PREP FOOTBALL: Reeltown upends rival Loachapoka

To view a photo slideshow of this game, click here.

LOACHAPOKA — When Reeltown squared off against Loachapoka this time last year, Rebels coach Jackie O’Neal watched Indians quarterback Patrick Moore run all over the field.

The Rebels still ended up winning that game, but O’Neal realized he might not be so lucky if his team allowed a similar performance from Moore in his senior season.

“Last year, we didn’t account for him,” O’Neal said. “This year we had a gameplan for him.”

The execution of it couldn’t have been any more perfect.

The Rebels tough defense clamped down Moore and the rest of Loachapoka’s weapons while the Rebels used all eight of their ballcarriers to run over the notorious Indians defense. The unexpected result was a 27-0 Reeltown shutout at Indians Stadium — an aberration if there ever was one in this nip-and-tuck, non-region series.

“We shocked ourselves,” Reeltown tailback/defensive back Trey McKeithen said. “We didn’t know it’d be like this. (Pointing to the scoreboard) That shows it all.”

Reeltown intercepted Moore three times and limited the Opelika-Auburn News preseason Super 8 selection to a combined 104 yards of offense (70 passing, 34 rushing).

The best part about it for Reeltown’s defense? Everyone else on Loachapoka accounted for just 17 yards of offense.

“We executed very well on the defensive side of the ball and were able to exploit some things on the offensive side of the ball,” O’Neal said. “I can’t say enough about the defense. They were really flying to the football.”

The Rebels stuck to their traditional everyone-gets-a-touch ground game throughout the majority of Friday night’s contest, but quarterback Milton Chambliss kept Loachapoka off balance. In between 22 first-half carries, Chambliss let two deep balls fly, hitting Dara Riley and Anthony McKeithen, respectively, for gains of 32 and 26 yards.

The connection with McKeithen helped set up the lone score of the first half, a Chambliss 1-yard plunge, which put Reeltown on top 7-0 heading into the second half.

Reeltown cornerback Willie McKenzie stymied Loachapoka’s most successful offensive drive of the game, its first, with an interception in the end zone.

Trey McKeithen and Nelson Robinson each added interceptions in the second half to pace the Rebels-dominated half.

McKenzie’s 2-yard run in the third quarter extended the one-possession lead to 13-0. Trey McKeithen provided one of the biggest runs of the game early in the fourth quarter, a 36-yarder for a touchdown, which helped extend the Rebels lead to three scores.

Nine players ended up carrying the ball for the Reeltown offense, as it finished with 241 yards — 178 coming in the second half. The 27 points Reeltown put up were 13 more than Loachapoka had allowed in its first four games combined.

Just another unselfish night for the Rebels.

“We’ve got eight good running backs and if you have eight good running backs you got to get the ball in their hands,” Trey McKeithen said. “No matter what.”

Loachapoka, meanwhile, ran just six plays of offense in the fourth quarter on a night coach Jerome Tate said he will use as inspiration heading into next week’s region matchup with Winterboro.

“We’re going to continue to be Loachapoka,” Tate said. “This does not put a damper on us. We’re not going to go and frown and fold the tent. That ain’t going to happen. That will not happen.

“We’re going to come back and we’re going to play our heinies off next week.”

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