Abbeville no match for Handley

A 99-yard touchdown drive and a blocked punt for a touchdown in the first quarter sparked a Handley homecoming rout Friday as the Tigers blasted Abbeville 55-0.

The win put Handley at 3-5 for the season and snapped the Tigers’ four-game losing streak.

“It was a good night for our seniors and for our football team to get back on the winning trail,” said Handley head coach Mike Battles.

It was Handley’s first game since being eliminated from postseason contention, which gave Battles the opportunity to start evaluating his younger talent for next season.

“It was good for us to get some film on a lot of our juniors and sophomores and freshmen coming back next year,” Battles said. “We’re going to get some more looks at them next week at Dadeville. I want to see how they look as a team. We’ve got some good people. We saw some different combinations, so it worked out good for us.”

Sophomore Spanky Watts was one of those players, as he rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Watts was a critical component of that initial 99-yard possession as he rushed five times for 46 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown run, on the drive.

On the next Abbeville position, Handley got through to punter Tyrell Hall to block the kick. The ball trickled down to the 1-yard line where senior Kelvin Kelley scooped it up and took it into the end zone for a 14-0 Handley lead.

“We saw on film that they had trouble with the punt snap, so we went after it,” Battles said.

From there Abbeville never put up much of a fight. Handley led 21-0 at halftime after quarterback Darius Joiner found Josh Hatcher for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 7:23 left in the second quarter.

Joiner, filling in for injured starter Rhett Fetner for the third straight game, managed the offense efficiently all night. He rushed for 71 yards on five carries and completed 3-of-6 passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns. His 29-yard strike to senior Toderick Burton put Handley ahead 35-0 with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter.

Battles was pleased with the showing of his young quarterback.

“The more he works at it the better he’s going to be,” Battles said. “He’s a good athlete to start with, so we don’t have to worry about that. And he’s smart, so that’s a hard combination to beat. I think he only gets better. It’ll be fun in the spring.”

Senior Jerreion Williams led Handley’s rushing attack with 73 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Handley out-gained Abbeville 348 yards to 111. The Handley defense also forced four turnovers, including a late interception by Gabriel Gates to help preserve the shutout.

Handley also got touchdown runs by Malik Meadows and Tez Watts. Hatcher scored his second touchdown of the game when he picked up a fourth-quarter Handley fumble and carried it 40 yards for a score.

Handley will travel to Dadeville next week.