Reeltown outlasts Thorsby with ease

It’s plain to see Reeltown’s football team is used to scoring a lot of points. It’s used to dominating victories and easily pulling away from its opponents.

So, when four minutes tick off the clock and Reeltown hasn’t scored yet, it’s understandable the Rebel faithful might get a lightly antsy. And when the first quarter is through and the Rebels are leading by only two, it makes sense everyone in Nix-Webster-O’Neal Stadium starts to breathe a little harder.

Although that was the case Friday night in the second round of the AHSAA Class 2A playoffs, in the end, the Rebels did what they always seem to do, pulling away from Thorsby and scoring a 48-14 victory.

“There’s not a lot of days where we’re not pushing them, and that’s part of it,” Reeltown coach Matt Johnson said. “There’s a risk and reward there, and that’s a risk we take. It’s part of our identity to be physical and to be able to play full speed in the fourth quarter and our kids have embraced that.”

After the first 12 minutes, the Rebels didn’t take much time at all to start to pull away. Ahead 8-6 at the end of the first, Reeltown (11-0) reeled four straight touchdowns in the second frame and led 36-6 at the break.

Thorsby looked to make some noise out of the locker room with a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, but Reeltown immediately had answer. On the very next play, Arthur Woods scored his third and longest touchdown of the night, good for 77 yards.

Although Woods had another incredible game — to the tune of 249 yards on just 10 carries and an interception — and Tae Martin did his thing with a score of his own, there were several other youngsters who were big contributors.

After a big game last week, freshman Traylen Roberts was on fire Friday again and notched a four-yard touchdown to finish out the Rebels’ scoring.

“Traylen is a load; he’s got great speed and good vision,” Johnson said. “He is just fresh legs coming in. He broke two really long runs, and he had one 17-yard run that set us up for a touchdown. Jamarkius Smith came in on our two-minute offense, and he’s also a freshman. So those young guys are really getting involved and doing a heck of a job.”

Thorsby’s offense had some tricks up its sleeve that seemed to throw off the Rebel defense — at least early on. Many times, Thorsby would stay in a huddle until 10 seconds or less on the play clock then almost immediately snap the ball out of the huddle. That quick style made it difficult for Reeltown to get set, but the Rebels didn’t let that get to them for too long.

“We did see that on film a couple games, so we prepared for it,” Johnson said. “But it’s a really good game plan because they go unbalanced on both sides and you gotta pick up real quick. It makes you kinda vanilla on defense. You can’t get a lot of checks in or calls; you just have to be able to line up and play. Our guys did a good job of that.”

With the victory, the Rebels will hit the road for the first time this postseason as they play Cottonwood (10-1) in the quarterfinals. It will be a multi-hour trip and things will be a bit different than usual.

“We just have to stick with the routine; every detail is important,” Johnson said. “We are out of school next week so that’s another thing we have to juggle. But I feel like our guys know to prepare like we’re supposed to. We just have to come up with a good game plan and execute.”