Hartselle head football coach Bryan Moore would like to have a few words with the person who crafted his schedule this season. Except it’s his doing.

The Class 6A sixth-ranked Tigers opened 2023 with their only loss thus far at Class 7A Austin. They narrowly escaped with a win last week, beating Gadsden City 31-28. Hartselle will meet 6A No. 8 Oxford on Friday night at 7 at Hartselle’s J.P. Cain Stadium. Next week, Hartselle will host No. 5 Muscle Shoals for a Region 7 game before another region home game against rival Athens.

“I think we wanted to make the schedule better a few years ago. I think all the teams are maybe a little better than I expected,” Moore said with a sigh. “After the 2021 season [an unbeaten regular-season 10-1 finish], we didn’t have a ton of options. Not too many people wanted to play, but I wanted to get a better schedule so when we get to the playoffs, we’d be ready.

“When you go Gadsden City, Oxford, Muscle Shoals and Athens, that’s a tough stretch. We will have played every type of opponent possible. You just hope you get through it healthy.”

Unfortunately, the Tigers didn’t make it through the first five games unscathed. Senior quarterback Landon Blackwood went down with a knee injury in the opening half of last week’s win. Backup Noah Lee took over, moving from his starting wide receiver spot.

“We don’t know anything definitively yet,” Moore said Wednesday, “but it doesn’t look great. He’s an outstanding kid, too.”

RELATED: Top 5 Huntsville-area games to watch

Blackwood had completed 54-of-83 passes – 65 percent – for 621 yards and six touchdowns. He was intercepted twice. Blackwood also was the team’s third-leading rusher with 133 yards on 37 carries.

Lee ran for a score against Gadsden City and has completed 8-of-12 passes for 91 yards in five games.

“We’re one of a few high schools with two quarterbacks we can win with,” Moore said. “Noah brings a different element in the running game. He’s a little bigger and more of a gunslinger. He can give us a spark. We can still run the full offense with him and that’s a blessing for us.”

The Tigers haven’t had a returning starter at QB in Moore’s tenure, he said. Each new quarterback has started the previous season at another position on offense. “If you can play a guy who is a junior, who you know is going to be the quarterback as a senior, we try to get him reps at another position,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate that they have been athletic enough. We did the same with Jack Smith [All-State left-handed pitcher now at Arkansas, who led the Tigers to a 12-1 finish in 2022].

“Landon was a receiver last year who got 13 starts, knowing he was going to be the quarterback of the future. It’s different when you’re the play-caller, but still, when you’ve played at that level you can understand the speed of the game.”

New starter Lee is the Tigers’ leading receiver with 16 catches for 254 yards and three touchdowns.

Seniors Ri Fletcher and Lincoln Bryant are leading Hartselle’s ground attack with Fletcher rushing for 369 yards on 63 carries to Bryant’s 285 on 41.

“[Junior] Brady Holt will be replacing Noah at ‘Z’ receiver,” Moore said. “He has started games before and he’ll do a great job and be ready to go. It’s not like we’re having to put a freshman in there. Other guys have stepped up at receiver, too. Markus Tapscott [9 catches, 157 yards] is 6-6, 200 pounds. He’s a legit Division I player, in my opinion. This is just his first year out and he’s still learning how to play.”

Jayden Morris, a sophomore, has 14 receptions for 142 yards.

Moore also said Hartselle has a legitimate prospect on the defensive side, too, in 6-5, 240-pound junior end Porter Simmons. “He’s a Power 5 guy,” he said. “He can affect the game. He can get to the quarterback without having to bring pressure. Jake Haynes, our Mike linebacker, was our leading tackler last year and is a two-year starter.

“Payton Steele, who has committed to play baseball at Alabama, is a big-time player at defensive back. He’s a four-year starter,” Moore said.

Moore said while the schedule has been a challenge, he’s pleased with where the Tigers stand. “I’d love to be 5-0 and we had a chance at Austin, but we just weren’t ready. We were so inexperienced, but we’ve gotten better.

“We’ve stayed together and learned a lot. We haven’t had to come back from a loss since COVID [in 2020]. When we’ve lost in the past two years, it’s been in the playoffs. Learning to deal with a failure has been big. Our players and coaches have learned from that. We’re certainly better than the team that lost in Week 1.”