Huntsville slips past Bob Jones in key Class 6A Region 4 clash
MADISON – As the 2026 high school football regular season rushes towards its end, its business as usual in Class 6A, Region 4.
Chaos. With tiebreakers seemingly always in play for this league, they might once again have to clear up the picture as teams jockey for postseason seeding.
Huntsville 28, Bob Jones 17 Thursday night at Madison City Stadium only added to the disorder.
The Patriots could’ve clinched a home game for the first round of the playoffs with a win. Instead, they’ve got work left with a daunting road trip to Gadsden City coming up.
“If we win next week, we’ll be the four, I believe, or the three,” Bob Jones head coach Seth Parker said. “But yeah, we just didn’t get it done tonight.’’
Bob Jones fell to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the region, while Huntsville improved to 4-4, 3-3. Both teams have clinched playoff berths. Now, it’s just a matter of seeding.
The region champion and runner-up get first-round byes. Seeds three and four get to host the opening round, while five and six travel.
But while the Patriots are still positioned to play on this same field in the first round, the loss to Huntsville told Parker there’s more pressing concerns.
“There were a lot of plays I felt like we left out there,’’ Parker said. “I do think there were times whereas the leader of the team, I didn’t put us in great situations.
“But also, we got some plays out there that we got to make. And as we mature as a team, you don’t get opportunities over and over and over, and when there’s plays to be made, we gotta make them.’’
Neither team struck until senior Jaden Rice gashed the Panthers for a 65-yard touchdown run at the 5:00-minute mark of the first quarter. Rocky Ray kicked it to 7-0.
Huntsville answered with a 20-yard scoring pass from former Patriot quarterback Abram Aguilar to Mikele Elison early in the second quarter with a nine-play drive that featured a successful fake punt.
Rice later scored on a 14-yard run, his 17th rushing TD of the season, and Bob Jones led 14-7 at halftime.
The Panthers tied it again at 14-all with 4:06 remaining in the third behind a 5-yard run by Cinco Dawkins.
Huntsville again used a successful fake punt to set up a 1-yard score by X’avion Drake on the first play of the fourth quarter to take its first lead at 21-14.
Bob Jones cut it to 21-17 with a 34-yard field goal by Ray with 8:01 to play, but within four minutes the Panthers stretched their lead to 28-17 when Dawkins went in from the 2-yard line.
Huntsville was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct on the TD, the penalty was assessed on the kickoff and the Patriots returned a squib kick to the Panthers’ 42.
From there, Rice took a short pass from Alex Randolph and raced to the end zone. Bob Jones, however, was flagged for holding on the play and Huntsville held over the final four minutes.
Friday, Bob Jones heads to Gadsden. “Big game, and we’ve got to clean it up,” Parker said. “We gotta make plays when they’re to be made. They’re an explosive offense, and we will get outscored if we don’t make plays.’’
