It might have taken a force of nature to stop the Maplesville High School offense on Friday night — unfortunately for the Ellwood Christian Academy defense, any rain and wind from Tropical Storm Karen won’t hit Selma until late Saturday at the earliest.

The Red Devils used a staunch defense, potent kick returns and a quick-strike offensive plan, executed to perfection, to blow away the Eagles in a 63-6 win at Memorial Stadium.

The Red Devils offense was unstoppable for the vast majority of the game, scoring touchdowns on their first nine possessions. Maplesville freshman Terence Dunlap led the Red Devils with three touchdowns on runs of 5, 6 and 35 yards.

Ellwood managed only one first down in the first three quarters. They ended the game with four first downs, with three of those coming on the final drive.

The third and fourth quarters were shortened to six minutes each after the Red Devils took a 56-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The lone scoring highlight for the Eagles came on a 73-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jalen Furlow with 5:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.

For Eagles head coach Mike Stokes, playing against a team like Maplesville was a chance to see a team perform at the level his players aspire to.

“They are a disciplined football team of players who understand that it’s not about one individual’s stats. It’s about the team,” Stokes said. “When the team wins, you win.”

Stokes said that instead of being demoralized by the final score, he said he hopes his team finds inspiration.

“We are just so young and we aren’t disciplined yet. We just played the number one team in the state — and that is everybody’s goal — and we are going to keep going,” Stokes said. “I still say we are going to be all right.

For Maplesville head coach Brent Hubbert, Friday was everything he could have asked for ahead of the Red Devil’s homecoming game next week against Autuagaville.

“We came out and executed early offensively, put some points on the board, and that really helped because it’s easier to play ahead,” Hubbert said. “Our defense swarmed the football and did what we wanted to do, and special teams got us some great field position — which really, was created by the defense for the special teams.”