Ardmore spent the second half of Friday’s game against Scottsboro digging out of a huge hole. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the hole was just too deep.

Ardmore was down 41-6 at halftime and made a spirited second-half comeback before ultimately falling 41-27 in both team’s Class 5A, Region 8 opener.

Scottsboro came out of the gates quickly, scoring 20 points in the first quarter. Cam Bass opened the scoring with a 20-yard touchdown run before Kaylem Dupree and Jarrett Whitehead added 10-yard touchdown runs of their own.

Scottsboro expanded the lead to 27-0 with a Christopher Manning 9-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter before Ardmore finally got on the board when Luke Hogan scored on an 11-yard touchdown run.

However, Scottsboro hit two quick touchdowns right before halftime to steal the momentum and basically seal the game in the first half. First, Austin Widegeon scored on a 5-yard run with 1:23 left in the first half, and then Bass nailed in the dagger with a 63-yard scoring run with just 4 seconds left before halftime to give the Wildcats a 35-point lead.

Ardmore didn’t give up though, and took advantage of Scottsboro’s coach pulling many of his starters early in the third quarter. The Tigers scored with 4:27 left in the third quarter on a 25-yard pass from Owen Doss to Conner Harbin. Ardmore then cut the lead to 21 points early in the fourth quarter on a Hogan 20-yard touchdown run.

Scottsboro’s lead shrunk even more when Harbin scored another touchdown on a 14-yard run with 4:49 remaining in the fourth. Ardmore had a chance to really make Scottsboro stress on its final possession and did score a touchdown with 2 minutes left, but it was called back for an offensive pass interference penalty.

Ardmore would fail to score on that possession and Scottsboro would be able to run out the clock and take a much closer victory than the Wildcats thought they were going to get.

Ardmore (2-1, 0-1 region), plays at Arab next Friday night in another region contest.

Colbert County 37, Tanner 7

Tanner jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but Class 2A No. 9 ranked Colbert County scored the final 37 points of the game to take the 30-point win Friday night in a Class 2A, Region 7 matchup.

Ethan Smith scored two rushing touchdowns for Colbert County (3-0, 1-0), while Themetri Carter returned a kickoff for a score. Marcus Hampton and J’Daryus Nance had a rushing touchdown apiece.

Tanner (0-3, 0-1) will host Good Hope next Friday.