Loudon scorches Signal with big plays

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Loudon 37, Signal Mountain 21Star: Loudon running back Josh Jackson had 209 yards and 4 TDs.Up next: Loudon faces the Hixson-Livingston winner; Signal Mountain finishes the year 9-3.

LOUDON, Tenn. - Big plays are a great cure for 20-degree temperatures, and unbeaten Loudon used big plays - a pair of them in particular - to play through the cold Friday night and advance in the TSSAA Class 4A playoffs with a 37-21 victory over Signal Mountain.

"That's who we are. We have been a big-play team all year, an opportunistic team," Redskins coach Jeff Harig said following his team's 12th win of the season. "We'd had four turnovers all year and no interceptions. We have maximized our plays and haven't given up big plays."

The Redskins' Tyler Ferguson opened the game with an 88-yard kickoff return, and as the third quarter ended Josh Jackson scooped up a fumble by teammate Travis Brewer on a fourth-and-a-foot try, slipped through Eagles defenders and raced 81 yards to put his team ahead 31-14.

"That (kickoff return) gave our kids a lot of confidence and allowed us to play like we have all year - with the lead, so then we concentrated on the defense eliminating the big plays and then trying to create some big plays on offense," Harig said.

But the fumble grab-and-go was a backbreaker.

"We were in a situation there with the smaller noseman they had in that we felt we could pick up a half-yard, but then Brewer fumbled," Harig said. "He tried pushing it toward Josh, and we wound up getting an 81-yard touchdown."

Three of the Redskins' scores covered 69 or more yards - including a 69-yard run by Jackson with 3:58 left to play. That took the Redskins from a 10-point lead to a 16-point advantage.

"We didn't capitalize on some opportunities. I think we were inside the 10 twice and were unable to score, but that's a good football team," Signal coach Bill Price said. "Defensively we did a good job on the pass, but the big running plays hurt us."

The Redskins rushed for 381 yards, 209 of that from Jackson (with 150 on two plays) and 157 from quarterback Travis Brewer.

After falling behind 14-0, the Eagles scrambled back to tie it before Loudon went back up by seven on a Jackson 19-yard run. Then the Eagles, after failing to covert a fourth-and-1 at their own 39 with less than a minute left in the second period, gave up a field goal.

After Jackson's run with the fumble gave Loudon created a 17-point margin, Kaleb Menzel scored the Eagles' third and final TD on a 10-yard run with 9:11 to play.

Signal Mountain's other scores came on a 1-yard run by Menzel and a 21-yard pass from Jack Teter to Cory Dehart.

In a two-TD night, Menzel rushed for 101 yards while Eagles fullback Hunter VanDyken finished with 97.

"We felt if we could eliminate the big play in the passing game but make them beat us running the football, we had a good chance," Harig said.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

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