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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Maplesville High School fell short in Birmingham to Wadley High School 37-7 in the AHSAA Class 1A State Championship Game as a stellar season came to a close on Dec. 5 at Protective Stadium.

Wadley, who was averaging 55 points per game during their unbeaten season, were held to one of their lowest scoring outputs of the season. However, a pesky Wadley defense paired with their unique wishbone offense made it difficult for the Red Devils to find any rhythm.

“We have had a great year, and we have six seniors on this team, so at the end of the year our expectations were to make a deep run in the playoffs,” Maplesville head coach Brad Abbott said. “These guys got hot and started playing really well when the playoffs started. They battled some tough teams to get here, and they very much deserve to represent the south tonight. It was a very tough Wadley team tonight that was well prepared, well coached and they outplayed us up front.”

The first half was all Wadley and their wishbone formation on offense. The Bulldogs outgained Maplesville 235-77 in the first half with all of their yards coming on the ground. After the Red Devils won the toss and elected to defer, Wadley marched down the field on their opening drive and used up 7:42 of game time in the process. Fifteen plays and 65 yards later, Wadley’s Jaquez Wilkes took in a three-yard touchdown to cap the scoring drive and put them ahead 6-0 after the failed two-point attempt.

The Red Devils’ first drive started out promising with two third down conversions — a long connection between Pearce Yeargan and Aidan Abbott and a Yeargan quarterback keeper. However, the drive was halted early as Yeargan’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Wadley, and the Bulldogs took over as the first quarter ended.

On the first play of the second quarter, Wilkes was a pain for Maplesville again, this time ripping off a 79-yard touchdown to double the Wadley lead at 12-0 after the second failed two-point conversion. The Red Devils were forced to punt quickly, and the Bulldogs were right back on the attack with a heavy dose of run. Wilkes ended his stellar first half with his third rushing touchdown of the first half, this one from three yards out to stretch the advantage to 18-0 following the failed two-point conversion. Wilkes ran for 219 yards in the first half.

“It can be frustrating, and you know smash-mouth football is coming,” Maplesville linebacker Luke Gray said. “It is one of those things where we are a young team, and they just executed it better. It was not that we were not ready, they were just more prepared and knew how to execute the play every time.”

Yeargan was picked off for a second time later in the quarter, but Maplesville did earn its first stop on defense just before halftime to carry some momentum into the break. Cade Smith led the Red Devils in the first half with six tackles, one coming for a loss, followed by Colby Mitchell with five and James Jones and Luke Gray with three each.

Looking to right the ship out of halftime, Maplesville looked to go to the air to start chipping away. However, Yeargan was picked off for a third time on the first Red Devils’ drive out of halftime, and Wadley was set up with a short field at the Maplesville 20-yard line. Two plays later, Wilkes walked in from 15 yards out for his fourth rushing touchdown to push the lead to 24-0.

The tough breaks for Maplesville continued to mount as their next drive was forced into a fourth down, and after electing to punt, it was muffed and set up Wadley again inside opposing territory to start the drive. The Red Devils’ defense bowed up following the turnover and forced a turnover on downs out of Wadley to get the ball back with just under five minutes left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs matched the defensive effort and forced a turnover on downs out of Maplesville on the ensuing drive and kept the Red Devils inside their own territory where they spent much of the third frame. Wadley capitalized on their fourth down stop and turned it into points with Frisco Robertson taking in the 15-yard touchdown run on the reverse to make it 31-0 with a handful of minutes left in the quarter. The two teams traded turnovers to bring the quarter to a close as Yeargan was picked off for the fourth time, but the Maplesville defense came up with their first takeaway of the game forcing a fumble.

After Wadley added a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Trace Payne recovered a muffed punt by the Bulldogs that set up the Red Devils with their best field position of the game. Yeargan capitalized on the opportunity and found Colby Mitchell for a 20-yard touchdown connection to get Maplesville on the board at 37-7 following the Brennan Harrison extra point. Yeargan was 11-for-21 passing for 80 yards. Mitchell and Aidan Abbott each caught a team-high four passes with Mitchell’s 38 receiving yards leading the team. Running back Nehemiah McCary was slowed to 41 yards on 16 carries.

Smith led the Maplesville defense with eight tackles, followed by Von Woods with seven.

Maplesville will lose six seniors from their team following this season, and Brad Abbott commended the six players on their commitment to the program. He described them as first-in, last-out types of players who were even better people and teammates than they were players. Also, ones that brought life back to a community with a state playoff run that will hopefully propel the program forward over the next few seasons.

“It has been a pretty wide gap since we were last back here, and we were fortunate to go four times in a row, and it becomes one of those things you take for granted,” Brad Abbott said. “When you have a little dry spell like we did, and for this team to do it, it was easy for (the town) to rally behind these guys. It brought a little life back into that town, we had a huge turnout tonight.”

Maplesville finishes the 2023 season at 12-3.