AUBURN – A chaotic first half ended with Fyffe holding a double-digit lead over B.B. Comer in Thursday’s 27th Super 7 Class 2A state football championship game at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The Red Devils, leading 26-16 at intermission, immediately went back to the basics in the second half and clinched their sixth state championship with a 40-28 victory over B.B. Comer.
Fyffe (15-0) took the second-half kickoff and drove 63 yards in 11 clock-sapping plays, including 10 runs, and Brodie Hicks scored his fourth touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run. Hicks finished with 45 carries for 235 yards and five touchdowns and won the game’s MVP award. The five TDs in a 2A final broke the old record (4) set by Michael Lindsey of Elba in 2011 and tied by Justus McDaniel of Mars Hill Bible in 2020.
“We knew we were going to have to run it between the tackles,” Fyffe coach Paul Benefield said. “That’s Brodie’s strong point. … We just mainly ran two of three plays in the second half.”
The Red Devils have earned all six state titles since 2014. B.B. Comer (12-3), coached by Adam Fossett, was in its first state championship game since 1995.
B.B. Comer’s Kamore Harris, a powerful 6-foot-2, 230-pound junior running back, scored on a 67-yard run on the game’s opening minute, but the Tigers later mishandled a kickoff that Fyffe fell on to set up a first-half touchdown. The Red Devils also turned an interception into Hicks’ 1-yard run with 13 seconds to go before halftime to stretch a narrow 19-16 lead to 26-16.
The Tigers’ defense delivered a goal-line stand in the first half after Fyffe covered a muffed punt and had first-and-goal at the 4, and receiver Richard Weed caught a 44-yard TD pass.
The series of momentum-stealing plays provided an alternate plot to most Fyffe games, which the Red Devils often control with a run-first offense known as the “Big Ugly.” Fyffe imposed its will in the second half with two long scoring drives and ran to win its fourth state championship in the last five years.
“That’s a great team,” B.B. Comer’s Richard Weed said, referring to Fyffe.
The Red Devils played without sophomore running back Logan Anderson, who ran for nearly 2,000 yards before suffering a season-ending knee injury in last week’s semifinal victory over Pisgah. He stood on the sideline with the help of crutches and wearing his No. 24 jersey.
Benefield chose to move offensive lineman Tucker Wilks to move to fullback, saying “Mr. Outside was injured so the game plan called for handing it to Hicks, Mr. Inside. It worked.
“It came to me Sunday. We put it in Monday,” Benefield said.
Hicks responded with 45 carries in Fyffe’s 61 total plays to set another Super 7 Class 2A state record. The previous record (31) was set Fyffe’s Dilon Kilpatrick in the 2015 finals.
“It’s tough because you run up the middle every time,” Hicks said. “You run into people’s faces. It’s definitely not fun. You’ve got to suck it up and do it.”
Harris led B.B. Comer (12-3) with 180 yards and touchdowns runs of 67 and 3 yards on 20 carries, and he added 15 tackles on defense. Weed caught a 44-yard touchdown pass and added 14 tackles. Tristan Garrett also scored on an 8-yard run.
Hicks scored on TD runs of 6, 1, 1, 19 and 7 yards for Fyffe. Eighth grader Ryder Gipson scored on a 1-yard run and added six tackles on defense. Will Arnold led the Red Devils’ defense with nine tackles.
Benefield now, who ranks third in AHSAA state history with 336 career wins, has coached six state titles in the last decade, building Fyffe into a small-school dynasty. This year’s 15-0 finish was the sixth for the Red Devils in the last nine seasons as well.
“It keeps getting better,” Benefield said. “This group, I didn’t see it coming. We play nine kids both ways. You expect those injuries will eventually catch up to you – like Logan.”
