By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

As the three-time defending AHSAA 1A state football champions, the Maplesville Red Devils got their 2017 campaign started with a strong 20-7 win over the defending 2A State Champion Fyffe Red Devils last night at Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl in the AHSAA Champions Challenge.
Maplesville lit the fireworks early, as Nathanial Watson fielded the opening kickoff and left the Fyffe kickoff team in his dust on the way to a 63-yard kickoff return for a
touchdown to give Maplesville an early 7-0 lead.
With the Maplesville defense stifling the Fyffe offense, Watson put the Red Devil offense on his back and found pay dirt once again on a 57-yard touchdown reception to push Maplesville out in front 14-0 early in the second period.
The Mississippi State commit was just getting warmed up for the evening and would haul in his third touchdown of the game on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Abbott to make the score 20-0 at the half.
Fyffe made the game a little more interesting to start the second half with a 24-yard touchdown run by Payton Anderson that capped off a 67-yard drive and cut the
Maplesville lead to 13 early in the third quarter.
Maplesville looked poised to answer the Fyffe score with another of their own, but a first and ten pass attempt at the Fyffe 20 fell into the hands of a Fyffe defender and turned the ball over with 21 seconds remaining in the third.
With the Maplesville defense continuing to stuff the Fyffe offense, the fourth quarter came and went quietly as the Red Devils of Maplesville picked up an impressive victory over the defending 2A champions of Fyffe.
“We are excited and I think we found some depth,” Maplesville head coach Brent Hubbert said. “Our starters played hard and I thought done a tremendous job. We go to Mississippi next week and we will see what happens.”
Watson despite not playing during the second half finished the night with 203 all purpose yards with130 yards receiving and two touchdowns along with a 63-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“We have a lot of dedication, we stick to what we do best and that is winning and working hard,” Watson said. “We have to come out next week and do the same thing we did here tonight if we hope to make it back to Auburn [state championship].”
Ryan Morrow led the Maplesville ground game with 100 yards on 13 carries.