VERBENA – The Verbena Red Devils captured their first win of the season Friday night in a 28-0 shutout of the Thorsby Rebels.

Penalties were numerous, and turnovers led to two of four touchdowns for the Red Devils, who had a significant showing from their younger players.

“It wasn’t pretty for us, but we won,” Verbena coach Mike Harris said. “Thorsby is a class program. They have a young team that played hard and never quit, and our kids did the same thing.”

Jack Daniel scored the first six on an interception return from 60 yards out, and Marshall McGaskin whipped in the two-point conversion.

With just under seven minutes left in the first, Dustin Short ran it in from 11 yards but the conversion attempt failed.

After a scoreless second quarter, McGaskin found the end zone on a 3-yard run and Brad Boswell sneaked in a conversion to up the lead 22-0.

With just 37 seconds remaining in the fourth, Daniel returned an interception all the way for the final touchdown of the night.

Top rushers were McGaskin and Michael Thacker with 52 yards apiece. Boswell threw five for six for a total 80 yards passing.

The top Rebel rusher was Eddie Hubbard for 62 yards, and Thorsby quarterback Andrew Farris threw eight for 21 for a total 271 yards.

Thorsby coach Daryl Davis attributed the loss to too many mistakes, specifically turnovers.

“They just outplayed us. They did a good job,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to work Monday.”