The Florala Wildcats used a strong offense and stingy defense to blank the Pleasant Home Eagles 40-0 on Friday night in Florala.

Pleasant Home won the toss and kicked off to the Wildcats to start the game.

Vinson Flowers got the ball to start the game and broke off an 11-yard run for a Florala first down.

Jacob Hammac followed with a 25-yard run to give the Wildcats a second-straight first down.

Florala looked like they took the lead with a touchdown pass from Hammac to Rashaad Coleman, but a penalty brought the play back.

Facing a fourth-and-eight, the Wildcats went for it and Hammac connected with Logan West in the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown.

Hammac tacked on the extra point to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead with 9:12 left in the first quarter.

Following the touchdown, the skies opened up and a downpour quickly turned the field into a muddy mess.

Players had trouble keeping their footing on the field and neither team could get much going.

Both teams exchanged punts before the Eagles put together their best drive of the night.

The Eagles couldn’t get much going to start the drive, but were bailed out with a personal foul call on a fourth down to give them a new set of downs.

Florala’s defense came up big again with a forced fumble, but a facemask call against the Wildcats gave the Eagles new life.

Pleasant Home began to move the ball with Jon Cooley and Brendan Douglas, but the Wildcats stepped up and forced a turnover on downs.

Both teams exchanged punts and the score remained 7-0 heading into halftime.

During halftime, the field started to dry and players were able to get better footing in the second half of the game.

Florala’s defense picked up where it left off in the first half as they forced a three-and-out to start the third quarter.

Florala then began to move the ball down the field on the Eagles, but the Pleasant Home defense stood tall and forced a turnover on downs.

The Wildcat defense continued to play strong as they forced another three-and-out from the Eagles.

Florala’s offense appeared to stall in Pleasant Home territory, but Flowers picked up a first down on fourth down to keep the drive alive.

The Wildcats then got a first down catch from Shun White on the Pleasant Home 9-yard line.

On the next play, Hammac tossed a dart to White in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra-point attempt missed, but the Wildcats were up 13-0 with 7:47 left in the third period.

Florala’s defense forced a fumble on the next play from scrimmage when West ripped the ball from the arms of a Pleasant Home player.

Leroy Mitchell got a big run for the Wildcats, but the drive stalled and Florala was forced to punt.

Florala’s defense refused to give up anything to the Eagles as they forced another three-and-out.

Following the punt, Mitchell raced 58 yards down the middle of the field for a touchdown to put the Wildcats up 19-0 with 11:30 left in the game.

On Pleasant Home’s next drive, Flowers looked like he had the quarterback sacked, but Flowers just took the ball from the Pleasant Home player and raced 50 yards to the end zone.

With 10 minutes left in the game, Florala pushed the lead to 27-0.

After forcing another punt, Flowers and Florala offense went back to work.

Flowers executed a couple of nice runs on the drive to put the Wildcats in scoring position.

Hammac connected with Caleb Wood for a first down at the Pleasant Home 7-yard line and then hit White at the 1-yard line on the next play.

Hammac then called his own number as he plunged into the end zone from 1-yard out to put the Wildcats up 33-0 with four minutes left in the game.

Pleasant Home still continued to try to move the ball down the field, but Flowers came up with an interception that he returned 50 yards for a touchdown to give the Wildcats a 40-0 victory.

“Boy was that horrible,” Florala head coach. “The weather was crazy. Can you believe that downpour? It got knee deep quick. The weather had a big effect on tonight’s game and it affected both teams in the first half. It dried out a little bit in the second half and allowed us to play our game a little bit better. We missed a lot of throws tonight because the ball was just slimy. The defense played lights out tonight. I mean they really did. It was a big night for defense. The offense got better as the game went, but this was about as bad as we’ve looked on offense. The weather played a big part on that, but that’s something we have to deal with. I’m just proud of the guys. We had to win this game and hope to take some momentum into next week. I really want to give a shout out to these seniors. They are an awesome group.”

Florala will face Kinston next week in a game that should decide who gets the fourth seed in Class 1A, Region 2.

Pleasant Home will host Brantley next week.

Pleasant Home coach Rick Mercer refused to comment following the game.