VESTAVIA HILLS, Alabama - The #4 Vestavia Hills Rebels pitched a shutout in the second half to go on and defeat #8 Shades Valley 41-14 at Thompson Reynolds Stadium. The Rebels defense created four turnovers, one fumble recovery and three interceptions, as they go on and win the 6A Region 6 title.

Vestavia Hills (7-1, 6-0) used a physical play against the finesse and speed of Shades Valley tonight. "We showed a lot of heart and there is a special chemistry about this team that is hard to describe," said Rebels Head coach Buddy Anderson. "We play as a team, play as a group, and are very proud of them. We play hard and we play physical and that is how we play, but I'm really proud of our football team tonight."

The Rebels used a punishing ground game along with their play action passing game to hit some big plays on offense. Jordan Johnson led the ground game with 200 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns while quarterback Landon Crowder hit the big plays in the passing game completing 8-of-13 passing for 226 yards and two passing and one rushing touchdown.

The Vestavia Hills defense set the tone early in the game as on Shades Valley first possession, Rebels defensive back Nolan Turner picked off a Mounties pass to setup the Rebels first score of the night. A Johnson 29-yard run followed a Crowder to Patrick Haywood on a 37-yard touchdown reception. The extra point was blocked but the Rebels led 6-0 early. "I've got to give a lot of credit to my offensive line," said the Rebels QB Crowder. "Without time I can't do anything. Patrick created the separation and I love throwing to him and have a lot of confidence in him." Haywood had five catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns.

Later in the first quarter, Robert Morgan had a 32-yard punt return down to the Mounties 10 yard line. On the next play, Johnson scored from 10-yards out and Wesley Hatchett kicked the extra point for a Rebels 13-0 lead. "We played very good on offense especially in the second half," said Rebels RB Johnson. "I just kept looking for my holes and wanted to get big yards for my team. This is great on winning the region two years in a row."

With only 27 seconds left in the first quarter, Shades Valley (7-1, 5-1) scored on a RaShad Louie to Jourdan Walker 66-yard touchdown play. Gibson Bosworth added the extra point to cut the Rebels lead to 13-7. "Were going to learn from this and going to get better," said Mounties Head coach Bill Smith. "Offensively, defensively and special teams we have a lot of work to do. We weren't very good fundamentally. We caught everything last week, but we have a lot of dropped ball, to many illegal procedures and to many missed assignments."

Midway through the second quarter, Louie had two big runs down deep into Rebels territory but fumbled on his third run of the drive to turn the ball over back to the Rebels on a Daniel Burton fumble recovery. Vestavia Hills drove deep down into the Mounties territory but Elijah Jackson picked off the pass and returned it 22 yards for a huge play for the Shades Valley defense, but the Rebels defense forced a punt with 2:09 left in the half. On the very first play, Johnson ran 66-yards for a touchdown. Hatchett kicked the PAT for a 20-7 Rebels lead.

But Shades Valley wasn't finished before halftime, there high octane offense kicked into gear and scored one minute later on a two-yard run by Naamon Riggs. A big Louie to Walker 31-yard pass setup the Mounties touchdown right before half ended. Vestavia Hills took a 20-14 halftime lead to the locker room.

It was all Vestavia Hills in the second half as the offense scored 21 unanswered points to win the big region game. "This means a lot to us, we came together as a team," said Rebels linebacker Tyler Queen. "We have a lot of confidence in our defense. We played our butts off and we had a great game plan coming into this game." The Rebels defense shut out the Mounties offense in the second half while creating two turnovers.

With 8:02 in the third quarter, Crowder hit a wide open Haywood for a 45-yard touchdown play. Then on the Rebels next possession, the two hooked up again on a 55-yard pass play. on the next play, Johnson runs in from 13-yards for a Vestavia Hills touchdown. The Rebels last score of the game came on a five yard run by Crowder up the middle for the touchdown.

Shades Valley had a hard time being consistent moving the football. Louie completed 12-of-24 passing for 151 yards but had three interceptions on the night. Louie added 116 yards on 20 carries for the Mounties.

Up next for both teams, Vestavia Hills will go on the road to face Mountain Brook. Shades Valley will host Woodlawn.