Staff Reports

HOKES BLUFF – Piedmont junior quarterback Jack Hayes surpassed 100 touchdown passes for his career Friday night at Class 3A, Region 5 rival Hokes Bluff.

Hayes connected on 17 of his 25 pass attempts for 284 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 101 total, in the fourth-ranked Bulldogs’ 38-14 victory.

Hayes becomes the sixth quarterback recognized for achieving the milestone in the state of Alabama. Jeremy Yates of Colbert Heights is currently fifth on the AHSAA’s all-time list for career touchdown passes (103). The all-time leader is Chris Smelley of American Christian, who threw 134 from 2002 through 2005.

Sloan Smith got the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1) on the board in the first quarter with his 27-yard field goal. Hayes ran for a 5-yard score to open the second quarter to give Piedmont a 10-0 lead.

Hokes Bluff (3-5, 3-3) cut Piedmont’s advantage to 10-7 on Tucker Griffin’s 3-yard touchdown run with 7:09 left in the first half, but the Bulldogs bolstered their lead to 24-7 at halftime on two of Hayes’s touchdown tosses – a 64-yarder to Estes and a 3-yard score to Thornton.

Hayes’s third touchdown pass came with 7:55 left in the third quarter – an 11-yard connection with Gatlyn Gardner – to put Piedmont in front 31-7.  It was Gardner’s first receiving touchdown.

Brayden Morgan scored Piedmont’s final touchdown on a 14-yard run with 3:30 remaining in the third. Morgan finished with 94 yards on 12 carries.

Griffin accounted for Hokes Bluff’s final score on a 6-yard touchdown run with 6:33 left in the game. He finished with 73 yards on 15 carries. Quarterback Jordan Bradley ran for 75 yards on six totes. He also completed 5-of-11 pass attempts for 65 yards.

Cody Holloway and Tanner McQueen both had an interception apiece for the Bulldogs.

Piedmont hosts Wellborn and Hokes Bluff hosts Saks on Friday.