Rebels ready for something to go right
Published 7:32 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2009
By Stephen Dawkins
If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.
Thorsby’s 39-8 loss at American Christian on Friday could actually be seen as the merciful conclusion of a long day.
First, A wreck on Interstate 65 delayed the Rebels’ arrival in Fultondale. The bus left at 3:30 p.m. but didn’t reach its destination, about 55 miles away, until 6:15 p.m.
And the hosts’ homecoming festivities meant Thorsby barely even had time to stretch before the game.
The visitors scored on their first drive, recovered a fumbled snap on Thorsby’s first play with possession of the football, and then scored again.
“It’s 14-0, and we hadn’t even played 3 minutes in the game yet,” Thorsby coach Billy Jackson said.
The misery wasn’t over, though, as lightning delayed the already rain soaked game by an hour and a half about halfway through the second quarter.
“It just wasn’t a good day all around,” Jackson said. “If it could have gone wrong, it did.”
There were positives to be taken from the game: Marcus Bray scored on a run of about 50 yards in the fourth quarter (a snap that sailed over the head of the Fultondale punter and into the end zone resulted in a safety and Thorsby’s first points of the game), and the Rebels (0-4 overall, 0-3 Class 2A, Region 4) are relatively healthy considering the early season gauntlet they’ve had to navigate.
Thorsby’s past three opponents were all playoff teams last season, but only one (Isabella) of the six teams left on the schedule made a postseason appearance in 2008.
Thorsby visits Horseshoe Bend this week.
“We need to compete, is the main thing,” Jackson said. “We were kind of feeling sorry for ourselves [against Fultondale].
“All we can control is how we prepare during the week and how we play.”
