Red Bank football coach Ted Gatewood made it a point to tell his players late Friday night that there were still a lot of things to work on after the Lions' 33-7 home win over Central.
But probably not nearly as high on that list will be the defensive end.
Kobe Smith recovered three fumbles, returning two for touchdowns, and the Lions forced five Central turnovers on their way to the 26-point victory, improving to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in Region 3-4A.
Central dropped to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the region.
Smith's two touchdowns were the first of his high school career. The first came on a blocked punt in the first quarter that he scooped up and ran in the final 10 yards for the score, while the second came after the Red Bank defense poked the ball free from Central quarterback Ronye' Watson. Smith grabbed that one and returned it 30 yards for the game's final score.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area high school football games)
"We're just trying to keep things going," Smith said. "We're trying to go all the way to state, and we know we're going to have to pay attention in practice and concentrate on what we have to do."
Added Gatewood: "Kobe is a dynamic football player. The thing about it is he knows the game as well, and he's gaining knowledge and understanding of the system and what we're asking them to do, which is so important."
Gatewood was equally pleased by the way his team handled adversity. After taking that seven-point lead, the Pounders tied the game on a pair of Watson completions to Tristan Odom, the latter covering 11 yards after the quarterback sprinted back to retrieve an errant snap before finding a wide-open Odom in the end zone to tie the score with 4:07 left in the half.
From that point forward, the Lions scored the final 26 points over a span of about nine minutes of game time, including 13 in that final four minutes of the first half to assume control. Red Bank quarterback Jake Brune hit Tyler Wright for a 48-yard completion before AD Crutcher finished the drive off from 8 yards out. Then, after a Watson fumble, the Lions drove 50 yards in 1:43, with Brune hitting Jaden Baccus for a 19-yard score with six seconds to play in the half.
Crutcher also had a 20-yard score on the Lions' first drive of the second half before Smith's second touchdown of the game.
The Pounders won this game last year, but Gatewood wasn't talking about revenge or anything.
The focus was on this year's game alone.
"That's not even in our terminology," he said. "What we believe is how can we get better from what we did last week. How can we get better going forward, and what do we have to do this week to be successful? That's what we've got to do, and I thought our kids executed."
Crutcher finished with a pair of touchdowns and 44 yards on the ground.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.