OVER-TIMELY KICK
Smith’s first field goal lifts Lions over Central, 23-20
Kyle Smith had kicked countless field goals during practice but never once in a game. Until Red Bank needed one most.
Despite a bobbled snap, the skinny junior calmly drilled a 25-yard kick in overtime to lift the Lions to a 23-20 victory over stubborn Central at Tom Weathers Field on Friday night.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous before the kick,” Smith said between hugs from teammates and classmates on the field moments after. “I just told myself to do what I do every day in practice.
“I didn’t even see the snap. I just saw the ball and followed through.”
After last week’s season opener was washed away, Red Bank needed much of the first quarter to work through the kinks before rallying for two second-quarter touchdowns to take a 13-7 halftime lead.
Central (1-1) scored first on a 17-yard run by Michael McGhee late in the first quarter, but the Lions (1-0) answered with a 42-yard punt return by Michael Porter to pull within one point. Lumiere Strickland capped a nine-play drive with a 3-yard scoring run to put Red Bank ahead.
The Lions, who were playing without all-state athlete Calvin Jackson — he sat out with a hamstring injury — looked to be in control after Strickland added another short TD run early in the third, but that’s when Central began to rally. Two plays after Red Bank had stretched its lead, Purple Pounders quarterback Jaheim Jones connected with T.J. Payne for a 44-yard scoring strike.
The Lions turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions, but their defense held each time. The Pounders were finally able to cash in on a break when, after a 4-yard punt gave them the ball at Red Bank’s 23, it took three plays before McGhee scored on a 4-yard run. Red Bank blocked the point-after try, keeping the score deadlocked at 20.
“What I learned about my team is what I already knew: We’ve got some fighters,” Lions first-year coach Chris Brown said after notching his first career win. “I told Kyle before he went out there that the worst-case scenario was that this awesome football game would keep going. But he drilled it, and when I find him I’m going to hug his neck.”
After the Lions drove to Central’s 10, a bad snap cost them a shot at a possible go-ahead field goal with just over three minutes remaining, and the Pounders’ 43-yard field-goal try near the end of regulation came up short.
Again it was the Red Bank defense that set up the game-winner when senior defensive lineman Taylor Culpepper intercepted a deflected pass on Central’s third snap of overtime.
“That one hurt,” Central coach Curt Jones said. “Our kids have no quit in them, and I’m so proud of the way they fought back all night against a good team. We’re a lot closer to getting to where we want to be than some people thought.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.