Forged by fire: Thompson avenges loss to Central-Phenix City, wins fifth state title in six years

Published 11:20 pm Wednesday, December 4, 2024

By Andrew Simonson

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – When the Thompson Warriors-red fireworks lit up the Birmingham skyline over Protective Stadium, it may have been tempting to think of it as business as usual as they secured their fifth state championship in six years.

However, this season was anything but usual for the Warriors, dating back to the way that last season ended.

Fueled by the fire of disappointment after snapping their streak of four state championships in a row, Thompson’s players entered the 2024 season with a newfound motivation to work harder than ever to reclaim their throne.

To take back their place on top, they had to not only overcome three losses during the regular season but face the team that beat them 364 days ago at Bryant-Denny Stadium: the Central Red Devils out of Phenix City.

Unlike last year though, the Warriors stormed to a 21-7 lead and never looked back, winning the Class 7A state championship on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at Protective Stadium in downtown Birmingham to cap off a long and emotional road to their longtime place atop Alabama.

“I want to truly thank the Lord Jesus Christ,” Thompson coach Mark Freeman said. “If we’ve ever had a year in our life that our faith was tested and perseverance was a vital element to everything we do, and it never gets old. Just 365 days these kids work, and we talk about today’s been 364 days and it was time to come back tonight and do what we need to do. And I thank God for it, I thank God for these players. We’re blessed.”

Central came out of the gate swinging as Andrew Alford and Daylyn Upshaw linked up multiple times through the air for first downs on the opening drive. Upshaw then capped off the drive with a Wildcat run from the 5-yard line, giving the Red Devils a 7-0 lead with 8:17 remaining in the first.

Thompson then couldn’t get going on its ensuing drive, and an illegal formation penalty on third down negated a first-down throw, forcing a punt.

It looked as if the negative momentum would continue snowballing against the Warriors after Upshaw caught another pass for a first down pass midfield. However, Hayden McDonald blew up the next play in the backfield, starting a string of three straight stops capped by a Cam Pritchett sack.

Thompson failed to get going on its next drive after an early false start penalty put them behind the sticks, and the best the Warriors could get was to the original line of scrimmage before being stuffed on third down and forced to punt again.

However, after Pritchett came up with a big third down sack on the ensuing Central drive, Trent Seaborn and the offense got the ball at midfield throwing downwind for the first time all game and didn’t waste their opportunity.

After not getting any first downs to that point, Seaborn uncorked a bomb to Darion Moseley, who got up and made the difficult catch in double coverage for the 45-yard reception. Two plays later, the two linked up again for a 5-yard play up the middle to tie up the game at 7-7 with 6:02 remaining in the half.

Now with the momentum firmly in their favor, Thompson kept rolling on the defensive end with a third-down sack from Noah Streeter to back up the Red Devils nine yards and trigger a punt.

The Warriors got chunk yardage on the ground in the ensuing drive, using a 14-yard run from Mike Dujon and 32-yard Seaborn keeper to set up RJ Evans to reach the red zone off another first-down run.

Dujon then capped off the drive with a 19-yard run up the middle to take a 14-7 lead with 2:23 remaining in the half.

Central looked to have a response thanks to a 50-yard Upshaw catch and run followed by another 20-yard gain through the air. However, during the latter play, Payton Lewis wrestled the ball free at the 20-yard line for Anquon Fegans to land on it.

Given another chance to score with 2:02 left until halftime, Seaborn and the offense worked the two-minute drill to near perfection.

Seaborn kicked off the drive with a 39-yard deep shot to Dedrick Kimbrough. After Evans got some action on the ground, Seaborn made another big first down throw to Pryce Lewis at the 12. Moseley then made a tricky catch over a defender in the shallow left end zone to give Thompson the 21-7 halftime lead after trailing 7-0.

The Warriors got the ball back to start the half, and Dujon kicked off the drive in promising fashion with a 16-yard run. Thompson could only get to a fourth-and-1 from there though, and after failing to get a jump, John Alan McGuire punted it deep into Red Devils territory.

From there, Central embarked on a 14-play, 65-yard drive that chewed just under six minutes of clock and took the offense on the brink of scoring. Opting to go for it on fourth-and-8 from the Warriors 11, the Thompson defense batted away the pass to force a crucial turnover on downs.

After the Warriors couldn’t take advantage of a dead ball personal foul to keep the ball moving, Alford hit Upshaw again for another first-down gain to the Thompson 42. Disaster then derailed the drive as the Red Devils bobbled the double reverse, going back to their own 41.

Desperate to stay in the game, Central went for it on fourth down near midfield. However, Alford overthrew the ball straight into Fegans’ waiting arms for the interception.

Thompson tried to chew clock with the run but then decided to change course and try the deep ball to put a finishing statement on the game. That decision backfired though as the Red Devils picked off Seaborn at the 5-yard line.

Thompson’s defense then came up with another fourth-down stop, this time on fourth-and-11 from the Warriors 15, and the offense marched all the way to the 1-yard line to see out the state championship win.

Seaborn finished the game 9-of-17 for 129 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Moseley was named Most Outstanding Player with four catches for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Kimbrough also caught two passes for 44 yards.

Both Warriors running backs went for over 100 yards as Dujon rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown off 15 carries and Evans ran for 101 yards off 10 carries.

As for the defense, Fegans finished with eight tackles, including seven solo tackles, an interception, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery. Pritchett had seven tackles, including two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Kevin Davis earned seven tackles, Lewis had six and Trenton Cheatom secured five.

After the game, Freeman admitted that the heavy wind inside Protective Stadium threw them off their original gameplan to air the ball out with Seaborn and the receivers. Thompson played against the wind in the first and third quarters, forcing Seaborn to adjust accordingly and just stay the course.

“The first quarter, it was a little bit of a struggle,” Seaborn said. “We knew we were going to come out, play a very good defense, but we knew all we had to do was not turn the ball over. We have this amazing defense. We knew they were going to get us the ball back, and all we had to do was score, and when they get us the ball back, we’ll go down to score, and it was a very strong second quarter end to that first half and I think it really set up that very positive second half too.”

Those defensive stars like Fegans and Pritchett got after the ball all night long and played with the fire that was instilled in them over the summer.

For both of them, last year’s state championship loss made them feel like they hadn’t lived up to the championship standard that Thompson has set over the last half-decade. That translated into their intensity in practice as they sought to reclaim what they lost.

“That added more fuel to the fire, cause last year, we didn’t accomplish the job, but this year, from like two weeks after we lost last year, we just had one mindset and that was to bring back home what was ours, and obviously that’s what happened,” Fegans said.

Now, the Warriors have reached the finish line, overcoming the losses and doubts from themselves and those around them that they couldn’t claim the championship.

Freeman not only saw the internal motivation that the adversity gave them, but he sees what this team learned from falling short over the past year.

“The lesson that I know these guys will take with them was so valuable more than the scoreboard right now, and they’ll know it. They’re going to take it with them. ‘Don’t ever give up and don’t ever let somebody tell you that maybe you’re not the ones,’” Freeman said. “And I think they played with a great chip on their shoulder this year, an unspoken chip. They didn’t say it much around me, but those three losses were painful.”

Now, Freeman credits those losses to Grayson, Clay-Chalkville and Hoover for helping to build their faith, showcase their perseverance and teach them a valuable lesson.

And to him, that not only makes the past year worth it, but it’s even more important than winning another state championship.

“I look back now as we went through that fire, those games built this championship,” Freeman said. “This championship and these kids was built on the fire of last year and the three-point losses, the three games we lost this year. It built character and perseverance more than I can coach it, because I had great people, I had great coaching and I had great kids, and we never lost faith in God, and the story that’s going to go with them from this is a much more tremendous story than being in the state championship in football, because they learned valued lessons. I had coaches learned a lesson, stay the path, trust the Lord, and it’ll be all right. And you come out of that fire, and the fire wasn’t as hot as it felt when you was there, but it taught us all a lesson, and the great thing about it is we all learned from it, and we’re better people because of where we’ve been.”

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