By Matt Wilson

For the FCT

The Vina Red Devils opened their season Friday night at home in Franklin-Hester Stadium in a loss to the Southeastern Mustangs, 27-6.

The loss is just another in a string of consecutive losses for the Red Devils, but head coach Luke Childers said there were a few positives to take away from Friday’s game.

“We really played well in the first half,” Childers said.

“We came out with a lot of intensity and played them hard, only being down six at the half.”

Vina went down 12-0 in the early part of the third quarter despite some big plays on defense to give the Mustangs some trouble. But the difference in skill between the two teams started to take a toll on the Red Devils as Southeastern made it 20-0 at the end of the third quarter.

“Southeastern is a good team, a team a little bit better than I think they looked on film,” Childers said.

“They had a little bit more speed than we did. I think it was the speed that really got us tonight.”

Southeastern scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 27-0, but the Red Devils had some fight left in them.

Vina’s Tyler Renfrow ran for a touchdown putting the Red Devils on the board, but the fight left in them was too little too late and Vina fell to Southeastern, 27-6.

“I still think we can win some games,” Childers said. “If the team comes together and if they will stick together, we can win some games.”

Vina hosts Waterloo Sept. 5 in a 1A Region 8 area game.

“That’s an area game next week and I like the way we match up,” Childers said. “That’s a team that we match up well against and I think we can do some good things next week.”