The King of Pop Michael Jackson released his Thriller album, Ronald Reagan was in his first term as president, and actor Alan Alda won his final Emmy for M*A*S*H* the last time the Vina High School football team got off to a start like this.
On Friday night, the Vina Red Devils defeated Shoals Christian 32-8 to stay perfect and improve to 3-0 on the season. The victory marked Vina’s first 3-0 start since 1982.
“It’s a huge win for us and our program,” second-year Vina head coach Cody Renfrow said. “To go 3-0 for the first time since 1982, it’s a big deal for us and it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to start out a season this way. It’s a credit to our coaches and our players, obviously, for the hard work and effort they put in.
“It’s a good feeling. It’s an exciting time to be a part of this program,” he added.
The Red Devils wasted no time in putting winless Shoals Christian on the ropes, scoring touchdowns on their first two plays from scrimmage.
“Cai Lawler ran for about a 65-yard touchdown on the opening play, and then Christian McCarley on our second play from scrimmage took one in from about 60 yards, as well,” Renfrow said.
The Flame clawed one back after that to make it 16-8, but Vina—working with the wet weather conditions—extinguished hope for the visitors with two more scores.
“After the one touchdown we gave up, we played extremely well defensively,” Renfrow said. “We hit a big pass play to Branson Vick right before the half. After that, in the second half, it was falling a flood, the field was in terrible condition, and we kind of just sat on the ball to get out of the game.
“(The weather) played into our favor. We obviously want to establish the run, which we did well at times,” he added. “Sometimes it was more of a struggle due to the elements, but I’m really proud of the way they played.”
Cai Lawler would add another rushing touchdown in the second half to cap the scoring and seal the game 32-8.
The Red Devils’ three-game winning streak to open the campaign has, rightly, garnered attention by local football fans and some media outlets. Renfrow said his players merit the spotlight for what they’ve achieved so far, but Vina can’t accomplish one of the program’s major goals—changing the lackluster reputation of Vina football—with just a few wins.
“It’s great to get the recognition that these players deserve, but at the same time we’re focused on the next week and the next game. I tell them that if you truly want to change the reputation here it’s got to be more than one or two games. You have to do it continuously,” Renfrow said. “To be successful you have to continuously compete; and it’s not necessarily got to do with the scoreboard and wins and losses, but it’s how you play. It’s how physical you play, it’s the effort you play with—that’s how you change the reputation.
“You have to be able to continuously improve and show that on the field,” he added.
Right now, the Red Devils are perfect on paper, but Renfrow said there are still areas where Vina needs to improve if they want to stay unblemished in the win column, especially heading into another vital region matchup next week.
“We need to really improve on being disciplined,” Renfrow said. “We had too many holding penalties (Friday) night. I think we had like six holding penalties and two personal fouls. We really, really need to clean that up and stay far more disciplined, especially going into a big game next week against Cherokee that’s got huge playoff implications. That’s something we’re really focusing on moving into next week.”
Cherokee is 2-2 and is coming off a 39-6 region loss to Addison, but Vina was shutout 46-0 in that matchup last season and hasn’t beaten the Indians since 2020. Cherokee will likely not be an easy out for the Red Devils on the road.
“Cherokee is much improved over the past few years,” Renfrow said. “They’ve got a bunch of skill guys that can move fairly quickly and, from what I’ve seen, they try to get on the edge. For us to be able to compete and possibly go win that game we’re going to have to be the more physical team on the field. That’s going to be the message going into that game because we’re going to have to be the more physical team every down, every play and try to impose our will on them by running the ball effectively and keeping contain on them.”
Vina will kickoff against Cherokee at W.L. Harris Stadium at 7 P.M. on Friday, Sept. 20.
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