Thompson High football team shuts out Foley on the road to improve to 2-0

Taulia Tagovailoa threw five touchdown passes in the Thompson High football team’s 47-0 win at Foley on Friday. But the standout quarterback wasn’t the star of the show on Friday night. It was the Thompson High defense stealing the spotlight by allowing just 34 yards on 44 offensive plays in the shutout victory. Foley was 1-of-12 on third down and managed just four first downs with one of those coming on a Thompson penalty. “Our defense played great,” said Thompson High head coach Mark Freeman. “It’s always great to get a shutout.” The Thompson offense was equally as dominating, rolling up 456 yards on 57 pass. Tagovailoa was 24-of-35 for 277 yards with two touchdowns in three quarters of work. He threw touchdown passes on Thompson’s first four possessions. Receiver Michael Pettway had another big game, grabbing seven passes for 101 yards with two touchdowns. J.B. Mitchell finished with six catches for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Shad Byrd had 68 yards on seven carries with a touchdown and two receptions for 62 yards with another touchdown. The Warriors ended the suspense early with Tagovailoa touchdown passes of 12, 20 and 8 yards in the first quarter. Mitchell had the first scoring reception, Byrd grabbed the second one and Pettway scored the third touchdown. Tagovailoa’s fourth touchdown of the half was a 24-yard connection with Pettway. Byrd closed the first half scoring with a 13-touchdown run with 1:32 left on the clock. The second half touchdowns came on a 1-yard pass from Tagovailoa and an explosive 59-yard run by Jarrett Crockett. “Any win is a good win,” Freeman said. “We’re young and our kids continue to give great effort. We were able to play a lot of kids, that was great for us.” The Warriors (2-0) now turn their attention to next week’s Class 7A Region 3 showdown against Hoover at the Hoover Met. “We’re excited about it and it will be a great week,” Freeman said.