Hueytown’s Earl Woods and Ja’khael Rowser scored two touchdowns each on the ground and connected for a third through the air as the Golden Gophers wrapped up the regular season with a 35-21 victory over Gardendale on Thursday at Gardendale’s Driver Stadium.

The Hueytown defense limited Gardendale senior and Tennessee-Martin commit Tyler Nelson, one of the most elusive and explosive quarterbacks in Class 6A, to just 17 yards rushing.

The Golden Gophers (7-3) have won six straight games, while Gardendale (7-3) saw its four-game winning streak end.

“We just beat a really good football team,” Hueytown coach Greg Patterson said. “We started off slow (this season). A lot of people questioned us, but we just kept plugging away all year long. Our kids believe and a lot of that has to do with last year, even though this is a completely different team.”

Hueytown got on the board late in the first quarter, taking a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Woods to Rowser. The scoring play capped a 13-play, 62-yard drive with 12 seconds remaining in the opening frame.

The Golden Gophers forced a three-and-out on Gardendale’s first possession of the second quarter and extended the lead on the ensuing drive. Rowser scored his second touchdown on a 14-yard run, capping an 11-play, 79-yard drive and pushing the advantage to 14-0.

Gardendale answered late in the second quarter, trimming the deficit to 14-7 on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Carter Jenkins. Both teams went three-and-out on the next two possession to keep it 14-7 at halftime.

Neither team had any luck to open the second half, going three-and-out until Kameron Kynard recovered a Nelson fumble at Hueytown’s 26-yard line. Rowser burst into the end zone six plays later on a 14-yard run, giving the Golden Gophers a 21-7 lead.

The Rockets responded quickly, marching 73 yards in nine plays and Nelson reversing field and juking past several defenders on a 13-yard touchdown run. Hueytown went fast on the ensuing possession, extending the lead to 27-14 on a 48-yard touchdown run by Woods, capping a four-play, 74-yard drive.

Gardendale (7-3, 6-0 Class 6A, Region 5) cut the lead once more in its next drive, scoring on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Justin Nelson and trimming the lead to 27-21 with 11:24 remaining.

The Golden Gophers put the finishing touches on the next two possessions, capping a nine-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Woods and Kynard ending the Rockets’ final opportunity with an interception with less than five minutes to go.

Star of the game: Woods. The senior quarterback finished 8-of-16 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown and added 194 yards and two scores on 23 rushing attempts.

By the numbers: 8, tackles for loss by each defense, combining for 5 total. … 5, wins for Hueytown in the series, leading 5-3 overall. … 2, turnovers by Kynard, as he recovered a fumble and picking off a pass in the second half.

Stat sheet: Hueytown – Rowser led the rushing attack for the Golden Gophers, amassing 142 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries and adding 57 yards and a score on three receptions. Elijah Hudson had seven carries for 41 yards and TJ Howell had three catches for 23 yards. Gardendale – Tyler Nelson was 10-of-21 passing for 142 yards and two touchdowns, throwing one interception, and rushed for 17 yards and a score. Jonathan Harris led the running game with 12 attempts for 64 yards and added five catches for 74 yards. Justin Nelson pulled down three receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown. Jenkins had two catches for 11 yards and a score.

Coachspeak: “Our defense played their tails and this is the best game they’ve had all year. This is a playoff atmosphere so it gets us tuned up.” — Patterson

“We talked all week that this is a game to get you ready for the playoffs. To be honest, we didn’t look like a playoff team tonight. You can’t go win your region and then go back the next week and take off and go win against a good Oxford team. We’ve shown some people on film how to beat us. We got to figure that out this week or it’ll be a short playoff run for us.” — Gardendale coach Chad Eads

He said it: “We started off rusty but we came out and finished. We know the mission we have ahead of us. We got a big win but the mission isn’t done. We know what we have ahead of us.” — Woods

“We game-planned all week to stop him (Nelson). We kept up the pace and made sure he stayed in the pocket. This gets us ready for next week.” — Kynard on the defensive performance

What’s next?: In the first round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoffs, Hueytown host Benjamin Russell. Gardendale plays Oxford at home. Hueytown finished runner-up in 6A last season.