They’ve done it in basketball.
And now they’ve done it in football.
The Coosa Valley Academy Rebels are going to the Alabama Independent School Association’s Class A football playoffs for the first time since 2002.
While the Rebels’ success may come as a surprise to some, the players and coaches saw the potential for greatness early on this season.
“I’ve been playing since eighth grade and I haven’t seen anything like this talent-wise,” senior Bud Bliss said Monday. “August first, when I saw all these people coming in, it started to click that we had a good shot this year.”
The Rebels (6-3, 5-2) started the season with a loss to South Choctaw before defeating Lyman Ward. Coosa Valley Academy then lost to Cornerstone before going on a four-game winning streak to solidify their chances of making the playoffs. The Rebels dropped a game to Crenshaw Christian Academy, but followed that with a come-from-behind victory over Sumter Academy on Friday. CVA closes out the regular season on the road against Abbeville on Friday.
“It’s been a real positive environment,” CVA head coach Vince DiLorenzo said. “The players have been confident that they had the ability to beat any football team we played. It’s one thing to think that or believe that. It’s another thing to get out on the field and show that you can do that. What I’ve been impressed with is that our players have demonstrated on the field this year just that.
“They have played with every football team that we’ve competed against this year.”
DiLorenzo credits an improved defense for the Rebels success this year. CVA hasn’t given up more than 28 points in a ballgame this year. The Rebels gave up 28 in the season opener, losing to South Choctaw by 22 points. CVA has been shut out just once this season. The Rebels offense has outscored opponents, 152-126.
“Defensively our guys have kept us in the game because we’ve allowed really very few points,” DiLorenzo said. “I know that every year up until this year defensively we’ve struggled to hold people to 21 points or less. I think the big difference is we’re not allowing those touchdowns, which is allowing us to win those close games. We may not be scoring much, but we’re keeping the other team from scoring.”
Ricky Ellison, Bliss, Zade Kayyali, John Bullen and Phillip Neal have led the defense.
“Ricky Ellison has played tremendous defense,” DiLorenzo said. “His relentless pursuit of the football has gotten him noticed by all the opposing teams that have seen our film. Bud Bliss can be put in that same category. Both Ricky and Bud are extremely strong and so they’re able to hold their ground.
“Zade Kayyali missed two games with an injured foot. But every game he’s played in from a technique standpoint, he’s played extremely well.”
Kayyali, who transferred to CVA from a public school this year, is confident the Rebels can go far in the postseason.
“I really, honestly felt like we had the talent to go all the way to the state finals,” the senior said. “I’m not surprised in our effort or our dedication on the field. I feel like our team has come together real well and that every win we’ve had we’ve earned.”
Bullen, a junior who transferred from a public school this year, has been effective on offense and defense. The junior caught five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown against Sumter last week.
“I think John Bullen at safety (has done a good job),” DiLorenzo said. “In today’s defenses safeties are important for run support. In the old days safeties basically dropped back and played pass and were rarely in on tackles. If they were they were tackles that were 20 yards downfield.
“Nowadays safeties are coached to read and play like linebackers. John is one of those guys who is intelligent enough to read and fast enough and strong enough that once he gets a run read when he is in on the tackle it’s often for a two or three yard gain. That’s incredible for a safety to be able to do that.”
Neal is in his second year of playing football at Coosa Valley Academy. When he transferred to the school he had to adjust to playing both offense and defense.
“Phil Neal has been a quarterback who’s played inside linebacker,” DiLorenzo said. “If we just played him on defense he’d probably be a college prospect at inside linebacker.”
The transition to playing on both sides of the ball has worked out well for Neal.
“It’s real different,” Neal said. “I played at Oak Mountain High School and I only played offense. Going from that to playing offense and defense, it’s a whole lot more toll on your body. Playing quarterback my first time ever has been hard too. I think I’ve progressed through the year. I’ve played linebacker most of my life.
“I’m really more of a linebacker who plays quarterback I guess you could say. I like to hit, but also it’s fun to throw touchdowns too.”
Bliss and Kayyali both believe the turning point in the season was the game against Chambers Academy in Week 7.
“First of all it was probably the best game I’ve had all season, Kayyali said. “Secondly, it’s because it established us as a legitimate team to make the playoffs. We played a tough team and we dominated them physically in all aspects of the game. That was the first game where we really took a tough team and broke their will and made them want to quit.
“The Chambers game was where our offense, our defense and special teams all really clicked and we had a solid game in all three phases of football. Our offense dominated, our defense dominated and then on special teams we were unstoppable.”
Bliss agreed.
“That was definitely the turning point of the year,” Bliss said. “Going into that game I think we were having a pretty good season so far, but everybody knew that that was going to be a tough game. We’ve lost to Chambers the last three years I think. It’s been tough to start with and we never could finish. So we all knew this was going to be a turning point in the season.
“This was going to determine if we were as good as we thought we were. We came in and we shut them down. We were more physical than they were.”
The Rebels have dealt with injuries and sickness throughout the year, but DiLorenzo said they’ve been fortunate that most players only missed a week or two before being ready to play again. One player missed six weeks after breaking his collarbone in Week 3. Will Bullen, a senior transfer, played a big part in the Rebel’s win over Sumter in his first game back from that injury.
“He was someone that we felt like could make a difference on offense and defense,” DiLorenzo said. “To have him miss six weeks of the season affected our ability to put our best 11 on the field. Last week he came back against Sumter, was in on 15 tackles, and we had thought before the game that we weren’t going to play him on defense at all.
“His first game back, we were just going to let him play wide receiver and throw him the ball some. We really didn’t want to get him back in all that hitting and contact, give him a week to get his feet under him.
“Then we take Phil out of the game early and Will has to go in the game at inside linebacker against a team that is focused on running inside. Will probably got hit more Friday night than he’d gotten hit all year. Somehow he was able to come out healthy and ready to go for next week. That was one of the things that most people didn’t see that played a big part in us winning that game.”
After gutting out the win over Sumter, the Rebels are still focusing on achieving their ultimate goal. Kayyali believes the season will be a disappointment if the Rebels don’t win it all.
“In my mind until we’ve won the state championship we’ve done nothing,” Kayyali said. “We’ve just won a couple of football games. It’s no big accomplishment. People go 7-3 every year. People make it to the playoffs every year.
“In order to reach our goals we’ve got to start with Abbeville. We’re on a winning streak right now; we’ve got to keep our winning streak going against Abbeville, keep our minds focused and then hopefully take out Restoration the next week and win the next two weeks after that.”
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