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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

Last Week’s Record: 3-0

Overall: 93-23

As a wise man once said, “Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same.”

Yes, that wise man was Josh Brolin’s Thanos, but it could have easily been said by these Thompson Warriors and Central Red Devils to the AHSAA.

Despite a reshuffling of region pairings to pair up Class 7A, Region 1 and Region 3 along with Region 2 matchup up with Region 4, destiny still arrived. We still not only ended up with seven of the eight teams from Regions 2 and 3 in the second round, but another heavyweight matchup between Thompson and Central-Phenix City in the Class 7A state championship game.

When Wednesday, Dec. 4 arrives and these two teams face off in Protective Stadium in downtown Birmingham, enjoy it. While this is now the fifth time in the past seven years that the Warriors and Red Devils have clashed in the Super 7, it’s never a guarantee that we’ll get this great of a matchup for the state title (particularly next year when Regions 2 and 3 will get paired in the first round, but we’ll save that for later).

To be fair, these two teams did not enter the playoffs as the top two sides in the Class 7A rankings. Those would be Auburn and Hoover, but Thompson and Central have downed both of those teams while proving to the rest of the state over the last three weeks that they deserve to play for a state title.

The Warriors have made statement after statement in the playoffs, first shutting out Daphne 50-0 in a dominant two-way performance, played their single best game of the season in a 34-21 win over Auburn and a commanding 31-7 victory over Enterprise where they won even with a slow offensive start.

As for the Red Devils, their offense was on point in their first two games of the playoffs, defeating James Clemens 70-14 on the road before beating Vestavia Hills 41-21. The semifinals were a bit of a different story as they matched up with a very strong Hoover defense and controlled much of the game for a 17-7 win.

That offense poses the biggest threat to Thompson’s state title hopes.

Cam Coleman may be gone and helping Auburn secure big wins in the SEC, but his counterpart Daylyn Upshaw is a three-star Miami commit and has over 1,000 receiving yards on the season. Upshaw has stepped up in big moments and is one of the biggest playmakers in the state.

A key reason for his strong performance has been the quarterback play from Andrew Alford, who carried over his 3,587-yard year in 2023 into a less flashy but still impressive 2,169 yards and 26 touchdowns against four interceptions while completing 61 percent of his passes.

Like last year, stopping the Central passing game should be the chief goal of the Warriors coaching staff. Luckily for them, that happens to play into arguably their greatest strength.

Anquon Fegans will be Thompson’s x-factor if the team wants to win another state title. After drawing a matchup with Coleman last season and going toe-to-toe with a five-star receiver, Fegans has only grown into more of a matchup nightmare this year, including a dominant showing in the quarterfinals where he effectively neutralized Auburn’s Peyton Plott.

That made life very difficult for the usually high-flying Tigers offense as Jackson Kilgore was without his best option, and that opened up opportunities for the Warriors’ potent pass rush.

Jared Smith and Cam Pritchett have grown into a game-wrecking one-two punch along the edges with how they are able to get to the quarterback and make big plays and force turnovers. The more time that Alford keeps the ball, the more time they have to capitalize. And the more that they capitalize, the more that the Red Devils will be on their back foot and play from behind.

Central has faced some big defensive tests this season, scoring 33 points in a 38-33 loss to Auburn, falling 23-14 to Opelika and prevailing in the semifinals against Hoover despite posting just 17 points. However, this is easily their biggest test of the season.

For all of the questions about the Thompson offense early in the season, the defense has remained consistently good since the start and is now playing like one of the best units in program history. If there’s one thing that you can bank on, it’s the Warriors playing hard, limiting explosive scores and maybe even getting some points off turnovers.

Those are all things you want with a state championship on the line, and I expect Thompson’s defense to lead the way in that department once again.

That will open up doors for the Warriors offense to do what it’s done best in the last few weeks: dominate the line of scrimmage while Trent Seaborn makes big plays to a diverse cast of receivers.

The offense looks as close to last season’s peak as ever right now as a brand-new cast of receivers now has chemistry with Seaborn, and the sophomore can trust them to be there to catch difficult throws.

For proof, look no further than Seaborn’s perfect throw off a stutter-step to find a sliding Darion Moseley for a touchdown against Enterprise. That’s not a throw he makes in August, but now, those big pass plays are happening, and Thompson is all the better for it.

Make no mistake, the Red Devils will pose a big test for the Warriors. I don’t think we’re in store for a 49-24 drubbing like Thompson put up in the 2022 title game. However, I also don’t think we’re in line for a Central win either like in 2023.

This Warriors team still has the bitter taste of defeat from last year’s thriller in Tuscaloosa in their mouths. They know what it’s like to come up short on this stage, and from speaking to the players, they don’t want it to happen again.

They have gone through so much in the past few months and are more than prepared for this moment. Expect Thompson to step up and reclaim its spot atop the Class 7A throne. Thompson 28, Central-Phenix City 17.