BAXTER, Tenn. – The idea that the Red Bank High School football team, which had given up an average of 12 points a game in 2018 before Friday night, would allow 50 points and more than 500 yards of offense was not something coach Chris Brown imagined in the moments before the Lions’ quarterfinal playoff game.
Yet three hours later, tears flowed from Red Bank players after the Upperman Bees moved to 13-0 and into the TSSAA Class 3A state football semifinals with a 50-21 victory over the Lions.
“I couldn’t be prouder of a group of men,” Brown said after his first season as their coach. “We have battled adversity all year long, more than anybody realizes, and we battled every step of the way.”
Upperman, which will host top-ranked and 16-time state champion Alcoa next Friday, rolled up 529 yards behind three king Bees: quarterback Donoven McAllister, who ran for 171 yards on 15 carries and threw two touchdown passes; running back Blake Metzgar, who ran for 172 yards on 23 carries and scored four touchdowns to bring his season total to 38; and receiver Cole Bush, who had 156 yards on four catches, all in the first half.
After Red Bank (11-1) narrowed a 28-14 gap to 28-21 with 5:38 left in the third quarter, Upperman scored the game’s final 22 points. Brown said that after the Bees went up 35-21 with 9:56 left, he took chances to try to get the Lions back in the game, and that put the Bees in position to make the final score what it was.