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Thompson took another step toward where it hopes to be as Trent Seaborn threw for four touchdowns as part of a strong start for the Warriors against county foe Oak Mountain. (For the Reporter/Barry Clemmons)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – Fresh off a big offensive night on the ground in a 49-7 win at Tuscaloosa County a week ago, the Thompson Warriors opted for air mail in Week 4 in another dominant showing against the Oak Mountain Eagles.

Thompson started strong on both sides of the ball en route to a 42-7 win over Oak Mountain on Sept. 13 at Warrior Stadium, with Trent Seaborn throwing for four touchdowns to lead an offense that hit paydirt six times before the second half was a minute old.

Despite the win, Warriors coach Mark Freeman still wasn’t satisfied and wanted to see more for his team as more challenges approach.

“We’re not a good team right now,” Freeman said after the 35-point win. “We played good in spots and I think we’re getting better, but we don’t compare to what we’ve been in the last couple years. Now we can, but we’ve got to work. We got cut out stupid mistakes.”

Seaborn finished 11-for-16 for 204 yards, four touchdowns and an interception, with much of that thanks to a strong offensive start.

After the first of many four-play drives from the Oak Mountain offense, Seaborn went right to work. He found Pryce Lewis for a 43-yard completion on the first play of the game, and two plays later, Mike Dujon capped the quick drive off with a 5-yard rushing touchdown.

Seaborn and Lewis’ connection continued to pay dividends on the next drive. They started the series with a 27-yard connection, and later, Seaborn found Lewis up the middle for an 11-yard score to make the lead 14-0 just five minutes into the game.

Lewis closed out his account for the night with 88 yards off four receptions.

However, Oak Mountain got a window to respond thanks to a slew of Thompson penalties on the ensuing drive. Will O’Dell made back-to-back first down throws before a personal foul moved the ball up to the 24.

Zach Fitzgerald then came up big on the tail end of the drive. He caught a first down pass to the 8-yard line before grabbing a tipped ball in the end zone to put Oak Mountain on the board, cutting the deficit to 14-7 with 2:31 left in the first.

After the game, Freeman specifically pointed to that touchdown as something that shouldn’t have happened, especially since a similar situation happened last week against Tuscaloosa County.

“I’m upset about the defense,” Freeman said. “We work hard on offense and we get better on offense every week I think. But when we get a 14-0 lead, we’ve got to get off that field on defense and we’ve got to go try to get 21-0, and we don’t. Last two weeks we got the game to be 14-7 and we’re in a ball game again.”

The Eagles defense capitalized on the momentum with a three-and-out aided by a near interception from Colby King.

However, Jared Smith put a stop to Oak Mountain’s offense with a third down sack to give his offense the ball back.

Seaborn spread the love on the next drive and his receivers did their part. A 27-yard pass to Darion Moseley was followed by a first down pass to Lewis, and Trey Knight capped it off by getting open at the goal line and turning for the touchdown, increasing the lead to 21-7.

Thompson then got it done on the ground on its next drive. RJ Evans ran for a first down to start it off, and shortly after, he hit a hole and made a man miss to run it home from 37 yards out and make the lead 28-7 with 7:16 left in the second.

Evans ended the game with 66 yards and a touchdown off seven carries.

The Warriors continued to find success with the run game on the ensuing drive as Seaborn scrambled for a first down before Evans moved the chains again. Seaborn then opted to finish it off in the air and found Derick Kimbrough for the 14-yard touchdown.

While the Eagles trailed 35-7 with 4:02 left in the half, they closed the half with some positive plays.

On Thompson’s next offensive drive, Colby King went up for the ball in one-on-one coverage downfield and picked off Seaborn, flipping the field with less than two minutes to go until halftime.

Marty Myricks got Oak Mountain going down the field after he took a short pass from O’Dell 34 yards to the Warriors 40-yard line.

However, it was Thompson that got the last statement of the half as it blocked a 45-yard field goal as time expired to hit the locker room with a 35-7 lead.

The Warriors got a big boost to start the second half thanks to Jaden Kelly-Campbell’s return to the Eagles 35-yard line.

Two plays later, Seaborn hit Angel Jones along the right sideline for the 28-yard touchdown, making the lead 42-7 just 54 seconds into the second half.

That proved to be the final score as the pace ground to a halt from there, with both teams running down the clock and trading punts to seal the 35-point win for Thompson.

For Oak Mountain, O’Dell went 12-for-24 for 114 yards and one touchdown as he was mostly limited to the air. Mason Mitchell was the leading rusher with eight carries for 33 yards.

The running back Myricks led all receivers with 58 receiving yards off four catches, including three for a first down. Walker Shook had three catches for 29 yards, Joey Carbonie took his lone reception for 20 yards and Fitzgerald had two catches for 18 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Ethan Walton secured five tackles and Colton Moore and Niko Varvoutis each had three tackles while King earned the lone turnover with his interception.

Thompson improves to 3-1 with the win and will take a three-game win streak into Vestavia Hills to face the Rebels on the road on Sept. 20.

Oak Mountain dropped to 2-2 and will hope to reverse its back-to-back losses against Tuscaloosa County on Sept. 20 at Heardmont Park.

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