Red Bank made a shut down adjustment at the half and the Lions forced five Hixson turnovers, scored 21 third quarter points and continued its dominance in Hamilton County's longest running public school rivalry in a 35-3 handling Friday night of neighboring Hixson to remain in the hunt for a shot at share of the Region 3-4A title.
The Lions need a win against unbeaten Loudon and a loss by Soddy Daisy next week for the outright title after taking care of the Wildcats for the 52nd time in the 69th meeting between the two programs dating back to 1949. It was Red Bank's sixth win in a row in the series which has been played more times than any in the area outside of Baylor-McCallie and McMinn County-Bradley Central.
"We knew we would get their A game because of the rivalry. You get a neighborhood thing like Hixson and Red Bank and you expect nothing less. The world has gotten so much smaller with social media and these kids know each other well. I'm just really proud of the way we responded after halftime with some adjustments. I told them we had to shut them down, and they did," said Red Bank coach Ted Gatewood, who has been a player, an assistant coach and now head coach covering nine of those 69 battles.
Whatever adjustment was made certainly worked as the Lions forced four turnovers and a punt in Hixson's five second half possessions. Shutdown indeed. Red Bank held Hixson to minus eight yards passing in the second half and wound up picking off three passes on the night.
The Wildcats (2-7) hung tough early and only trailed 14-3 at the break as their defense was lights out behind Adam Billingsley's tough sledding. But it was the Red Bank defense which provided the biggest plays, including Shawn Carter's first quarter pick six on Hixson's third play of the game. Carter's weaving run after the interception made it 7-0 at the 8:47 mark. Hixson's strong-armed quarterback Luke Finch drove the Wildcats back down the field, completing all three of his tosses for 39 yards but the drive stalled inside the 10 before Logan Springer knocked home a 21-yard field goal.
Billingsley's sack on a fourth down play gave Hixson the ball back but the drive stalled at the 30 after Olivir Merritt forced a punt with a big sack of his own. Red Bank made the most of the final drive before the break as Logan McGinnis hit Josiah Featherstone on a leaping 32-yard catch to set it up and then found Drayden Collier on a beauty, scrambling to avoid the rush and firing a 14-yard score on third down with just 1:05 left.
Hixson, behind Finch's arm and legs, drove it 37 yards but a fake field goal came up empty on the final play of the half from the 18.
"We got to halftime and really locked in. We moved our linebackers to the inside and it was really effective taking away the things they wanted to do. I was able to see things a lot better from the inside, and we got after them," said linebacker Jackson Fowler, who forced a fumble, intercepted a pass and tipped another ball that was picked in the third period.
The tip on Hixson's first drive landed in Jeff Hall's hands and he returned it 28 yards to the Wildcat 30. Featherstone touched every time on the short drive, running for 25 and then hauling in a pass from McGinnis after a holding penalty to make it 21-3.
"I think the drive at the end of the first half got us in a better rhythm, but the defense put us in some good spots," praised Gatewood.
After big Micah Hardaway, who was a menace all night with the quarterback pressures, batted down a pass and then made the tackle on Finch after he caught his redirected throw, Hixson punted and it took just three plays to cover 25 yards with Olivir Merritt ramming it in from the one. Fowler got his interception on the next series and returned 25 yards to the Hixson 10 and McGinnis kept on a fourth down play from the one to make it 35-3 heading into the final period.
"I have a great connection with our defensive line coach (Bryan Satterfield) and we were able to read their formations, so we had a good idea where things were going. Just a good win, and a lot of good prep for the game," said Hardaway, who was all over the quarterback on a bunch of the throws.
Jacolbi Salley recovered a fumble which was forced by a big hit by Hardaway and Robert Owens recovered another fumble as not much went right for the Wildcat offense.
Featherstone wound up with 55 rushing yards and 47 receiving yards and McGinnis completed just three passes but two were for scores and he added 33 rushing yards and the score.
"There's a lot of dislike between the schools, but it was a fun game. Our defense was the story for sure," said McGinnis.
Tariq Reese led Hixson with 46 yards on four catches and Santana Sharp had 43 rushing yards.
SCORING SUMMARY
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HIXSON
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-- 3
|
|
RED BANK
|
7
|
7
|
21
|
0
|
-- 35
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1st Quarter
RB 8:47 1Q: Shawn Carter 40 yd interception return; Joseph Thompson (PAT) 7-0
HX 3:33 1Q: Logan Springer 21 yd field goal 7-3
2nd Quarter
RB 1:05 2Q: Drayden Collier 14 yd pass from Logan McGinnis; Joseph Thompson (PAT) 14-3
3rd Quarter
RB 7:06 3Q: Josiah Featherstone 15 yd pass from Logan McGinnis; Joseph Thompson (PAT) 21-3
RB 3:57 3Q: Olivir Merritt 1 yd run; Joseph Thompson (PAT) 28-3
RB 1:33 3Q: Logan McGinnis 1 yd run; Joseph Thompson (PAT) 35-3
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STATS
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Hixson
|
Red Bank
|
|
First Downs
|
12
|
9
|
|
Rushes-Yards
|
29-124
|
29-135
|
|
Passing Yards
|
81
|
61
|
|
Total yards
|
205
|
196
|
|
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
|
13-21-3
|
3-5-0
|
|
Fumbles-Lost
|
3-1
|
0-0
|
|
Penalties-Yards
|
6-50
|
6-50
|
|
3rd Down Conversions
|
2-9
|
4-8
|
|
Punts-Avg,.
|
2-34.0
|
2-43.5
|
Individual stats
Rushing: Santana Sharp 11-43, Luke Finch 12-32, Lawuan Hughley 3-29, Tramell Davis Jr. 2-4Adam Billingsley 2-(-1) (H); Olivir Merritt 6-17, Josiah Featherstone 11-55, Jacolbi Salley 4-25, Logan McGinnis 7-33 (RB).
Passing: Luke Finch 12-20-3 81 yards Chase Barnard 0-1-0 0 yards (H); Logan McGinnis 3-5-0 61 yards (RB).
Receiving: Tariq Reese 4-46, Santana Sharp 1-13, Cam Wilson 1-15, Tramell Davis Jr. 3-9, Ronald Suttles 1-11, Lawuan Hughley 2-5, Luke Finch 1-(-16) (H); Josiah Featherstone 2-47, Drayden Collier 1-14 (RB).
RECORDS: Hixson (2-7, 1-4 3-4A), Red Bank (6-2, 4-1 3-4A).
NEXT UP: Hixson hosts East Ridge and Red Bank hosts Loudon.
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)