Loudon Snaps Red Bank Win Streak At 8

Redskins Win Region 3-AAA Title With Impressive 24-7 Win On The Road

  • Friday, November 1, 2019
  • John Hunt

The Loudon Redskins spoiled Senior Night at Red Bank’s Community Stadium Friday night.

The host Lions were facing the Redskins for the Region 3-AAA championship as both teams entered Friday’s play with perfect records.

Red Bank scored first on an eight-yard run by Lumiere Strickland in the final minute of the first quarter before the Redskins scored 24 unanswered points for the 24-7 victory.

Loudon is now 10-0 and will host the next three rounds of the playoffs while Red Bank loses for the first time after eight straight wins.  The Lions will host Sequatchie County next Friday in the first round of the playoffs.

Jeff Harig is the head coach for Loudon who had never beaten Red Bank in two previous tries.  But on a night when the air was cold and the field was muddy, the Redskins dominated on both sides of the ball to win in convincing fashion.

“That was a big win for us,” Harig told his team following the spirited win.

“We had our share of rough moments in the first half, but we were superb once we started executing in the second half.  We adjusted to the speed of the game in the final two quarters and I could see our confidence growing as the game progressed.

“We made it hard on ourselves at the start, but we didn’t give up any big plays for touchdowns and we knew that would be a key in this game.  We’re now the region champions and will play at home the next three weeks, but it’s do or die time now,” he nodded.

Mark Ridenour booted a 31-yard field goal at the 9:46 mark of the second quarter to get the Redskins on the board and 7-3 was the halftime score.

It was still a close game at that point, but things changed in the final two stanzas as Loudon scored on its first three possessions on offense while the ever-proud defense was stopping the high-octane Red Bank offense on downs their first two possessions while the final two ended in punts when the game was obviously out of reach.

Red Bank coach Chris Brown didn’t have anything good to say about his team, other than having a great opportunity to learn from too many mistakes.

The Lions rolled through the regular season unbeaten last year before losing for the only time in the third round of the playoffs.  Now having lost in the final game before the playoffs, Red Bank has a chance to redeem themselves and Brown is totally confident in their ability to do so.

“All I know is that we made way too many mistakes and Loudon was good enough to take advantage, but this is a great opportunity to learn from it.  We didn’t focus as well as they did and we weren’t able to stop them in the second half, but we still have an opportunity to get better and I fully expect that to happen,” Brown concluded.

The Redskins finished with 375 total yards, including 218 on the ground and 157 through the air. 

Senior Drew Jackson, who entered the game averaging more than nine yards per carry, was the man for Loudon as he piled up 174 yards on 18 carries and he also caught four passes for another 123.  He scored the last two touchdowns, the first on an 80-yard screen pass following a missed Red Bank field goal and the second on a 14-yard run with 8:48 to play that basically just put a little icing on the cake.

While Loudon finished with 375 total yards, Red Bank was limited to just 217, including 90 on the ground and another 127 through the air.

Strickland was the leading rusher for the Lions with 54 yards on 13 carries while quarterback Madox Wilkey had 19 yards on three attempts.  The talented senior was off in his passing game with only 13 completions in 25 attempts as he really never got in rhythm with his receivers.

Lucas Brown was Red Bank’s leading receiver with nine catches for 78 yards, but the speedy senior was never able to break into the open after any of those catches.  Lavelle Coffey had two catches for 28 yards.

Red Bank had won the past two years against Loudon, 42-14 at Loudon last year and 49-24 at Red Bank in 2017.

LOUDON  0  3  7  14 – 24

RED BANK  7  0  0  0  --  7

RB – Lumiere Strickland 8 run (Kyle Smith kick), 0:56.3 left in first;

LOU – Mark Ridenour 31 field goal; 9:46 left in second;

LOU – Ridenour 19 pass from Keaton Harig (Ridenour kick), 4:52 left in third;

LOU – Drew Jackson 80 pass from Harig (Ridenour kick), 11:40 left in fourth;

LOU – Jackson 14 run (Ridenour kick), 8:48 left in fourth.

YARDSTICK LOUDON RED BANK

First Downs                        17                                             11

Rushes-Yards                                             36-218                                      25-90

Passing Yards                                               157                                          127

Total Yards                                                    375                                           217

Passes (Comp-Att-Int)                                8-17-0                                      13-25-1

Penalties-Yards                                            9-80                                           7-55

Punts-Average                                             3-24.0                                         4-31.0

Fumbles-Lost                                                 3-0                                             0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATS:

LOUDON RUSHING: Drew Jackson 18 for 174 yards; McKenzie Lunsford 18 for 88 yards; Keaton Harig 4 for 30 yards.

LOUDON RECEIVING: Drew Jackson 4 for 123 yards; Tyler Whitfield 2 for 9 yards; Mark Ridenour 1 for 19 yards; Semy Turner 1 for 6 yards.

LOUDON PASSING: Keaton Harig 8 for 16 for 157 yards; Drew Jackson 0 for 1.

RED BANK RUSHING: Lumiere Strickland 13 for 54 yards; Madox Wilkey 3 for 19 yards; Alrico Trimble 4 for 1 yard; A.D. Crutcher 4 for 18 yards.

RED BANK RECEIVING: Lucas Brown 9 for 78 yards; LaVelle Coffey 2 for 28 yards; Lumiere Strickland 1 for 10 yards; Clark Lockerby 1 for 5 yards; Jamari Jackson 1 for 6 yards.

RED BANK PASSING: Madox Wilkey 13 for 25 with one interception for 127 yards.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

 

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