FRIDAY NIGHT PREPS: Maplesville dominates ACA in playoff warmup
The Maplesville defense stops Micah Merritt during the Red Devils win over Alabama Christian on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Maplesville scored on four touchdown plays of 30 or more yards, ruining Alabama Christian’s Senior Night celebration with a 49-0 romp over the Eagles at Faulkner’s John Mark Stallings Field on Friday night.
The Class 1A Red Devils scored early and often in the regular season finale and a running clock in the second half prevented it from being worse after Maplesville built a 42-0 halftime lead.
“They have not given up a point in the month of October,” ACA coach Michael Summers said. “In five games (of film study) I had on them, I’ve seen them punt once and that was when they had their backups in. That is the best team we have played since we played Catholic a couple of years ago.
“Now we did not play well in the first half. We made some things hard on them, but as bad as it was, I felt like it could have been a 21-0 game at halftime. That is the best team we have played (this year). You don’t have a lot of margin for error. We haven’t been great, but two things we have not done -- we haven’t gotten a lot of penalties and we haven’t turned the ball over much and we turned it over twice in the first quarter.”
The first turnover came on the fifth play of the game when ACA quarterback Christian Snipes was intercepted by Ethen Rencher, whose 26-yard return to the ACA 36 set up a quarterback keeper by Pearce Yeargan for 23 yards and a 7-0 lead four plays later.
Four plays later, a snap over Snipes’ head resulted in a fumble recovery by Vontavious Woods at the ACA 15-yard line. Although the Eagles held on downs, the poor field position led to a Maplesville touchdown and a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Red Devils scored on four consecutive possessions that totaled eight plays, starting with another Yeargan keeper and including scoring runs of 66 and 96 yards by Nehemiah McCary.
McCary had 206 yards and three touchdowns on six carries, while Yeargan had 56 yards and two touchdowns on four carries and Jedaiah Works had 37 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
Alabama Christian, meanwhile, was held to minus 9 yards rushing and 28 total yards. Maplesville, which has allowed just four touchdowns this season, pitched its fourth consecutive shutout and seventh shutout this season.
Maplesville (10-0) will return home to face R.C. Hatch in the first round of the 1A playoffs next week, while Alabama Christian ends the season at 4-6, the first losing season under Summers and the first since 2018.
For ACA, the loss was the worst since a 61-7 loss to Catholic in 2022 and the worst shutout since losing to Eufaula 61-0 in 2015, putting a damper on a team that won three of its first five games before losing four of its final five.
“We got better,” Summers said. “When we walked off the field after our (fall) jamboree (a loss to Autauga Academy), it was, ‘we may win one or two games.’ When you lose a player (to injury) the caliber of Jackson Burton, I feel like if we had him, we would have beaten HA (Houston Academy) and Wicksburg. When you lose a leader of that caliber, everybody has injuries but to lose somebody who is that much of a leader and probably our best offensive and defensive player, that’s tough.
“I was proud of the guys who stepped in. I felt like Cooper Milner stepped up. But the first place you look is in the mirror. Am I the right person? If you still believe you are, what do I need to change? Was it me that cuased us to take a step back this year? If it is, can you fix it? We weren’t very big up front, we weren’t very big anywhere and we’re going to have to hit the weights. We’re getting a lot of guys back for next year, but we’re going to have to develop some guys up front.”
Despite losing six seniors, Summers is encouraged by what is returning next season.
“Our ninth graders went 8-0 this year,” he said. “We feel really good about the skill guys coming back. We’ve got a lot of guys coming back on defense, some who have been starting for two years. We’re probably making a move down to 2A. But like I said, we’re going to have to develop some guys up front.”