By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

The Maplesville Red Devils had no trouble Friday night against Talladega County Central as they beat the Tigers 61-6.

Maplesville ran for a whopping 359 yards, with a majority of the touches going to John Schoener and Terence Dunlap, the team’s senior backs. The two combined had 34 touches and averaged 8.6 yards per carry.

During the first half, Dunlap had five touchdowns and 146 yards on scoring plays alone. The other score for the first half was by Nathaniel Watson, who ran in a 24-yard touchdown only four minutes into the game. By halftime, the score was 41-0 Maplesville.

Schoener had two touchdowns in the second half that sandwiched a defensive touchdown by Watson off an interception, which he ran back 26 yards.

“We’ve had seven shutouts this year, so one of our goals was to get a defensive touchdown; that’s alluded us somehow all year and that’s something we were shooting for,” said Brent Hubbert, Maplesville’s head coach.

Depth hurt the Tigers, who had only nine extra players dressed out on the bench. Their only points for the night came late in the third quarter from an interception by Ricky Duncan, which he ran in for the touchdown.

“They can call it what they want to in the books, but we’re gonna call it a defensive shutout,” said Hubbert.

Hubbert said he was proud of the strong defense Friday night as well as the run game. He said the team would continue to work hard this week to prepare for Round 2 of the playoffs.

Next week the Maplesville Red Devils (10-0) will take on the Brantley Bulldogs (7-4) in Maplesville.