Red Devils trounce Woodlawn

WOODLAWN — Fay Haywood scored five Mountain Pine touchdowns as the Red Devils walloped Woodlawn 56-19 Friday night.

Haywood carried seven times for 206 yards. Collin Smith gained 100 yards on three carries and Eli Browning 94 on five rushing plays, Browning scoring a touchdown.

Mountain Pine avenged a 39-7 loss to Woodlawn in Red Devil coach Sam Counce’s first season and improved to 2-1, snapping a 17-game losing streak the previous game in an 8-7 game with Cutter Morning Star.

Three touchdowns were called back. “It was a crazy deal,” Counce said. “We’d score, and then they’d call it back. It was a crazy game. It was a good win for us.”

Mountain Pine led 20-0 after the first quarter, 42-19 at halftime after a Woodlawn rally and 56-19 after three quarters.

“At one point, they were within a score of tying it up,” Counce said. “It’s a good experience for our kids to have to bear down and tighten back up and refocus. They kind of got hit in the mouth, and they responded to it, and we scored on the next drive.”

Mountain Pine plays winless Dierks on the road Friday night in both teams’ 2A-7 opener.

“That was a good feeling for our kids,” Counce said. “They’ve had some tough roads at Mountain Pine.

“We kinda settled back in and settled business in the second half. I was proud of them second half. … We kinda took care of what we needed to in the second half and got out of there. … In the second half, I felt like the kids settled in and understood what we were trying to get across to them — finishing the game and coming home and get ready for conference.”