Hartselle falls short on the road vs. Cullman
· Yahoo Sports
Aug. 29—CULLMAN — It was an agonizing walk off the field for the Hartselle Tigers on Friday night.
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With the seconds ticking away, Hartselle made a last ditch effort for the win. However, senior wide receiver Malachi Pawlitschek was tackled short of the end zone as time expired, and the Tigers fell to Cullman 14-9. It's their first loss to the Bearcats since 2020.
"This is going to hurt, and it should hurt because we just gave one away to a rival," Hartselle head coach Bert Newton said. "The good news is this wasn't a region game. We're going to learn from this, and if we don't, we're not going to be any good."
After a 35-point showing last week in a win over Bob Jones, Hatselle's offense struggled early on Friday with just 72 yards in the first half. Penalties and turnovers also hurt the Tigers as they had a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown negated with a penalty and then a fumble inside Cullman territory.
"We didn't execute early in the game, and it cost us big time," Newton said. "We didn't quit, but we had too many mistakes and missed opportunities."
Cullman took a 7-0 lead on the second play of the game when Weston Keel went 64 yards for the score. Hartselle answered with a 52-yard punt blocked for a touchdown by Ethan Tapscott, and Keel added another 15-yard run to make it 14-7 at halftime. The only score of the second half came on a muffed punt by Cullman in the endzone that resulted in a safety.
Hartselle had a nearly 10 minute drive in the fourth quarter that ended with a turnover on downs at the 5-yard line. The Tigers got the ball back for one more shot before again coming up short by five yards.
Maddox Southern led Hartselle with 17 carries for 73 yards, while Jai Morrow had 13 carries for 71 yards. David Amos was 8-for-13 passing for 75 yards.
Weston Keel led Cullman with 14 carries for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
With the loss, Hartselle drops to 1-1 on the season. The Tigers will be back in action next week at home against Russellville to begin region play.
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