With playoffs clinched, Demopolis looks for retribution Thursday

Demopolis (6-3) will close out its regular season Thursday night in Tuscaloosa when it takes on Class 6A Hillcrest High School.

“We want to win. We owe Hillcrest for the last two or three years. They beat us 2010, 2011 and 2012,” Demopolis coach Tom Causey said.

Demopolis had anticipated a win would be necessary in order for the Tigers to clinch a playoff berth. However, DHS learned Tuesday that Greenville would be forfeiting three of its wins, thus sending Demopolis to the state playoffs at the No. 3 seed out of Class 5A, Region 3. That makes Thursday’s game a pure rivalry game with a difficult opponent.

“They’re 5-4 and don’t let the record fool you. They’ve lost to four pretty good football teams. The four losses were to Bessemer City, Hoover, Tuscaloosa County and Hartselle,” Causey said of his team’s Thursday night obstacle. “It’s kind of scary because it is a lot like Greenville’s record. They’re record doesn’t look real good, but it’s the losses that they have. Those are tough teams that they lost to. And their wins are against good folks. It’s going to be a challenge.”

The Tigers have not beaten Hillcrest since 2009; a contest Causey’s squad took 25-20 in Week 5 that season. Since then, Hillcrest has outscored Demopolis 107-40 in three tries. Interrupting that trend will mean disrupting a balanced offensive attack headed by Patriot quarterback Riley Nix.

“They’re pretty balanced. They’ve got a dang good quarterback in Riley Nix. They like to run him. They’ll run power and some option stuff,” Causey said of the Hillcrest signal-caller. “In the passing game, they’ve got three really good receivers who are all different shapes and sizes. They’ve got a big tall receiver that does a great job on the vertical ball and Austin Williams who runs every route they’ve got well. They like to screen him. They’ve got another little slot in Jertavious Sander who was a tailback two years ago when we were up there and he had a 98-yard run against us. They can get the ball in his hands on the option and on quick screens.”

Defensively, Hillcrest shows an equivalent amount of balance, flashing little weakness in any of its three units.

“They’re really good. They’re sound at what they do. Their D-line is really big and physical. They’re linebackers are big and physical. They’re secondary doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Causey said of the defensive group employed by second year Hillcrest coach Scott Martin. “They play 4-3 and 3-4 and rotate between the two fronts. They mix their coverages well. They go from Cover 4 to Cover 2 and from Cover 1 to Cover 0. They’re pretty balanced with what they do on defense as well.”

As it readies to meet the challenge of overcoming Hillcrest in order to play itself into the postseason, Demopolis will look to build on the gains it made a week ago despite a 22-21 loss to Jackson.

“I think our guys played with the best effort we’ve played with this year. We played up to our abilities and Jackson made one more play than we did. We just ran out of time,” Causey said. “(Our players) played their tail off and our coaches coached their tail off. I thought it was unfortunate that we came out with a one-point loss, but it was a dang good high school football game.”