Hewitt-Trussville senior quarterback Peyton Floyd threw for a touchdown and ran for five more and the Huskies’ defense forced five turnovers on the way to a road rout of Vestavia Hills in a battle of Top 10 teams in Class 7A, Region 3.

The No. 8 Huskies (6-2, 4-1) started slow, while the fifth-ranked Rebels (6-2, 3-2) found the end zone on their first possession when John Paul Head found Keown Richardson for an 8-yard score to go up 7-0.

Hewitt’s Riggs Dunn intercepted Head on the Rebels’ second possession and Floyd hit Jadon Loving for a 12-yard touchdown. Kennedy Mitchell scored on Hewitt’s next drive to give the Huskies a lead they would never surrender.

“We started slow,” said Hewitt-Trussville head coach Josh Floyd. “They (Vestavia) went down there and scored really fast. I thought our guys did a great job responding after that and putting some points on the board and our defense got better as the night went on.”

Peyton Floyd rambled 33 yards to score his first rushing touchdown on the Huskies’ next possession. The reigning AHSAA 7A Back of the Year dominated much of the game, scoring four times in the first half and twice in the second. Floyd went 13-for-19 for 228 yards in the air with a score and rushed for 239 yards and five TDs as Hewitt piled up 641 total yards for the game.

For Vestavia Hills, Head went 17-for-27 for 195 yards, two scores with four interceptions. He also ran for two scores, though the Rebels managed only 93 yards on the ground.

“You have to tip your hat to them,” said Vestavia Hills head coach Robert Evans. “They played better and they coached better than we did.”

Peyton Floyd was quick to credit the offensive line for his success.

“The O-line played really good this week,” he said. “Obviously, getting (lineman) Kade Martin back was big for us. They were trying to defend the pass, especially in the first half, so it left the run game open for us.”

The Huskies harassed Head all night. Dunn, who had two interceptions, said that the defense was trying to respect Head’s ability while still making the plays they needed. “This week we emphasized really swarming the ball and playing physical,” Dunn said. “I feel like we did that, and we outmuscled them. We came in here and we wanted it more, and we were way more physical.”

Play of the game: With Hewitt-Trussville leading 27-20 and trading blows with the Rebels’ offense, Floyd worked the clock with less than a minute to go and extended the ball into the end zone to score with seven seconds left in the half to take a 34-20 lead into the break.

By the numbers: 5 – The number of turnovers that the Huskies forced. Three different players intercepted Head – Dunn did it once in the first half and once in the second, while Parker Floyd and Michael Igbinoghene both got one as well.

Coachspeak: “This is athletics in general and in this region. You can get humbled and humiliated, and we did tonight. It’s an embarrassing loss, but you look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘We’ve got to find some bigger, better bodies … and just like Thompson embarrassed them last week, they fixed some of their mistakes and they played with fire tonight. Everything we want is still out in front of us.” – Evans

They said it: “To be honest, I almost didn’t go for it. The quarterback was rolling out and I was pushing forward and he threw it. I didn’t even know if I was close to being in or not. I tried to stick my toe in there and I got the pick.” – Parker Floyd

“The whole week in practice we knew they were going to be good with really physical defensive linemen. They have a lot of good players over there, and we knew we were going to have to stay on blocks and play physical, and I think we did that tonight.” – Huskies offensive lineman Grant Moore

Next week: Hewitt-Trussville hosts Spain Park while Vestavia faces Oak Mountain.