By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

With eight returning starters off a defense that reached the state championship game in Class 1A during the 2013 season, everyone expected Maplesville to field a solid defense during the 2014 season.

After a 54-0 victory over Billingsley on Friday, the Maplesville faithful should feel equally as high about their offense this year.

Four plays into their first drive, the Red Devils struck the game’s first blow on a 38-yard touchdown run by Terrance Dunlap to give Maplesville an early 6-0 lead.

Dunlap also scored the game’s next touchdown, this time from 17 yards out to put the Red Devils up 14-0 after a 2-point conversion pass from Cole Spencer to Trevor Wallace.

Kendarius Bradley ended the Bears’ next drive with his first of two interceptions on the half, the second of which he would return 75 yards for a Maplesville touchdown.

The halftime break would do little to cool down the Maplesville offense as the Devils started the second half with a seven-play, 59-yard touchdown drive capped off with a Dunlap eight-yard touchdown run to put the Red Devils up 40-0 early in the third quarter.

A Latravious Mixon interception of Thomas Nichols ended the Bears’ next drive to set up another Red Devils scoring march as Spencer found the end zone from four yards out to make the score 47-0 late in the third quarter.

John Schoener added the last points of the game with a five-yard touchdown run to give Maplesville a 54-0 lead late in the third quarter.

The Bears put together their best drive of the night to start the fourth quarter.

Starting from midfield, Billingsley drove down to the Maplesville 8-yard line before the Red Devil defense stood tall to preserve the shutout and extend a streak of not allowing a point to Billingsley to six consecutive years.

“We have got a good group back on defense. They play hard, and they work hard at practice. We also had a good picture from our scout team on a few things that Billingsley was doing so that helped a lot,” Maplesville coach Brent Hubbert said.

With an offense that had to replace key players in quarterback Colby Chambers and running back Damian Mitchell, one might have thought this would be a rebuilding year for the Red Devils, but 434 yards from the Maplesville offense may be a start to removing that perception.

“Our offense listened to a lot of talk in the offseason, and that’s motivation for guys to get in the weight room and improve the type of players they are,” Hubbert said. “We made a few mistakes, but I couldn’t be more proud of our offensive line with four new starters, a new quarterback, a new running back. I am tickled to death for them.”

Jerry Nix and Dunlap shared the bulk of the rushing responsibilities for Maplesville. Nix rushed 13 times for 138 yards. Dunlap ran 13 times for 142 yards.

Billingsley’s Terrance Nolen ran 12 times for 71 yards.

Both teams will hit the road next week as they begin region play. Maplesville will travel to Sunshine with Billingsley traveling to Loachapoka.