Staff Photo by Allison Kwesell
Red Bank's Keon Williams attempts to turn the corner as teammate Josh Robinson blocks in the first half at Red Bank High School.

Keon Williams' varsity debut was a lot more about guts than glitz Friday night.

After sitting out all of last season because of the TSSAA transfer rule, Red Bank's senior tailback wore down a stubborn Boyd-Buchanan defense, gaining 100 of his 127 yards in the second half. That helped secure a 14-7 nondistrict victory for the Lions.

"It felt great to be back out there," said the 6-foot-1, 218-pound Williams, who averaged more than 7 yards on 14 second-half carries. "I think in the first half maybe we were a little too cocky. They came out and tried to punch us in the mouth, so we had to respond. I think we did that."

On the first play of the game, Williams took a pitch, pulled up and threw a 42-yard pass completion into Boyd-Buchanan territory. However, that possession, like Boyd-Buchanan's initial series, ended with a turnover on downs.

The defenses dominated much of the game, and two of the three touchdowns were set up by interception returns. On Boyd-Buchanan's second series, Lions defensive back Kelvin Clay leaped for an interception and returned it to the Bucs' 18. It took seven plays for Red Bank to score from there, with Williams blasting into the end zone from 3 yards out.

On their next possession the Lions drove 66 yards in 11 plays, capped by a 1-yard TD run by quarterback Andy Christopher. But Boyd-Buchanan answered on its next series with a 14-play drive to the Red Bank 1. On third-and-goal from the 3, fullback Hayden Meadows was stuffed for no gain, and one play later he was stopped at the 1.

"I'll take the blame for that," Bucs coach Grant Reynolds said. "Coaches make mistakes, too, and those weren't very good play calls. That was a huge momentum shift, but our kids came right back out in the second half and stayed after them.

"I don't know if fatigue set in. We have a lot of guys who have to go both ways, so maybe. We're supposed to stop their back, but he's a big, strong kid and he ran the ball well in the fourth quarter."

Boyd-Buchanan intercepted Christopher twice in the second half. Clint Babb returned one to the Lions' 26 and set up a 4-yard scoring run by Ben Beasley. The second, by Taylor Shull, came in the fourth quarter, his leaping catch in the end zone stopping a potential Red Bank score.

After Boyd-Buchanan's touchdown closed the gap, the Bucs' next four drives resulted in three-and-outs, and they turned it over on downs on their final possession.

"I thought our defense was huge tonight," Lions coach Tim Daniels said. "Any time you get a goal-line stand, it's big, but that one just before halftime turned out to be really, really big.

"I told Keon at halftime he had to start planting his foot and cutting it up field -- go north and south because he's bigger than everybody out there. Once he did that, he really took over."