Walking the sideline Friday night at Signal Mountain, Red Bank football coach Chad Grabowski looked relaxed.
He extended compliments and criticisms to his players while his assistants handled the details.
"I have complete trust in those guys," Grabowski said as his Lions sprinted to an early lead on the way to a 29-8 Region 3-3A win over the Eagles. "We had a great plan in place, and they are getting it done."
The plan could not have been any more efficient in the early going for the Lions (4-3, 2-1).
Red Bank forced a three-and-out on Signal's first possession. The Lions responded with a surgical and methodical drive for a quick 7-0 lead. It was a balanced, 15-play drive that devoured most of the first quarter and added extra pressure on an Eagles team (2-5, 1-2) that is at its best when it can dictate flow.
It was an especially painful score for the Eagles, considering the Lions scored on a 24-yard pass from stellar sophomore quarterback Calvin Jackson to fellow sophomore Mike Porter on fourth-and-21.
"We struggled from the start," Signal coach Ty Wise said. "They have a good team with some very good skill players who made some plays. We turned it over a couple of times in the first half, and that hurt, too."
After falling into that early hole, the Eagles fumbled after three plays on their next series. The Lions continued to pick their spots and control the ball to the point of being downright selfish.
Red Bank had the ball three times in the first half. The opening TD drive was followed by a nine-play possession that led to a Braulio Velazquez 28-yard field goal and then a 16-play drive capped by Jackson's 6-yard run.
"We are going to do what we do," Red Bank senior guard Taelon Hall said after leading an offensive front that paved the way for the Lions to run for 315 yards. "We are confident in what the coaches call and what we are trying to do because we practice it over and over.
"When we get it rolling like we did tonight, we know it is going to work."
In addition to dominating the ball, the Lions forced Signal's young roster into trying to play fast and hunting big plays. Signal has landed noteworthy wins this season by controlling pace and the ball with its wing-T and keeping the game close.
Friday, Red Bank snatched that plan off the drawing board and extended that into the second half.
If the Lions' first half was best described as deliberate, the second half was simply explosive. Zay Brown capped an 80-yard drive with a 37-yard touchdown on the first possession of the second quarter. Jackson added an 88-yard run two possessions later to make it 29-0 with 3:22 left in the third quarter.
"He's only going to get better," Grabowski said of Jackson with a smile that was as telling as his quarterback's elusiveness.
Signal kept fighting and got on the board when Tom Vatter found Sam Gault for a 10-yard scoring pass with less than three minutes to play.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com