A second-half quarterback change took Signal Mountain out of the doldrums and into a chance to steal a win on its final possession Friday night in front of its home fans, but the Red Bank defense had other plans.
Drew Lowry, the senior receiver-turned-quarterback, miraculously extended Signal Mountain's final drive twice with his arm, but his final pass of the night bounced off an Eagle's hands to crown Red Bank the 20-13 winner in the heated rivalry game inside Region 3-3A.
Lowry passed for 101 yards with a pair of touchdowns after being inserted into the quarterback role at halftime. On the winning side, the Lions were led by Lumiere Strickland offensively with 92 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Senior receiver Calvin Jackson also added two touchdowns on the ground.
"It was definitely frustrating towards the end, but in the end they came out and did what we expected them to," Red Bank coach Chris Brown said after his second career win with the Lions (2-0). "They were explosive in the passing game. They can exploit your weakness if you're not dialed in. They made some great plays that put us in some tough situations, but we got the one stop that we needed."
Before the halftime break, Red Bank grounded the Eagles quickly with the tune of three touchdowns on its first four possessions. Jackson capped a 13-play opening drive with a 1-yard touchdown run out of the backfield. About six minutes later, a Tyler Jones interception return set up another Jackson touchdown run for a 14-point lead.
Then early in the second quarter, sophomore running back Strickland got in on the scoring action with a 3-yard run for the three-score lead.
Defensively, the Lions were carrying the offense's momentum by directing one-way traffic - holding the Eagles to 30 yards of offense for the entire first half.
"We were clicking as well as we have all season," Jackson said about the Lions' first-half production. "I felt like we were in a zone, and usually when we get into our zone it's hard to knock us out of it, but I think the halftime break stopped our momentum a bit and it was hard to find it again after that."
The Eagles received the ball coming out of halftime with a new quarterback and philosophy. After they tried to do most of their damage in the air during the first half, the newly entered signal-caller ran the ball seven times for 40 yards including a 5-yard touchdown to bring new life to the Signal Mountain sideline and fans.
On his very next possession, Lowry showed he could hit an open receiver when he connected with Malone Howley on a slant pattern that the senior receiver took 34 yards downfield to cut Red Bank's lead to seven - where it stayed until the final whistle.
"It gave us a little more diversity to the attack with him being able to run," Signal Mountain coach Josh Roberts said about the change at quarterback. "We like him at receiver, but we like the energy he can bring to the offense, and we had a lot more of that in the second half than the first."
Red Bank will host another Region 3-3A member in McMinn Central next week, while Signal Mountain (0-3) hosts Whitwell.
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com