PREP FOOTBALL: Reeltown holds Notasulga to 5 yards in win

REELTOWN — The Rebels ran only 22 plays against Notasulga in the first half.

But that’s OK when you average 9.9 yards per play. And when your average starting position is the opponent’s 37-yard line.

And when 15 of those plays go for a first down. And when six of those plays go for a touchdown.

Reeltown beat Notasulga, 47-0, on Thursday night.

And, predictably for the No. 4 team in Class 2A against a 1A program that is still trying to get its bearings straight, the Rebels made it look easy.

“It was just David and Goliath,” Blue Devils coach Roland Bell said. “And, unfortunately, David didn’t bring his sling (Thursday).”

Reeltown (9-1), as it is wont to do, spread the wealth on offense against the Blue Devils (1-9). Twelve ballcarriers combined for 37 carries, 267 yards and six touchdowns from Willie McKenzie, Trey McKeithen, Ki-Shawn Powell, Ardarius Kelley and Devonta Eddings. McKeithen led the way with five carries for 59 yards, McKenzie had six for 42 and two touchdowns and Eddings had three for 43.

The Rebels even engaged in successful experiments with the forward pass. Quarterback Milton Chambliss completed all three of his passes for 65 yards and a 17-yard touchdown to Dara Riley on a line-treading catch in the back of the end zone.

Reeltown’s 40 first-half points made it so its starters barely had to play past halftime, except to stay fresh on the defensive end.

McKenzie didn’t even have to dirty up his pink-and-white socks, worn for breast cancer awareness.

“We looked pretty good, we improved a lot,” McKenzie said. “This is one of those games where we had to just dress up, get our lids buckled, try to get ready for these playoffs.”

On its first drive, Notasulga completed a 54-yard pass from Steven Ricks to Kenneth Tolbert.

After that, nothing.

Reeltown totaled six sacks on the night, with Shaquille Roberson getting two, and Nelson Robinson picked off two passes, giving him seven on the year.

The Rebels host Vincent (7-3) in the first round of the playoffs next week.

“You always want to play a little bit tougher going into the playoffs,” Reeltown coach Jackie O’Neal said. “You know, your starters are sitting around a good bit. That’s why we played them on defense the second half and not offense. There wasn’t any need to run the score up, but we wanted to keep them on the field and get them some playing time.”

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