By Daniel Evans | The Selma Times-Journal

Verbena piled up 467 rushing yards in a 56-28 win over Ellwood Christian on Thursday at Memorial Stadium in Selma.

“This is the best offensive output we have had in four or five years—probably since 2007,” Verbena head coach Mike Harris said. “We are very, very proud of this.”

Jump for it: Verbena’s Juwan Tyus (right) outjumps an Ellwood defender for one of his four catches Thursday.

Verbena (3-2 overall, 1-2 region) led 26-0 after touchdown runs by Eric Mims, Hakeem Underwood, Dorrian Parker and a touchdown pass by Tristan Short, but then Ellwood quarterback Jalen Furlow led the Eagles on a 68-yard touchdown drive and then ran it in himself to make the score 26-6 with 1:46 left in the first half.

A Verbena fumble on the first play of the second half gave Ellwood the ball at the Verbena 39-yard line, and Furlow once again ran it in from 2 yards out to pull within 26-14.

The Devils steadied themselves on their next possession, and Parker ran it in from 2 yards out to give Verbena a 32-14 lead.

The Eagles drove the length of the field in a hurry to respond, as Furlow found Michael Lewis for a 31-yard score to pull Ellwood within 32-22.

That was as close as Ellwood would get the rest of the night.

Huff found Juwan Tyus for a 6-yard score with 3:26 left in the third quarter, and after the Eagles were stopped for the first time all half, the Red Devils added to their lead again. Underwood scored on a 7-yard run to make it 46-22 Verbena with 9:39 left to play.

Parker capped off a big win with a 23-yard run with 3:15 left to play.

Mims led VHS with 17 carries for 150 yards, while Underwood had 144 yards on 22 carries and Parker added 133 yards on 17 carries.

Short was 7-of-13 passing for 58 yards. Four of the completions went to Tyus, who compiled a team-high 43 rushing yards.

Trey McCullough paced the Verbena defense with 17 tackles. Underwood had two sacks, and both Dakota Vessicchio and Christopher Smith intercepted passes for the Devils.