By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal
The 2A Lowndes Academy Rebels were feeling a lot better about themselves Friday night after improving to 2-2 on the season with a non-region thrashing of the previously undefeated 1A Abbeville Christian Academy Generals 40-20 on the road.

Prior to facing the Rebels, the Generals were a perfect 4-0 overall and 3-0 in regional competition with a 43-20 win over Cornerstone Christian Academy in Columbiana.

The Rebels were 1-2 overall, 0-2 in Region 2 and smarting from a 44-26 whipping at the hands of regional opponent Patrician.

Going into Friday’s contest, Lowndes Academy head football coach Matt Marshall said Abbeville would be a quick team that would take a lot of chances. But he also said his Rebels would have size against their speed. And he said, “If we show up and play, this should be a very good ballgame.”

Against Patrician the week before he said the Rebels played a good first half, but ran out of gas. He said his team had to be able to finish and learn to play tired.

Friday night, Marshall said, “I thought we played well tonight. I thought we played four quarters.”

He said he rotated a lot of guys through the game and kept his team fresh. And he said, “The kids had a good time playing tonight, They had a lot of fun playing tonight because they were fresh and weren’t worn out.”

The Rebels led 27-0 at the half against Abbeville, 30-14 at the end of three quarters and closed the game out winning 40-20.

Against the Generals, Cody Harrell, Thomas Ward and Garrett Headley all had a rushing touchdown each, David Hussey had two receiving touchdowns and Corey Lowe had a receiving touchdown.

Harrell had 14 rushes for 196 yards and was 7-11 in passing for 226 yards and three touchdowns. Ward had 12 rushes for 131 yards. Headley had four receptions for 125 yards.

Hussey had nine tackles and two inceptions and caught two touchdowns passes for a total of 60 yards.

The Rebels will next face South Choctaw in a regional encounter in Hayneville for homecoming.