By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

Neither team let a two-hour rain delay dampen their fire in a battle that was contested into the fourth quarter, but the Maplesville Red Devils improved to 2-0 on the season with a 41-27 win over the Billingsley Bears on Friday.

It took all of two plays for the Red Devils to strike pay dirt, when Cole Spencer hit Nathaniel Watson for a 62-yard touchdown strike.

With John Schoener adding the PAT, Maplesville took an early 7-0 lead.

The Bears looked poised to answer with a first-and-10 and the Red Devil 20-yard line, but a loose ball fell into the hands of a Maplesville defender to set up the Red Devils with their second possession of the game.

The drive was short as a fumble by Spencer gave the Bears offense first down at the Maplesville 15.

Two plays later, and Derrick Dunnigan tied the score at 7-all with a 16-yard touchdown carry.

The tie was short-lived as on the second play of the ensuing Maplesville drive, Dunlap broke loose from 55 yards out to make the score 14-7.

Not to be outdone, the Bears answered the Red Devil touchdown with another of their own, this time on a James Wood two-yard touchdown carry to knot the score at 14-all late in the first quarter.

The Red Devils took the lead once again midway through the second on a Spencer four-yard touchdown run to make the score 20-14.

Billingsley answered with a drive that started at their own 29, but on a second-and-11 from the Red Devil 35, another Billingsley fumble fell into the hands of the Maplesville defense.

Taking over at their own 40, the Red Devil offense marched 60 yards and capped off the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Spencer to Trevor Wallace to take a 26-14 lead to the halftime break.

With the first drive of the second half, the Bear offense put Billingsley back in the game with a 61-yard drive that was capped off on a Wood to Tommy Williams 14-yard touchdown to make the score 26-20 early in the third quarter.

The Maplesville offense answered right back with Dunlap striking again, this time from 10 yards out to put Maplesville ahead 32-20.

The Bears wouldn’t go down without a fight and answered right back with a five-yard touchdown run by Dunnigan to draw to within five points of the lead, 32-27, with 9:40 to play.

Setting up at their own 35 with just over nine minutes left to play, another long drive by the Maplesville offense was the nail in the coffin when Spencer found Wallace yet again to put Maplesville up 39-27.

A late Bears stand on a Maplesville fourth-and-two at the Billingsley four set up the Bears with first-and-10, but a Red Devils safety brought the game to its final score of 41-27.

“We didn’t help ourselves any, but credit goes to Billingsley for the level that they played at,” Maplesville coach Brent Hubbert said. “They played a great game. I am happy for our guys. Our offense did what we needed to do. We had the one turnover that killed us in the first half, but we did what we needed to do.”

Dunlap led the Red Devil ground game with 214 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.

Dunnigan carried 33 times for 134 yards and two touchdowns.

Mustangs fall at Hale Co.

Isabella lost its first game of the season, 47-27, at Hale County on Friday.