Anderson County’s players and coaches were holding up eight fingers after Friday’s game in celebration of an eighth straight region title.
But eight wasn’t the only important number.
There was 35, as in the number of points the Mavericks scored in the third quarter.
And 6, for the number of turnovers Anderson County forced.
It all added up to a 49-6 victory at Gibbs, giving the Mavericks the Region 2-4A title, and ending the Eagles’ undefeated season in the process.
Everything came together for Anderson County (7-1, 4-0) in the third quarter after going into halftime with a 14-6 lead.
Foreshadowing what was to come in a quarter that likely felt never-ending for the Eagles, Trent Strickland intercepted a pass by Warren Axton on the first play to set the Mavericks up at the opposing 6-yard line.
Two plays later, Waylon LaRue scored his third of four touchdowns on the night from 3 yards out.
“When you’re playing other teams, you don’t always come out just playing your best. And your team needs to have that hope that once we figure this out, we can score on anybody,” Anderson County coach Davey Gillum said.
“ … We were like a sparring match in those first two quarters trying to get some things worked out up front. Halftime, we felt like we got it worked out, got everything fixed, and we feel comfortable that they probably weren’t going to be able to slow us down in the second half.”
The quarter was one highlight after another for the Mavericks.
LaRue pulled away for a 66-yard run up the middle for a score.
Strickland caught a pass at about the Gibbs 40, juked a defender and cashed in for a 56-yard touchdown.
Gabe St. John forced, recovered and returned a fumble 21 yards into the end zone.
And Riley Wolfenbarger snuck behind the secondary and caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Landen Hensley.
Even with the big plays, Gillum said the real difference was being able to control the line of scrimmage. That was evident early when Gibbs tried to find traction up the middle in the run game with Brady Hughes but couldn’t.
Hughes — Gibbs’ leading rusher — was relegated to zero yards on three carries as the Eagles opted for more sweep plays and quarterback runs.
“We thought going in that our OL, DL was the significant difference,” Gillum said.
“We’re a lot bigger than them. They’re well coached, and they do a lot of things, but we didn’t think offense or defense they were going to be able to get movement there (up the middle).
“We anticipated more of a horizontal game, more of a pass game, more of a spread out game …
“They actually got us early on a jet sweep. We didn’t set the edge and they made a big play, but other than that our guys did a real good job setting the edge, and a lot of times those were negative plays for them.”
One of players consistently causing those negative plays was defensive lineman Taylor Davis. The senior finished with 2.5 tackles for loss, and made things difficult for Axton in the passing game.
“He’s a wrecking ball,” Gillum said.
“You can’t block him one-on-one. Relentless motor. Great speed rusher, they couldn’t block him all night. In the run game he beat some blocks and made plays.
“ … The thing they (Gibbs) make you do, especially our backers and our safeties, it’s still option football, whether it’s in shotgun or whatever, so our guys have to play assignments, read a guy, not get caught in the eye candy and trust their teammates, and they did all night.”
LaRue entered the game already having a strong season with 1,082 rushing yards, but Friday the senior and first-year starter took it to another level.
LaRue had a 38-yard touchdown run in the first half in which he appeared to get tied up by a defender at the Gibbs 23-yard line, spun out of the tackle and took it the distance.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I just let my body take control in the moment,” LaRue said.
“I saw two safeties every time, they were fitting fast, so I knew I had to put my shoulders down and I just let my body react to it.”
For the night, LaRue totaled 177 yards on 16 carries.
“He’s a special guy,” Gillum said.
“So fast. It’s one thing to be fast — O-line squirting him out and giving him room — but when you can make a safety miss and you come to a standstill, and then their team is chasing you full speed, and in one step pull away, that’s special stuff.
“He turns some 20-yard runs into home runs and really broke this thing open.”
For Gibbs (8-1,3-1), everything was off kilter opposed to how it got off to its 8-0 start, the best in school history.
The Eagles came into Friday with a plus-17 turnover margin, but gave the ball away six times and did not force any turnovers.
Axton had only thrown two interceptions the entire season, but had four Friday.
And the Eagles had two drives in the first half that started in Anderson County territory, but only came away with three points between those drives.
It also probably didn’t help that Anderson County was coming off its first loss of the season, 30-27, to West last Friday.
“We lost and it sucked,” LaRue said.
“But we went back to practice and said ‘we could’ve played better than that.’ We didn’t let it affect us, we faced adversity head on, and we came out here and took it out on somebody else.
“It feels great to get an eighth straight region championship.”
Article written by Matthew Lutey/ 5Star Preps To read more on area high school sports or to see photo galleries, videos, stat leaders, etc… visit 5StarPreps.com — and use promo code New2024 for 30% off your first year or month subscription.
