For about 6 minutes, it looked as if all the frustration, injuries and hardship that the Verbena Red Devils have gone through this season would be forgotten, and that finally, a win on the field would come.

On Senior Night—the last game for the team’s seniors—the Devils came out strong, putting together a six-play opening drive that ended with a Jacob Montgomery touchdown and an Alex Clackley extra point to put them ahead of Billingsley, 7-0.

Unfortunately, it was the lone bright spot for Verbena as the Red Devils fell to the Bears 40-7.

Following that opening score, the Bears (7-3 overall, 5-2 in region play) scored on a bomb from Torrey Green to Jaytarius Steele that made it 7-6, after the two-point conversion was no good.

The Bears scored again on another long pass, this time from Green to Denzel Callens, to pull ahead 14-7 following a successful two-point conversion.

The Bears scored on the very next play as Thomas Nichols scored on an 80-yard quarterback keeper with 10:28 left in the second quarter.

After a punt by Verbena (1-9, 1-6), the Bears scored again, on a Nichols pass to Trevor Tyus. The two-point conversion was no good, and the score was 26-7 with 7:56 left in the first half.

The Bears scored three more times in the game, on long runs by Nichols, Terrance Nolen and Matt Prebula.

“It gives us momentum going in [to the playoffs],” said Bears coach Tyson McLean. “We got a lot of players in the ballgame and played pretty well. Never hurts to get a big win right before playoffs.”