By TREY HICKMAN/For the Reporter

BESSEMER — For two quarters the bitterly cold weather of Friday night was offset by a hotly contested AISA clash between Coosa Valley Academy and Bessemer Academy.

After halftime, however, it was all No. 5 Bessmer Academy as the home team pulled away in the Rebels-versus-Rebels matchup to take a 33-14 win.

On its opening possession of the game, Coosa Valley hit the ground running via the pass as quarterback Zach Spratlin spread the ball to four different receivers and the visitors engineered a 12-play, 69-yard drive that culminated with Spratlin’s 1-yard touchdown run. Spratlin helped account for the Rebels’ other first-half score, airing out a perfectly placed 31-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Colton Pate, who had beaten his defender. That score came with 1:05 before intermission and halftime found the teams tied 14-14.

“You know, we came out the first half and we wanted throw the football,” said Coosa Valley head coach Arlton Hudson. “We established our passing game, then we went to the run (and) had a lot of success doing that. Good, hard-nosed football game.”

For as heated a battle as the initial two quarters were, the second half was the polar opposite. Coosa Valley’s offense turned stagnant both on the ground and through the air, and also committed a key turnover by losing a fumble inside the Bessemer Academy 10-yard line.

“I felt like if we could come out and hold them that first possession (of the second half and we could) go down and score that we could get momentum going our way and I still think that would have happened,” said Hudson. “We had a chance to come back when they went up 27-14. I felt like if we got that in (to) make it 21-27, that we were right back in the football game. We hadn’t had a bad exchange between quarterback and center all year long (until then).”

He went on to applaud his team’s effort against a a tough opponent.

“I’m very proud of them (my team), playing a great Bessemer (Academy) team.”

Defensively for Coosa Valley, Niko Teofilo grabbed an interception and forced a fumble in the losing effort.

Coosa Valley (5-5) travels to Chambers Academy on Nov. 1.