BIRMINGHAM –Thompson High School proved it’s not how you start, but how you finish that matters the most. The Warriors (11-3) – a team that lost three regular-season games, all by one point in overtime – went three-and-out on its first three possessions of Wednesday’s AHSAA Super 7 Class 7A championship game against defending champion Central-Phenix City.
Quarterback Trent Seaborn then engineered three consecutive scoring drives, and an opportunistic defense pitched a shutout in the final three-and-half quarters as Thompson earned a 21-7 victory at Protective Stadium. “You lose a game or two at Thompson, people started doubting us. I don’t blame them,” Thompson coach Mark Freeman said. “The lesson, I know they learned, is: Don’t ever give up. Don’t every let anyone tell you you’re not the one. Those three losses were painful, (and) those games built this championship,” Freeman added. “It built character and perseverance, more than I can coach it.”
The Warriors (11-3) put their perseverance on display again and again in Wednesday’s championship game. Central-Phenix City (10-3) drove 68 yards in seven plays and scored on Daylyn Upshaw’s 4-yard run less than four minutes into the game. Central drove inside the Warriors’ 20 yard line three other times, but came away with no points.
Trailing 7-0 after three punchless drives, Seaborn hooked up with Darian Moseley for a 45-yard gain. Then, on third-and-goal at the 5, Seaborn found Moseley, who was named Class 7A championship game MVP, on a crossing route for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-all.
Thompson took the lead on its next drive as Seaborn broke loose for a 32-yard run to set up Hayden McDonald’s 19-yard TD run to make it 14-7 with 2:23 to before halftime. Seaborn then engineered another scoring drive with time winding down in the first half, connecting with Dedrick Kimbrough for 39 yards and Trenton Cheathom for 17 yards. That set up Seaborn’s 12-yard TD pass to Moseley with 17 seconds to go before halftime.
“The first quarter was a struggle, but we knew we had to go against a good defense,” Seaborn said. “We just had to keep pounding it. We had to wear their defense out, and we did that."
Thompson has now won five Class 7A titles in the last six seasons, with the only exception being last year’s 21-19 loss to Central in the championship game. The victory also avenged the 2023 championship-game loss.
Freeman now has now won seven AHSAA state titles, five at Thompson (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024) and two at Spanish Fort (2012, 2013). Freeman’s seven titles leave him tied with Fyffe’s Paul Benefield one short of the all-time AHSAA record – held by UMS-Wright coach Terry Curtis and Central, Clay County coach Danny Horn.
(AHSAA Press Release)