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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Maplesville High School avenged a loss, proved doubters wrong and held one of the nation’s all-time leading rushers in check as they downed Elba High School 28-21 on Nov. 29 in the Class 1A State Football Playoffs to advance to the program’s seventh state championship.

The Red Devils’ defense caused six fumbles in the game and recovered three of them. Auburn University commit and AHSAA all-time leading rusher Alvin Henderson coughed the ball up four times out of the six fumbles and lost two of them. The generational talent was denied 11,000 career rushing yards and any additions to his chase for scoring records as Maplesville held him to less than 160 yards rushing, one of his lowest outputs over the last two seasons, and no touchdowns.

“It was a simple game plan really — set the edge, and when he cuts it up there better be nine to 10 guys there to meet him,” Maplesville head coach Brad Abbott said. “We did not set the edge well in the first half, but the second half we did a better job of it. We were very physical to the ball … I do not know how many fumbles we caused, but in the second half they were big because we started getting on them then, and that was huge.”

Trailing 21-14 coming out of halftime, the Red Devils received the second-half kickoff and marched down the field. Quarterback Pearce Yeargan scrambled for a first down, found Aidan Abbott for a long pass and powered into the end zone on fourth and goal on the drive to tie the game at 21-21.

Yeargan was 16-for-24 passing for 161 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran for 50 yards on 10 carries and the score. Abbott caught two passes for 47 yards.

Elba’s offense had a rash of holding penalties in the game, one of which brought back a Henderson touchdown on their first drive of the second half. The setback aided Maplesville, allowing the defense to earn the stop on fourth down to get the ball back. The teams traded quick drives that gave the ball back to the Red Devils at its own 40-yard line as the third quarter winded down. Colby Mitchell got the drive started with a long run, and two third-down conversions from Yeargan later in the drive had the Red Devils at the doorstep of the Elba end zone. However, they were stopped on fourth down with just over eight minutes left in the game and still tied at 21-21.

Elba was putting together a drive across midfield when Henderson put the ball on the ground again, and this time it was scooped up by Michael Gee to set up the Maplesville offense inside Elba territory.

Von Woods led the defense with nine tackles, followed by Luke Gray with seven and Cade Smith and McCary with six each.

The drive took the clock under four minutes and inside the Elba red zone. Yeargan rolled out right to pass and had his pass for his initial receiver tipped, but Davarian Clark was in the right place at the right time for the tip and grabbed the touchdown to regain the lead at 28-21.

Clark caught a team-high four balls for 37 yards and two touchdowns.

“It is a regular thing here at Maplesville (to play for a state championship), and we have guys,” Yeargan said. “All 10 on the field with me can play ball, and I love every one of them. It means a lot too when the whole town is out here.”

Elba got the ball back with just over two minutes left and their season hanging in the balance. They worked their way into Maplesville territory, but the Red Devils forced their sixth fumble out of Elba’s offense, and Clark recovered the fumble to send the team to Birmingham.

“It means a lot to me for those kids, and I told someone today ‘I got a good life, a good family and playing in a state championship is not going to affect my life one way or another.’ But for these kids, it is the world,” Brad Abbott said. “For me to be able to be their head coach and them have an opportunity to go play in Birmingham … You cannot put it into words. It is such a good feeling.”

Abbott praised the scout-team offense for their work throughout the week’s practices leading up to the semifinal. The practices gave them a good look at an offense they have not seen yet this season, and one that beat them handily last season in the third round 49-14. All of that is now forgotten as the Red Devils turn their attention to capturing their fifth state title in program history.

Maplesville stood toe-to-toe with Elba from the start of the game and capitalized on miscues that began on the visitors first drive. Elba took the opening kickoff and drove into Red Devils’ territory, and Henderson broke outside and looked to have an easy walk-in touchdown. However, he dropped the ball prematurely before crossing the goal line, and Maplesville pounced on the ball to gain possession deep in its own territory.

Maplesville’s first drive was long and methodical, and extra efforts from McCary and Mitchell on third downs extended the drive. After a heavy dose of run, Yeargan hit Jakobe Nix over the top of the Elba defense for a 21-yard touchdown to take the early 7-0 lead, and use up a large majority of the opening quarter.

Elba responded and drove quickly down the field to tie the game at 7-7. The Maplesville offense took over and worked into the second quarter. Yeargan found Aidan Abbott for a strike to get things started on the drive, and the Red Devils converted two fourth downs on the drive — a McCary rush and a quick pass from Yeargan to Clark. Clark broke several Elba tackles to dive into the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown and retake the lead for Maplesville, 14-7.

Elba responded quickly again to tie the game, and got its first defensive stop forcing the Red Devils to turn it over on downs. Elba worked the ball down inside the Maplesville red zone, and Henderson forced his way to the goal line but coughed it up again, this time into the end zone and Elba recovered to preserve the score and take its first lead of the game, 21-14, with just a few seconds before halftime.

Many people believed in this Maplesville team, but a lot believed that next year’s team would be the one to get them back to the state title game. The future is now, and the program is a year ahead of schedule in some eyes.

“They have a good trait about them — they are not patient people … They are greedy,” Brad Abbott said. “They wanted it this year, and it was an accumulation of things that happened throughout the year and they started believing they were as good as anybody on a Friday night if they play together. Once this playoff run started, confidence started growing every week. For me, I think our road to Birmingham and the teams we played were more difficult. Every week it was a tough game, and they rose to the challenge every week. They deserve it, and they deserve this trip to Birmingham.”

Maplesville (12-2) will face unbeaten Wadley High School (12-0) in the AHSAA Class 1A State Championship Game on Dec. 5 at Protective Stadium in Birmingham. Kickoff is approximately at 3 p.m.