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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Verbena High School made quick work of Autaugaville High School on Oct. 18 bouncing back from its first loss of the season a week ago with a 58-14 win. The Red Devils posted 44 first-half points to put the game out of reach early and improve to 7-1.

“I think we played really well, and I give coach (Javaris) Jackson a lot of credit over there, and he is going through what we went through last year,” Verbena head coach Allen Brothers said. “It was a tough week for us after the loss, and a lot of the guys took it hard, but (Autauga Academy) was better than us and it was a good lesson learned. We played well tonight … We came out with a gameplay of trying to spread the ball around and make them go sideline to sideline.”

The scoring barrage got started from an unlikely source as Ethan McDaniel blocked a punt, scooped the ball up and rumbled into the end zone for the first points for the Red Devils. Kamari Ceasar recovered an Autaugaville fumble on the first play of their ensuing drive, and Jacob Morris turned the takeaway into points with a one-yard run, followed by a Hayden Wilson finding Versain Guzman for the two-point conversion to bring it to 14-0.

Caleb Short got into the end zone next and Morris’ two-point try made it 22-0, and Verbena added another touchdown before the end of the first quarter — a long connection between Wilson and Morris to bring the game to 28-0 after the opening frame.

Short pulled down two interceptions in the first half to halt Autaugaville drives, and the second quarter was much of the same from the Red Devils. Wilson found Ceasar for his second touchdown toss of the game, and then Colten Bice for the two-point conversion to make it 36-0. Wilson found Isaac Stoudemire for the final score of the opening half for Verbena, and Jaxson Kelley punched in the two-point try to make it 44-0 before Autaugaville got a late touchdown just before halftime.

The second half was a quick moving half and Verbena added to its lead with touchdown runs in the third quarter from Wilson and Morris to extend the lead to 58-7. Chase Lesueur recovered a fumble in the quarter as well for the Red Devils. Autaugaville added a touchdown late in the game to bring the game to its final resting place.

With the win, Verbena locks itself into at least the three seed out of Class 1A Region 4 for the state playoffs. It also kept a share of the region championship on the table on Oct. 25 against Maplesville High School. If Verbena and Autauga Academy both win on Oct. 25, it would create a three-way tie for the region title and a coin flip in Montgomery between the three schools would decide the seeding.

“Maplesville is tough and they are a great program, and coach (Brad) Abbott, coach (Justin) Little and the other coaches have them rolling,” Brothers said. “We are going to give it our best shot. At the end of the day that is why you play football games. This will be the biggest challenge of our year … We have nothing to lose in this situation … We will have to play really, really well.”

Verbena (7-1) travels to Maplesville for the late-season showdown between local rivals with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.