By Robert Hudson | Selma Times-Journal

The No. 6 Maplesville Red Devils set the tone early and never let up as they defeated No. 7 Keith, 55-7, to claim the Class 1A, Region 3 championship on Friday.

Harry Crum, head football coach of Keith High School (8-1, 6-1 Class 1A-Region 3), said the Bears couldn’t get their running game going.

“Early on, they hit us. We knew they had the potential to run the football, but we thought they were going to be more finesse than power. They came out early and they ran right at us,” Crum said. “They just totally denied our run. They totally controlled the line of scrimmage, and when they found out that we didn’t play as physical as we usually do, they just dominated us. They just hit us in our mouths.”

The Red Devils (8-1, 7-0 Class 1A-Region) got off to a fast start, driving 75 yards on their opening drive and scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Colby Chambers that put them up 7-0 after a successful extra point by Brandon Morrow.

The Bears drove down the field on the ensuing possession, as an 18-yard pass from quarterback Maurice Crumpton to Delmuss Irby and a 40-yard run by Walter Young set the Bears up on the Maplesville 24-yard line.

But the Red Devils stuffed the Bears on fourth-and-one for a turnover on downs with 5:06 left in the first.

The Bears defense forced punts on the Red Devils’ next two possession, but Maplesville regained its momentum in the second quarter when Damain Mitchell broke a 73-yard run down the left sideline for a touchdown that pushed the lead to 15-0 after a successful 2-point conversion run by Brintain Hill.

Keith responded on its next possession, as Crumpton found Jearel Black, who cut back across the field and scored on a 53-yard play.

Damarquis Lumkin added the extra point to make it 15-7 with 7:55 left in the first half.

It didn’t take Maplesville long to counter, as it capped off a 65-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run from Hill that made the score 22-7 with after a successful extra point.

Maplesville added two more scores in the first half, one on another 1-yard run by Chambers and another on a blocked punt by Anthony Johnson in Keith territory that was recovered in the endzone for a touchdown that made the score 34-7 at halftime.

Hill scored a 2-yard touchdown, Chambers threw a 24-yard touchdown to Anthony Johnson and Cole Spencer scored on a short run in the second half to round out the scoring.

The win locks up the No. 1 seed in Region 3 for the Red Devils, and secures the No. 2 seed for Keith in the region.

The Bears will close the regular season next Friday at home against Choctaw County, while Maplesville will travel to Jemison.