ALABASTER, Alabama -- With the Rebels defense creating seven turnovers tonight, the Vestavia Hills goes on to defeat Thompson 23-13 at Larry Simmons Stadium tonight. Curry Howard kicked three field goals for the Rebels to go with one offensive and one defensive touchdown for Vestavia Hills in the region win.

With the win in Class 7A Region 3, the Rebels will face Spain Park and Hoover in the next two weeks. "We have three big region games coming up," said Rebels Head coach Buddy Anderson. "We have to play hard every week in our region. It's going to be a battle. We have a big game with Spain Park coming up."

Vestavia Hills (6-1, 3-1) opened the scoring in the first quarter with 7:48 as Rebels kicker Curry Howard hit on a 32-yard field goal. On the next series for Thompson, a Warriors pass was picked off by Bryce Glenn to setup the Rebels next score. With 2:01 left in the first quarter, Howard kicked his second field goal from 21-yards out for a Vestavia Hills 6-0 lead.

With only :26 left in the first quarter, Rebels defensive back Levi Wiggins jumped on a Warriors fumble to put the Vestavia Hills offense back in business. With 8:49 left in the half after the Warriors turnover, Toliver Chatwood punches it in from the 5-yard line for a Rebels touchdown. With the score, Vestavia led 13-0 at the half. "We played our most physical football," added Anderson. "We beat a good football team, but there are still areas in the game that we need to improve in."

With 4:24 left in the third quarter, Howard kicks his third field goal of the night drilling a 39-yard field goal. Thompson kicked a short punt on fourth down and the Rebels took advantage of it and scored on a few plays later. With the kick, the Rebels led 16-0.

Thompson (3-3, 1-3) scored with 11:53 left in the fourth quarter when Walker Lott hit Jordan Haywood on a 9-yard touchdown play for the Warriors. The Warriors forced a punt on the Rebels next possession and stopped the Rebels at the Thompson 20 yard line on a fourth and one play. But when Thompson took over on downs, on first down, Lott drops back and is tackled by Raytawunn Murphy behind the line of scrimmage and strips the ball away and runs it into the endzone for a Rebels touchdown. That was the back breaker for Thompson as the Rebels go up 23-6 with 4:14 left in the game.

On the Warriors next possession, Lott is picked off by Jonathan Hess at the Rebels 30-yard line. The Warriors defense gets the ball back after a Rebels punt and after a 43-yard pass play by Lott to Haywood, Thompson scores on the next play on a 28-yard pass play from Lott to Haywood. With the touchdown, Vestavia Hills led 23-13 with only 1:13 left in the game. "Were not good enough to beat anybody with seven turnovers in a game," said Warriors Head coach Mark Freeman. "Things happened tonight that was way out of the ordinary. We will keep working to get better."

The Thompson defensive front did a great job of taking away the running game that Vestavia Hills likes to do in the game. QB Brett Jones of Vestavia Hills completed 14-of-18 passing for 115 yards and moved the sticks on some big drives. "The offensive line did a great job of keeping the defense off of me in the game and giving me time to throw the football," said Rebels QB Jones. "I was proud of the way our team played tonight and it will give us some confidence going into our next game with Spain Park."

Next week, Vestavia Hills plays Spain Park and Thompson plays Hewitt-Trussville in key region games.