Falcons hope to learn from past

FLORENCE - Only four current Florence players were on the field in 2007 when Hoover's late field goal denied it an epic upset of one of the state's top 6A powers in the first round of the playoffs.

Hoover advanced to the third round of the playoffs before being eliminated by Vestavia Hills while Florence was left to wonder what might have been had it held to win.

As Florence prepares for today's Class 6A playoff opener against Clay-Chalkville, coach Alvin Briggs is counting on those four players - Caleb Carbine, Damien Simmons, Jevin Reed and Davian Barnett - to lead the way to the school's first postseason victory.

"I hope that experience carries over," Briggs said Wednesday afternoon. "I hope the hunger those players have from being involved in that game and the taste of winning our younger guys got this year helps us."

Florence missed the playoffs in 2008, but the Hoover playoff game is still mentioned as one of the benchmarks for the program. That season, the Bucs came to Florence as a No. 4 seed forfeiting four games for using an ineligible player. Only a field goal in the closing seconds allowed Hoover to escape with a 31-28 victory.

Although the community was abuzz in the days following the game, Briggs remembers it only as a loss.

"In athletics, there are no moral victories," he said, referring to the disappointment of losing a close game to Hoover two years ago. "That was a game we let get away from us. We were up by two touchdowns.

"The fans came out and saw what probably was one the best high school games in this area in a long time. Hoover should have been a No. 1 seed, but we took it as you have to go through the Birmingham teams at some point anyway, whether it's the first round or three games down the road."

Clay-Chalkville isn't one of the high-profile teams from the Birmingham area and won't come to Braly

Stadium with the lofty reputation that Hoover did in 2007, but Briggs doesn't want Florence to become known as a team that can't win in the playoffs.

"This is a completely new season," he said. "We have to capitalize on our opportunities on offense to put points on the board, make plays on defense when we get the chance and we can't let a lead slip away."

Gregg Dewalt can be reached at 740-5748 or gregg.dewalt@TimesDaily.com.