Rebels rumble past Helena
HELENA – The Vestavia Hills High School football team accomplished its main objective in Thursday’s 44-24 win at Helena on Thursday to close out the regular season: come out healthy.
Now, the fun begins.
Quarterback John Paul Head threw for 199 yards and a score and ran for 132 yards and three touchdowns, and the Rebels won big despite giving up 403 yards to the Huskies.
"Offensively, we played well and defensively, at times, I thought we played soft, but they have two good backs,” Vestavia head coach Robert Evans said. "We were able to stay healthy and now it’s on to the meaningful games.”
The Rebels (7-3) will play at Region 4’s No. 1 seed Austin to begin the Class 7A playoffs next week. Helena ended its season at 6-4, though it had two running backs top 120 yards. A.J. Horstead ran for 152 yards and a score and Jordan Washington ran for 123.
"We’re going to have to play more physical to get to the part of the playoffs we want to,” Evans said. "I thought we tackled poorly tonight.”
The Rebels forced three turnovers and scored on one, an 11-yard fumble return from Jordan Ross to go ahead 36-10 early in the third quarter. Grant Downey and Will Cox also added second-half interceptions.
Jack Lockhart capped off Vestavia’s first scoring drive with a 1-yard run, and Charlie Ingram caught the 2-point conversion pass. Aside from a lost fumble and time running out to end the half, the Rebels scored on their other first-half possessions.\
Head threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to normal starting defensive end Andrew Sykes. On the next possession, a 21-yard run by Lockhart set up Head’s 11-yard touchdown run, and Head put the Rebels up 29-3 with a 12-yard touchdown run on the next drive. That possession was highlighted by a 46-yard pass from Head to Brady Johnson.
After Ross’ defensive score, the Rebels’ other second-half score came on a 2-yard run from Head.
The Rebels tallied 454 total yards, 255 on the ground.
This is the first trip to the playoffs for Vestavia since 2019, and the second since 2015.
"We have bigger plans. We need to get healthy and fresh and get ready to roll next Friday night and hopefully put ourselves in a position to play at Thompson in the next round,” Evans said.