Wade Waldrop won 32 games at Madison City Schools Stadium as the head coach at James Clemens from 2013-20.

Waldrop’s 33rd victory in Madison came at the expense of his former team and propelled Hoover (5-6) to the quarterfinal round of the Class 7A playoffs Friday night.

The Bucs erased a nine-point deficit by scoring touchdowns on their first five possessions in the second half to rout Region 4 champ James Clemens 42-16.

Sophomore Jonah Winston, making his second start at quarterback, ran for one touchdown and passed for two more as Hoover exploded for 35 points after being held to 41 total yards in the first two quarters.

James Clemens (7-4) raced to a 16-7 halftime lead as Ty Doughty ran for TDs of 34 and 3 yards and Brycen Dowdell blocked a Bucs punt out the back of the end zone for a safety in the first quarter. Hoover’s lone score in the first half came after recovering a fumble at the James Clemens 2 when Bradley Shaw plunged in on short touchdown run.

Hoover, the fourth seed from Region 3, dominated the second half.

Kamal Anderson ignited the comeback with a 1-yard TD run to cap a nine-play Bucs’ scoring drive to open the third quarter. Hoover took its first lead, at 21-16, with 3:05 remaining in the third when Winston sprinted 17 yards to the end zone on third down to finish a seven-play, 76-yard drive.

Winston’s first touchdown pass, a 32-yard strike to Amari Towns, upped Hoover’s lead to 28-16 at the 2:23 mark in the third quarter. His 9-yard touchdown pass to Fredrick Dunson stretched the lead to 35-16 midway through the fourth, and Dunson finished the scoring with a 30-yard touchdown run with 3:52 on the clock that was set up by Donell Williams’ interception return.

Did you know?: Hoover extended its playoff streak to 24 straight seasons, and the Bucs have won in the first round in all 24 appearances.

Brightest star: Winston, the younger brother of Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, shook off a rocky start and calmly directed Hoover’s second-half comeback. He completed 9-of-14 passes for 61 yards with two touchdowns while running 14 times for 76 yards. “His command and his leadership are outstanding. He makes great decisions with the football,” Waldrop said. “He’s as competitive as anybody I’ve ever coached.”

Top play: After his team grabbed a 21-16 lead late in the third quarter, Hoover’s Trey Sanders recovered the ensuing kickoff that hit the turf between a couple of Jets. The Bucs scored two plays later on a 32-yard touchdown pass, its second TD in a 42-second span, to open a 12-point cushion.

Stat sheet: James Clemens – Three Jets players attempted a combined nine passes, completing five for 85 yards. Doughty gained 49 yards on 10 carries and threw an interception. He was limited to one catch for 3 yards. The Jets had minus-17 yards rushing in the second half after running for 80 yards in the first two quarters. Hoover – Anderson had a game-high 107 yards on 10 carries. Dunson added 53 yards on the ground and caught two passes.

By the numbers: Minus-12, Hoover’s passing yardage in the first half. All four of Winston’s first-half completions resulted in negative yardage. … 9, first downs in the third quarter by the Bucs while holding James Clemens to zero. Hoover had 16 first downs after halftime after getting just four through the first two quarters. … 182, total points scored by Hoover in its last four wins, an average of 45.5 points per game.

Coachspeak: “It was hard to get into a rhythm in the first half. Kudos to them because they gave us something new the entire first half, stuff we’d not seen. Our kids handled it well. Nobody was upset or panicking at halftime. It was a good response by our kids.” – Waldrop, who posted a 54-35 record in eight seasons at James Clemens.

They said it: “I told them, ‘I’m going to hop on y’all’s back and y’all are going to hop on my back and we’re going to go win this game,’” said Winston, who went the entire way at quarterback. “We need to keep the same energy (next week) that we had in the second half. We can’t start out slow.”

What’s next?: Hoover advances to a rematch against Hewitt-Trussville, a 56-14 winner over Bob Jones in the first round. The Huskies won 28-7 at Hoover in Week 5.