Red Bank football coach Ted Gatewood admittedly doesn’t love roller coasters.
The upward trajectory his Lions are on right now, though, has been something even Gatewood could enjoy.
Highlighted by solid performances all the way around, Red Bank controlled McMinn County from start to finish in a 21-11 nonregion win at home Friday night, continuing what has been quite the ride this season as the Lions improved to 4-4 with their third straight victory.
Quarterback Austin Jones and running back Jacolbi Salley combined for 266 rushing yards, while Jones added a respectable 147 passing yards with a touchdown through the air. Red Bank, a TSSAA Class 4A program, built a 14-0 first-quarter lead and overcame 127 yards in penalties to secure the win over the 5A Cherokees (5-3), who came in averaging 40.9 points per game but were held to their lowest total of the season.
“We’re executing better,” Gatewood said. “We’re getting our kids in positions for their plays, and they’re doing a great job. We’ve condensed some things, but at the same time, we got really good at what we’re doing and tried to get better at what we’re doing, and the kids have done a good job with that.”
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night’s Chattanooga-area prep football games)
The Lions hit a bit of a rough spot with their inability to move the ball and some untimely penalties that allowed the Cherokees to close to within a field goal on Jakaryn Dyer’s 6-yard touchdown run with 11:52 remaining, which cut the lead to 14-11. The Lions had a lengthy drive that ended on a failed fourth-down attempt, but McMinn punted back to the Lions with 4:39 to play.
Taking over at their own 27-yard line, the Lions responded with runs by Jones, Salley and Shawn Carter, with Jones faking a pitch and rushing around the left side for the game-sealing 37-yard touchdown run.
The Lions started 1-4 this season, a stretch that included four nonregion games with some against likely state title contenders from other classifications. October has been more enjoyable at Red Bank.
“This is a pretty big win leading us to the playoffs,” Jones said. “We really needed a huge win to be encouraged; we’d put the work in all summer, so we just needed that one win, and we finally pulled it off.”
Red Bank is 3-0 in Region 3-4A competition and returns to league play for the remainder of the regular season. The Lions, who are in control of their own fate in the region title race, visit Sequoyah (0-8, 0-3) next Friday and head to Loudon (4-4, 2-1) the week after that.
“I told our guys to buckle our seatbelts,” Gatewood said, “let’s keep this thing rolling and keep moving forward with what we did.”
Dyer had 96 yards on 19 attempts for the Cherokees, while quarterback Luke Lawson was held to 9-for-27 passing for 89 yards.
McMinn County, 3-1 in Region 3-5A competition, closes its regular season with back-to-back league games at home against Rhea County (7-1, 3-1) and East Hamilton (7-1, 3-1) over the next two weeks.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.