Hillcrest defeats Paul Bryant 60-13: Three reasons the Patriots are state title contenders

Hillcrest is now one step closer the Class 6A playoffs after a 60-13 win over Paul Bryant on Friday night.

Hillcrest (9-0, 6-0), which has already secured the 6A-Region 4 championship for its second-straight season, has one regular season game remaining, hosting McAdory next week.

Paul Bryant (3-5, 2-4) has two games remaining on its schedule — hosting Bessemer City next week then traveling to Demopolis in Week 10 for its regular season finale.

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Hillcrest's win over Paul Bryant was dominant, but it was not always pretty, with a few miscues here and there. However, with the regular season wrapping up, the Patriots still have a steady path forward as they look to make a deep run in the Class 6A playoffs.

Here are three reasons why the Patriots are a Class 6A state champion contender:

Defensive abilities

It's been talked about all season, but Hillcrest has one of the most dominant defenses in the state of Alabama. In fact, heading into the matchup versus Paul Bryant on Friday night, the Patriots had the No. 3 ranked defense in Alabama, allowing 4.8 points per game.

Friday night was no different, with Hillcrest holding Paul Bryant to 13 points. The Patriots defensive line, made up by Mathew Cockrell, Tyler Taylor, Tayvion Johnson and Jalen McIver amongst others makes it hard for any offense to penetrate.

In the win, Johnson added himself a fumble recovery early in the first quarter, with Evan Williams and Anthony Quarles both adding in pass breakups. McIver earned himself a sack, and Kamari Patton picked off a pass by Paul Bryant's Edwin Merriweather in the second quarter.

Strong running and passing game

The 60 points Hillcrest put up over Paul Bryant is a season-high, right behind the 56 the Patriots put up in their Week 4 win over Brookwood.

Five of their touchdowns in the win came from the running game. Two of those were from Jayshon Land, with runs of 51 and 11-yards, along with two from freshman Christian Richey and a 32-yard run from Kahden Smith.

Also, a big part of the Patriots running game in the win was Jay Brown, who accounted for more than 100 yards of Hillcrest's offense.

"(Our running game) is kind of what we hang out hat on," Mitchell said. "We want to run it and throw it, but you know, when it comes to push and shove, we want to run the football. We hang our hat on that, it is something we will always go back to."

The Patriots passing game did not disappoint, either. Quarterback Bryson Kimbrough threw for four touchdowns — two to Smith, one to Land and another to Jamarcus Prince.

Quickness of play

Hillcrest got the job done tonight, and it got it done quick. On almost all of the Patriots scoring drives, they found the endzone in five plays or less.

In fact, on three of their scoring drives, it took them just one play to find the endzone — the first time early in the second quarter, with Kahden Smith running it in for a 32-yard score, followed by its ensuing drive where Kimbrough connected with Prince for the 32-yard touchdown reception and then the last time in the fourth quarter when Kimbrough connected with Smith again for a 69-yard reception.

"We got some explosive players," Mitchell said. "Any of our guys at any given time, they are gifted. Whether we are running or throwing, we got some guys that can really play well."

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Looking ahead to playoffs after Hillcrest's 60-13 win over Paul Bryant