two as far as the weather goes.
Not scalding hot, but just hot.
These guys worked hard.
They're sweating.
They've been working feverishly for about 30 minutes.
But I will say, for me, I start to see some long sleeves being put on now, so I think there's a breeze coming a little bit.
So it may get down to around 70 before it's over with, but it depends if you're hot in nature or cold in nature.
We'll say that.
One thing that we do need to note today is with the humidity, the field is wet, and it rained earlier, and it has not dried very much.
Now, I don't know if that will be an actual problem for us, but it is notated.
It is wet, and we might see some slipping around out there.
I want to say a big shout-out to one of the biggest Falcon fans we have, Randall Kelsey, who has not been able to be with some of the games,
but I understand he's back home now.
Glad you're doing well, Randall.
Mr. Kelsey, hope you have a good one.
I'm going to try to pull off a victory for you tonight as well.
John Florence cannot win tonight on four field goals.
They did last week, but red zone offense has to be producing something tonight.
Yeah, with a team like this that's this explosive, you're going to have to be able to put the ball in the end zone.
Charlie did a great job of saving us, really saving us last week by being so reliable,
but when you get inside into the high red zone, into the 30, and certainly down even closer, which we did a couple of times,
you have got to be able to put the ball in the end zone.
Seven points is a must.
Threes will not be enough tonight.
We've kind of speculated at least 21 to 28 points is going to be required tonight,
so the Falcons have got to be able to convert when they get an opportunity.
Baker comes into this game coached by Eric Scott.
His first year at Baker High School, he actually was the defensive coordinator last season,
and he was coached one time back about 10 years ago, well, actually 15 years ago, from 08 to 010,
in BC Rain High School for three years.
Been the defensive coordinator here for a while, had the best defense, won the best defenses in the state last year,
and when Juan Johnson left to go to James Clemens, they gave him the job here,
and he's done a good job with them winning the region this year.
Kenny Marson will be in his fourth season at Florence,
and the Falcons have been in the playoffs each year under his tenure.
That says a whole lot about him.
Baker won last week over a very good, very good Biker team, 21 to 12.
Florence won over a very good Oxford team last week, 12 to 11.
Baker is 8-2 with losses to Jackson and Daphne, both really, really good teams.
Florence has won five straight.
Had won five straight at one time.
They're 6-4 on the season, and seeded, as I like to say Kenny Marson says, number one in his mind.
I'll take that.
Maybe he put number four other places, but he says, hey, it's a region champion versus region champion,
so we like the way that lines up as well.
The great thing about this matchup tonight, I think, guys, is this.
You get to play somebody different, and for the Florence Falcons,
they get to come on the road, Jeffrey, and experience almost like a bowl game experience.
That's pretty neat.
That is very neat.
That's something when I played high school football, I never came close to experiencing.
You know, we've had our complaints.
We've also looked at the positives.
Yeah.
7-8 football, you know, we're able to see.
We don't realize how lucky we are to see some of these athletes that we see every week,
and I'll be honest with you.
There's part of me I've dreaded to drive down, but there's part of me that's just been excited about it,
and I think that, you know, seeing a different part of the state
and seeing, just like with Opelika last year, we learned a lot.
We got to see how the other half of the state lives, and so I'm not opposed to it.
You know, once every five years, I can handle a trip this long.
Now, and I think that's what it would be.
You know, at the end of the day, though, we could have won our area.
We could have won easily undisputed by taking care of business.
We didn't do it.
So, here we are.
We're here, but my thoughts on it are it could be a lot worse.
You know, we did come.
This is the longest trip any high school has ever made from Alabama that was forced.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Yeah, where we didn't have a choice.
We didn't make this schedule.
This schedule was made for us.
You know, Hoover's played in Texas, and there's a couple other teams that played pretty far off.
But at the end of the day, here we are, Baker High School.
I've enjoyed the drive down.
I've enjoyed seeing parts of Mobile.
We took a great tour today, a self-guided tour of Hancock-Whitney Stadium of the University of South Alabama.
And it was – John, what's your thoughts on it?
You know, I really enjoyed it.
It was a tremendous statement.
It was actually – the University of South Alabama is something I was not expecting.
It's on par.
For anyone who doesn't know, I did not have the understanding.
It's on par with the University of Alabama and Auburn University as far as that.
We also took a self-guided tour of the local Progress Bank, and we want to thank –
River Bank, River Bank and Trust in Mobile.
Sorry, my fault, bro.
My bad, my bad.
We'll be corrected there.
I was going for another spot.
You went for the home run and didn't get it.
That's all right.
We also took a tour of a great place to eat out, too.
What was the restaurant we went to tonight?
Craver's Seafood.
Craver's Seafood.
These guys put the seafood away like you haven't seen.
So, it was fun, and we had a good time.
When in Rome, you know.
When in Rome, that's right.
One thing that – if I would have told you there was a dirt road between Craver's Seafood
and Baker High School, would you have believed me?
No, I really wouldn't have, and there was.
Well, if anyone could find it, it would be me.
We found it, and we made our way there.
Now, feel free to sing along as the band goes back to 1988.
So, one of the things I think going into this game tonight is who will make the big plays.
I know they have playmakers.
That is Baker High School.
Will Florence find playmakers tonight?
I will tell you now, Florence is playing without two key players.
Walt Barrett not dressed out tonight.
He tried to make it a go.
He's been injured.
He could not do it.
He did everything he could.
He's a team player.
He's out there.
This week, let me tell you what a team player he was.
I watched practice.
He was filling out water buckets.
He was getting water bottles for everybody.
He was doing the things.
He said, how can I help?
He was doing anything he could.
He was such a leader.
I love that about him.
Kalen Triplett got hurt last week in the Oxford game.
He's not dressed out tonight.
It's going to be Elijah Hines and Mr. DeCarson Johnson at tailback, but two pretty good ones.
It's nice to have some depth there, so we'll keep an eye on that.
So, with that, give me the possible starting lineup for the Florence Falcons,
and it starts with Cade Davis at quarterback.
Davis has been outstanding.
Throughout the season, the youngster is just really, I mean, being honest with you, John,
Cade Davis has gone above and beyond what I expected this season.
Cade has progressed so much from the start of the year.
It is, I'm so proud of him.
He has continued to work.
You know, he battled one of the first couple of games.
He was split time with another quarterback, but he maintained his attitude being good,
being a good teammate, as you were talking about with Walt, and he helped win over his team.
And began to play with more confidence, and his play and execution has skyrocketed.
The way he has led the offense from a run-first to a pass-first team has been tremendous.
Super proud of the progress and the person he is.
Cade has 111 completions out of 172 attempts on the season, 65 completion percentage,
1,473 yards on the year, and 15 touchdowns.
He's only thrown three interceptions.
Two of those were in the first two games.
So you get an idea of Cade Davis' accuracy in the last eight games, only one interception.
It's been quite impressive.
At tailback tonight, Elijah Hines will get the start, 5'9", 155, a sophomore.
He has gotten confidence, and Carson Johnson will be in there as well.
Both those running backs will be counted on big tonight.
Also, we'll have a wide receiver tonight, starting with a pretty good one.
I really like him a lot, and that's Jimmy McDonald.
Where's number seven?
Six foot, 170 pounds.
Listen to these stats.
192 receiving yards, 53 receptions on the year with six touchdowns.
He averages 16.8 yards a reception.
He has been impressive.
The senior, I hope, will have another career in college playing wide receiver.
He deserves it.
J-Shot Pearson will be in the slot a lot tonight.
He's right at 5'11", 160-pound senior.
He'll wear number two.
Also out there will be John Carter Goolsby.
Goolsby, 5'11", 165, a junior.
He'll be playing a lot tonight, and he'll touch the ball a lot tonight, I guarantee you.
On the offensive line, Jacob Harper, the sophomore, has been outstanding.
5'11", 225.
He's done a great job.
This offensive line has really grown.
I'm so proud of them.
Michael Shaines, 5'10", 220, a senior.
Where's number 52?
The junior, Dre Moore, 255 pounds.
Where's number 51?
He'll be at right guard.
And then the tackles, Javion Lewis, 6'4", 220.
Where's number 56?
Only a junior.
And Tavarius Reeder, who is a senior, 6'1", 275.
The kicker, Charlie Grace.
He'll be handling the kicking.
He has been tremendous.
You know about him last week.
Player of the week, no doubt.
Four field goals, a school record, and makes it look pretty easy there.
So, that's pretty impressive of Charlie Grace.
The punter will be Steven Chivonata.
He'll have to do a good job as well.
And we don't say a lot about it, guys, but Blake Handback's the long snapper.
And Jeffrey Jones, last week against Oxford, two bad snaps by Oxford with a turn to point of the game.
Blake Handback has handled it well.
He's going to be on a slick field tonight.
He's got to be careful.
One thing that we have not worried about this year is Blake Handback's ability to get the snap off.
It's been automatic.
Thankfully, he's learned from a lot of previous snappers at Florence that have paved the way for him.
But, you know, that's just one thing we don't have to worry about.
And, you know, normally we don't have to worry about kicks or anything like that, the extra points, field goals, and things like that.
So, it's one of those things that we take advantage of.
We're going to need to replace him next year with somebody.
So, he's going to be a tough one to replace.
One thing about it, if you're at Florence High School tonight, when you kick off, don't kick it deep.
They have big-time players who love to go.
They have great speed.
If they get the ball in their hands, they're dangerous at all times.
You've got to be smart with that.
And it's going to be a tough road for this secondary.
They're going to be tested tonight against a really good pass-in offense there, John.
They do a great job of distributing the ball to all of their receivers.
We talked earlier about how talented they were, a couple of guys at least that are going to be playing at the next level.
But what they do is get all of their guys out in the pattern, including the running back in a lot of ways.
And so, they allow their top-notch quarterback to look and find an opening, look and find a spot in the zone where he can exploit.
And he does a great job.
So, the Falcons are going to have to be, one, married in their coverage,
make sure when a guy comes in your zone that you don't just look at him, you take him,
because he can zip it in there, and our rush has got to be effective.
I'm going to try hurriedly to go through the defense here.
Talking about this Florence Falcon defense, Jaden White.
Wears number 95, 6'3", 265, sophomore.
He has been, well, a handful for every team he's faced and getting better every game.
He'll be joined in there by Nate Pryde, the sophomore, 6'1", 250,
along with Mo Smith, 5'11", 250.
Both of those will play defensive tackle.
And Jonathan Perkins, a 6'2", 235 senior.
On the outside, you'll have Bo Burski.
What a job he's done at an outside linebacker.
6'1", 210.
He gets better game in, game out as well.
Shows a deceptive speed coming off the ball as well.
Derek Peters will have to play big tonight, 6'1", 208.
Those outside linebackers will have their hands full against Speedy.
He comes over there as running back.
I don't have his last name before me, but I know I've got him right here.
I had to pull that up.
But, excuse me, that would be Speedy Wheeler.
Wheeler.
Wheeler is really good.
So, we've got to keep an eye on him all night long.
The linebackers for Florence inside, two great ones.
Zoe Martin has been outstanding.
What a career.
6'2", 10.
He's already committed to UNA.
Averaging at 11 tackles a game.
He has been tremendous for the Falcons and played some offense as well.
We'll hear him tonight over on offense.
Jaden Irons, number 23, comes up with big plays.
It seems like he shows up at big times.
He's going to have to play a consistent game tonight, junior, 6'2", 205.
Now, the guys that are going to be really tested.
Jay Shot Pearson at one cornerback, 5'9", 170-pound senior.
And then, Ja'Colin Jones, 5'10", 160-pound junior.
They'll be joined in the backfield, in the back by Otis Sistrunk, junior, 6'1", 205.
He'll be back there for the Falcons as well.
And then, also, you'll have Wes Fuqua, number 38, playing at safety.
Along with Carter Graves will be in there some as well.
His Falcon defensive secondary will be tested.
John, this Baker team, throws a lot of screens.
They like to try to get the ball in the hands of their playmakers any way possible.
Yeah, I look for one of the things maybe you didn't notice,
but it stood out that any time they're in a second or third and long situation,
they're running a variation of the screen, whether it's quick to the back
or to completely invite the guys upfield and then throw over their head.
They want to get their guy in space.
As we said, his nickname is Speedy.
It's because he outruns everybody on the field on many occasions.
And the Falcons have to be really good at gang tackling.
One man is not enough to get him down.
It's going to be tough.
Extra effort will be the thing for tonight.
Jeffrey Jones, this Falcon team cannot beat themselves tonight.
No, no mistakes, you know, they can be costly against a team like this,
as fast and athletic as they are.
One thing I wanted to mention as well, the crowds, the Falcons' crowd is showing up.
Yes, they have.
It's impressive to go this far.
It is very impressive.
You know, I'd say we have, for there to be ten minutes before the game,
we're going to have our left stragglers.
We know who you are.
We know you're listening on the 93.9 app, pulling into Mobile as we speak.
Yeah, for the most part, man, this is so refreshing to see this crowd like this.
Hey, I don't know about y'all.
That's what I was about to say.
John has already told me.
John's written it down for me once.
He said, man, I'm fired up.
Fired up, let's go.
I mean, this is what high school football is about right here.
You've got a chance to make your name known.
You've got a chance to be in the Elite Eight.
This is something you want to play for and look forward to.
And Jeffrey, I want to come back to you.
It's one of the largest schools, Baker, in the state of Alabama in 7A,
against the smallest 7A school, Florence.
But we've done that before in basketball.
Can we repeat it in football?
Yeah, so it is a very large school, very large school system.
We've spoke about that numerous times on the way down,
about how many schools are in the Mobile County public school system.
And Baker is just one of them.
You know, they're located west of the downtown area,
right next to the airport in Mobile,
about two miles from University of South Alabama.
So, you know, just south of Sims, Alabama.
So, it's a very populated area.
Lots of folks live down here.
And it's a good school.
It's a very diverse school with some pretty good facilities, too, you know,
for the most part.
A little bit, if I had to say this reminds me of somewhere, you know,
I could see the Ogle reference, but also kind of a little bit Clay Choffel.
Clay Choffel.
Yeah, Clay Choffel.
The press box, that's who it was.
I couldn't come up with it.
That's exactly who it is.
And the colors are very similar, too.
Looks like the captains are about to come on the field.
At least for that, but also the American flag is coming to center field now,
and they're getting ready pretty close to time for the national anthem.
The Falcons are dressed in the locker room that's about maybe a quarter of a mile away.
It's a little bit of a hike.
That's the other thing.
So, they're back behind us here.
That's one of the differences of going on the road.
You don't have the locker room you're used to, et cetera.
But they are there.
But they'll be wearing the all-white, white pants, white jerseys, blue helmets.
Meanwhile, Baker will be in blue jerseys, white numbers, white pants, and white helmets.
So, we're looking forward to a good matchup.
You're listening to the TNT Fireworks pregame show of Florence Falcons football.
We're back in three minutes.
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Buckle up, Falcon fans.
It's 7-8 football playoff style.
As the Falcons have gone all the way to the south end of the state to Mobile, Alabama to take on the Baker Hornets.
Kevin Johnson, along with John McDaniel, and our good friend Jeffrey Jones with you tonight.
Mike Albertson has the night off.
We'll see him next week at the Falcons win at Brawley Stadium.
You heard me right.
At the Falcons win, we understand they will be at Brawley Stadium.
And you'll hear us.
We're on the visitor's side.
We're in the bleachers.
They put us a 10 up here because of the threat of rain.
But we're going to be around a lot of fans.
And this Falcons fan base that's come, if they've driven six hours down here to watch a game,
they're going to be loud and proud.
So they're going to try to cheer this Falcon team on all they can tonight.
And it'll be a lot of fun to see it.
The Hornets will be coming in on the field to our left.
The Falcons to the right.
And here come the captains for Florence right now.
And the fans on their feet.
They're looking forward to this one as they come out,
getting ready to be introduced and come to midfield.
Really quick, John, what is the key for this Falcons team night to bring out a win?
The starting point is going to have to be stopping Jalen Wheeler, running back, 180 pounds,
offers from several Division I and FCS teams.
He is going to be the catalyst for their team.
If we can get him slowed down and stopped, the Falcons have a chance to come out of here with a win.
Captains tonight for Florence.
Jimmy McDonald is one of those captains, along with the Gerald Copeland, Charlie Graves.
And I'm going to try to see his number there.
I think Jamie Fuqua is the other one.
And that is number 88, who will be the other captain here across the way.
The Hornets will have their captains come across.
They have as captains tonight four players as well.
So, you know, this is when it's fun.
They get to come be captains during the playoffs.
Should be a good time.
We'll get the captains for them as well.
I believe Jamie and Pryor.
They play double numbers.
So, they have some players.
Offense, defense will have double numbers.
We'll do our best to keep that straight for you as well.
But they come to meet at midfield.
I see Caden Moore coming out to shake hands on that side.
Falcons in all white.
Blue helmets.
Baker, blue jerseys.
White helmets.
White pants.
A berth to the Elite Eight at stake.
Let's send it down to Jeffrey Jones, who has the white hat, the referee with us.
86, 49, 43.
This is Mr. Ken Atkins.
How you doing, gentlemen?
Congratulations.
We've got Mr. Thibodeau.
JV and Fuqua.
Good luck.
Mr. Thibodeau is going to be your umpire tonight.
Okay, gentlemen?
I got a coin.
Got a tail.
Got a head.
Got a head.
Got a tail.
For an sheet of visor, what's your choice?
Heads.
Heads.
I got it.
If I drop it, we'll do it again.
They won it, and they're going to receive, so we'll get it in the second half.
Baker wants the ball.
Baker will get the ball.
7A playoffs about to get underway.
It's November football.
Here we go, Falcon fans.
This is the TNT fireworks pregame show.
We're back in 30.
Carbine Construction is honored to be a part of building projects with the Florence City
school system.
We're also glad to cheer on the Falcons as they celebrate milestone achievements as well.
Good luck to head coach Kenny Morrison and the Florence Falcons football team on building
a special season to remember, as Carbine Construction wishes you the very best this season.
Remember, at Carbine Construction, we build trust, we build relationships, and like the Florence
Falcons football team, at Carbine Construction, we continue to build.
Time to play the game.
Stand by for kickoff.
It's game time.
Florence Falcons football on sports radio 93.9.
The score is brought to you by Florence Utilities, Florence City Schools, the law firm of Johnson,
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Hugo's Mexican Restaurant, Irons Electric, Cypress Creek Indoor Range,
Kinegur Johnson and Layton Insurance, and Carbine Construction.
Now let's go to the press box for tonight's game.
Here's the voice of the Florence Falcons, Kevin Johnson.
Game 167 for our broadcast career.
Looking forward to this one as much as any.
The longest trip by any team ever in the state of Alabama.
If you're going to come this far down here, might as well come home with a win.
It would shock the state.
No one really giving Florence much of a chance.
The Falcons have believed all year long they've played that underdog role well.
Let's see if they can do it again.
Back deep for Baker.
They'll have Carmelo, excuse me, Christian White, I believe, back deep.
Katori and Marion.
And Jones back deep.
And wait before that.
They've got to get everything set.
So the Falcons will kick it off and see what happens.
Parker Greenhall will have the honors.
Falcons will be going right to left.
Two dangerous return men back deep for the Hornets.
And the 7A playoffs are underway and driving the ball deep all the way back to the left.
Picked up there at the 5.
Looking for a runner up the middle and spun away and hit down right at the 27-yard line.
And that's where Baker will have it first and 10.
You're listening to Florence Falcons football.
Let's pause for station identification.
The voice of the Florence High School Falcons.
WYTK-FM.
Rogersville.
Athens.
Decatur.
The Shoals.
93-9.
The score.
First and 10 for this Hornet team.
Take, Graham's the quarterback.
6'5", 225.
A junior can really spin it.
He has five wide outs all over the field.
Now they'll bring Wheeler in the backfield behind him as they swap around.
Florence now shifting as well.
Two to the left, one to the right.
On the first down play.
Going to leave it with Wheeler off the left side.
Trying to get outside.
Pushes up and not going to get a whole lot.
He's hit and brought down only a gain of one or two.
Great defense there by the Falcons, John.
They come up and they string him out.
Yeah, they did a really good job of the cornerback forcing the play action right there.
Got off the block and was able to come and attack Wheeler.
Made him bounce it back inside where all of his help was coming.
Juan Jones wide to the right.
He is the player, playmaker.
They've got actually two or three of them.
Katori Martin, who's also one of the playmakers, to the right.
In motion now, Jones back inside.
Roll to the right, want the throw.
Looking as Graham throws underneath route.
Hit and complete at the 30 and brought down immediately.
Great job there by the Falcon defense.
Bringing him down, Colin Jones.
And they'll bring up third down and five after just a short little quick hitter right there.
Yeah, speed rollout and Bo Berski was there.
Made a really solid tackle along with a couple others.
So third down.
This Falcon crowd's into it.
Third down, we'll call it six to go.
Three to the wide side of the left, two to the right.
Empty set.
Three-man rush for the Falcons coming.
Try to get the Falcons jump camp.
Wheeler will go in motion out to the left.
And now in motion, but it's going to be against Baker and the Hornets.
They get stung.
And Jeffrey Jones right now, the boys from Florence,
looking pretty good early on.
Credit that one to the band.
The band was, they're right behind me making a lot of noise.
It's going to be a good third and long for us.
Two to the left, one to the right right now.
One back in the backfield.
They love to throw the screen pass a lot.
Let's see what happens here.
Take Graham, the quarterback.
Faces his Falcon defense.
Now he's faced third and 11 after the five-yard penalty.
Just underway.
No score here tonight.
On the road is Florence at Clem Richardson Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.
Graham will try to get a man to come in motion.
Now he can't get in.
Now he does get in motion.
Gets the snap.
Straight drop.
Looks to the left.
Now he looks like right.
Now he's being rushed.
Now he throws it out of bounds.
And that's going to be Falcons with a three and out.
And listen to this Falcon crowd.
Oh, they're loving it already.
And the Hornets will have to put it away.
John, that is a good sign.
That is a really good start.
We talked about our defensive line having to force pressure.
Jaden White made an excellent move.
Rolled out.
Forced the quarterback out to his right.
And he just had to throw it away.
Lawrence will punt it away.
He's a pretty good kicker and punter.
Last week we had a couple of bad snaps, though.
That's right, Kevin.
They haven't had a lot of good luck with the snaps this year.
Lawrence has ten on the line of scrimmage.
Now they're back two off.
Good snap this time.
And Lawrence will get it away just barely.
Pearson comes up.
Going to try to fair catch.
And does inside the 50 at the 48.
Look at the senior make a scoop catch.
And Lawrence will have it in Hornet territory.
And listen to this Falcon crowd.
They're liking it here as Lawrence comes away with a three and out.
That's what you want, John, to start this game.
Hey, this is exactly the way the Falcons, when you're an underdog,
you want to start fast and put the pressure on.
This is what the Falcons are hoping for.
First and ten.
The ball will be on the left hash, going right to left with the Falcons.
Okay, Davis, the quarterback, will have Hines in the backfield
and trips to the right.
One wide receiver left now on the first down play.
Down Goolsbee will come in motion to the left.
Davis snaps, straight drop, wants to throw.
Look, sets up, screen pass.
Got it complete to Hines.
Looking for running rim.
To the 45, to the 43.
Give him about six right there.
Haven't seen that all year and threw a screen right off the bat.
They did a great job of selling it, selling it until the last possible second.
And then 17, Hines.
He just turns around and the ball is right there.
Great job by both the quarterback and the running back.
LaShawn Shepard will check into the game.
Goolsbee will go wide to the right.
Donnell and Pearson to the left on the first or second down and forward play.
Play clock at 18 as the Falcons get the play in.
The back is still Hines on this set.
Man in motion will be Shepard to the left.
He'll go back to the right now.
Going to leave it inside with the running back.
Hines, he gets maybe a yard, pushes forward, and that's about all.
So that time, the Hornets come up and make a play.
And Jeffrey Jones right now, this Falcon team got it where they want it.
Now try to get a first down to make something happen here.
Yeah, got a short, about a short four to go.
Yeah, so third and about four.
Third and about four.
Yeah, third and four.
I think that's a good position right there.
I'll take third and four.
I think we can go deep in the playbook right here.
Falcons look to be getting a little push on the offensive line, Kevin.
It looks like they're not just dominating them yet,
but they are getting a little movement.
Play clock at 10.
Davis has three to the left now as Goolsbee comes in motion to the left.
Back to pass.
They've got a blitz coming.
He gets rid of it quickly, and Goolsbee couldn't bring it in.
It was a little over his hands.
Outstretched, and he'll bring it fourth down.
And now.
Cade was a little bit rushed on that.
He kind of didn't get his feet set, and it was just out in front of the wide receiver.
Tough break on the third down.
So, the Falcons will have to punt it away.
If you're going to miss, I think he missed in a good spot, though,
because if he would have thrown it behind him, that linebacker that was in pursuit in the flats,
that could have been disastrous if he would have thrown an interception there.
So, that was a good play.
Fourth down and punt it away, and the dangerous return man deep.
Long count.
Get the snout back to Shevinata, and he'll punt it away.
High-hanging punt.
Going to be fair catch, taking four, and call right inside the 10 at the nine-yard line.
And that's where the Hornets will have it.
First and 10 with 8.27 to go.
We apologize.
I think our plug may have got unplugged down low, so we're looking at that.
But I think we're good now.
We'll set that up, and maybe we'll be okay.
So, we hope we're all right.
First and 10 from their own 10-yard line.
Actually, it was a policeman from the good folks in Mobile that tripped over it,
but that's okay.
We had it taped down.
So, we bring first and 10 for the Hornets.
So, both teams with a three and out, but the Falcons pinned the Hornets deep.
That one will be back inside the 10-9.
This is a big play team.
You've got to watch them.
They love to hit the big play.
Keep an eye on them at all times.
You've got some fog rolling in down here, too.
It is starting to roll in a tad.
That may be hard on me, for sure.
Now, they have four to the left side.
They'll throw the quick screen out here, and they try to get Wheeler on the outside.
And Wheeler's in trouble, and Wheeler gets slung down.
No game.
Unbelievable right there, John.
That was a great job.
They were really stringing that out.
They tried to swing past.
They're kind of a speed swing, and wanting to get three of their wideouts out blocking.
Our linebackers destroyed it, played inside-out, did a great job making open field tackle,
and maybe even lost a yard.
So, to bring up second down and about 11 yards to go.
Going to look to give it inside to Wheeler again.
Run the option out here.
Pitches it.
He's got a little red ball on the ground.
Ball's fumbled, but I think it may be the Falcons that got it.
Let's wait and see.
That's going to be Florence's ball.
Let's wait for the signal.
No.
It's an incomplete pass.
I think that's the right call because the pitch man was.
That is the right call.
Was he beyond the line of scrimmage?
No.
They're going to give it to Florence.
That's the wrong call.
Hey, we'll take it, though.
We need a few breaks.
Absolutely.
That was a pass forward.
That wasn't a pitch backwards.
It was a pass forward.
They are still discussing it, though.
It's not over here.
Florence is waiting.
They've got the offense out there, but the white hat still waiting to say, now he's saying
incomplete pass.
Yes, that's a good call.
Now they've got to tell Florence because they've still got, now it's crazy.
Florence is ready to put their offense out there.
They don't know.
They've got to get the players off the field.
Florence has got 30 players on the field right now.
They have no idea.
They've got to get the offense off, and that's all on the officials for not having a clear
cut on that, but it'll bring up third down and 10.
Back to pass, Graham looking, going to throw deep down the sideline, and that is caught
and tripped up at the 21.
It's going to be close to a first down as Martin came down with it.
Excuse me, Jones comes up with that, and that's going to be enough to move the chains.
That's a big throw right there when the Falcons had them back third and 10.
So what we thought could have been a turnover was not, and it gives this Hornet team new life.
They want to go tempo quick, bring a man in motion again.
Going to leave it with Wheeler inside.
Wheeler looking, trying to go to the right side and knock down immediately.
He's not getting a whole lot.
Maybe a gain of a yard or two.
They're maybe even getting three on that at the 24-yard line.
Clock at 7.15, no score.
Kevin, sounds like we brought our DJ with us tonight.
We brought somebody's DJ.
A little flex.
JJ, we may have to get you to get into the quarter to help tape down our cord down here, too, by the way.
So here we go.
Second down and seven to go.
It's been a little crazy.
What would you expect without Florence?
Everything's been crazy this season, and yet they're here in the playoffs as the fog rolls in here in Mobile.
Again, broke the pass, threw the quick screen, hit, and caught, but only a short gain of about a yard or two right there as Jay Shot Pearson coming up making a play.
He was all over that, Kevin.
He read that play.
He almost ran it better than the receiver.
Just barely made a good catch.
Gain of three.
Makes it third and three.
Two wideouts over here.
Jones will come wide to the right along with White for this Baker team.
They try to get the Falcons to jump down.
They bring a man in motion.
Get the snap.
Going to look to throw again across the middle.
Wide open.
Mark's got it.
Watch out.
He's off to the races.
50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, touchdown.
They run the slant, and the play-action slant works, and the Baker Hornets strike first.
We've seen it on film, John, and they do it right there.
They've been widening us on their swing routes, their out routes, and they brought their star receiver back on a post route, and we completely overran it.
As you said, it's on film.
We've seen it, but it's a lot harder to defend once you're at playing it.
Really good play by them and a long, about 75-yard touchdown.
Martin will take it 75 yards from Graham, and with 6.08 to go here in the first quarter, it is 6-0, waiting for Lawrence's PAT.
Kick on the way, and the kick is right down the middle.
New score.
It's Baker 7, Florence 0.
Don't go away.
This is Falcon football.
We're back in 30.
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Baker strikes first with a 75-yard take to Martin play.
Boy, John, that big, what we thought might be a turnover, which was the right call, but
we thought we might catch a break.
Didn't catch it then, and Baker took advantage.
Yeah, that's what good teams do.
They take advantage of breaks.
Deep kick here.
Lawrence kicking back to McDonald has at the 20, 25, trying to come back out to the other
side, looking for a little running room.
Steps up and slipped a little bit and goes down around the 26-yard line.
So that's where Florence have the road market at the 25-yard line, first and 10 at the 25.
I want to say a big thank you to our sponsors, Florence Utilities, Florence City Schools, Johnson
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and Carbine Construction.
So it'll be, with 5.58 to go first, and 10 for the Falcons, who will now be 75 yards away as well.
This time going to lead with his back, no throw across the middle, same play, it goes to McDonald,
and he's loose, Jimmy McDonald to the 40, to the 30, they're chasing him down where they get him,
they try to get him, they will not, down at the one foot line.
No, touchdown, he changed it, touchdown, Florence, touchdown, Florence, he changed it, he waited,
and he looked, and now Florence comes right back with the same exact play, goes 75 yards,
and what you can do, we can do as well.
That is exactly my thoughts, Kevin.
Anything you can do, we can do better.
That was a terrific job.
I thought Jimmy might have the monkey get on his back right about the 10-yard line,
but he managed to just pull it in.
Great throw, excellent run.
Graves attempt the PAT.
Snap good, hold good, kick on the way, kick up, kick good, new score.
We're tied at 7, 5.46 to go, don't go away, this is talking football.
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That ain't my fault.
It's good.
One play.
One shot.
Same play, other way.
It was Davis to McDonald.
The official actually put one hand up, and then he said, you know what, I'm going to give him a touchdown.
As he got brought down at the one-foot line, he said, no, that was a touchdown.
And Florence strikes right back.
We're tied at 7.
Here's the kickoff from Greenhall.
This one's going to go deep left, a dangerous return man, back at the 7, takes it there.
Coming back to the left, he's got great speed, and he's got blockers.
Watch out to the 30, to the 35, and to the 40, and finally brought down from behind around the 47.
John, we talked about you just cannot kick deep to this team.
It better be the last time that we do, because this is what happens every time.
They have speed, they've practiced it, they're well-coached on it, they block it well, and they start.
If you kick it to them, they always seem to start at the plus 45.
This is the plus 40, they're at the minus 47, but almost the midfield.
They have 15 players that wear the same number, double numbers.
You can do that.
Can't be on the field at the same time.
That is correct.
But 15 players, so if we mess their names up, well, we're down here in Mobile, they don't know it.
We don't really care.
We're just going to get you the Florence names for sure.
But the quarterback, Graham, he's the only number seven wearing it right now.
He'll bring in motion.
His star wide receiver, Jones, went back in the backfield, Wheeler, play action.
Wants to pass, wants to go deep.
Down the left sideline, one-on-one, coming out here.
And overthrows everybody incomplete.
Pretty good coverage right there.
He was going that time for Pryor, Jamie and Pryor, but couldn't bring it in.
And he has a big arm, does Mr. Graham.
Yeah, we mentioned it in the pregame.
He is a tall drink of water.
He's a full 6'5".
He has a really good throw in motion, keeps the ball high, releases high, and it just floated it down there just out of the reach.
That was a great throw, too.
Graves at one corner back, Pearson at the other, I believe, right now on his second down play.
Three wide outs.
One back is Wheeler.
Graham this time looks to give it to Wheeler inside.
And Wheeler's hit at the line of scrimmage, bounces far, breaks a tackle across the 50, the 45, drags a defender, got the first down.
That was impressive there by Wheeler.
We know he had speed.
There he showed strength.
He got a 10.
He really pulled a few Falcon defenders.
He's going out of the game after that run, but he well earned a break.
He pulled what defenders may be an extra six yards to get the first down.
Gavin Wood will take his place.
You think when they bring in a backup running back like that, it usually means a pass.
A lot of times coaches don't like to give that, but Wood's pretty good.
This guy is terrific in the pass game.
They treat him just like a wide receiver.
They do a lot of five wide with him.
They bring two men back tight this side.
Now a man will come into motion.
Look to give it inside.
He's going to give it off.
He gets a little running around, stays on his feet, but a flag gets on the place.
He's knocked down the feet, too, but that's going to be brought back because there was motion
in the backfield, and that's an easy call right there.
And Florence, Kenny Marson says, push them back, push them back, way back.
We'll take a five-yard penalty.
They tried to motion two men in the sled.
Trips to one side, tried to move two.
One got set.
One kept in motion, and that is certainly an illegal procedure.
Falcons will try to look to capitalize on this.
At the 47.
So, it brings up first and 15, but this Hornet team doesn't really care about that because
they are just a prolific offense.
They average around 34 points a game on the season.
They have no backs in the backfield.
Wide five of them.
Let's see what the Falcons defense can do.
Now they'll bring a man back in motion.
Back to pass.
Looks to throw the slant inside the screen.
Got it to Martin.
Trying to bounce it back outside.
He's got great speed.
Got across the 35 and knocked out of bounds around the 30-yard line and had the first down.
Falcons actually had that defended pretty well, and he made a great play.
Sometimes there's no defense for a great athlete.
That actually was Josh Jones right there doing some of the moving, but those guys, you're
right.
We had three guys standing in front of him, and he made all of the best.
I may be wrong.
I got Martin as number five, and Jones as number two.
No, you're right.
And Morian.
Yeah.
Morian.
Excuse me.
Yep.
So, Morian had it, and he's the one that makes the play.
First and 10 inside the Falcon territory at the 30-yard line.
We'll have three wideouts.
Two to the left, one to the right.
And they each back, and they got their back in the backfield, and now they call timeout.
They didn't like what they see, so coach says call a timeout.
We'll do the same.
We're tied at seven with 357 to go in the first.
This is Falcon football.
We're back in 30.
Getting the kids to practice on time.
Remembering if it's your day to bring snacks.
Making it to the game with a clean jersey.
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Thankfully, with auto owners, insurance doesn't have to be one of them.
Auto owners works with independent agents who answer when you call, so you can worry about
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That's simple human sense.
In Florence, see Luke Brown at Henniker Johnson & Layton Insurance.
Call 256-764-8682.
Back on the road at Baker High School.
Florence and Baker tied at seven here in the first quarter of the first round of the playoffs.
Jeffrey Jones, this Falcon defense, they're going to be tested tonight.
J.J. still may be correcting our problems as well, so we appreciate him helping out.
I'm sorry.
What did you say?
This Falcon defense is going to be tested tonight.
Yeah, no doubt.
These guys, y'all mentioned earlier, they do have a couple rabbits on this team, and those rabbits are fast.
Wide receivers all over the place.
One back in the backfield.
Graham this time wants to pass again.
Straight drop.
Three-man rush.
He goes down the middle of the field.
Got a man wide.
Opened it and threw it and caught it and flips in the end zone.
Touchdown.
Amazing catch down there.
Unbelievable.
As he throws it over the head, and I mean, he had to turn around backwards almost and flip back and caught it at the highest point.
And I think it was Marion that brought it in.
We can't tell if it's five or two, but either way, it's a touchdown for Baker.
Self-break for the Falcons.
They have a couple of DBs looking at each other.
One saying, I got him.
The other saying, you take him.
And it just didn't work out.
He ran a post, and we just turned him loose.
It's not a good idea to do a guy that good.
Graham, the quarterback, holds.
Lawrence to attempt the PAT.
He puts it up, and he puts it right through the middle.
New score, 14-7.
Baker with the lead.
3-49 to go in the first.
We're back in 30.
Getting the kids to practice on time.
Remembering if it's your day to bring snacks.
Making it to the game with a clean jersey.
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Baker takes a 14-7 lead.
Kevin Johnson, John McDaniel, Jeff Jones with you.
John, that last drive for Baker.
Four plays.
It covered 53 yards.
But, of course, the big one was the last play.
The long touchdown pass, 30 yards.
We believe it was Marion that caught it.
Here's the kick for Lawrence.
He's going to kick it towards the sideline.
May go out of bounds.
And we'll see it does right before.
So that should take the Falcons to the 35-yard line.
So Florence will get it at the 35.
And Kenny Morrison already pointing there.
So let's set it up.
And let's go 65 yards.
Don't forget, Tuesday night, we'll have you the opening night of Florence High School basketball.
They go on the road to take on the Panthers of Huntsville High School.
We're looking forward to that one.
Tuesday night, I think that's a 6 p.m. tip.
We're looking forward to that one.
It's Dylan Burleson and his team gets ready to try to repeat what they did last season.
They're looking forward to the Florence Stockton basketball season.
I don't mind doing double duty for a few weeks.
That'll be nice.
Cade Davis comes out with his offense.
We got Johnson maybe back here on the tailback now.
We'll check.
No time still.
And a quick motion there.
And I think it's the Baker Hornets moved early.
We'll take five extra yards right there.
And quick, undisciplined team.
You see that a little bit with this team, Jeffrey Johnson.
They're not perfect.
That's for sure.
Well, they make up for their athleticism with some head games that they don't win at sometimes.
So, we'll take it.
I mean, a team like this.
And they're very quick off the ball.
So, when they're that quick, it's going to cost them five yards.
Change those counts up and keep going.
So, now at the 40, first and five for the Falcons.
Davis has Hines to his right.
Going to give it to Hines on the inside.
Hines lost the helmet.
Somebody lost the helmet.
Hines still stays loose.
And Hines goes forward.
Hines still pushed forward and got around.
The first down at the 45.
A Baker, a player, lost the helmet.
It went rolling back.
He's going off the field.
If he continued playing in that, that should have been a penalty.
Right.
I think that was as borderline as you can get.
He kind of stopped.
He stayed engaged with his arms.
But he didn't really move.
So, I feel good about not throwing the flag on that.
But he definitely has to go out.
Now, give him four.
Second down and one after Hines gets four yards.
Falcons straight at 14-7 here with 3.18 to go and counting in the first quarter.
Take a shot here on second and one.
We'll see.
Davis gets the snap.
This time going to lead with his back again.
Hines looking.
Cuts up forward and got the first down across the 45 for the 46-yard line.
Not a whole lot of sledding.
They come off the left and move the chains.
And Jeffrey Jones moving the chains is the key.
Got good eyes.
Good eyes by Hines right there.
You know, that was all him.
But, you know, moving the chains, getting it down the field, that'll be just as good as anything.
I thought you were referencing K.J. up here about the eyesight.
Hey, I've got great eyesight tonight.
I'll have better eyesight in a few weeks.
This fog's not helping you, but you've done well tonight.
First and 10 at the 46.
Davis checks back with 12 on the play clock.
Gets the call.
A three-man, no, four-man front for this 4-3 defense.
Looks to give it to his back off the right side.
Hines looking nowhere to go this time.
He's chopped down.
He'll gain nothing.
He'll bring up second down and maybe 11.
Taylor came up and made the play.
Carmelo Taylor came out from a strong safety, free safety position.
Really came downhill fast and was able to get Hines down for a loss of two.
Clock running.
One of the key things to keep this game, too, is Florence wants to control the time of possession.
They did that against Oxford.
They can do that a little bit here.
One way to keep a great offense off their game is keep a muscle field.
Goalsfield coming in motion to the left side, to the wide side.
Three wide receivers to the left.
Davis again going to give it to his back.
No, Davis going to keep it himself and bounce forward.
Push forward all the way up to the 49 and has about five yards.
That's pretty good.
Maybe four yards, but we'll take it.
Good, strong run.
He ran that right off of the guard, in between guard and tackle.
Was able to push the pile a little bit.
Nice job.
Get it in a manageable third and seven.
Third and seven.
It's the fog.
It's starting to come a little more on the field.
Pearson will be in the backfield now, along with Hines on his third down play.
Now, Pearson will stretch out.
Now, two backs in the backfield.
Three wide outs.
Davis gets a snap.
Looks to give it to Pearson, gives it back to Davis.
Davis is going to be hit in the backfield and sacked.
Couldn't get rid of it.
Tried to run a little trick play there, and it wasn't open, and Davis gets sacked.
I don't mind the trick play.
Maybe on third and eight, I wouldn't run it there, but it was ran there, and it didn't work.
Yeah, we really should have checked out of it.
They had a six-man show on the line of scrimmage and brought all six, if not seven.
Just a tough play to try to do a long play action.
Had a receiver open, but we're not able to get to him.
So, the Falcons have to punt it away.
And Jones, I believe, is back deep, number two.
Good punt by Chabonata.
Taking by Jones around the 23.
Up the middle to the 30.
Breaks the tackle down the sideline.
40, 50.
Breaks the tackle to the 45.
Pits back to the 40.
He's gone.
He takes that one to the house, and there, again, we see the unbelievable athleticism.
But I think back here, they're going to pick up the bean bag.
It wasn't a flag.
Anyway, we'll make it a 76-yard punt return.
And Jones was amazing.
But a flag is on the play, so we'll hold it right here.
I couldn't see it either, but.
Jeffrey Jones, that one's coming back.
Thank goodness for Florence on the far sideline by the Hornet team.
What an athletic play.
Man, he is fast.
He looks like he shot out of a cannon there.
It's been a minute since I've seen that.
Thankfully, we've got a hold on the play.
It'll move it all the way back inside the 30, so we'll mark that off.
And you're the Florence fans.
But I think we've learned something, John.
Don't kick to five.
Don't kick it anywhere into five or two.
Or two, yeah.
Yep.
Don't kick it to either one of them.
That was Jones there.
So we might need to get them.
Don't kick it deep to anyone.
Wow, do they have some speed and athleticism.
We asked some coaches down this way, how good are they?
They said they're pretty good, and they weren't lying.
So 14-7, Baker leads it with 23 seconds to go in the first quarter.
They'll have the ball back in their own territory, back at the 25-yard line.
The flag was a hold, erases the 75-yard touchdown.
Play clock down to seven.
The Hornet's just coming out.
They've had it already used one timeout.
Now they're bringing a man in motion.
Play clock to two.
They get the snap.
They're going to leave it with a back up the middle.
This time looking for run moves.
Wheeler.
Wheeler gets it across the 40.
Got the first down to the 41-yard line.
Just kept pushing forward.
Kept pushing forward.
Can't bring him down.
That's pretty good right there.
We were trying to strip the ball as opposed to be able to get in on the gang tackling,
and he just kept dragging and dragging.
And I don't think that the Hornets will run another play because the play clock will come down to three, two, one.
That should do it for one quarter of football, and the first quarter's in the books.
It's been a good one.
Baker leads Florence 14-7.
This is Falcon Football.
We're back in 30.
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Dational-RD North Jackson, 14-0.
Hartsell leads Buckhorn, 16-0.
Pisgah leading Tanner, 16-0.
Apdalation leads Shoals Christian, 12-0.
Colbert County leading Collinsville, 8-6.
Madison Academy leading Hatton, 13-7.
Boaz leading Russellville, 7-0.
Mary G. Montgomery leads Austin, 7-0.
Spartman leads Daphne, 7-0.
McStavie Hills leads Auburn, 7-0.
James Clemens leads Fairhope.
Or, excuse me, they're tied at zero.
And Hewitt Trustville leads Opelika, 7-3.
Here at Clem Richardson Stadium in Baker High School in Mobile, Alabama.
Baker leads Florence by a score of 14-7 and starts the game.
They'll have the ball first and 10 at their own 40-yard line.
But early on, we see this offense for Baker is prolific.
Are they not, John?
They have really been impressive.
We knew they were fast, but we did not know they were as fast and quick as they are.
Prior in motion should be a penalty.
They didn't throw it.
Back to pass going deep at Ken down the middle of the field.
Got a man out there and overthrew him.
He had him by a step.
That's saying something when you can overthrow that young man as fast as he is.
He ran right past our corner.
Jones was in coverage all he could.
But they overthrow him down in the middle of the field.
And J.J., I don't know, but they look like they're going in fast motion all the time.
And they're quicker every step.
Yeah, the quarterback's got great fundamentals.
You know, that was a great play fake right there and just threw it up.
He just threw it up about a half a foot too far.
You know, and it was there.
Cal Moody will be wide receiver now.
I thought their wide receiver in motion turned up field a little early too,
but they didn't get that call.
Prior will be to the left.
Back to the right will be Marion.
Katori, Marion, and now a whistle and a timeout taken by the Hornets.
We'll do the same.
11.53 to go in the first half.
Florence trails at 14.7.
We're back in 30.
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Lawrence Falcons football here on 93-9.
The score, Kevin Johnson and Cruz, glad to be with you.
11.53 to go in the first half.
Baker leads it 14-7 and have second down and 10 at their own 40.
They are a big play team.
Two backs in the backfield for the quarterback, Graham,
going to leave with his tailback off the left side.
That's Wheeler who tries to cut up, gets up to 49 to the 50.
It's an 11-yard gain.
Pushes forward there.
Oh, that's a right hit right there.
That should be on the 50, and there's a flag.
If Lawrence didn't retaliate, so that should be against Baker coming up there.
I don't know if that's going to be on us or them.
That was kind of.
It was a pull to the back of the helmet by the offensive line.
You could do both ways on this one.
We'll see what happens.
It was after the play.
It will be a first down.
Now what will the penalty be?
The play stopped for 12.
Right now, you've got to stop Wheeler for 10 and 12 yards.
Now you've got to do something a little better on the offense, defense side.
And they're going to mark it off against Florence.
And Kenny Morrison is furious.
They caught the second man.
You're right.
He was pulling on his helmet, but they always catch the second person,
and that was our guy.
It was.
So a 15-yard penalty down to the 34-yard line.
That was one of those that didn't go the right way.
So second down.
First down and 10 for the Hornets at the 33-yard line.
Two backs in the backfield.
Graham going to leave with a back off the right side, trying to use the speed,
get outside, trying to cut forward, and tripped up and stays on his feet.
Ducks under a falcon and still pushes forward and gets 10 or 12
and got another first down.
Jeffrey Jones, every time we're looking up, they're pushing forward for 10 yards.
Yeah, I mean, it's just well-executed plays.
Good play calling and well-executed.
There's just, you know, and we're not out of position.
We're not playing bad.
We might could wrap up a little bit better.
But other than that, they're just number four, five, and two are just good athletes.
So Martin back in the game as Winkles comes back out.
First and 10 down at the 21-yard line.
Going to look through pass.
Back to pass.
Graham goes down the middle of the field.
This time double coverage, and it's knocked away.
You can play.
Much better coverage there by the foul.
Went for Martin.
Marion, excuse me, couldn't get it.
Brings up second down and 10.
Really tried to force that one in there.
It was double coverage.
Good coverage by the Falcons, but had a chance to catch it,
but the Falcons were able to get in there and kind of pull it out at the last second.
Wide to the right will be Jones.
To the left will be Marion.
And Friar is going to leave inside to Wheeler.
Wheeler hit at the line of scrimmage.
That time it goes down.
That's a better job by the Falcon defense there.
Only a game of one.
Brings up third down and nine.
Lawrence down by seven with 10.50 to go here in the half.
Bo Berski come in and scooped that one right there.
Now let's see if they can come in and make a play.
Here comes the Falcon crowd.
They're breathing pretty loud.
They didn't like that last call you can hear in the background.
They were still upset about that.
Here we go.
Man in motion to the left.
Graham, the quarterback, gets the snout.
Rolls, looks left now.
Passive support right in the pocket.
Throws on the run.
Man is open.
Caught at the 15 and goes down at the 15.
Great open field tackle there again by Zomart.
And only a gain of four.
Berski was able to get out there as well and get in on that tackle.
Five was twisting and turning.
And he managed to still get his legs tripped up.
Is it going to be for short for the fourth down?
It's going to be fourth and sixth.
Correct?
Got a flag down, but I think it might be on Baker and we might decline it.
Fourth and sixth.
Or do you take the penalty and make it third and 15 or 20?
Let's see what Kenny Morrison says.
He's going to decline the penalty because there was no gain, actually, where they're setting it.
Maybe let's see.
A gain of three.
So, I think fourth and seven.
So, the Hornets have a decision to make.
Will they go for the field goal?
Or will they go and they're going to bring the field goal unit out?
Lawrence has a big leg.
Remember, the holder is the quarterback.
Always dangerous.
Graham is the holder.
Hey, so, Kevin, that fog is not fog at all.
It's from the fireworks that they shot before the game.
And it's still lingering.
And it's smoking over here behind the other side of this fence.
And it's amazing the amount of smoke this thing is putting off.
It'll be from the left hash.
Lawrence will attempt it.
It will be a 36-yarder.
35-yarder.
Gets the snap.
Gets it down.
Kick up the way.
Kick is good.
New score.
The Hornets lead it 17-7 with 10-12 to go.
This is Falcon football.
We're back in 30.
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10-12 to go in the first half.
Baker leads Florence 17-7 here in Mobile, Alabama.
The fireworks went off early in the game, and the smoke is smoking.
John, you said something's on fire.
It's been the Baker offense.
They've been pretty hot.
That's a great analogy.
They have been on fire and running up and down the field,
and the Falcons are chasing them and not doing a good job catching.
Now, Lawrence will boot it away.
High-hanging kick this time deep in the end zone, I believe.
Going to be taking it at the 1.
Here comes the Falcons with it, 10-15, looking for a run room
and knock down around the 20-yard line, maybe to the 23 or 24.
And Florence will have it first and 10 at the 23-yard line.
McDonald brings that up.
Remember, Florence playing without their starting tailback.
Triplet tonight in street clothes.
He got injured last week, and now looks like a Falcon may be down,
or is that a Hornet down?
I think it may be a Hornet down.
Yes, a Hornet.
Here it is.
Hornet down as the smoke continues to move across the field.
They're checking with him down there.
That was a hard hitting by both sides right there,
and one of their guys got tangled up and hit from behind.
And so, the Falcons were kind of lucky to get out of there
without an injury themselves.
That was a really hard collision.
That may be one of their safeties, Carmelo Taylor, I believe.
Number one.
Thankfully, he's getting up now.
Speaking of a hard inning, don't forget Alabama LSU tomorrow
here on 93-9, the score.
Always a great game.
Night game in Tuscaloosa.
You'll hear it right here on your home for Crimson Tide Football
on 93-9, the score.
Cade Davis will have DeCarson Johnson in at tailback
as we come back.
Going left to right are the Falcons in their white road uniforms,
blue helmets, against this 4-3 defense of Baker.
To the left of the quarterback is DeCarson Johnson.
Johnson, no play action.
Going to throw a quick screen and a quick pass incomplete.
Try to get it to Jimmy McDonald,
and might have had some pressure coming his way.
Couldn't get rid of that quick enough.
Second down and 10.
And, you know, this defense is pretty fast, too.
We talked about their offense.
They got some speed on defense, and you have to get rid of it
maybe a step quicker.
Yeah, Cade's feet are just a little bit happy right now.
You can see when the resulting passes, they're a little low.
He is going to have to speed it up.
It's processing just a little bit.
But you're right, they're attacking him.
But I think there is some openings off tackle.
I think the Falcons outsize them in tackle and guard at this.
Look to throw the quick screen out here and get it outside complete,
but not much yardage as they come up quick to make the plays.
Couldn't do anything with it.
It brings up third down and 10 to go.
That one wouldn't go, so now it brings up third and 10,
and Falcons will have to find something else here.
It's tough to really outflank these guys.
We've talked about their quickness and nauseam,
and trying to get outside of them is going to be a tough challenge.
Jayshod Pearson checks back into the game on this third and 11th play.
15 on the play clock.
The ball on the right hash.
Falcons have to touch the 35 to get the first down.
Two wide left, two to the right.
Blitz coming.
Back to pass.
Before that, though, a flag on the play.
I think it might have been on the far side.
We'll see if it was Florence or if it was against the Falcons.
And they'll move it back five yards.
Odd to me how no one notices the smoke coming over here.
Maybe this is par for the course, JJ.
Maybe this is something they deal with every week, but it's a little much, right?
From one little encore firework that went off at the beginning of the game.
It dissipates, and then it seems to come right back.
It does.
Third and 15 for the Falcons.
Straight drop by Davis.
Has protection this time.
Steps up and lets it go and throws it down the sideline.
He got hit as he threw that one, I think.
There is a flag on the play, but it's in the area of holding.
Let's see what they call here.
This Hornet team is a little chippy after the play.
Falcons got a penalty.
Roughing the passer, and that will go against the Hornets.
I thought they were a little late on that, and so that will be a first down for Florence, I believe.
Let's see.
Nope.
Going to get heavy package.
Let's see.
Get the ball out there.
He's saying they need a ball boy.
So, with nine minutes to go.
I think it's going to be, what, third and one, Kevin?
Third and one, unless they say move the chains.
First down.
That's automatic.
So, first and 10 for the Falcons.
Has that moved up to the 33-yard line?
So, here we go.
Florence with the ball at the 33.
I tell you what, if I could take this Falcon crowd that's beside me to church on Sunday,
I would have a time preaching, because they are into it.
First and 10.
Amen and amen.
And there's a couple of amens and uh-huhs.
At the 33, long count for Davis.
This time going to lead with his back up to the middle.
Got a little runner in.
Pushes far across the 35 to the 40-yard line, nearly.
Mr. Carson Johnson, before being brought down, he pushes far for about four or five.
Kevin, I think that's where our hole is going to be.
Wide, they're so fast, it's going to be hard to outflank them.
But running off tackle, somewhere around guard, B-gap, C-gap, that is where the openings are.
They are not as big as the Falcons.
The Falcons need to lean on them a little bit.
Give them a gain of five.
Second down and five for the Falcons.
Trailing by 10.
On the road here.
Approaching the halfway mark of the first half.
Or the second quarter.
Checks back to his fall offensive coordinator, Cade McGuire.
McGuire, excuse me, going to leave it in.
It's Davis to his tailback again.
Got a running rim across the 40 to the 43.
That's enough for a first down to the 44.
And that's the same play to the other side right there, John.
Right.
I mean, that is our advantage.
From what we saw on film, that's where we've got to attack.
Force them to do something different.
Bring more men up to where we can get a one-on-one coverage.
But great job by the Falcons' offensive line opening holes.
And they're actually moving them back off the ball a little bit.
And, you know, you do that.
A time-consuming drive would be nice here.
First and 10 at the 44.
DeCarson Johnson to the tailback still.
To the left of the quarterback, Davis.
Two tight end H-secs right here.
Back to pass.
Look at the throw.
Down to right side.
A one-on-one with McDonald going up for it.
McDonald couldn't get it.
There's a lot of contact there.
But a flag on the play.
We'll see.
No, it actually, McDonald went up.
But the DB managed to knock it off his helmet.
Yep.
Just a lucky kind of positioning for him.
Good job by the DB of really being in phase.
But it bounced off his helmet right as Jimmy went to catch it.
Second down and 10.
I like the shot play, though, Jeffrey Jones.
Yeah, that was a great call of play.
And it was a great throw.
John was exactly right.
That DB's helmet was in the right place at the right time
and just knocked it out of Jimmy's hands.
Second down and 10.
Johnson still to the left of the quarterback.
Back to pass.
Davis again throws it down the middle.
Complete.
Got it to McDonald.
He goes down.
A gain of nine.
He'll be about a yard short.
Tough spot.
But he'll be about a yard short.
He'll bring up third and one.
And now the heavy package for Florence will come in.
Zoe Martin.
Irons will come in.
Along with Jayden White and Burski on this third and one play.
We've had success running off tackle with this big back.
Let's see if we can do it again.
At the 7-0-7.
Under center.
Davis going to hand it off to Zoe Martin.
He's hitting the backfield.
He's not going to get it.
They came with a blitz from behind.
They make a tremendous play.
He's going to lose a half yard.
He's going to bring up fourth and two in decision time.
Keep him out there.
Yeah, that was actually a cornerback.
One of their backup cornerbacks that came off the edge
and was able to make a play.
A really good play by him to be able to get a player like Zoe that size down.
Good job.
Fourth and a long one and the Falcons have to go for it.
They're still playing music and PA announcer and everybody else trying to make noise.
15 on the clock at 48.
The Falcons have to get it to the 46 basically to get a first down.
Almost a half yard, a yard and a half.
In shotgun formation.
It's Davis.
Play clock down to four.
Get the snap.
Looks to give it inside.
And got the first down and more across the 45.
Down to the 40.
Down to the 37.
DeCarson Johnson will take that right there and that will move the chains.
A really good job by DeCarson.
Tough snap a little bit high.
Cade was able to corral it and I think that little bit of space.
Go ahead.
C.J. Bolden, the guard, came up and hit the nose guard.
The nose guard couldn't spin around enough.
C.J.'s really playing well at that guard position right now.
First and 10 for the Falcons.
Inside the 40 at the 37-yard line.
Kevin Johnson along with John McDaniel, J.J. Jones,
and about 20 great fans right next to me.
Give it again to the back.
This time trying to cut far.
No way to run.
This time he'll lose yardage and brought backwards.
Only to the line of scrimmage maybe.
Raylan Nobles, a defensive outside linebacker for the Hornets,
was able to shoot the gap there, get inside of our tackle,
and be able to disrupt the play.
Didn't make the tackle, but he was disruptive
and a lot of others to get in there.
Jeffrey Jones, though, this is four down territory again.
He was second down, but you want to get points here down by 10.
Yeah, definitely.
We've got five and a half left in the half, so we've got time.
We've just got to run smart plays and execute.
Baker leads it 17-7 with 5-18 and counting.
Play clock at 12 as we get the play in.
Johnson's the back.
Goolsby out wide left.
McDonnell and Pearson to the right on the second 10 play.
Give it in his back again.
Looking for runner in this Johnson.
This time he doesn't get a whole lot, only a yard maybe.
Trying to come off the left side, and that time you can start to see
that maybe Baker's making some adjustments there, John.
They cut him up and make the play.
Yeah, they're bringing more men in the box.
Seemed like he lost his footing a little bit.
Actually coming out of the game right now, but.
Hines will come in.
Omari and Martin will come in.
So you go to four wide outs.
Pearson, McDonald to the right.
To the left will be Goolsby and Martin.
Back to pass.
It's shovel passing being complete.
Oh, had a good look at it.
It would have been a nice look.
Kevin, that was a 20-yard play.
He just threw it to the wrong side.
He was rushed.
He was threw it to the wrong side of the back.
Tough break.
That was a well-called, well-timed play.
And Kenny Marston on fourth and ninth says, let's call a timeout.
We'll do the same.
4.28 to go.
The Falcons trail 17-7.
Falcon football returns in 30.
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4-12 to go in the second quarter.
Florence now facing fourth and nine at decision time, trailing by 10.
Kenny Marston, I think, knows, hey, every possession.
If we're close, we've got to go for it.
I agree with this offense against, you're playing against Baker.
When you're the underdog, go for some swings.
Hey, let's make some plays.
Let's try to make some plays.
Right now we're down.
Hey, we've got to get a few scores and get a few plays made.
Let's go down swinging.
Quick huddle, quick to the line of scrimmage.
Florence will bring three over to the right, one to the left.
Now in motion will come Pearson.
Going to leave it with Pearson.
No, before the snap, a flag or a timeout?
Let's see.
Against Florence.
They said somebody moved a little early.
Might have been a wide out to the wide side.
I didn't see a lineman move, but that will make it third and a fourth and 14.
And I think you punt it away now.
You can't march into Greece.
So Falcons have to punt it away.
These, these roughs have been doing a good job for the most part.
You haven't noticed them.
They've made some good calls.
All that you can hope for, especially when you're this far on the road.
Jones back deep.
Don't kick it to him.
Kick it out of bounds.
Good snap to Shevinata.
This time he'll boot it toward the sideline a little bit up.
Yep, toward the sideline and goes bouncing down into the end zone.
Is that right?
That's correct.
Touchback.
Into the end zone.
I just had some fans standing in front of me.
I couldn't see.
So to bring up first and 10 at the 20, that's a good punt by Shevinata though.
Yeah, big hit by the Falcons and the Hornets.
Both of them had a couple of players down,
but they were able to kind of get their teammates, help them off.
But a good job by Shevinata, keeping it away
and getting the Hornets to start on the 20, give the defense a chance.
Well, down by 10, I think the Hornets might go for a home run here.
They've gone for it several times.
Graham, the quarterback, will have two to the right, two backs in the backfield.
See if this Falcon D can make something happen.
What a turnover would be huge here.
Graham will put a man in motion to the right.
Going to leave with his back nut and look to the outside and watch out.
Wheeler's loose and he may go.
He's down the sideline of 40 to 50.
They call him speedy for a reason.
Nobody's going to catch him on the Falcon team.
He will go all the way 80 yards and the big play.
They motioned everybody to the right and Wheeler came back on the counter to the left
and he was out the gate and nobody's going to catch him.
And right now the big plays of Baker are the difference and they lead at 23-7.
They started with two backs in the backfield with kind of a T formation quarterback in the shotgun.
Sent one back in motion and outflanked the Falcons.
And once they did, as you said, Kevin, no one was catching Wheeler.
He just took the, I don't think he was untouched.
And the closest defender was 10 yards when he crossed the goal line.
Lawrence to attempt the PAT.
High snap, gets it down, kick on the way.
That one is up and that one is good.
You score.
Baker leads at 24-7 and Florence Football will come back to you in 30 seconds.
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Back at Baker High School where the Hornets are buzzing and swarming in their big plays.
This one, an 80-yard run by Speedy Wheeler down the left sideline, make it 24-7.
Florence would get the ball to start the third quarter, Jeffrey Jones, if they could come down
to score here and then get the ball back.
It's still a game.
Oh, yeah, absolutely it is.
We've got time, that's for sure.
They were quick.
They got that one quick, one play.
Lawrence will kick it all the way back deep.
And again, McDonald will catch it at the one.
Coming back up the sideline and hit at the 15 and get to the 20-yard line.
That's where he'll be there.
So, Florence will have 80 yards to go.
First and 10 at the 20-yard line.
Don't forget tonight, the AHSAA scoreboard show from the 10 to midnight here on 93.9 The Score.
And in studio, James Moody, Blair Krieger will give you all the updates on playoff football.
Many games played last night, but all the 7A games being played tonight.
Jeffrey Jones, Falcons just need to regroup a little bit, catch their breath, and get a good drive here.
Yeah, we're going to have to execute and not make mistakes.
You know, that five-yard penalty set us back, you know, changed the drive up.
Cannot have any penalties right here.
We've got to play flawless football against these guys.
But we can do it.
We've scored on them once.
We'll do it again.
They're playing music all over the loudspeaker while we have to try to make the call.
I saw a coach from Florence say something to the official about that.
Back to pass.
Davis, look.
No, gave it inside.
Excuse me.
Loose again across the 25 to the 30.
Again for 10.
That was Hines that time.
I got lost with the fog, but a flag on the play.
Let's see what the flag is for.
It's a 10-yard gain.
Now it's the flag for.
Illegal motion against Florence.
First and 15, so maybe illegal motion.
Didn't have enough men on the line of scrimmage.
Denny Morrison pleading his case.
But you can't.
Those are 15-yard penalties.
Five yards when you gain 10, that's a 15-yard penalty.
Yeah, it certainly is.
You start off with a big, nice drive starter, but you forgot to make everyone set.
The Falcons don't need to be behind the sticks.
Certainly don't want to be behind the sticks 24-7.
Three wide outs to the right side for Davis, including Pearson to McDonald on the first and 15 play.
High snap.
Loose the throw to the sideline.
Gets it out here complete to McDonald.
Made one man miss.
Made another miss.
But he's going to be brought down in a game of about four, maybe five or six, actually.
More than that, maybe even seven.
So he got about half of it back, didn't he, Jeffrey Jones?
Yeah, he did.
We can't have penalties like that.
You just can't do it.
We've got to play some smarter football than that.
This is game 11.
Those type penalties don't need to be happening right now.
Omari and Martin will check into the game on second down and seven.
Two wide outs to the right, including Martin and Goolsby.
To the left, Pearson and McDonald.
One back in the backfield.
I think it's still Hines on the second down and 10 play.
Back to pass.
Has time.
Steps up.
Throws across the middle.
Complete.
Got it to his back out of the backfield.
Hines brought it down, but he gains about five or six out of 25.
Great job by Cade throwing it to the correct shoulder.
He had a defender coming from, Hines did, from his right side.
Cade threw it to his left side so he could turn away
and get an extra couple of yards.
Great job by recognizing and saving his running back from a big hit.
250 and counting here in the second quarter.
Florence trails it 24-7.
Bakers hit three big plays in this game,
and that's the difference in the game.
Florence hit one big play, but now the Flou can see it down by 17.
Need to make the first down here.
They still run some noise over the loudspeaker, which is illegal.
Back to pass.
Davis has time.
Steps up.
Going to be hit as he throws.
Gets rid of an incomplete.
Looking for a flag.
No flags anywhere.
And they'll bring it fourth down.
Seven-man crew, but nobody saw it on either side.
Florence will have to punt it away.
I tell you what, you're down on the road.
It's late.
221 to go.
Sivanata will have to punt it away to a dangerous return man.
We need to make sure we punt it right by the sideline.
It might not be a bad place for a fake punt to get the five yards.
Nope.
Going to snap it back and punt it away.
Jones is going to have a chance.
He's going to come up and catch it at the 42.
Back to the 44, to the 50, to the 45, to the 40.
Steps back out.
Knocks the line.
Balls loose.
Ball on the ground.
And Florence got it, I do believe.
Depending on who they say.
Florence thinks they got it.
I think they got it.
It looked like they got it.
Now Baker's saying they've got it.
And Baker got it back.
It's unbelievable.
And the Hornets did.
Unbelievable.
He got hit from behind to Jones.
The ball went loose.
And Jeffrey Jones, there was a battle one-on-one.
And the Baker player got them to the loose ball.
Yeah, that was a – I didn't have a good angle on it.
But it was good execution on there.
I believe it came up, really.
It was a scrum.
It was tough to call.
Jared Grissom got the loose ball for them.
I'm not sure.
I think Zoe Martin was trying to get it for Florence.
Yeah.
But now they have it at the 30-yard line.
They've already returned kicks left and right.
And that's a big part of this team.
One back in the backfield.
Wheeler, who just went 80 yards.
I look for him to pass it here.
Pryor to the left.
Watch for him one-on-one.
Back to pass.
Graham looking to Pryor.
Throws the out route.
Complete.
Got it at the 30-20.
Spins free and knocked down at the 17.
They can dance with anybody in the state when they get it in their hands.
John, I'll tell you what.
They're going to be a booger to get anywhere if anybody wants to face this team
because they just have such speed.
I want to see the team that can match the wideouts with their DBs
because they have so many, as we've said.
This is at least four top-level wide receivers that can dance, can get open,
and they add a quarterback that can deliver.
First and 10 at the 17.
They'll put a man in motion.
Jones come behind the quarterback.
I'm going to leave it with Wheeler on the inside.
He didn't get the snap or didn't get the handoff, but he does,
and he'll trip up after a gain of maybe one.
That was a little trouble getting the handoff exchange,
but Wheeler got it and just dove forward.
No gain.
Second down and 10.
Falcons down 24-7, and Hornets knocking on the door.
1.18 to go.
Remember, the Hornets only have one timeout left, so they'll have to go fast.
Two to the wide side, one to the left.
Back to pass.
Graham looks left.
Wants to throw to the end zone on the side.
No, it throws it short, but it's caught right at the sticks, and again, Pryor catches it,
and it should be enough for a first down or close to it.
It's going to be about a yard short, I think.
Going to bring up third and one.
Gain of nine.
I've got to say, that's a perfect route.
They went past the sticks.
He came back hard towards the down marker and double tapped his feet right on the sidelines.
J.J., that was impressive.
Such awareness, such awareness on that sideline to catch it where he did
and get out of bounds and just stop the clock.
It was perfect, perfect execution.
1.05 to go.
Watch for Wheeler, the tailback here.
Going to lead with Wheeler off the right side.
He cuts it back up to the middle, got the first down, stays on his feet,
turning up around inside the five, down to about the two, down to the one.
First and goal at the one, and the Hornets trying to knock on the door
to maybe knock this one out early because they have been impressive.
Two-yard line, first and goal.
And the Hornets get back from the signal from the sideline.
Shotgun formation again.
You've got to bring some blitzes here.
Going to lead with his back off the right side,
uses his feet and just dances into the end zone.
Stretch play was wide open.
Everybody's looking inside.
He runs it to the other sideline.
Wheeler goes into the end zone, and right now it's all Hornets.
They lead it over Florence by a score of 30-7, awaiting the extra point.
He is so fast, they could point to where they're going,
and we just couldn't get there.
He is nothing fancy on that.
He just took it and ran to the corner, and nobody even touched him.
Lawrence to attempt the PAT.
Everything is perfect.
The kick is on the way, and the kick is perfect as well.
New score, Baker, number seven in the state, showing why.
They lead Florence 31-7 as we approach the end of the half.
This is Falcon Football.
We're back in 30.
This is Miranda Haddock with the Florence Education Foundation.
We would like to extend an invitation to our 8th annual Shoals Also Showdown
on Saturday, November 15th from 2 to 5 p.m. at Singing River Brewery.
Local restaurants and individuals will compete to see who has the most delicious salsa and queso,
which will be judged by you, our supporters.
For tickets and more information, visit our website at FlorenceEducationFoundation.org.
We would like to thank our gold and silver sponsors, TNT Fireworks, Forsyth & Long,
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Bank Independent, United Benefits, and Johnson & Mahan Dental.
We want to wish Coach Morrison and the Falcon football team good luck this season.
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Back in Mobile, where right now, not good news for the Falcon fans, trailing 31-7.
This kick all the way back to the end zone, and McDonald will bring it out.
Thought he was in the end zone, but he gets it to the 20-yard line and hit hard there.
Brought down.
Check on McDonald.
He got a late flag, though, KJ.
Might have got the breath knocked out of him.
McDonald gets up, comes off the field, says a lot, but the flag on the play.
That's going to be probably taunting, appears.
He stood over him after he hit him.
It was a big stick.
It was a big hit.
You know, I don't know, but that's one of those where these return men maybe said,
look, if it's back inside the two-yard line, let it go.
Absolutely.
The taunting penalty will move it up 15 yards.
So, Florence will have it at the 35 with 29 seconds to go.
With 29 seconds to go, the Florence will have it.
They are right now in deep trouble down 31-7.
So, Florence will see if they can come out with offense.
You've got a couple of timeouts.
You can come out and throw it if you want.
And why not?
You know, take a shot down the field.
Absolutely.
Davis has two to the right, two to the left.
Watch for J-shot Pierce and see if he can get loose here.
Going to lead with the back instead off the right side.
She's got to run around this.
Hines to the 40-yard line to the 45.
Got the first down to the 47.
That'll stop the clock with 22 seconds to go.
And Kenny Morrison going to call the timeout.
Yep, he's going to call the timeout.
We'll do the same.
Florence trails it by 31-7.
This is Falcon football.
We're back at 30.
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Back here in Mobile, Alabama, where Florence has traveled the length of the state
and found out that Baker is really good in Region 1.
The champions right now lead it by a score of 31-7.
Florence will have it first and 10 at the 47.
Sometimes the one seed is just that.
They're the best team in the region.
Two wide-outs right, one to the left, one back in the backfield for Florence.
It's Davis, who looks to throw the quick screen out here.
Got it to McDonald, down the sideline, and stepped out of bounds around midfield.
He gained three with 18 seconds.
Late flag here, Kevin.
That one might have been against Florence for a block out of bounds.
Effort.
Kenny doesn't seem to be pleased with that.
He thought it was an effort play.
Cade McGuire was there saying, you know, wait a minute.
What happened?
He said, my guy's just blocking.
Boy, I tell you what, the official right there, he is, we don't know where these officials run,
but he immediately said, you're not the head coach.
Cade didn't do it.
Cade was not demonstrative or anything.
He just came up here and said, hey, you know, he's making a block.
So, I can tell right now that they're trying to get it.
But Florence, I thought it was just effort play, but they're going to say a late hit.
So, now, the 15-yarder will make it all the way back to the 35.
Now, I think you run the ball and just get out of the half.
Yeah, I agree.
Davis will look back at the sideline, down 31-7.
This Baker team can run with the best of them.
As Deion Sanders says, they can run-run and leave it inside.
Heinz chops his feet, got a little run-run, across 45, down to the 50.
Spins far, still puts it far, down to the 46.
11 seconds, 10 seconds, 9 seconds.
Now, they finally stop the clock.
Kenny Marson calls it another timeout.
So, you got it to the 46-yard line.
We'll keep it right here with 9 seconds.
Now, you take your shot.
You know, you got it to midfield.
Absolutely.
Throw it into the end zone.
Give you some max protection, first off, because they are bringing a lot.
But, hey, just give the guy a chance.
See what we can do.
Heinz, Jeffrey Jones, showing he can move when he gets a little hole.
He can make something happen.
Yeah, he's done that a couple times.
Unfortunately, one or two have been called back by penalties.
But, yeah, that was a great play.
That was all his eyes right there, and that was very impressive.
If we can get him out in space, he can make a move.
He can.
Impressive, by the way, the Falcon crowd that come this far.
It really is.
Yeah.
A lot of Falcon fans here tonight.
The parents, obviously, but a lot of other fans here, too.
Impressive to see them make this long trip.
Kevin, most of our side is really – it's full.
I mean, I would say, what, 85% really?
Yeah, I mean, there's empty seats.
In front of us, we're at the 50.
There's empty seats.
But if you look around, it's a good crowd.
Unbelievable for the Falcons.
Five-and-a-half-hour, six-hour drive.
Has been all year.
We travel well.
There's no doubt about that.
I want to just say, right quick, thank you to the Falcon fans for showing up.
Yeah.
This is a tremendous showing by you and what you think and how much the Falcons mean to you.
So, Florence will have the ball at the 46-yard line with nine seconds to go.
Davis will bring Pearson in motion now.
Pearson motion to the left side.
Back to pass.
Davis needs to step up in the pocket.
You see it?
Ball's loose.
On the ground.
Recovered.
It's going to be a scrum.
It may not matter.
The clock continues to run.
Two seconds.
They stop the clock.
And I think it's going to go to Baker.
They did get it.
They come out of there with it.
So, their nose guard gets it.
So, with two seconds to go, they'll have it.
And you better not go to sleep if you're Florence right here at midfield.
I don't think the Hornets will sit on it.
No, I wouldn't.
I don't think they're going to sit on it at all.
The Hornets will take over first and ten from the Falcon, 49-yard line.
Tough ball security by our quarterback.
As we mentioned, he got some pressure from the outside off of the right tackle.
He went to step up and just wasn't able to hold on to the ball.
A good job by the Hornets of putting pressure and recovering.
They look like they may be in victory formation, as they call it.
Nail it, and they will, and they'll go to the half.
Well, it's been the boys from Mobile who's been at home all week
who's shown why they're the number one team in their region.
They lead Florence at the half, 31-7.
This is Falcon football.
We're back in three minutes.
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We've been in the Shoals since 1979.
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Do you want to do business with someone local or a company from Rhode Island, Illinois, or Arkansas?
The large chains just don't reinvest in our community.
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Irons Electric has been family-owned and operated for 65 years.
Irons Electric is deeply rooted in the Florence High School tradition and is happy to be a part of many past projects,
including the recently completed new band room.
Irons Electric Company was voted the number one electrical contractor in 2023.
Our professional team on staff and master electricians provide the expertise to make sure your project is installed per code to operate safely and flawlessly.
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Carbine Construction is honored to be a part of building projects with the Florence City School System.
We're also glad to cheer on the Falcons as they celebrate milestone achievements as well.
Good luck to head coach Kenny Morrison and the Florence Falcons football team on building a special season to remember,
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Here's a score update.
Appalachian leads Shoals Christian, 25-0.
Boaz leads Russellville, 7-0.
Madison Academy leads Hatton, 20-13.
Desher leading North Jackson, 21-7.
Hartstead leads Buckhorn, 23-7.
Carver County leading Collinsville, 16-6.
Pisgah leads Tanner, 34-0.
Mary G. Montgomery leading Austin, 21-0.
Bestavia Hills tied with Auburn at 21.
Fairhope leads James Clemens, 14-7.
Hewitt Trustville leading Opelika, 7-6.
In college football, UCF leading Houston, 3-0.
Tulane in Memphis and Northwestern in USC are scoreless.
Now back to the stadium for the halftime show.
Ladies and gentlemen, the pride of Baker High School marching band.
Here at Clem Richards at the stadium at Baker High School, Mobile, Alabama,
where the Falcons found themselves down 31-7 at the half against a talented, talented Baker team.
Ranked number seven in the state, we knew coming in.
They said they had great speed, great skill, and they have not disappointed in that.
Florence played with them pretty early.
It was a battle in the first quarter, actually.
The Baker team had a three and out on offense to start the game,
but Florence then had a three and out after they got great field position at midfield.
So it traded punts, and then Baker strikes quick.
A 75-yard slant pattern wide open to Marion, who races to the end zone.
And it was a quick 7-0 score.
But the Falcons, one play later, after the kick, they get it at the 25-yard line.
Said, what you can do, we can do as well.
Slant pattern to Jimmy McDonald.
He goes 75 yards, and the Falcons tied up at seven.
We thought we got a ballgame here for a little bit.
Then it was Graham for Baker.
He goes to his wide receiver again, Marion.
This time make it 14-7, his second touchdown pass of the day.
After that, in the second quarter, a drive stalled out for Baker High School,
but the Hornets' Lawrence came on to boot a 36-yard field goal to make it 17-7 with 10-02 to go in the first half.
Wheeler then gets it after the Florence Falcons had to punt it away.
They put it in the end zone.
So the Hornets have it first and 10 at the 20.
They run everybody in motion to the right side, and they ran the counter back to the left side,
and Wheeler outran everybody for Florence.
He has a loose, incredible speed.
It's just incredible speed.
He goes 80 yards, 406 to go, 24-7.
And then Wheeler once again gets a run from two yards out to make it 31-7.
And the Falcons a little stunned there in the second quarter, John, would be one way to put it.
We'll talk about that.
Jeffrey Jones, I'm coming to you right now.
You've been on the sideline.
The Falcons had a lot of energy in the first quarter, but that second quarter got zapped a little bit.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
We came out guns blazing and felt like we could hang athletically with these guys.
And, you know, honestly, we've had some flashes of greatness.
You know, we've run the ball not so bad.
It's just when you see number five, we haven't harped on him a lot, but number five, he's a phenomenal athlete.
There's no doubt about it.
We've got athletes, too.
You know, we were on the bad end of a couple of the breaks.
Good call game by the refs.
You know, we just, they won their area for a reason.
We know that.
You know, I'd like to see us come out and fight hard in the second half, which I know we will.
We have all year.
We, even when we thought we were down, we come back.
Now, it's a big deficit right now, but, you know, I don't count these boys out of anything.
And they get the ball to start.
Yeah.
The second quarter, or third quarter, there's the Florence Falcons trailing by a score of 31-7.
And our stats brought to us by our good friends at Chick-fil-A.
Chick-fil-A still open tonight.
They'll take care of you in breakfast in the morning as well.
John McDaniel doing double duty tonight as Mike Albertson away on assignment.
We'll send it over to J-Mac.
All right.
Hey, tonight, let's start with the home team.
The Hornets tonight, first half, 302 yards of offense, 143 yards rushing on 13 carries,
159 yards passing, nine completions on 14 attempts, 13 first downs in the half,
three for five on third down conversions, and no fourth down attempts.
Six penalties for 56 yards, no turnovers, four for four on their PATs, the time of possession,
nine minutes and 28 seconds.
Falcons, 144 yards of offense in the half.
We had 13 rushes for 58 yards, 86 yards through the air, six completions on 11 attempts, six first downs in the half,
tough stat, 0 for 5 on third down conversions, 1 for 1 on our fourth down attempts.
We had five penalties assessed for 45 yards.
We had five penalties assessed for 45 yards.
We had the one turnover late.
We were one for one on our PATs.
One stat we did win.
Time of possession, 14 minutes, 31 seconds.
Impressive.
You know, John, we haven't encountered the kick return yards for this incredible team.
They had one punt return that was called back.
They are just unbelievably talented, and you put the ball in their hands, and I mean, it's like video game stuff sometimes.
When they start running up the field, it's that fast, isn't it?
It does look, it really looks that way compared to the Falcons, and that's not to demean the Falcons.
That's just how quick.
They're not overly big, maybe not even overly strong, but they are overly fast, and our guys just can't catch them.
Their speed and quickness is something that we've only seen a few guys this year, but certainly not the number of guys on one team.
Incredible speed, incredible talent.
By the way, big shout-out to the Big Blue Band.
They made the trip down here because it was six hours away.
They decided not to bring some of the equipment that could have been damaged in some of those potholes that we saw when we got to South Alabama.
So they said, we don't want to do that.
But Jeffrey Jones, they've been loud and proud tonight and having fun and staying to the game, and they've been so supportive all season.
Yeah, I can't believe the band came, which I'm so proud that they did.
They packed the buses and came on down and got here a little later than what I thought they would, but they're here.
They're happy.
They'll be, I think, riding back after the game tonight, but just to have them here is a big – it says a lot.
It says a lot for our school.
It says a lot for our system.
It says a lot for the pride that we have in this Falcon team.
So, you know, shout-out to the Florence Falcon fans, all of them, all 300, 400 of them in attendance.
I'm terrible at predicting that sort of thing.
But there's a lot of folks here tonight, and, you know, I expected us to travel well, and we did.
It's impressive, that is for sure, and it's been impressive this week to see how the Falcon family and the Florence High School, or the city of Florence, has got behind this team, knowing all that went on.
You know, we're not making excuses for anything.
There was a lot of distractions throughout the weekend.
Coach Kenny Marson did all he could, and hats off to him.
But the Falcons come on the road, did everything good to be prepared for this team.
But, you know, guys, let's be honest.
We just haven't seen a team this season with this much team speed.
It's not just one or two guys.
It's a lot of guys.
There's no substitute for speed, and it's hard to practice against.
And as you said, Kevin, you hit the nail on the head.
It's the team speed.
It's the three and four and sometimes five wide receivers that our guys just can't keep up with.
You know, Jay Shod can cover one, maybe, for a little while, but they just keep coming at you,
and it's going to be tough for the Falcons to – it's going to be tough for a lot of teams to defend this type of offense.
The Baker Band out performing right now, entertaining this Baker crowd across the way.
We're on the visitor's side.
We're at the half of the TNT Fireworks Halftime Show, where Florence trails Baker 31-7.
Falcon football returns in two minutes.
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Getting the kids to practice on time.
Remembering if it's your day to bring snacks.
Making it to the game with a clean jersey.
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Back here at Mobile, Alabama's Baker High School.
Mike Albertson not with us now.
We'll get to him in a minute, but I'm going to Jeffrey Jones, John McDaniel, Kevin Johnson.
I'm glad to be with you.
JJ, how far is it down here on this trip from Florence to Mobile?
Well, yeah, that's a – you got me.
It's a long way.
350, is that right?
Actually, I'm showing –
I got 351 approximately miles to my house, which is close to Florence High School, so –
I live close to you, and I'm chewing 350, so that's 700 miles in one trip.
And that's half of what we've traveled – so we've traveled 1,435 miles this year on all the way games put together.
And when we do this game with them all, it's the same thing.
Over half of them are going to be done today.
Let's give you an idea, JJ, you came up with an interesting stat you sent to us saying how far it was compared to going to the North Cities.
Cincinnati.
It's like driving from Florence to Cincinnati and back.
Wow.
Same distance.
So, it's – you know, I can't say right now that it's – we've learned a lot.
We see a team we've never seen before.
I always kind of take pride in, you know, at the end of the year looking and seeing what stadiums we've called games in and what players we've seen.
We've seen some talent this year.
We've seen some great stadiums, too.
You know, quite a few of them are the same, but this year I got two new ones on my – on my two-notch.
One was Oxford.
I've never called a game in Oxford before, and I've never called a game at Baker before.
So, last year, the newest stadium was the Opelika.
Kevin, you've had a bunch in your career calling games.
So, adding a new one to yours is really a feat.
This is the first for you, Baker.
Yeah.
Adding one every, what, maybe four or five years for you?
Well, I've been, you know, covering Florence through sports.
I've been with them, involved in – including being part of the team as a chaplain.
I've been with almost every game but one, and I think I've been to pretty much every Birmingham school you can imagine.
And so, we've been to Birmingham a lot.
We've been to a lot of North Alabama schools.
And being the first time ever to Mobile.
We've never been to Montgomery.
Yeah.
But we now have been to the Auburn area.
Yeah.
And now we've been to the Oxford area.
So, it covered the state in a lot of games, a lot of places.
One thing I know, though, is this Florence team never backs down from anyone.
And that's the one thing about this team this season.
They're not back down from anyone, and it's been impressive.
They won't back down tonight.
They're going to play hard as they can.
But it's a very good Baker team, no doubt about it.
You know, we're missing one of our crew.
We all three up here.
It's almost like when we look down at Florence having some star players not dressed out.
We feel like we're missing one of our star players in Mike Albertson tonight, who's with family.
He's got some friends coming in from out of country, and we hope they're enjoying listening to as well.
But, you know, Mike Albertson means so much to us as friends.
But he cares so much doing so many little things behind the scenes, taking care of me.
I mean, I know that sounds funny, but he's sort of the caretaker of KJ.
I'm not as nimble as I used to be.
So, he makes sure that I get where I need to be, and I appreciate him greatly.
But we have a good balance in many ways.
Like, I know one thing for sure.
I just found out John's not the best dancer on the crew, but that's okay.
That would be me.
That would be JJ.
But Mike has a lot of fun.
That new jersey comes out any member once in a while, though, doesn't it, JJ?
Yes, it does.
Yeah.
I've missed his negativity a little bit tonight.
Yeah, man, yeah.
We've been too positive.
Yeah, too positive.
He's a guy that comes over and says, come on now.
He'll go jersey.
I mean, I love it.
He does go jersey, and he tells it like it is sometimes.
I like the straight shooter that he is.
That's right.
Hey, let's talk about a few college games while we have just a moment.
Real quickly, LSU, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa.
I think Alabama is just right now on the road.
Does anybody think LSU has a chance?
I worry about the fact that they don't know what they're going to do.
You say, well, you can't change.
However, when you have new coordinators, when you pick new people,
they're going to throw curveballs at Alabama.
I still think it's at home.
I give Alabama a chance.
But if I was LSU, I would bring a completely different game plan
than I have done any time this year, and that is the chance you've got.
I think Whit Weeks is still out.
He's an All-American player.
Yeah.
Throw the kick and sink at them.
Yeah, I would think so.
But I think Alabama's still just too good on Auburn.
Oh, yeah.
There's no doubt.
Auburn Vandy?
You know, that's obviously with Hugh Freeze not longer there.
They go to an interim coach with D.J. Durkin.
They're going on the road at Vanderbilt.
I think it's a difficult matchup for Auburn.
I do think Auburn's defense will play outstanding against Vanderbilt.
What will the offense do is the question.
And Ashton Daniels gets a start.
Can Auburn pull the upset against Vanderbilt?
Absolutely.
And I'll tell you why.
Vanderbilt's had a tough road in the past few weeks.
They've played some tough games.
I could easily be a letdown game for Vanderbilt, but they're so mature.
I just think Vanderbilt, you know, would be tough to be.
But it'll be interesting to see what Auburn does Saturday, that's for sure.
They could be energized.
I don't know.
I really like Durkin as a coach.
I'm glad he's getting an opportunity to be the interim here.
I just think Vandy's going to be – it's weird for me to say this,
but I think Vandy's going to be too much for him.
Any upset possibilities this weekend in college football?
I think Oregon needs to be careful against Iowa.
A lot of people have said – I've heard a lot of people predicting that,
but I think when everybody tells you, hey, you need to be on upset alert,
I think Oregon's going to come out and run them off the track.
At the half, Stavia Hills is tied up 21-21.
I think the one game that catches me, attention, nobody's talking about,
watch Mississippi State in the Battle of the Bulldogs against Georgia.
On the road, early game, start for Mississippi.
Georgia has seen – they're a team that you just can't – they just won't lose.
They refuse to lose, but they've been in close game after close game.
Mississippi State is really pretty close to being a pretty good team.
People don't realize how good they are.
They are close, and I've got a buddy that's a Mississippi State fan.
I told him, I said, do you hear about Levy?
He's the – Jeff Levy's the finalist.
He's probably going to get the Auburn job.
He didn't like hearing that.
He didn't think that was funny at all.
So, yeah, I agree on that.
There's not a better team in the SEC, in my opinion, to lose than Georgia.
I've said it for a couple weeks now.
I don't like them.
I think that – I don't like people when they call timeout and say they're clapping.
So, I think it's going to catch up with Georgia anyway.
They're not good enough to – I mean, they might come in – they might get in the playoffs,
but they're not going to last.
They're pretenders.
Well, we're at the half here on the TNC Fireworks Halftime Show.
Florence trails 31-7 to Baker, but the Falcons had the ball when we start the third quarter.
This is Falcon football.
We're back in one minute.
Hello, my name is Keith Medley, and I'm an attorney with the law firm of Johnson, Passeur, Medley & Burchill.
Why call an out-of-town lawyer when you can call our law firm,
which has over 100 years of combined experience in all areas of the law.
If you have a legal matter, please call me or Leslie Johnson, Debra Bell, Passeur, Adam Burchill at 256-766-3131.
We're proud to be a sponsor of Florence High School Athletics.
No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed
is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.
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Easily view and pay your bill by clicking on the link in the text or email notification.
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Or call 256-760-6512 for more information.
Welcome back as we close up the TNT Fireworks halftime show.
Thank you, TNT Fireworks, for being our sponsor all season long, helping us out.
As the quarterback, Kade Davis, warms up here in front of us with Costin Mahan,
catching the passes for Kade Davis would be Walt Barrett.
So, though he's not dressed out, he is still having a little fun.
And his senior season, I hate that he couldn't dress out tonight, but, you know, he's had his Magic Kingdom years this year.
He's had some plays, that's for sure.
And to his credit, I've watched him a little bit on the sidelines tonight.
And, you know, he's injured and it's a tough place for your last game, but he has been as engaged as possible.
He is coaching the guys, especially the safeties here in his position.
He has excited, been all in to the coaching and the way they're playing.
Props to him for being a good teammate to these guys, even when he can't affect the game.
We want to say thank you to Baker High School AD, Mr. Curtis, who helped us out, get a tin up, get a table over here, some chairs.
And we've moved a little bit because we were getting surrounded by a Falcon fan.
So maybe I can be as entertaining as they were in the first half, and maybe we can take it to another level.
But Florence right now, leading smallmouths, we'll get the ball to start.
The third quarter, trailing 31-7.
When we come back, third quarter kickoff, we're back in 30 seconds.
This is Miranda Haddock with the Florence Education Foundation.
We would like to extend an invitation to our 8th annual Shoals Also Showdown on Saturday, November 15th, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Singing River Brewery.
Local restaurants and individuals will compete to see who has the most delicious salsa and queso, which will be judged by you, our supporters.
For tickets and more information, visit our website at FlorenceEducationFoundation.org.
We would like to thank our gold and silver sponsors, T&T Fireworks, Forsyth and Long, United Community Bank, First Southern Bank, Grigsby Properties, First Metro Bank, Chick-fil-A, Bank Independent, United Benefits, and Johnson & Mayhem Dental.
We want to wish Coach Morrison and the Falcon football team good luck this season.
Third quarter action, Florence Falcons football here on 93-9 to score for Mobile, Alabama.
Kevin Johnson, John McDaniel, Jeffrey Jones, the Falcons received to start the third quarter.
Hey, best of luck to the Florence High School cross-country team running tomorrow over in Bolton.
It's the big race, I think it's regional, so if I'm not mistaken.
So best of luck to them.
Looking forward to that.
And I know they'll do a good job.
Also, basketball starting up Tuesday night for the men.
They'll be playing at May Jemison, but they'll be playing the Panthers of Huntsville High School.
And at tip time at 6 p.m., we'll have that game for a year on 93-9 to score.
John, you're Kenny Morrison.
What do you say your team at halftime down 31-7 in a playoff game like this?
You know what?
You're down.
It doesn't matter.
Let's play every single play like it's its own.
Let's go fight and see what the final score is.
We may or may not win, but that's not what I'm looking for.
I want to see if you can fight.
I want to see our guys fight and go hard every play.
Don't play defeated.
And, hey, let's see if we can make a few plays and get back in this game,
put a little game pressure on the Hornets instead of always on the Falcons.
Lawrence to kick it away.
He'll put it on the right hash.
Lawrence will be going left to right wearing their road white uniforms,
white pants, white jerseys, blue numbers, blue helmets.
Lawrence 6-4 on the season.
Baker 8-2 on the season.
Be safe up in North Alabama.
I understand some storms headed that way.
That's Lawrence.
Approaches the ball and boots it away.
This one all the way back.
Going to take it at the two.
Here comes McDonald to the right side.
Look back to the middle.
Found a little hole and hit hard right at the 25-yard line and pushed forward.
He'll get up to about the 30-yard line when they finally blow it at the 29.
The Falcons have it first and 10.
So, McDonald will return it out to the 29.
And Kate Davis will come out to bring back the Falcons.
You know, you can't find a 24-point play in one drive.
Just come out.
Got to make things happen.
Just be yourself.
Is that a key right there?
Absolutely.
That's exactly what I was trying to think about earlier.
As you said, there are no big plays that you can score 21 points or more on.
Let's just get a first down.
Let's start with getting first downs and move the ball and see where we can do.
So, Florence will have it first and 10 at the 29.
Two wideouts to the right.
One back in the backfield.
That's Johnson who's got it.
Johnson cuts back.
Pushes forward and made one man pay for it.
Got about three yards up to the 32.
Good strong run.
Not bad at all.
It brings up second down.
And we'll call it 60.
We'll give him four.
He did planted that foot on that play right there.
And as soon as he saw a hole, just ran right back into the defense.
That speed of Baker so fast, he said, well, I'll just cut back the other way.
Yeah, as we mentioned, there's one way to defeat the speed.
We don't have that.
We have got to use the size to be able to cut in between them.
Second down and six to go.
Ball on the right hash going left to right.
Davis, the quarterback.
Once again, going to leave it with his tailback.
Right at the middle.
Got a little run across the 35.
Pushes forward to the 38.
Pushes forward to the 40-yard line nearly.
Depending on the mark, he should have enough to move the chains.
Nice block there by Tavarius Reeder, who was 15 yards down the field, blocking his man.
And that will be enough for a Falcon.
First down.
10-57 to go here in the third quarter.
Florence down 31-7.
Good start for the Falcons on this drive.
Two wideouts to the right side.
McDonald is one of those on the second down play.
But again, look to lower it to McDonald.
Got it complete.
McDonald dancing, getting to the 40, to the 42, and finally knocked out of bounds.
Around the 43-yard line.
A couple guys get tangled up here on the sideline.
Not intentional.
Just lost their balance trying to make a little extra effort to get over there.
Good job by the referees of kind of separating them and keeping the play going.
Jay shot Pearson and Jeffrey Jones.
As small as he is, as strong as he is, he can block.
Yeah, he can.
And he holds the block well without getting a holding call.
That's the important part.
He's a phenomenal athlete as well.
You know, we're talking about all these athletes on the other side.
We've got some athletes as well.
Yes, we do.
And Jay shot Pearson is absolutely one of them.
Second down and seven to go.
This time going to lead with his back right up the middle again.
This time hit hard.
The game's far, maybe two or three.
Good hard run there.
But Johnson brings up now third down.
We'll call it about five to go.
Met one of their outside safeties there in the hole
and was able to really power through and gain another extra two yards.
DeCarson is running super hard here to start the third quarter.
Falcons have to touch the 49 for the line to gain.
It's a third full and five now.
Gouldsby will go wide to the left, two wide outs to the right.
On this money down.
Four-man front.
Davis going to lead with his back in.
No throw across the middle.
And McDonald couldn't bring that one in.
It's footing.
It was behind him.
And he slipped a little bit.
And he'll be fourth down.
That fastball was low and outside.
It's had to come up with.
And McDonald was trying to play it.
I think his feet went out from under him.
So Chivinata to punt it away.
Not what we wanted, but at least a decent starting drive for the Falcons here
to start the third quarter.
Make sure we kick it away from this young man.
Chivinata to boot it away.
And he kicks it over his head.
He's going to run back and have time to catch it.
Fumble it, pick it up, and watch out.
Here he goes.
This time the Falcons grab him and hold on and bring him down.
Nice job right there.
I think that was Zoe Martin.
Zoe Martin said, I'm tired of you running these kicks back.
And Zoe said, I'll get you and I'll slam you down at the 19.
Best pick kick coverage of the day.
Zoe reminds me of the old Bear Bryant quote when he said, when Zoe tackles you, you stay tackled.
Yeah, and that's a good point of the senior who's committed to UNA.
I can't wait to watch him play in the purple and gold.
I think he may get a breather here after running down.
I think Winkles may get the start here.
Zoe will get a breather for a second.
First and ten play.
Two wide out seats.
One side, one to the right.
Wants to pass.
Graham looking.
Wants to throw.
Looking.
Now he's been flushed.
Now he's being hit.
Now he's being hit again in the backfield.
Now he's going to be brought down and sacked all the way back around the 12-yard line.
Jeffrey Jones on the sideline.
That's the best pass job of going back and getting the quarterback today we've had on getting the rushing the quarterback.
That's great.
They just pinned their ears back and went and hit him.
Now he was tough.
It took two of them to bring him down.
He's 6'5", 220.
He's all of it.
He's all of 6'5", 220.
Pretty athletic for his size.
But that play we had his hand.
Second down play coming for Graham.
This time going to lead with his back.
Trying to bounce it out the left side.
Trying to bounce it again.
Can't get hit.
It's about the 17.
He'll get about four or five.
And to bring up third and we'll call it about, well, he got more than four or five.
He got about six or seven.
But are we going to have third down and nine to go or ten to go?
So a money down for Baker.
They keep their tailback in the backfield there.
That's Wood on the third and nine play.
Two wideouts to the left.
Including White and Pryor, I believe it is.
Graham with no backs in the backfield.
Goes everybody empty.
Watch for Wood, number nine.
He is the player they love to go to out of this.
Straight drop.
He looks to the right.
Now he looks left.
Now he throws down the middle of the field.
Complete.
Got it to his man.
First down in the 30-yard line.
From the 35.
And guess who?
That's Wood.
The running back.
Check that out.
That's Martin.
Marion, excuse me.
Marion catches it.
Gain of 15.
We do have a flag, though, in the area of the offensive line.
Potentially a holding.
I'm not positive.
I would think he would be because already Graham is walking back.
How impressive is this young man, the quarterback, though, too?
He has a lot of fun back there as a quarterback at 6'5", Jeffrey Jones.
Tate Graham is pretty good, though.
He's a big boy.
Yeah.
That's why he's got Division I offers.
It's very obvious.
He was the first player I saw warm enough out there when we got here.
And it was a...
He leaked off the page, didn't he?
Yeah.
Yeah.
He kind of lied to me and underplayed him a little bit on the way down here.
But, yeah, he's an impressive athlete.
Wishful thinking.
How about that?
Lawrence down 31-7 with 726 to go in the third quarter.
Graham gets the snap.
Back to pass.
Looking.
Wants to throw down the sideline.
Got a step down there.
Can he get it to his receiver?
He does.
And it's caught.
It's brought in.
And it's complete at the 43 by White.
The coverage wasn't bad.
The throw was perfect.
Over the backside shoulder, John.
A little hitch and go.
That's correct, J.J.
It was.
It was a hitch and go.
And it was a Willie Mays-looking catch.
He was able to...
He was over his outside shoulder.
He double-tapped his feet on the sideline.
As good a catch as you can possibly be.
And I've got to give credit.
That was a tremendous, tremendous play.
Jones and Marion to the right.
Two backs in the backfield.
This time up.
High snap.
Fumble.
Snap ball on the ground.
Fought for it.
And I think we'll see.
It's still being fought for there.
But I think Hornet's got it back.
Wait.
We'll see.
No.
Florence comes out of there with it.
Florence came out of there with it.
And it's so hard.
So, Florence gets the fumble recovery at the 42.
And Walt Barrett in street clothes comes out to congratulate the defense.
I love that.
Leadership from the youngster there, too.
But Zoe Martin has played outstanding tonight.
And that was just a bad snap.
And Florence catches a break.
Big for Florence to be able to try to put something together.
Hey, this is the kind of things that you need.
As we said, you can't score at all in one play.
So, let's make a few first downs and see if we can put a little pressure.
Maybe a little reverse here.
Do something different.
Let's see.
6.53 to go.
Johnson at the tailback.
Johnson's going to get it right up the middle.
Got a runner in.
Watch out to the 4-5 to the 30.
He slid down.
It's a little slick out there, but it's enough to move the chains maybe right at the sticks.
I think they're going to say he slid down just.
Yep, that's enough to move the chains.
First down, Florence at the 32.
J.J., it's getting a lot slicker out there right now, it seems.
Yeah, it's been slick since we got here, but it hadn't let up at all.
It's definitely slick.
We saw it right there.
Everybody here in pretty much short sleeves.
Now, it's just a beautiful night, actually.
Lots of shorts.
Yep, lots of shorts.
First and 10 for Florence at the 32.
Davis, the quarterback with Johnson to his right.
Gets a snap.
Looks to pass.
Throws the quick out.
Complete by Florence, but he was on the knee.
No, they let him get up and run with it.
We'll take it down the sideline.
All the way down inside the 20th and 17th.
We caught a break right there, I thought.
J.J., could you tell if his knee was down from where you were?
It was close.
Yeah, it was definitely close, but I really do think that his knee was off the ground.
We'll take a little break here now.
Yeah.
I've not missed many this year, but also I've missed that one, right?
If everybody looks at me, we're here to laugh.
I'm not even going to respond.
Good point.
The eyes will be worked on at the end of the season.
I promise you that.
I have a good friend somewhere in the house for helping me out.
Don't change a thing, K.J.
You got it.
First and 10 for the Falcons.
Inside the 20, knocking on the door now.
Going to leave with the back up the middle.
Got running room across the 15, down at the 10.
And hit hard down around inside the 10 at the 7-yard line.
Alex Hawthorne for the Hornets was able to come in and put a big lick onto Carson.
He had somebody on his back and was able to get a free run on him.
But timeout taken by Baker.
And listen to the Falcon fans.
They like it.
The Falcon team not going away.
5.55 to go.
Threatening to score.
Down 31-7.
This is Falcon football.
We're back in 30.
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By the way, as we come back from a break, Kevin Johnson, Jeffrey Jones, John McDaniel,
wishing all our veterans a happy Veterans Day next week.
Florence knocking on the door at the eight-yard line, down 31-7.
Davis has Johnson right behind him.
On a second down and two play.
Gets the snap, Johnson coming off the right side, cuts up the middle, got to the three-yard line
before he stripped up, but that's enough to say first and goal.
Right now, they're getting some push-up there, Jeffrey Jones.
You're seeing it right live and close right there on the sideline.
Yeah, Carson Johnson, that was just great, great hard running on him right there.
We got to put this in.
First down, we got three yards to go.
5'37 and go into the third quarter.
One back in the backfield, still Johnson, the first and goal at the three.
Johnson, this time off the left side in trouble.
He's going to be hit.
Bounces away, goes to court, the end zone.
He's going to be just short, I think, down at the one.
Boy, he looked like he was going to be dead to rights, but he's not down at the one.
Let's go heavy package, Kevin.
Here comes the boys.
DeCarson Johnson, you did your job, young man.
DeCarson Johnson with a great job, and Goolsby comes over here.
John Carter says, that's a way to run the ball.
I like it.
Good teammates there.
Both of those coming back next year.
Zoe Martin is the tailback.
Under center is the quarterback, Davis.
Going to leave it with Martin off the right side.
Bulls forward is close.
Waiting for the signal.
Yes, sir.
Touchdown, Florence.
Florence sticks it in the end zone with 4.46 to go.
The trim to lead it, 31-13.
So the Falcons strike first in the third quarter.
Charlie Graves will come on and try the PAT, and a nice drive there, Jeffrey Jones.
Great drive, a quick drive.
You know, that's what you do.
When you get a turnover like that and they give you a break, you've got to capitalize on it.
That's what we did there.
Zoe Martin, who got the fumble recovery, gets the touchdown.
Graves to attempt the PAT.
It's up.
It also is good.
New score.
Florence trails at 31-14.
Falcon football back after this 30-second break.
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15-54, Florence Boulevard.
Back in Mobile, Alabama, where Florence cuts the lead at 31-14.
John McDaniel, tell us about that last drive.
That's a great question, Kevin.
Let's get over there.
The Falcons, hey, that was a six-play, 42 yards it covered.
Of course, that's what we said after the fumble.
Two minutes, six seconds.
So, a pretty quick strike.
And one-yard touchdown, of course, by Zoe.
Zoe Martin with the fumble recovery.
Zoe Martin with the touchdown.
And here's the kick.
It's going to be a chip kick to the right, but the Falcons were off sides, and they'll blow the whistle and start it over.
We finally, they did what we asked.
John, we said, kick it to the sideline.
He did it perfectly, and we were off sides.
That's just the way it's made.
We spent all of our break, Kevin, talking about planning for them, and they evidently were listening.
It just didn't quite execute it.
You notice this, these two, we call them rabbits for this Baker team, Jones and Marion.
They're already up to the 25-yard line.
They're just daring you to kick it deep.
They want the ball so bad.
Kevin, I've seen on film, they'll actually run up and take it from some of the up-backs.
Oh, yeah.
And it seems selfish, but it's a really good decision when you're that fast.
I mean, they've seen this enough over the year, they know.
I used to sideline, I used to go and just stand and say, kick it to me.
There's a little empty zone if he can kick it over here.
Green Hall, high pooch it, will be taken by Jones at the 36, or 26.
Going to the right sideline, gotten to the edge, got to the 35, to the 40, and finally knocked out of bounds at midfield.
But flag on the play.
And a big hit down there on the sideline.
Thankfully, we got a hold on that one.
Because Jones can run about a 9, 800-meter dash, I believe.
I don't know if that's good or bad, but he's fast.
Man, he can absolutely go.
As I said earlier, Deion Sanders said one time, he can run, run.
He fast, fast.
Yeah, run, run.
That's what he called it, run, run.
And that's what he's done.
He can run and run and run some more.
We'll take the penalty, though, and move him back.
I'm trying to think, guys, if I've seen a team with two or three players this fast that are so electric.
It's been a while, and I'm trying to think.
It would have to be one of the Thompson teams from the late 2018, 2019.
Ryan Peppin.
Ryan Peppin.
Right.
And then Asa Martin.
Multiple players on the same team.
Was he at Austin, you mean?
Yeah.
From Austin, yeah.
Yep.
I'm just trying to think of the speed, the great speed here.
Two and five I'll remember for a while, though.
Yes, sir.
I think everybody in Florence will, too.
First 10 play, they're going to leave with the back off the left side.
Looking for a little run and run, bouncing, trying to get outside.
Nowhere to go.
Good job by the Falcon defense.
They push him back.
They're tackling him around the 30-yard line.
Gaining about two or three.
But a good job by the defense staying with him.
A game tackle there on Wood.
420 to go.
Still a 17-point game.
But, you know, one turnover, and then you get it to 10.
Who knows?
So, this is a big time for Florence right here.
See if they can come up and make a play.
Second down.
We'll call it six to go.
They gave him four.
Graham looks to throw the quick out to the sideline.
Quick screen.
Complete at the 30 to the 35 to the 40.
And he got the first down right at the 42-yard line before he's brought down by a host of Falcons.
You say, man, that was a great job by the Falcons.
And he got 15 yards.
We had three defenders standing right around him, and he was just bouncing back and forth.
And as you said, he's still got another three or four yards, and we were standing there ready to tackle him.
You could trap him in a closet, and he could come out of there with three guys trying to tackle him and still make 10 yards.
That's how fast and quick he is.
First and 10 play for this Hornets team.
Going to leave it with Wood.
He'll throw a quick slant and complete immunity intercepted.
Oh, man, that was a tough play right there.
Falcons coming to try to get the interception but couldn't bring it in.
But a nice try there by Sistra.
It was high over the head and almost a turnover.
And, boy, if he could have caught that and timed that just right, J.J., with 3.35 to go, he could have taken that one the other way.
He was playing it too well.
If he would have gotten beat a little bit on that play, then he would have had an opportunity to make that interception.
Well, you can't blame him for playing it so well.
Second down and 10.
Three wide outs left.
This time they're looking to throw the quick screen again.
White's hit right when he tried to catch it and knocked away.
Incomplete.
Jayshod Pearson blew that one up, and it brings up third and 10.
That's the kind of effort you're looking for, K.J.
Jayshod fought over a block in a round and still managed to get into the receiver and knock it away and knock the receiver down.
That's a great effort play.
So, Florence will go to the other side.
Baker will go everybody to the wide side, to the right side, over on the Baker sideline on his third down play.
They love to run screens.
Back to pass.
Graham sets up, wants to throw.
Now he's being flushed out of the pocket and just throws it away.
Great defense by Florence there.
He's seen enough of that Florence defense, and how about that right there?
That's a great job of Florence defense with 3.23 to go in the third.
Florence is going to get the ball back down 17.
Jayden White is a problem.
He was a problem for two defenders right there.
He may or may not have been held, but he was forcing the quarterback to scramble, and he threw a great pass to a coach on the sideline.
Good job getting off the field for the Falcons.
This field is slick a little bit.
A wet ball could be a bad snout.
We'll take anything right now.
Play clock at 12.
They're still getting substitutes in on the punt team.
They don't punt much, so they don't know what to do.
That's a fair point.
Lawrence stands back there.
They've had some bad snouts, but that one is perfect.
He catches it and boots it away.
Almost got to it.
Jay shot Pierce at fair catch, and we'll let it go.
Smart.
He couldn't get under it, and he had too many players, and it takes a huge bounce and about a 20-yard bounce.
That was tough on Jay shot.
He's like, nope, I'm not going to risk it, and he let it go, and it goes all the way down to the nine-yard line.
So it flips the field big time.
Jeffrey Jones, Florence almost blocked that punt.
Yeah, we've got good penetration on that one.
I'd rather them not block it, though.
They held up because they didn't want to get a penalty on that.
So we did get some good penetration, something that we should look at in the future.
Florence had to go 90 yards down by 17.
That snap was kind of weak getting back to the punter, so there's an opportunity there.
Florence has used the running game here in the first part of the third quarter.
Look to run it again.
Nope, throw it across the middle.
McDonald catches it and got it at the 20-yard line, knocked down by two players.
That's enough for a Falcon first down.
Great pass by Davis, great catch by McDonald, and I'll tell you what, guys,
Jimmy McDonald has had an unbelievable senior season.
You've got to tip your hat to the young man.
The development he's had over the year with the rapport that he and Cade have come up with
just developed as the season has gone on has been incredibly impressive.
His durability and his hands have just been impressive all season.
17-point lead for Baker, but Florence with the ball.
This time I'm going to leave it with the back, trying to bounce it outside as high as trying to stretch it out.
You can't do that against this Baker team that are just too fast.
You can't run laterally there.
You've got to go vertical.
That's right, Kevin.
We've seen it.
No one has – I'm not sure Barry Sanders could bounce out against these guys.
They are super fast, so trying to do that is not going to be successful.
Hines will come out.
Johnson will come in.
It will be second down and 13 or 14 to go.
He lost four yards.
Trying to make a play.
You can't fault the young man doing that.
Florence with a lot of youngsters on this team too, by the way, but so is this other.
Play clock down to seven.
Florence is going to have to hurry.
So is Baker with a young team, down to four, down to three.
Not sure he's going to get it off and doesn't get it off in time.
The back judge has been waiting to blow the whistle, and he does there in delay of game.
So I'll move it back five more yards.
And a little bit of that, Jeffrey Jones, is because you're on the far hash,
and you move backwards, and you're back at the 15.
Yeah, we're behind the sticks.
We had no motion there.
There's no excuse for us not to get that ball off.
It was just bad execution right there.
Second down and 20 to go.
Caden McGuire, the offensive coordinator, walking away from that.
He was like, come on, we can do better than that.
Falcon split out four.
Looked to give it away and does the inside.
Bouts away as Johnson got a little running room.
Finally hit down hard around the 17.
A gain of about seven.
Brings up third and 13.
But I like Johnson.
He attacks, doesn't he, there, John?
He hits it downhill.
He sees the hole, and he makes a quick decision.
He doesn't bounce it, and he presses the hole all the way to the linebacker depth
and makes something happen, forces them to tackle him.
He's causing a few to miss.
That's a great run.
Only a junior is what I have Johnson as.
We're under a minute to go when we snapped this one here in the third quarter.
As the music plays over the loudspeakers,
as much noise as they can make on this third down and 12 plate,
Davis back to pass, close to the sideline and incomplete.
He was going for Pearson, but underthrew it.
Had pressure coming.
He'll bring up fourth down, and Falcons have to punt it away.
And that one was all about penalties, Jeffrey Jones.
You hurt yourself with penalties, and now you're having to punt it away
to a dangerous offense.
Yeah, it changes the whole trajectory of the drive, you know,
and there's some good bright spots of that.
But I think we're going to have to start looking elsewhere.
They're double covering our receivers on the side.
Cerenata boots it away.
Going to drive back Marion.
He's going to let it go, and the Falcons did a good job
hand back down there on the coverage.
Let's it bounce inside the 40 and down to the 36-yard line.
And that's where the Hornets will have it first and 10
with 38 seconds to go here in the third quarter.
Leading Florence, 31-14.
Kevin Johnson, John McDaniel.
Also on the sideline, Jeffrey Jones.
What a salute again to the Florence cheerleaders here, band here, fans here
coming this far away.
Impressive.
Jeffrey Jones, we talked about the band.
These cheerleaders have been with us all season long, too.
They sure have.
They got a bus and came on down here, too.
And they've been loud and almost annoying at times to these opponents.
So that's a good thing.
That's what they're supposed to do.
Sometimes you've got to annoy Hornets.
High snap again, give it inside, though, to Wheeler.
And he finds Runner on the outside across the 50
and brought down at the 45, gain of about 20.
If he gets, I mean, the phrase that comes to mind,
if he's even, he's leaving.
And he bounces out.
And once he got to our linebacker depth,
I know I saw Zoe chasing him.
And he just, we just don't have the speed to get to him.
I don't think anybody's got the speed to catch him.
I'm not sure you have to be even.
I think you can just be two or three steps behind
and he can still beat you.
And that'll be the end.
And we jumped off sides.
Jumping up before that to be a flag.
Falcons a little anxious.
Didn't blame them there.
The winner of this game gets the winner of Auburn and Hewitt Trussell,
which was tied earlier.
Is that Opelika?
Excuse me, that's right.
I apologize.
Them two.
Yeah.
Auburn was tied with that statement.
It was Opelika's game.
That's right.
With Hewitt Trussell.
Pass complete across the middle.
And knocked down and tripped down.
And finally brought down by a host of Falcons.
Irons in on the play.
Good job of the Falcons defense there swarming.
The Hornets.
A gain of about two.
Brings up second down, but that'll do it for three quarters.
After three quarters, Florence trails Baker 31-14.
Falcon football back in one minute.
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Desher leads North Jackson 28-14.
Boaz leading Russellville 14-0.
Hartsell leads Buckhorn 30-7.
Appalachian leads Schultz-Christian 46-0.
Madison Academy leading Hatton 20-19.
Carbett County leading Collinsville 43-12.
Fairhope leads James Clemens 21-14.
Hewitt Trust leading Opelika 14-6.
Mary G. Montgomery leading Austin 35-0 in Auburn.
And Vestavia Hills tied at 21.
Here, one quarter left in this one in one-team season.
And right now, Baker leads Lawrence by 17-31-14.
We'll go ahead and tell you, our postgame will be brief tonight.
We're six hours away, so no offense, but we'll thank all those we can.
But we will be brief tonight in our postgame, and I hope you understand back in the Florence area.
So, the Hornets will go left to right here on this second down-and-two play.
Graham has Wheeler in the backfield.
Two wideouts left and one to the right.
He's checking the play.
Lawrence that three-four-man front now.
Looks to give it inside to Wheeler again.
And Wheeler finds running room.
Gets across to the 30-yard line before he's brought down there.
One thing I see with the Falcons, currently, they're not standing at their blocks as well as they were doing earlier in the game.
Maybe they're getting a little fatigued.
I like to see them, as a defensive line, sort of lock out their arms and control the blocker before you determine where the ball carrier is going.
We're sort of, at the moment, running around the edges.
First and ten for the Hornets.
Graham goes to the hard count.
Falcons hit Paul Ford.
By the way, this quarterback, he's only a junior.
Falcon Band making all the noise they can.
Graham straight drop.
Looking left.
Goes to the out pattern.
Good defense over there.
And that one, I think, out of bounds.
Good defense over there by Florence.
They call interference on that.
I thought that was tremendous.
Jeffrey Jones, you saw it maybe better tonight.
I thought it was tremendous defense by Jayshod Pearson or Carter Grace.
No, Jayshod Pearson over there.
He's already signaled it, though.
Yeah.
There's one thing, as you said, John, off the air.
This seven-man group, they make their mind up and they said,
don't you argue with us, and that's okay.
I am all for an official and a referee group to make a call, stand by it,
and whether it's right or wrong, be decisive.
We've had a lot of that indecision over the year.
Yeah.
First and ten.
Graham wants to pass again.
Going to hitch and go down the sideline one-on-one.
That time, the Falcons were there.
Incomplete.
Brings up second down.
Pearson again on the coverage.
Jayshod has done well against these receivers as well as you can,
but there's just too many rabbits out there is what I say.
They can fly and hop everywhere.
And I say that with much praise.
All the respect that one can.
The respect, yes.
Absolutely.
Those guys can go.
They go bunch set to the left now.
Going to pitch it to Wheeler off the left sideline.
Got a block.
And you see it, but bounces off.
Goes down the sideline.
Inside the ten.
Inside the five.
And knocked down around the two-yard line, it looks like.
Wheeler, who is going to the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game,
along with our head coach, Eric Scott, along with one of the wide receivers,
I believe, Marion.
So, two players and the head coach going to represent Alabama
in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Stars game.
You see why.
By the way, just an interesting story about Eric Scott, the head coach.
He played a game this year, coached against Foley High School.
His twin brother coaches Foley High School.
So, twin brother against twin brother.
But he got the best of his twin brother.
You can see why with this team.
First and goal at the three.
Wheeler still the tailback.
Wheeler off the left side, trying to bounce it outside.
Skips into the end zone touchdown.
And that might do it right there.
Florence gave it a run, but I think that one may put it away.
Three yards out, good for the Baker score.
And the Hornets add to it from Wheeler from two yards out to make it 37-14.
Awaiting the extra point from Lawrence.
And the Hornets are 11 minutes away from going to the quarterfinals.
Snap on the way, kick on the way.
Kick is good again.
You score.
Baker 38, Florence 14.
Falcon football returns after this time out.
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The voice of the Florence High School Falcons, WYTK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, the Shoals, 93-9, the score.
Back in Mobile, next to the Bay in the Gulf of America, Kevin Johnson, Jeffrey Jones, John McDaniel, John, that last drive for Baker.
Kevin, it was a real long one, three plays.
I'm sorry, six plays, covered 65 yards, but just over a minute time of possession before they punched it in on a one-yard run.
Lawrence to boot it away.
That one deep, and that one to go into the end zone.
We finally let it go into the end zone.
We'll have it first at the end of the 20.
I'm impressed by Lawrence, the kicker.
I think he's a big part of this game.
This is whoever will get this Baker team, and they'll have to come here.
I say that unless Opelika is the win.
Opelika is the underdog or the lower seed.
So if Opelika wins, Baker would have to travel to Opelika.
The one that actually, they say the one that's the road team of either one of these, which is the automatic home team in the second round.
Correct.
So I don't know who they've got, who's actually going to win the next one.
If Lawrence would have won tonight, down 38-14.
If Lawrence would have won tonight, they would have been the home team next week.
Right now, it's not looking good for the Falcons.
They have it first and 10.
Davis looking to run reverse to Goolsby, coming to the right side.
Got run and run with a block to the 20, 25, 30, and tripped up at the 34.
That's a good 14-yard run.
And look at the speed of Goolsby there.
This mom and dad right in front of me have fought it as they should.
Nice run by the youngster.
Great job.
Good play call.
A little double reverse.
Had a lot of running room, but just couldn't get the wide receiver, couldn't get the block extra for him.
But it was a really good job of pushing the ball down the field and getting the first down.
You know, Jeffrey Jones, that was a little trick play with a reverse.
Why not just open it up, just throw everything you practiced all week?
Oh, yeah, throw every play in the book.
You can't keep them in your pocket.
Yeah, have a little fun with it.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
First and 10.
Davis going to leave with his back off the left side this time.
Trying to use the speed.
Can't do it.
That's a good job by Baker right there.
That's one of the best defensive plays of the day.
A late hit back here.
Finally, flags come.
And it might be against Florence.
I'm not sure.
It may be.
I think it's on 14.
If you're going on body language, it's against Florence.
The Florence defender actually got knocked to the ground, I think.
But there's multiple flags on the play.
Let's see what happened.
It was away from the ball.
It was a pretty egregious hit.
And late.
Very late.
Nelson Elliott checking into the game.
And now the officials are going to talk about it.
They don't go to anybody but one another.
They don't tell any coaches or anything.
Here's the play.
Illegal shift against Florence.
That's a five-yard penalty.
All right.
So personal foul is against Baker.
So you mark off five yards one way and then 15 the other way.
And it should be a Florence first down.
One was a dead ball.
One was a live ball.
Kenny Morrison asking what it is.
And he agrees.
He said, okay.
That's fair.
We'll move the chains.
10-20 to go in the game.
Again, want to say thank you to all our sponsors.
We talk about them all game.
We're going to give them a couple of shout-outs here.
We appreciate them doing such a good job.
Helping us all season long.
We couldn't do it without you.
Our good friends at Lost Pizza listening in tonight.
Appreciate them helping us out.
Gardner Pierce autos as well giving us the vehicle each week we travel.
First and 10 for Davis.
Looks to give it to his back.
Got a good cut up the middle.
Running rim to a 45 for the 50.
Pushes forward and may have enough for the first down depending on the mark.
He's right at the sticks.
We think it's 10 and a half.
Let's see if the officials think the same.
And that's enough for a Falcon first down at the 48-yard line of Baker.
That is the way you run the ball, Kevin.
He really busted up into the hole north and south and did not do a lot of sideways.
Kept pressing it.
Jeffrey Jones, we may have found a couple of running backs for the future that's going to be pretty good.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I could say they're good today.
Yeah, you're right.
Their future is going to only get better with these guys, with their awareness and whatnot.
It's going to be a pleasure to see these kids grow up for sure.
First and 10 in Baker territory.
Goolsby in motion.
Going to leave with Johnson.
They'll throw it out to Goolsby.
Got a block.
Oh, he couldn't catch it.
He was took it downfield, and I don't blame him.
He had a guy coming, and that one went through the wicket second down.
I was looking where he was going, too.
If you're going to go that far and do that effort, you might as well catch the ball.
Yep.
He knows it.
He's played quarterback.
He's played receiver.
He's been such a team player this year.
I like the kid a lot.
9-16 to go in the game.
Florence down 38-14.
Big shout-out to our station manager, Greg Thornton, who did a lot of work behind the scenes this week,
trying to help us out.
Knowing we're traveling so far, I appreciate him.
Of course, James Moody in the station.
It's our station engineer.
We'll be with us from 10 to midnight tonight as well.
Blair Krieger.
Second down 10.
Davis back to pass.
Good protection.
Steps up in the pocket.
Throws to the sideline, and that one is nearly caught, but it's going to be incomplete.
Right in front of the Baker bench, rings up third and 10.
Kenny Marson asking for a flag down.
Good job by Kate, actually, avoiding the rush.
He's kind of was able to maneuver up in the pocket and throw it.
Just couldn't get enough of an accurate throw to be able to.
You know, we ran earlier, and it was there, and we just didn't execute a shuffle pass.
I know it might not be a little play right here to come back and run it again.
Yep.
We were on the wrong side of the player.
Let's try it again.
That's a great call, Kevin.
Let's see what we call them third and 10.
Back to pass.
Play action.
Looks to throw.
Flags to play before the throw.
They don't blow the whistles loud enough because the Falcon player got knocked down,
but it's going to be a five-yard penalty against Florence.
Tavarius Reeder, who's the senior who's played his heart out as an offensive lineman.
He's slow to get up.
He's okay to fight through it.
Give me T. Reeder all day.
He's been a hard tackle to go against all year for Florence.
So third and 15 at the 47.
It's time for the Falcons to hit that 53-yard play,
going the other way, 9-0-9 to go in the game.
Three wideouts to the short side on third and 15.
Straight drop, looking left, obviously.
Throws down the middle of the field, and that one is incomplete.
He's all over him.
Looking for the flag.
Didn't see a flag.
Didn't get a flag.
Referee was just out of position a little bit.
Well, they ran right in front of him, and he kind of blocked it.
Used him to block his division.
It probably would have been a call,
but it's not the referee's fault.
He couldn't actually see that when the way he ran the route.
That's a good call.
You're right.
Tell you what, Falcon offense coming off the field,
and there's hugs everywhere by a lot of them.
Frustration a little bit, too.
I understand that.
I understand that.
They want to win, but it's part of it.
Carson Johnson, where he's played hard.
I like that kid a lot.
Seven-odd to punt it away.
Boots it high and deep.
Going to drive Jones back all the way at the 15.
He wants to run it back, and he's tackled right at the 15-yard line.
Zoe again.
Zoe Martin said, I've had enough of you getting loose.
Jones, I'm not sure.
You say, Jeffrey Jones, you found out the fastest player may not even be playing tonight
for the MEP New York.
That's correct.
The fastest player on the team is not on the field tonight.
He's in street clothes over there, so that's a pretty impressive stat right there for one.
I don't know who's a 7'8 track coach here at this Baker High School, but he's got to feel
pretty good about his chances of bringing home some hardware with the runners that he's got
if they'll run track, too.
If they've got a faster guy than these four, I would hate to see the team that beat them.
They also said their defense is filled with sophomores, too.
They are young.
That is accurate.
They are very young.
Graham will put a man in motion, have three to the right, one back in the backfield.
Wood, I think, is the back.
Now, before the snap and the whistle, I think a Baker offensive lineman may have moved a little bit.
You know, John, we were talking about we thought maybe Florence had a better chance
because this was not a huge offensive line for Baker.
It's a smaller team up front.
They really are.
Comparatively speaking, we've talked about the mammoth size we played last year against Opelika.
This team is not that.
Matter of fact, Florence probably is bigger at most every position,
but the one caveat is we didn't realize they were running.
They had four guys that ran in the four threes and the low four fours.
Hands it off.
Looking for coming around the right side and finally brought down by a host of Falcons there.
Gain of about six and a whistle again.
Not sure.
Another flag on the play again.
No, not this time.
Good.
Let the clock run a little bit.
830 and go in here.
38-14.
Checking in the game now.
Moe Smith.
Graham gets the snap going left side this time with his tailback.
Looking a good job of the Falcone D there.
Step up and make the play around the 23-yard line.
Gang tackle is the key.
You have to set a wall up, Jeffrey Jones, because if he finds a break of that wall, he's going out the back door.
Well, yeah, and, you know, the thing is when holding these guys on the front, the front level is very important
because if they get to that second level, not only are they fast, they actually can juke and get moves, too.
I mean, hats off to our defense, really.
I mean, yeah, we've given up 38 points, but, you know, it could be a lot worse.
Our defense has done a good job of getting some stands, for sure, and some turnovers.
Third down and five.
Straight drop by Graham.
Looks to throw.
Straightened in the middle.
And it's an incomplete.
Good job there.
They may be taking the flag on the play.
Let's see what the flag is for.
He caught it maybe downfield, blocking.
We definitely had a line.
Illegal shift.
Illegal shift.
So, it's either fourth down and four, or do you decline the penalty?
I think you decline the penalty for Kenny Marsha.
He needs to find out where the ball is.
Kenny Marsha said I'll decline the penalty.
Illegal motion against the offense.
That penalty is declined.
Fourth down.
Well, fourth down, and the Hornets will have to punt it away with 7.29 to go.
Leading comfortably, though, Florence, 38-14 in a game that was close in the first quarter, 14-7.
But that second quarter, the Hornets took over a little bit.
17 points in the second quarter was the difference in this game.
Lawrence back to punt it away.
Pearson back to return it for Florence.
Good snap.
Catches it to get rid of it and does.
Short kick.
And Pearson lost it.
Pearson goes back and recovers it.
Got away from it that time.
Jay shot that time.
I think, I don't know, Jeffrey Jones, I know it sounds funny to say this.
It is a little hazy and foggy here.
We talked about it with smoke, but now the fog really is starting to roll in a little bit.
Yeah, it was sulfur air from the fireworks, but now it is foggy.
You know, they're complaining.
They say it's going to get down to 50 tomorrow.
Here in Mobile.
Yeah.
Wow, that is going to be really difficult for them down here.
Well, I'll give them credit.
They did say it's going to get down to 30, which I don't know.
I'm not a fan of it getting down to 30, but down here, I can't imagine.
I was talking to the chain gang.
They said they're going fishing in the morning.
Davis will come out with, again, Johnson at tailback from the 46-yard line, 44-yard line,
excuse me.
First and 10 for Florence.
Okay, Davis is going to leave it with Johnson.
No one wants to throw across the middle, and Goolsby couldn't bring it in.
It was behind him and low.
Fastball there, just a little off.
Brings up second down and 10.
6.54 to go.
If you would have put a little more air under it, not so much a fastball on that one.
I think we had a good chance.
He'd still be running.
That would have been a tough one to catch right there for Goolsby.
Goolsby will return next season.
Let's talk about some of these seniors, though.
Cade Davidson, quarterback.
What an outstanding season he has had.
Three wide out, straight drop.
Wasn't the other quick out.
Before that, flagging.
It's the right call.
Florence wasn't set.
Tried to pop it out here to a wide receiver, but before that,
the Falcons weren't set.
It was the right call.
Is that Cage Roy?
I believe that's Cage Roy is who they're trying to get to.
KJ, like you said with these seniors, you know,
this is the first full class that Morrison's had.
And I really, I think that these guys have set the tone for a,
for a positive change in this, in this program.
You know, we're going to look back in a couple years,
and I think it's going to, we're going to be mentioning some of these players
that just fought hard, fought hard and gave it all they had.
And no doubt, I really, this class has won me over in many ways.
Back to pass.
Davis now looking out, scrambling out of the pocket, rolling right,
and throws it incomplete.
But a flag came down.
Not sure on the far side, the flag falls.
With 6.44 to go.
Florence trails 38-14.
We'll wait and see what the flag would be on the second down, 15 play.
It's in the area of holding, but I have yet to see it.
There we go.
There it is.
When he started scrambling out, that's when the holding call came.
Omar and Martin will come into the game.
JJ in the slot here.
I think that is K-Droid.
I'm not sure.
Is that 88 or 89?
86.
86.
Okay.
We'll catch that here.
It's J.B.
straight drop, looking right, close to the outside, complete,
got it there at the 42 to the 44,
and knocked down finally at the 43-yard line.
Gained him about seven.
And the Falcons have to putt it away.
Kenny Marson, the veteran coach, not waving the white flag,
but being smart here.
Good job, Bob, Mary Martin, presenting himself for a target,
while Cade to make a good pass, caught it and turned upfield,
wasn't able to get the first down, but made an excellent effort.
Seven out of the booted away.
That's one going to be taken by Jones.
He lost it.
He goes back to the end zone, falling on it,
and gets it back at the two-yard line.
That one bounced away.
That one's rolling and just shows the athleticism of him right there.
J.J., that ball was bouncing away from him.
He muffed it, and somehow he caught it, and it just shows.
He muffed it, and it went about 12 yards back,
and he was athletic enough to beat all of our guys back to it.
But, you know, I'm not sure where they're going to spot this,
but it should be within.
About the four or five is where they're going to spot this.
It should be around the one or two, wouldn't you think?
The one is where I thought it was going to.
There was no doubt it had to be.
I think they're saying that he fell down closer to the one,
but I think they're saying he gained possession about approximately.
I guess you could say he slid back that far, but I don't think it was.
I'm more impressed with the play than I am the spot.
That was what was so amazing,
because I thought Florence was about to get the ball inside the five.
There was three guys there, and he just went and got it,
and it was like, wow.
That would have been huge.
Graham's going all the way for the Hornets going to leave with his tailback
off the left side, Wood, and he's hit down right around the three-yard line.
Falcons defense, Peters and others come up making a play from behind.
This Florence team came down a day early, got to stay in a nice hotel.
They were treated like royalty by the good friends of Florence who took care of them.
I mean, you know, Jeffrey Jones, these kids will never forget this trip no matter what.
No, I've heard them talking about it on the sidelines.
They were very, very impressed, very happy to be here,
and, you know, they're not going to hold their heads over this.
Second down play, leaving with the back again, trying to bounce across,
get around the 10-yard line.
You'll gain about six.
Bring up third down, and we'll call it two to go.
As the Big Blue Band has been playing all night long.
If you're going to travel this way, they're going to play and have fun, and they have.
They will be getting in hopefully around, unbelievable, 4 o'clock in the morning
if everything goes well.
That's if it goes well.
We're hoping and praying for good, safe travels for everyone coming back to Florence.
You know, Kevin, I thought they were just playing this loud music while we were on offense.
They'd screw their own team up.
They just play all the time.
They don't care.
I think they just want attention.
Third down play, going to leave with the tailback again.
Florence is there this time, and he's got away anyway and got the first down, I think.
No, he's going to be short, isn't he, J.J.?
Maybe about a yard, correct?
Yeah, about a yard, yard and a half.
So, fourth and – I mean, they're going to have to punt here, wouldn't you think?
Fourth and a half.
Yeah, absolutely.
They kind of waved the white flag four inside runs, or three inside runs in a row.
And they waited to bring on the punt team, too, but they're coming out now.
I mean, the offense kind of – I think they were – I guess they were just waiting for him to come out,
but they were definitely standing around like they were going to go for it for a second.
Yeah, I don't think he's into – this coach has been pretty good over the season about the way he plays.
He hasn't run the score up on teams.
He's not interested maybe in that.
I think they've kind of shown a lot of sportsmanship from what I've seen on film.
I agree with that, too.
That's true, yes.
Lawrence has a high snap.
He catches it and boots it away anyway.
And he's going to roll away from Lawrence.
He really got a rugby punt and ended up being the perfect punt all the way inside the 40,
down around the 37-yard line.
You know, all season, Kevin, really, we've mentioned it on the way down amongst ourselves.
The Falcons have got a lot of breaks in the way that things have gone.
The balls have bounced our way.
Like tonight, they just didn't.
Eventually it ran out.
But the Falcons have certainly played hard tonight.
No doubt about that.
I mean, it's not an effort issue.
Let's be honest about it.
You tip your hat sometimes when you face a team that's just a little bit better.
Sometimes you get beaten like you said.
You just tip your hat and say good game and go to the next one.
And this talented Baker team will be a tough out for whoever they face next Friday night,
whether it be you at Trustville or Opelika.
Look to pass a quick out.
Complete.
Got it to Elliott.
Got to the 40.
Gets around to the 44-yard line.
Nice block on the outside, too, as Elliott gets about seven or eight.
Catches that one.
Turns it up.
Phil Wilburn on the block.
And look at there.
There's Jimmy McDonald blocking.
That's right.
And, man, if that'll give you chill bumps, if you know that young man is a senior.
And here he is out there catching over 50 passes on the season.
And now he comes off the field.
And Kenny Marson gives him the biggest hug.
That may be his last snap as a Florence Falcon.
His hugs all around for number seven.
What a career.
What a season he's had.
Davis going to leave it with Andrews now off the right side.
Andrews tripped up, gain a one.
Bring up third down and maybe four to go.
Got a couple of Jackson Mays is here at wide out.
Fuqua is coming back in also.
Good job of Kenny Marson getting a lot of different guys into the game.
That's right.
Brett Wilburn in the game playing.
A lot of the seniors getting a couple of looks and also some youngsters getting some looks.
Marcus Andrews at tailback now on the third down and five play.
Nice now.
Andrews is going to throw it across the middle and incomplete.
What a catch.
No, he caught it.
Elliott came down with it and caught it at the 45-yard line.
A sliding catch.
He pulled that in.
It was a throw.
And Elliott gets it.
That's a first down.
That was the catch of the night.
That was the catch of the night for Florence.
Yeah, Nelson Elliott, great, great diving catch.
I saw no way, but he went down and caught it.
Nice job of Elliott.
Boy, that was a fastball.
K. Davis knows nothing else but fastballs.
He has thrown them all season.
Either catch it or not.
Mahan's in there now, correct?
That is Mahan, yeah.
Yeah, Mahan in there.
Mahan leaves this one.
Hop high, snap.
Andrews gets it.
Andrews, though, will go up about a yard and get back to the line of scrimmage.
Good job of him by wrangling that ball just to get back to the line of scrimmage.
You said Nelson Elliott, his grandfather, has a ceremony tonight.
They're naming the basketball court after Gary Elliott.
Coach Gary Elliott, the great NCAA champion coach for North Alabama,
one of the best basketball coaches in Division II history.
Yep.
He and his cohort, Billy Gamble, who was the assistant coach, had a tremendous run there.
Second out play in 10.
Costin Mahan, the freshman.
This one gets a snap.
Andrews again.
And this time he goes down, losing yards.
A snap a little off, a little high.
Bring up third down.
Well, again, we talked about it's rained here a lot, but it just seems like everything's
gotten a little slicker out there.
But we're under two minutes to go.
Now we're closing under a minute almost.
And then we're closing under a minute.
So, Mahan will get the signal in.
And Florence trails 38-14 will end their season at 6-5.
Kenny Marson, though, man, what a job.
From 1-3 to 6-5.
And here he is hugging Blake Handback.
He's finding every player he can.
This time, Mike Mahan gets it off inside.
And Andrews bulls far.
He gets about six yards.
It'll still bring up fourth down.
And Florence will have a chance to run one more play or maybe not snap it at all.
And Coach Kenny Marson may not snap it at all.
He said, you know what?
Let's show class and do it.
And I like that.
He's like, let's wave the white flag.
He claps for his team.
His players patting each other on the head.
And sportsmanship being shown already.
As Florence is walking across to shake hands.
And Florence will say, we understand.
We've come to Baker.
And, Baker, you're just a better team tonight.
Kenny Marson finding the Baker players.
Giving them greetings, too.
Pretty impressive there.
No doubt about it.
And Baker wins this one tonight.
38-14.
You're listening to Falcon Football.
We're back in two minutes.
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Back here.
Back here today at Baker High School in Mobile, Alabama,
where Florence ends the season following to Baker 38-14.
Let's send it down to Jeffrey Jones with head coach Kenny Morrison.
Baker, go this way.
All right.
Just a little confusion over here on the...
All right.
Here we go.
Hey, Coach.
We kind of got what we expected out of Baker,
but, you know, a good hard-fought loss for us, right?
Oh, I'm proud of our kids.
It's been one heck of a season for these guys
who started off rough one and three,
and these guys, they fought off all year long.
This senior class has left their legacy on this place.
They will forever change Florence football,
and I'm proud of these guys.
They've been through a hard four years,
and they've seen a lot along the way with us,
and I'm just proud of them.
It brings tears to my eyes of losing this senior class.
They're special and will always be special to Florence football,
special to me and this coaching staff.
Love them, and we've got some guys that will move on to the next level.
Proud of them, and we're going to work hard in the offseason
with these young guys and go back to work.
Halftime, we went in behind, but we knew as a radio crew,
and I'm sure you knew as a coach,
that this team was not going to give up, and that happened.
Oh, no.
They were never going to give up, and we went in there.
We talked to them.
I put the seniors down front in the first two rows,
put everybody else behind them,
and I called on them to continue doing what they've done.
You know, we got a little struggled over there when they scored on us,
and they didn't let what's happened in the past around here creep back in.
They said, no, we're not going to be that.
We're going to be a class act.
We're going to show a lot of character,
and we're going to continue to fight,
and they did exactly what we asked them to do.
I'm so proud of them.
And listen, my hat's off to Baker.
Well, nothing against our region up there.
We don't see speed like this.
You know, we'll see speed, one, two, three guys.
We don't see team speed like that in North Alabama.
Lord, how mercy.
They can run, and our guys fought, and I'm proud of them.
Go love on your team, and have a safe trip back, okay?
Appreciate it.
Coach Kenny Marson, a great interview from Jeffrey Jones,
and I think that says a lot.
This team from Baker, our hat's off to them.
We know when we've seen a team like this, that's that fast and that good.
As the Falcons just sing the alma mater,
and now they're coming off, and you see handshakes and hugs going around,
and some parents meeting some players,
and I see Charlie Graves coming and hugging his sister over on the sideline,
and, you know, just pretty neat to see these players coming,
seeing their parents up here, and many of their parents couldn't come.
Those coaches, I don't think there's a player out here that hadn't got a hug
from one of the coaches on the sideline in the past five minutes.
This Florence team was very close, very tight-knit, John,
and it showed, and that's why they got to where they were this year.
I always think that it spills over from when you're close off the field,
that it spills on to the field, the camaraderie,
the way that you fight for each other, and that is something that you've seen
from the Falcons.
The fight they've shown, Kenny talked about it, Coach Morrison talked about it,
that this team has not given up, and they came back out, as he said,
in the second half, even though they were down and fought just like they were tied,
that is a sign of a lot of, actually, a lot of maturity on the team.
Jay Shodd Pearson, what a leader.
Walt Barrett, what a leader.
Zoe Martin, what a leader.
Tavarius Reeder, what a leader.
Kate Davis, what a leader.
Jimmy McDonald, what a leader.
I'm just naming a few.
I'm leaving out so many seniors I should name, but I just wanted to throw some of those out there.
These guys were just phenomenal this year.
In every game, fought hard, tremendous job by the Falcons, but tonight they just ran into a buzzsaw of Hornets,
and the Hornets winning 38-14.
I'll give you the final stats here on the TNT Fireworks postgame show.
It was really started off with a back-and-forth early game.
Florence held them pretty good, but then a 75-yard pass play to Marion from Tate was making Baker up 7-0,
but Florence would answer back in one play, this time with Davis 2, Jimmy McDonald.
He goes 75 yards.
We were tied at 7, midway first, and late in the first quarter, again, it was Marion on the touchdown pass from Tate.
That made it 14-7, Tate Graham, that is.
Then again, Graham comes back, leads his team down to points, and Lawrence hit a 36-yard field goal.
17-7 with 10.42 to go in the first half, but then the walls just sort of opened up for everything for this Baker team.
Wheeler went 80 yards, and Wheeler capped off with a two-yarder, and at the half, Florence found themselves down 31-7.
Falcons did answer back with a touchdown run from Zoe Martin to make it 31-14, and then Hornets put away with another touchdown.
Let's get our final stats from John McDaniel.
All right, Carl, thank you very much.
I did that one on purpose.
All right, let's start with the Hornets tonight.
Bakers, for the game, 420 yards total offense.
They had 26 rushes for 212 yards.
How's this for balance?
14 completions on 22 attempts for 210 yards.
They're pretty good.
21 first downs.
They were four for nine on third down conversions, and no fourth down attempts tonight.
Ten penalties for 96 yards.
One turnover tonight.
Five for five on the PATs.
Time of possession, 19 minutes, 11 seconds.
The Falcons tonight, 258 yards of offense.
We had 120 yards rushing on 29 carries.
12 completions on 23 attempts for 138 yards.
16 first downs tonight.
One for 10 on third down conversion, and one for one on fourth down conversion.
12 penalties for 85 yards.
12 penalties for 85 yards.
We had one turnover also.
Two for two on the PATs tonight.
Time of possession, 28 minutes, 12 seconds.
Cade Davis, he's our leading passer.
11 for 22, 145 yards and a touchdown.
Receiver, leading receiver tonight.
Five receptions for 110 yards.
Jimmy McDonald, also, he had one touchdown.
DeCarson Johnson, 10 carries, 51 yards rushing.
Also, Elijah Hines, he had nine carries, 44 yards.
Kevin, good job by these Falcons tonight.
It really was.
It fought hard, but it fought short to a good Baker team.
38 to 14, guys.
We'll make it short.
I'll start with Jeffrey Jones in about 30 seconds to a minute.
Give me your finals on this season.
Whoa, I got a time limit.
All right.
Yeah, time limit.
Hey, I'm ready to get home, but I don't want to get there before daybreak.
How about that?
You get to sleep on the way home.
You got the best job in the house after that.
So, anyway, the senior class, great senior class.
Great, you know, the camaraderie.
Everyone knows that the school year depends on how good the football team does,
and that's a fact.
If you want to argue about it, call me.
You know, and I think this team has set the tone for the rest of the school year
for the senior class and for the whole school.
We came into a bus all tonight, you know, very proud of these seniors.
They fought hard.
They exceeded our expectations.
Let's be honest.
They sure did.
So, I'm proud of them.
I'm proud of the city of Florence for stepping up again.
You know, they've done a great job.
Everyone travel safe on the way home.
If you're listening in the stadium or if you're listening on the way to your car,
travel safe, and we'll hit them hard next year, too.
Should be good.
And, John, your last thoughts.
I'm going to take a couple seconds, but, you know, I'm always reminded as we go through.
I see all the players for Baker here.
Parents joined on the field.
Maybe their last home game for their high school careers.
Falcons also on the other end.
They're having a tough time.
I mean, any party who's played high school sports most likely remembers their last game
and the finality of it.
And it's always sad, and it's sort of the end of an era.
I'm so proud of the way the Falcons have played this year.
The character they've shown.
And I will forever commend Kenny Coach Morrison about how his team has played.
The sportsmanship, I think those kinds of things bleed over into how you play as well.
And his guys, while not having as many penalties, also played harder in the fourth quarter
and competed more than teams they've had in the past, I want to say a special thank you to those
in the Florence community who helped facilitate and made this night possible for the Falcons.
As many have said, not many of these guys have had an experience like this.
Most won't have an experience like this with the collegiate.
This is just like playing in college, and for most, they won't have that chance.
And so thank you to all of you in the community who have supported the Falcons
and who helped make this night possible.
These kids will forever be indebted and remember this, so thank you for that.
Lastly, thank you for you guys, the crew, my team.
Mike, obviously we miss you tonight.
Jeffrey and KJ, thank you guys for being good teammates.
As always, you guys are so much fun.
It is the fastest ten weeks.
We look forward to it all year, and then we can't believe it's over.
So, boss, Kevin, thank you for letting us be a part of your team.
We kid you.
You know we love you, I hope, and would not want to do this with anybody else.
So, thank you for allowing us to do it.
Well, I appreciate that.
That's well said.
And about the Florence team and everything else, like you guys, my final thoughts are,
one of my favorite seasons, and it might not be in the most successful season,
but we were sitting at one and three, and I was like, I don't know where this is going.
And the circle of the wagons moment happened.
This team rallied.
This team started believing.
This team started playing hard.
And really, if you look what happens in the next three to four years, you may look back and say,
the team of 2025 turned the corner a little bit, started the culture to change.
Not that other teams have done great, but there was just something pretty special about this Florence team this year,
the way they competed.
Hats off to Kenny Marson, the veteran coach that I've known for many years.
He upcoached my nephew.
I've seen him coach for years.
He's an excellent coach, an excellent man, and did a great job.
And all their staff, too, young staff, many young staff on there did a great job.
And it's just been fun to watch them have success all season long.
And even tonight, you would have been so proud of this Florence team on the road,
how they control themselves throughout the whole game.
They competed, they stayed with it, but they never gave up, and they showed class and sportsmanship all along.
It'll be a trip.
They wish they would have won tonight, but they'll never forget.
The journey is what made it so special, and I'm proud of that as well.
And to our radio crew, I start with Greg Thornton, our station manager.
Couldn't do it without you, Greg.
Thank you for allowing me to have the keys to this and do this for many years.
Thank you to First Baptist Church Florence.
I could not do this without the support of all our church family who realized it's for me a great outlet
but also a great outreach and a great opportunity to be on the airways to say, you know, be a part of Florence
but also to be a witness in many ways as well.
And I appreciate my sweet church family for taking care of me over the years.
A big thank you to Mike Albertson, Jeffrey Jones, and John McDaniel.
These guys are outstanding.
Could not do it without them.
They take care of me.
They take care of you, and they love doing it.
They do it every week, and we have fun, and we hope that you enjoy the broadcast as well.
And don't forget, after our broadcast tonight, James Moody and Blair Krieger, two of the best in the business,
will be with you from 10 to midnight.
Well, that's going to do it for us tonight.
From Mobile, Alabama, the longest trip ever in Florence school history,
and hopefully it will be the longest trip forever for Florence High School and playing football.
We come up short tonight on the road 38 to 14, but we hope that you've enjoyed the broadcast.
Thank you for the fans who listen in.
Thank you to our many, many sponsors.
We cannot do it without you.
Our sponsors, we appreciate you, and we hope to do it again next season, the Lord willing.
It's been my privilege to be the voice of the Florence Falcons with you for many years.
I look forward to it hopefully again next year as well.
For all the crew, for everyone here in 93.9 The Score Studios,
I'm Kevin Johnson saying have a great night, Florence Falls to Baker 3814,
and folks, be safe traveling home, and as always, every Sunday, I'll see you in church on Sunday.
Good night, everyone.
You've been listening to Florence Falcons football on Sports Radio 93.9 The Score.
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Thanks for listening.
And go Falcons!