Hardin-Haywood winner will lead 7-4A

The football game between Hardin County and Haywood isn’t quite for the Region 7-4A championship yet, but the winner of this game will control its own destiny as it’s a matchup of the final two unbeaten teams in the league.

Hardin County’s success has come with quarterback Davius Prather’s ability to run the ball and throw it when necessary. The Tigers’ defense has kept the opposition’s point total low enough so the Tigers don’t need to score a lot of points.

Big region games all around this week

“They’re similar to what they had last year, and I think right now we’re both similar to each other,” said Haywood head coach Steve Hookfin. “I think they actually have more team speed this time around, and we all know how good they were last year.”

Hardin County head coach Matt Smith said he thinks Haywood is even better than the Tomcats were in 2015 in a different way.

“They’re more experienced on the offensive line, and that helps them a lot because of what they try to do offensively,” Smith said. “It looks like their line is good enough they can trust, and their backs just do what they’re supposed to do.”

There is a change in backs for the Tomcats as starting quarterback Tillman McRae missed last week’s game with Crockett County with a collarbone injury.

Hookfin said McRae is on a week-to-week evaluation, but until then, Hookfin trusts sophomore Deyondrius Hines to lead the offense.

“We don’t want to rush Tillman back because we need him at 100 percent, plus he’s a baseball player so we’re thinking about Tillman the young man and not the football player,” Hookfin said. “But I said last week [Hines] was our quarterback in the spring and did a good job, and I don’t think we’re losing much if any with him out there.”

Smith said he doesn’t expect a change in quarterback to make much of a difference for the Tomcats.

“They’re athletic and fast and strong all over the place, and there doesn’t appear to be much of a difference between the two when you watch them on film,” Smith said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us this week.”

Brandon Shields, 425-9751