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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

Verbena High School dropped its first game of the 2022 season 14-0 to Loachapoka High School on Sept. 2.

The Red Devils game plan coming in against Loachapoka was to the run the ball, and run it a lot. Three running backs went for over 45 yards rushing for Verbena in the game. Jarod Quinn ran for 77 yards, D.J. Jackson ran for 69 yards and Jacob Morris ran for 48 yards.

However, Verbena could not get the ball into the end zone.

“It was just mental errors for us all night I felt like,” Verbena assistant coach Gehrig Douglass said. “I thought our game plan going into the game was good, and we wanted to run it straight at them. We just were not able to punch it in, but I am proud of their hard work.”

Loachapoka punched in a score in the first quarter after a Verbena fumble near midfield, and added a two-point conversion to make it 8-0. That score held steady throughout the game until the fourth quarter when Loachapoka took an interception return for a touchdown to make it a 14-0 final.

Ethan Dopson and Nate Morris had four tackles each to lead the Verbena defense. Johnathan Marino added three pass breakups and three tackles.

“This does not derail use at all, and our goal is still the playoffs and making some noise,” Douglass said. “We are going to get back to work with Billingsley next week, and look to get back on track.”

Verbena (2-1) will travel to Billingsley High School on Sept. 9 for an AHSAA Class 1A Region 4 matchup at 7 p.m.