Vincent High School head football coach Dwight Spradley knew his team faced long odds on the road at Reeltown in the first round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 2A playoffs Friday night.

The Yellow Jackets were missing many starters and were down to their third-string quarterback, freshman Anterio Rogers.

Despite backups playing key roles, Spradley’s Yellow Jackets hung tough against one of the top Class 2A teams in the state before falling 33-0 to Reeltown. Reeltown held Vincent to two total yards on offense.

“Defensively, we got two turnovers in the first half and we were only down 13-0 at halftime,” Spradley said. “We just couldn’t do anything offensively. Injuries had us depleted.”

Vincent failed to score in the contest, but Spradley did point out a few highlights in the game.

“Juwan Rogers ran the ball hard and played pretty well,” Spradley said. “I thought Anterio Rogers, for what we asked him to do, did pretty well.”

Spradley said his team, which clawed its way into the playoffs despite the injuries with an overtime win Oct. 23 against American Christian, drew praise from Reeltown head coach Jackie O’Neal following the game.

“(O’Neal) said ‘I’ve never seen a bunch as beat up as ya’ll are,'” Spradley said. “It’s a testament to our kids for just getting in the playoffs. (Reeltown) is a very good football team. I don’t know that if we had all of our guys healthy it would have mattered.”