The final week of the regular season of the Alabama high school football season is upon us.
Holtville and Tallassee both have punched their ticket to the postseason in two different ways. Tallassee goes into Friday as the Class 4A Region 3 champions for the first time since 2014, while Holtville secured the No. 4 seed with a win over Marbury.
Although the teams are in two different situations, Tallassee head coach Lawrence “L.A.” O’Neal knows Holtville’s 4-5 record does not indicate how strong of a team it is.
“We just have to really focus on us and get better as a team and not take Holtville’s team for granted,” O’Neal said. “Not look at the record and take them for granted, because they got a really good ball club despite what the record says.”
The offense charge for the Bulldogs is led by the two-headed backfield of Hunter Chavis and Daishaun Zeigler. The dynamic duo each provides two different skill sets to the field, Chavis is the more physical back and is best when he is in short-yardage situations while Zeigler has the athleticism to take any carry he has to the house.
“We were kind of expecting that two-headed monster that they got in Chavis and Zeigler,” O’Neal said. “But both of them run the ball tough, so we are just looking to get a lot of hats around the ball and really, really gang tackle, because it's hard to take those guys down one-on-one.”
However, Tallassee’s defense has been stout for the majority of the season. Through eight games the defense averages just a little over 18 points per game.
Holtville’s defense is another unit that has shown flashes through the entirety of the season due to the play of defensive ends Anthony Chunn and Arkevious Turner, who have separated themselves as standouts. The season that those two have had coming off the edge stressed the importance of the offensive line's play, according to O’Neal.
“We really got to lean on the offensive line, because that defensive front is real stout,” O’Neal said. “If we can block those guys and get to the second and third level, then we're having a really good night.”
Although the Tigers have not only revived their team with O’Neal reigning in his first season by taking a struggling team to the playoffs. They understand there is still one game left and their preparation cannot lapse before the end of the season.
“The kids are really confident in their preparation,” O’Neal said. “They understand that we get the results out when we put the work in. They showed up this morning in the weight room and really got after it. We're looking to have a really good practice this afternoon, and that's one of the things we're not overly confident, but we are really confident in the work that we put in. So it's all about just the preparation that we put in. As long as we take our craft seriously, take our film study series, then we have a good shot at winning any ball game that we are in.”
Even with the regular season coming to a close, Holtville and Tallassee are set to clash right before each team attempts to make a push once the playoffs arrive next week.
