By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

The second win of the season for the Billingsley Bears was a big one, as the visiting Bears knocked off region foe Verbena, 47-14.
The Red Devils looked poised to punch one in the end zone with the game’s opening drive, but after driving in to Bear territory a fourth and five pass attempt at the 34 was picked off by Ladarius Starks and returned 78 yards for a pick six.
With Jordan Bass putting the PAT through the uprights, Billingsley took an early 7-0 lead.
With Billingsley’s defense forcing the Red Devils to punt from their own 47, the Billingsley offense set up for their second possession of the night at their own 19.
With a first and 10 from their own 32, Malik Callens busted a 52-yard run that moved the Bears down inside the Verbena red zone, where three plays later Raymond Cutler found the end zone with a 7-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-0 in favor of the Bears.
A three and out by the Red Devil offense saw Billingsley take over near midfield where the Bears needed just three plays for Callens to hit Jonathan Callens for a 39-yard touchdown pass to make the score 20-0 early in the second quarter.
A scoreless possession by the Red Devil offense saw a Verbena punt downed inside the Billingsley 10, which led to a fourth down punt by the Bears that was blocked by Verbena for a safety.
Fresh off the safety, the Red Devils threw for another touchdown on the night.

Unfortunately, for Verbena it would again be to the wrong team, as Malik Callens was the recipient of the pass from Dawson Rohrbough and returned it 93 yards for the touchdown to make it 26-2 in favor of the Bears.
The ensuing Verbena possession ended on a punt from their own 44 and was fielded at the Billingsley 19 and returned 81 yards for a Bears touchdown. With the PAT no good, Billingsley took a 33-2 lead to the half.
The Bears picked up in the second half right where they had left off in the first, as another Billingsley touchdown was the result of the opening drive of the second half, as Malik Callens connected with Cutler for a 85-yard touchdown reception to make the score 39-2 in favor of the Bears.
The Red Devil offense got things going on the ensuing possession thanks to a couple of big pass plays by quarterback Nicholas Williams, and it was Williams that capped off the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to make the score 39-8 late in the third quarter.
A pair of scoreless possessions by both teams took the game to the midpoint of the fourth quarter and another Billingsley touchdown, as Starks connected with Cutler for 27 yards to put the Bears up 47-8.
Trevor Hilyer fielded the ensuing Billingsley kickoff at his own 15 yard line and dodged and juked Bear defenders down the sideline on his way to a 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that brought the game to its final score.
“We still have to do a better job of executing our offense, Billingsley head coach Tyson McLean said. “We got some big plays, but there in the first half we didn’t sustain any drives, but the big plays take care of that sometimes. Our defense played well tonight and came out and got some big plays and some turnovers and scored a few non-offensive touchdowns that helped us out.”
Malik Callens finished the night going five of five through the air with 170 yards and two touchdowns, while also picking off an interception for a 93-yard touchdown.
Jonathan Bryant led the Verbena rushing game with 74 yards on 25 carries.