Sweet Water threat falls short against Maplesville

Sweet Water played with reigning state champion Maplesville for every bit of three quarters Friday night before the Red Devils flipped the game on its ear and pulled away for a 60-34 victory in the state quarterfinals.

Shamar Lewis scored on a 2-yard run with 1:02 left in the third quarter to cut the Sweet Water deficit to 35-28 before Maplesville hit the switch and rattled off 25 points in the fourth quarter. Terrance Dunlap ran for a 9-yard scored to move it to 41-28 before the Maplesville defense ran back two interceptions and a fumble for touchdowns to make it 60-28.

Sweet Water scored on a 3-yard R.J. Rodgers run with 18 seconds left to cap the scoring, marking the first time a team has scored 30 or more points against Maplesville since Friday, Sept. 25, 2015 when the Red Devils surrendered 48 to Tanner.

Sweet Water opened its scoring with a 1-yard Jaylin Johnson run in the first quarter. Lewis also scored on a pair of touchdown passes from Jonah Smith.

Maplesville tallied 396 yards of total offense while Sweet Water had 374. Dunlap ran for 163 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. Rodgers paced Sweet Water with 88 yards on 18 carries. Lewis had 78 yards on 17 runs and added 40 yards and two touchdowns on two receptions.

Sweet Water caps its season at 9-3 while Maplesville (12-0) moves on to face Linden in the Class 1A semifinals next Friday.