Red Bank Drops Ooltewah With Late Rally

Kyle Smith Field Goal And Lucas Brown Heroics Pace Lions

  • Saturday, August 31, 2019
  • James Beach

Red Bank coach Chris Brown is diplomatic about the situation as best as the second-year Lion coach can be. If you’ve worn the Red Bank blue during his short tenure then the one thing that is undeniable is the fact the personable Lion coach has cared for you. And still does.

But through the preseason and first two weeks of the 2019 season, Brown has read and heard his share of news clips talking about the players who wore last year’s Lions’ jerseys who have long since graduated, and he has had to walk a fine line.
Especially when he balances the joy last year’s team brought in an undefeated regular season with the excitement he has for this year’s pack.  

A 17-16 victory by the Class 3-A Lions on the home turf of larger Class 6-A Ooltewah Owls Friday night, however, should put all the talk to bed about how Red Bank is possibly going to replace those guys who have moved on.

The Lions overcame five turnovers, dug deep when their manes were against the wall, and more than anything else believed in each other to score 10 points in the final 2:43 of last night’s game to secure the win. Red Bank kicker Kyle Smith banged home a 25-yard field goal with 35 ticks left to complete the rally and all-state linebacker Clark Lockerby sealed it with an interception on Ooltewah’s final play.

“I love all those guys from last year’s team who are no longer here, and I root for them hard at college, but there are a lot of guys out on the field tonight who were on the field with those other guys last year,” Brown said. “People tend to forget that.”

And with the likes of such talent as Lucas Brown, Madox Wilkey, Lumiere Strickland, Sincere Thomas and, of course, Lockerby last night’s showing might very well start showing up as a calendar reminder on some folk’s phones that there are some pretty special players still roaming the prideland.

“At no point in this game did we lose faith. At no point did we think we were going to walk off this field tonight and not leave with a win,” Brown said enthusiastically. “Tonight’s win shows we love each other a whole lot, and there’s a lot of trust in each other and in a great coaching staff. I simply try to stay out those guys way. It says a lot about the kids that they went out and competed against a much larger school like Ooltewah the way they did.” 

No one competes any harder than Lockerby, who was an absolute beast, especially in the second half. It was no surprise the all-state linebacker ended the game with the pick, but it was a big sack of Owl quarterback Lane Moore after the Lions had pulled to within 16-14 as Ooltewah was trying to run out the clock that may have been his biggest play. Red Bank had just failed on its onside kick attempt, and with just over two minutes left, Lockerby sold out and got to Moore for a six-yard loss and probably rattled the Owls thinking just a little.

On the next play, Brown stepped front of an underthrown ball to an open Owl receiver to put Red Bank back in business at its own 27. Two plays later, Brown hauled in a 50-yard pass from Wilkey to move it to the Owls’ 23 and four plays later Smith delivered the winning kick from 25 yards away.

“We don’t have anybody on the field like No. 2 (Brown) for them. He was the difference in the game in my opinion. There at the end we wanted to get time off the clock, but the sack put us behind the chains before we could hand off, and we thought we might catch them with the pass because they’d be playing the run stop so hard. We just had entirely too many chances we didn’t take advantage of, and that is what killed us,” Ooltewah coach Scott Chandler said.

Ooltewah had the ball inside the Red Bank 20 six times on the night, and scored just one TD, settling for three field goals, missing another kick and fumbling inside the 5 on another. Field goals instead of touchdowns have been a math problem for the Owls through the first two weeks of the season.

The Lions (2-0) never put their helmets down, despite four first-half turnovers which led to all 13 Ooltewah points. A muffed punt was recovered by Ooltewah’s Fisher Perry at the 12, but that drive turned into a 24-yard field goal by the strong-legged Braeden Haynes. Tre Johnson fell on a Lion fumble at the 32 midway through the second period, and the owls got their lone TD when Moore found a slanting Perry for his second TD catch of the year on a fourth-down play at the 3. Chase Sanderss picked off a Wilkey pass at the 38, but this time Haynes pulled the kick wide left.  Jaden Carmichael’s fumble recovery resulted in another field goal before half from 31 yards away for a 13-7 Owl lead.

Red Bank had scored on an 11-yard run by Strickland in the first period for a short-lived lead, but neither team managed to do much offensively. Ooltewah had just 39 rushing yards on 19 first-half totes and Wilkey had just 45 passing yards in the half.

“That may have been the worst first half I’ve ever played. Fortunately they play two halves of football,” Wilkey said.

Despite an anemic offense, Ooltewah seemed to have the game under control when Haynes banged through a 40-yard field goal to make it 16-7 with just 8:37 left, but that’s when the Wilkey to Brown show began. The Lions defense held after their fourth fumble of the night when Josh Shevlin hit Wilkey to force it and Tanner Rhodes fell on nit with just under seven minutes to play.

Red Bank got it back with 5:35 remaining and went 85 yards in 10 plays with Brown trapping a ball on his helmet for an eight-yard score with 2:43 left to make it 16-14. The Lions kept throwing short to Thomas early in the drive, but the big play was a 50-yard jump ball that Brown won in the secondary on a fourth-down play that might well have ended the game. Brown wound up with six catches for 126 yards in the second half alone with five of them coming in the final period.

“We knew we had to get six yards on the play, but when I saw their coverage, we just went for it. Lucas is going to win just about all of those jump balls because there may not be anyone in the state who can jump like he can,” said Wilkey, who finished 17-of-29 for 210 yards after the slow start.

“I have to credit Madox for getting it there, and the O-line for giving him time. I liked our chances on it if we had time and the ball got there,” smiled Brown, who finished with 145 yards on nine total catches for the game.

Red Bank tried the onside kick following the score but Ooltewah handled it. Despite the odds, though, Smith, the Red Bank kicker, felt good about getting a shot.

“Once we got it to 16-14 I just had this feeling. I went off by myself on the sideline and started getting ready for it after the touchdown. I just went out there and had a lot of trust in myself as well as the snapper, the line, and the hold,” Smith said.

“He’s nervous all the time, so I wasn’t worried about it and didn’t think twice about it,” Brown laughed. “He practices being nervous. Every PAT in practice is a game-winner to him. Maybe one day he will start considering himself a football player instead of a soccer player who plays football.”

Smith won a game last year in overtime for the Lions with a last-second kick to defeat Central, so he pulled on that moment to get him through.
 
The Lion defense was a force on the night, limiting the Owls to 62 rushing yards on 40 carries, including 19 yards on 21 rushes in the second half. The bright spot for Ooltewah was Tucker Miller, who caught seven balls for 92 receiving yards.

Thomas added 65 receiving yards for the Lions on six catches and was the man Brown credited for his big night.

“Sincere kept catching those short ones and getting yardage and when they tightened up on him, it opened up the field for me,” Brown explained.

Red Bank will get its first home of the year next week against Signal Mountain while Ooltewah will regroup with a trip to William Blount.

Stats
RED BANK           7     0   0   10  –  17
OOLTEWAH         3   10   0     3  –  16


Oo – Braeden Haynes 24 yard field goal (5:39, 1st)
RB – Lumiere Strickland 11 yard run (Kyle Smith kick) (2:11, 1st
Oo – Fisher Perry 3 pass from Lane Moore (Braeden Haynes kick) (6:51, 2nd)
Oo – Braeden Haynes 31 field goal (2:35, 2nd)
Oo – Braeden Haynes 40 yard field goal (8:37, 4th)
RB – Lucas Brown 8 pass from Madox Wilkey (Kyle Smith kick) (2:43, 4th)
RB – Kyle Smith 25 yard field goal (0:35, 4th)

RB                   STATS            O
14                    1st Downs        13
27-117             Rush                40-62
210                  Pass                 134
327                  Total               196
17-29-1           Passes             11-32-3
3-35                 Penalties         3-32
5-38.4              Punts               4-38.0    
6-4                  Fumbles          2-1

 

Individual Stats 

Rushing:  Lumiere Strickland 9-53, Madox Wilkey 5-12, DeAngelo Ross 11-44, Reco Tremble 2-8 (RB);  Jaequan Greenhill 15-25, Dawson Jones 1-(minus-5), Jordan Green 16-34, Lane Moore 7-2, Tucker Miller 1-6 (O).

Passing:  Madox Wilkey 17-29-1 210 yards (RB);  Lane Moore 11-32-3 134 yards (O).

Receiving:  Lucas Brown 9-145, Sincere Thomas 6-65, DeAngelo Ross 1-11, Seth Lacy 1-(minus-1) (RB);  Tucker Miller 7-92, Brandon West 1-14, Fisher Perry 2-6, Jaequan Greenhill 1-5 (O).

Records: Red Bank (2-0), Ooltewah (0-1).

(Contact James Beach via email at 1134james@gmail.com or Twitter @beachnut1134)
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