By Brandon Sumrall / Special to the Advertiser

With second place in the region and home-field advantage for the opening round of the playoffs on the line, the Maplesville Red Devils made it three straight over the Isabella Mustangs on Oct. 12 with a 32-0 shutout victory.

The Red Devils would get their offense clicking early, as Ryan Morrow would take the opening snap 25 yards across midfield to the 43. However, it would be the Isabella defense that would step up early to start the game and would stop a fourth and 6 attempt by Maplesville that would turn the ball over on downs.

A first down pass from Jarrett Baker to Anthony Fjeldstad would move the Mustangs out across midfield, but a first and 10 play at the 49 would see an early snap sail past Baker only to be picked up by the Maplesville defense and returned to the Isabella 18.

Three plays later and Christin Brown would put the first points of the night on the board via a 3-yard touchdown run that would put Maplesville up 6-0.

The ensuing possession for the Mustangs would start at their own 21, where a 10-yard run by Jonathan Alstott would set up a 33-yard connection from Cole Atchison to Kendall Reeves that would move Isabella across midfield to the Maplesville 40.

A 12-yard pass from Atchison to Austin Jones, along with a pass from Baker to Alstott would make it a first and 10 for Isabella at the Maplesville 12.

The Mustang offense would begin to move in the wrong direction thanks to a false start penalty along with a pair of losses of 1 yard and 10 yards. A pair of incomplete passes on third and fourth down would hand the ball over to Maplesville at their own 28.

The poor field position would do little to slow down the Red Devil offense, as Morrow would get things started with a 20-yard scamper that would proceed his 52-yard touchdown run that would make it a 12-0 Maplesville lead early in the second quarter.

A pair of early first downs for the Mustangs would again set Isabella up on the Maplesville side of the 50, but it would be a third and 3 from the Red Devils 10-yard line that would bring a halt to the drive, as Jakavian Mckenzie would pick off an Isabella pass attempt while returning it out to the 38 where the Red Devils would go to work first and 10.

Pass completions of 13 yards, 6 yards, 9 yards, and 18 yards by quarterback Jackson Abbott would move the Red Devil offense down inside the red zone, where Brown would find pay dirt from 14 yards out while putting Maplesville out in front 18-0 late in the second quarter.

A quick three and out by the Isabella offense would see the Mustangs forced to punt and would allow the Red Devil offense one more chance to score in the first half with 2:30 remaining.

An 18-yard sack by Fjeldstad on second down would put the Red Devils in a third and 28 scenario, but runs of 27 and 6 yards by Morrow would move Maplesville out to the 48 for a first and 10. Three consecutive incomplete passes and a punt by Maplesville would bring the first half to a close with the Red Devils leading 18-0.

The second half would start with the Mustangs’ third turnover of the night, this time thanks to Christopher Hardy who would intercept an Isabella pass attempt and return it to the Mustangs 36, where the Maplesville offense would start their first drive of the second half.

Five plays later and Abbott would pick his way through the Isabella defensive line for an 8-yard touchdown. With Tristen Thetford adding the PAT, the Red Devils took a 25-0 lead early in the third quarter.

Isabella would start its next possession at its own 20 and would see an early first down thanks to a pass from Atchison to Reeves. However, a third and 13 from their own 27 would see yet another turnover by the Mustangs, as Ajala Robinson would be on the receiving end of an Isabella pass attempt and would take it 47 yards for a pick six.

With 5:19 remaining, the Red Devils led 32-0.

With a large lead, and his defense pitching a shutout, Maplesville coach Brent Hubbert would sub deep into his bench, and the Red Devils would cruise through the fourth quarter to a 32-0 win.

“I thought our boys fought hard even though we had some mistakes. We are up 18-0 at the half, (an) inadvertent whistle would have made it 24-0. We didn’t play well on our extra points and missed a couple of those, but I thought our defense played good football,” Hubbert said. “I am super proud of those guys. Offensively, we tried to do some different things and work on some passing game so that we could take a look at some different things that they do on defense that we don’t get so see a lot. We took advantage of that, but we were also able to run the ball when we needed to.”

Morrow led the Maplesville rushing attack with 153 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown, while Abbott finished the game with 52 yards through the air on 7-of-14 passing.

Atchison led the Isabella offense with 41 yards on 12 carries.

Maplesville is now 6-1 overall on the year and 4-1 in Class 1A, Region 3 play. The Red Devils will host Holy Spirit on Oct. 19.

Isabella falls to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in region play. The Mustangs will host Ellwood Christian next week.