Rebels pitch shutout in win over Helena
HELENA — Luke Denney enjoyed the end zone so much that he decided to pay it another visit.
The Vestavia Hills High School defensive back returned an interception for his first career touchdown last week at Huffman. In Friday night’s 14-0 victory at Helena, he recreated the magic.
Denney picked off Husky quarterback Lawson Peoples before galloping 55 yards in the opposite direction for a second-quarter score. It was his first of two interceptions.
“It was a really good call coverage wise, and it just fell out perfectly,” Denney said. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”
The pivotal play highlighted a sound night for the Rebels defense, which pitched a shutout for the second time in three weeks. Vestavia Hills beat Oak Mountain 7-0 on Sept. 15 and allowed only 12 points in last Thursday’s triumph at Huffman.
The stout defensive showings have enabled the Rebels (3-2, 2-1 in Class 7A, Region 3) to rebound from an 0-2 start to the season.
“Everybody’s got a job to do. Our job’s to stop them,” Vestavia Hills defensive coordinator Chad Merrill said. “We tell the defense that we want to set the tone for the whole team.”
It did.
After forcing punts on Helena’s first three possessions, the Rebels cracked the scoreboard at 8:18 in the second quarter. Running back William Schaffeld took a pitch around left end from 7 yards to give his team a 7-0 lead. The touchdown capped a 10-play, 61-yard drive that featured a Schaffeld conversion on fourth-and-2 deep in Husky territory.
“The gaps were wide open, and I didn’t have to do anything but just run,” said Schaffeld, who finished the game with 85 yards on 16 carries.
Denney recorded his pick-six two possessions later to extend his team’s lead to 14-0. But that wasn’t the defense’s only impactful stop in the second quarter. Vestavia Hills kept Helena out of the end zone as halftime neared, thwarting three attempts to reach the end zone from within the 15-yard line.
“In games like this when our offense might be struggling a little bit, this is when we’ve got to play our hardest and really buckle down and make some stops,” Denney said.
The defense did it again in the second half. Trailing by two possessions early in the fourth quarter, Helena owned a first and goal at the Rebels 2-yard line. Four times it failed to cross the plane of the goal line. Vestavia Hills stuffed three straight runs before batting down Peoples’ pass on fourth-and-goal.
“We like that our kids never give up,” Merrill said. “Until you score, we’re going to fight for every inch of it.”
Helena (1-4, 1-1 in 6A, Region 3) possesed the ball twice more in the final quarter, but it was held in check. The drives ended with a Denney interception and a turnover on downs.
Vestavia Hills will return to region play next Friday, when it welcomes Thompson to Buddy Anderson Field.
“We know they’re a really good team, and we’ve got to play really well to beat them,” Schaffeld said. “But if we listen to our coaches and put together a good game and bust our butts, then we feel like we have a good chance.”