The Shelby County Wildcats (7-0, 4-0) added another region win to their resume Friday with a 40-14 victory over the Moody Blue Devils.

The match-up started with a game of “hot potato” — neither team to wanted to hold onto the football.

Moody took the first possession of the game, but a pass intended for Justin Cook landed comfortably in the hands of Shelby County’s Landon Denney.

One play after the interception, Tae Lewis lost the ball, putting Moody back in business at its own 34-yard line. Forty-six seconds into the game … already two turnovers.

After stopping Moody, Wildcat quarterback Braten Dill lost the football for the second Shelby County fumble in as many possessions.

It was time to cue the Wildcat defense. On a short third-and-2 from the Moody 24-yard line, Wildcat linebacker Jon Walden laid the wood to Detrick McCray to force a punt.

Shelby County capitalized when Darion Sutton delivered a big hit of his own with a 46-yard touchdown run and give Shelby County the lead, 6-0.

Sutton quickly rounded out his scoring hat trick with a 34-yard interception return and a walk-in touchdown from the 1-yard line.

Shortly after the second quarter began, the Wildcats had pulled away, 20-0.

Moody finally answered on its next possession, working up a drive that ended when Joshua Owen connected with Jamal Turner at 7:05 in the second quarter.

Shelby County responded as Lewis bolted around right end for a 13-yard score. Lewis wasn’t finished, as he later took a swing pass from Dill at the Shelby County 12-yard line. A shimmy shake at the Moody 25, ended an 88-yard touchdown toss to put the Wildcats up 33-7.

The Blue Devils came out of the locker room with confidence, as Owen connected with Turner again with a screen pass to tighten things, 33-14.

Shelby County shut the door though with a beautiful touchdown toss from Dill to Dustin Wood to cap scoring, 40-14.

Shelby County chalked up a balanced 220 yards of passing from Dill and 202 yards on the ground. Dill added to a career night going 12-of-13 from the field.

The Wildcat defense had two picks and held Moody to 192 yards of total offense.

“I was sort of anxious of how well we would play tonight not knowing much about the make-up and play of Moody,” Wildcats head coach Ryan Herring said. “I was just very, very proud of seeing our kids go out there tonight, hit and play hard. The kids played very focused tonight.”

The Wildcats secure a playoff berth with the win and can clinch the Class 5A, Region 4 championship with a win at Talladega next Friday night.