Red Bank rolls past Chattanooga Christian School

Football
Football

It would have been hard to hold Zay Brown down all night, but Chattanooga Christian also had to contend with Calvin Jackson - and that's just offensively.

Throw in a speedy defense and it was just too much to ask.

Brown, Jackson and their oh-so-quick Red Bank teammates bolted from a scoreless first quarter to a 47-0 victory at home Friday night and upped their Region 3-3A record to 3-1.

Chattanooga Christian dropped to 4-4 overall, 0-4 in the region.

The Lions (5-3) took their lumps earlier this year from Baylor and McCallie, and they'll tackle the state's top-ranked Class 3A team Thursday when they go to Alcoa, but the lumps have paid off to date.

"We're finally getting some things to click," Red Bank coach Chad Grabowski said. "Starting off the season with who we played and now starting to reap the rewards is huge."

Operating behind an efficient offensive line and using his ultra-quick feet and shifty hips, Brown turned in a game-high 129 yards and scored the Lions' first touchdown from a yard out.

"He worked so hard in the offseason, and the way he got himself to be the feature back has been huge for him, and the offensive line has done a great job opening holes for him," Grabowski said. "It's the same group from last year. They're just a little bigger, a little older and a little stronger."

Brown's score was a prelude for what was to come, and one of the area's best dual-threat quarterbacks put on another show, throwing three touchdown passes - to Mike Morter, Mike Clark and Blake Cagle - and then scoring on runs of 7 and 5 yards.

Cole Seeley got the final touchdown in the shutout, returning an interception 99 yards on the game's final play.

Asked which was playing better - Drew Akins' offense, which rolled up 377 yards, or Charles Weems' defense, which pitched a shutout and limited the Chargers to 202 yards - Grabowski struggled for just a moment before putting on his diplomatic face.

"I like the way our defense is playing, and I like way our offense is getting the ball down the field, and we're being physical on both sides," he said.

For the Lions, though, there is more than being physical.

"The key to their defense is the speed on their defensive line," Chargers coach Mark Mariakis said. "It just overwhelmed us. We didn't handle that speed well, and it caused us some problems up front. Our kids didn't give up. We just kind of got overwhelmed."

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

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