Red Bay rolls to 31-7 rout

By Staff
Mike Self, FCT Sports Editor
BLOUNTSVILLE – Joe McKinney's 75-yard return for a touchdown on the opening kickoff of Friday night's Class 2A playoff game undoubtedly stunned J.B. Pennington, but it hardly came as a surprise to Red Bay.
In fact, the Tigers had been planning it for quite some time.
"I told Joe earlier in the day that we were going to make a wedge for him and all he had to do was run through it," said senior linebacker Clay Collins, a member of the kick return team. "He said he would, and that's exactly what he did. It was awesome."
McKinney's big return left Pennington staggering, and Collins and the Red Bay defense finished them off with a dominant, hard-hitting effort as the Tigers advanced to the second round with a surprising 31-7 win.
"Our defense and our special teams made some big plays for us tonight," said Red Bay coach Dale Jeffreys, whose team will host No. 2 Fyffe on Friday. "We knew we needed to win the field position battle and keep them on their end, and Pablo [Makepeace] had a couple of great punts that helped us do that. Offensively, we moved the ball pretty well. I think we only had one three-and-out. We've had some games this year where we played well, but we always seemed to have bad luck with turnovers and things like that. Tonight was probably as close to perfect as we've played this season."
It all started on the opening kickoff as McKinney fielded the ball at his own 25 and raced virtually untouched up the middle of the field before veering to the right and out-racing the coverage to the end zone.
"I just saw a big ol' hole," McKinney said. "The guys told me they would open one up for me, and they did. They did a great job blocking, and all I had to do was run."
Jeffreys said the big return was partially a result of something he and his staff saw during film study.
"We saw on film that they were a little weak up the middle on their kick coverage," he said. "We knew that wherever we fielded the kick, we wanted to get the ball to the middle of the field."
A crushing hit by Collins on Devyn Murphree on Pennington's opening drive set the tone for Red Bay's defense, which allowed only 58 total yards and three first downs in the first half as the Tigers built a 20-0 lead.
"We knew they were a physical team that likes to run the ball, so we wanted to come out and hit them early," said Collins, who forced one fumble and recovered another in the first half. "We thought that would slow them up a little bit."
Red Bay ended up forcing three turnovers on the night and holding Pennington to just 173 yards and seven first downs.
"They're a physical team, but I think we're pretty physical on defense, too," Jeffreys said. "And we're a little faster than them. Fast and physical is a whole lot different than slow and physical.
"Our defense has been playing well all year. We've just been giving up too many points on turnovers and on special teams plays. Tonight, we didn't do that."
After a hit by Collins forced a fumble that Makepeace recovered near midfield late in the first quarter, Red Bay moved 48 yards in six plays for its first offensive touchdown.
A 19-yard run by quarterback Cody Tucker set up his own 12-yard touchdown run that made it 14-0 and gave the Tigers the cushion they needed to pound away at Pennington with their running game.
Red Bay finished the night with 225 rushing yards, including 96 by Tucker on 11 attempts.
Makepeace and Josh Senkbeil each added 63 yards on the ground.
The Tigers extended the lead to 20-0 with less than a minute left in the first half when Tucker capped off a 12-play, 52-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Cody Armstrong.
Pennington scored on the opening drive of the second half when a 48-yard run by Gage Hitt set up a 12-yard touchdow run by Corey Phillips. The PAT made it 20-7 with 7:26 left in the third quarter, but Pennington would get no closer.
An interception by Makepeace on the first play of the fourth quarter and a 31-yard run by Tucker set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Senkbeil. Senkbeil added the two-point conversion run to make it 28-7 with 10:19 remaining.
After a turnover on downs by Pennington, Chris Frame put the finishing touches on an emotional win with a 37-yard field goal.
"We practiced hard all week to get ready for this game," McKinney said. "Coach told us we could do it, and we believed him."