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By ANDREW WHITE | Staff Writer 

THORSBY – From the first whistle, it was all Thorsby High School as the Rebels beat Dallas County High School 54-8 on Oct. 10, pushing the Rebels to 8-0.

Hornets’ head coach Darryl Watts, however, still has expectations for what’s ahead to finish out this season, including a fight to reach the postseason.

“Thorsby overpowered us tonight,” he said. “They’re a well-coached team that executed at a high level. We didn’t play our best and made mistakes that hurt us, but credit to them, they were the better team, but our season is far from over. We’re going to continue developing our young guys and working hard every day. The playoffs are still within reach, and we’re not backing down.”

Thorsby head coach Daryl Davis said he was proud of his team’s effort, especially on homecoming night.

“Well, they did a great job,” Thorsby head coach Daryl Davis said. “Anytime you have homecoming week, you’re a little bit worried about it, but they’re a special group and I had confidence they’d take care of it.”

On the second snap from scrimmage, Javien Cooper took a sweep 54 yards to the end zone to put the Rebels up 8-0. The Rebels stopped Dallas County on their next drive, and Cooper took another touchdown from 30 yards out to push the score to 16-0. Then the Rebels forced a turnover on downs, and then Cooper took in his third touchdown of the night from 15 yards out to put the Rebels up 24-0 at the end of the first quarter.

“Javien Cooper, of course, had three touchdowns, felt like every time he touched it, he scored,” said Davis.

Then on the opening drive of the second quarter, the Rebels forced a punt. After a good return down to the six-yard line from Lucas Jackson, Braylon Carroll connected with Kaden Collins for a six-yard passing touchdown.

After a muffed snap on a punt from Dallas County, the Rebels were set up to score again. Carroll, with a little magic, shuffle passed with his off hand to Collier Price while in his throwing motion, faking a screen, which Price took 28 yards to the house, pushing the score to 40-0.

“That play there is filthy, the way he pulls off that shuffle pass while faking the screen,” said Davis.

The Rebels then forced another turnover on downs. Carroll then found Collins on a post route for a 35-yard touchdown pass. The Rebels then forced another three-and-out and Dallas County muffed another punt, this time recovered by Jackson, setting up the Rebels with another scoring opportunity at the end of the half. This time, Carroll rolled out and found Price on a wheel route for a 24-yard touchdown, putting the score at 54-0 going into half.

After the homecoming festivities, Thorsby’s starters got to rest and watch their backups play the rest of the game, in which Dallas County scored one touchdown at the end of the first quarter, putting the score at 54-8.

“Pretty much all of our starters on the offense and defense stood out,” said Davis. “When you win 54-8, you pretty much did everything right.”

After the two teams prayed on the field together, the Rebels poured a Gatorade bucket on their head coach, Davis, to celebrate their 8-0 start.

Last year, the Rebels went 4-7, this year they already have twice as many wins as last year, something that is absolutely worth celebrating. Thorsby (8-0) will host Greensboro High School (4-3) Oct. 17. Greensboro is coming off a 46-14 win against Wilcox Central High School.

“They got a good team, I think they beat somebody last night pretty bad,” said Davis. “I told them if they did what we asked, we’d give them Monday off, so we’ll come back Tuesday ready to work.”

Dallas County will now travel to take on Thomasville this Friday for a big region matchup.

We’ve got a big road test coming up at Thomasville on Friday, October 17. We’ll be ready,” Watts said. “I’m proud of our team they’re young, but they’ve got heart. There’s no quit in this group, and they continue to grow, even in the losses.”