Rebels roll to homecoming victory
The Vestavia Hills High School Class of 2017 made its senior homecoming game one to remember.
Propelled by five forced turnovers and three Toliver Chatwood touchdowns, the Rebels (3-2, 1-2) rolled to a convincing 34-12 victory over Class 6A Helena (2-3, 1-1) on Friday night at Thompson Reynolds Stadium.
“I’m proud of the victory, and I’m proud of the guys,” Vestavia head coach Buddy Anderson said. “They played hard tonight.”
The Rebels’ defense came out swinging early, causing fumbles on each of Helena’s first three possessions. Husky quarterback Lawson Peoples coughed the ball up on each occasion.
“We just played with speed,” Vestavia defensive lineman James Edwards said of the fast start. “Fly to the ball.”
As a result of the fumbles, the Vestavia offense began its first two drives of the game within the Huskies’ 13-yard line. It took only two plays on each drive for the Rebels to find the end zone.
Quarterback Coleman Petway capped the first possession with a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Michael Vice, and Chatwood capped the second possession with a rushing TD from 6 yards out.
“Anytime you can get on that end of the field with the ball, especially two of them real close like that, it’s huge,” Anderson said.
Chatwood rushed for two more first-half TDs – one from 55 yards and one from 4 yards – to send Vestavia into the halftime locker room leading 28-6.
His 4-yard score capped a one-play drive that was set up by a 30-plus yard fumble return from Ray Murphy.
“My performance is based off of our offensive line and our defense just getting us the ball back every time,” Chatwood said. “I can’t really take credit for any of that.”
Helena’s lone first-half score came on a shifty, 12-yard rushing touchdown courtesy of Devan Walker. Vestavia lineman Walter Thomas blocked the extra point.
The Rebels added two second-half field goals courtesy of place-kicker Manraj Singh, capping their scoring total. Singh connected on kicks of 27 and 36 yards.
Vestavia’s defense proved just as dominant in the second half as it was in the first. It surrendered only one TD and then stymied Helena's subsequent two-point conversion attempt.
Rebels’ defensive back Tucker Queen collected his team’s final turnover with an interception in the game’s closing minutes. From there, Vestavia ran out the clock.
In total, Chatwood racked up 158 yards rushing on 18 carries, and Petway went 3-of-6 passing for 27 yards.
The Rebels will resume Class 7A, Region 3 next Friday at Thompson.
“We’ve got really tough opponents coming up,” Chatwood said, “so we needed this win to boost our morale and get us focused for next week.”