The fourth time was not the charm on Roan Mountain on Friday night in round two of the TSSAA playoffs at Orr Field. Once again the Coalfield Yellow Jackets treated Orr Field as their own and routed the Highlanders 48-8 and held the Cloudland to a mere 38 yards on the ground.

“We couldn’t block them,” ‘Landers head coach Mike Lunsford said. “I knew they were one of the better football teams I have seen. They are big, strong and very physical up front. I watched them play against some very good teams and I didn’t see anybody run the ball on them.”

COALFIELD DEFENSE DOMINATES FIRST HALF

Yellow Jackets senior quarterback Parker McKinney riddled the Cloudland secondary with 137 yards on six-of-nine passing and returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the first half as Coalfield took a 34-0 halftime lead.

Coalfield (11-1) held the Highlanders offense to 44 yards of total offense – with 28 yards on the ground – and just 16 passing yards. Junior quarterback Malachi Benfield was picked off twice and had just two completions in the first half.

“We have faced (a stacked box) before,” Lunsford said. “That’s something we have seen with six, seven-man fronts. It’s not how many they had, but who they had. It was the men they put in there. They were better than us, plain and simple. They were better at most every position.”

Tyler Keathly opened the scoring with a nine yard gallop to cap a 34 yard drive in four plays after a shanked Cloudland punt. The kick traveled just to the line of scrimmage after being partially blocked and the Jackets wasted no time cashing in.

On Coalfield’s third possession McKinney connected with little brother, sophomore Peyton McKinney on a 45 yard scoring pass for a 14-0 Jackets lead. Parker McKinney then picked off Benfield on the far sideline and rambled all the way to the end zone as Coalfield extended to a 21-0 lead.

In the second period Parker McKinney found Peyton McKinney once again – this on a 24 yard scoring toss that staked Coalfield to a 28-0 lead. On the next Cloudland possession Benfield was picked off again by Parker McKinney and his 40 yard return made it 34-0 after the point after kick was wide.

YELLOW JACKETS KEEP THE PRESSURE ON

The Jackets made it a 41-0 contest early in the third period with McKinney capping a 42 yard drive with an 11 yard run.

‘LANDERS BREAKTHROUGH

Cloudland (9-3) got on the scoreboard on the first play of the fourth quarter when Benfield hit junior tailback Jordan Coffey on a swing pass that Coffey took down the far sideline to pay dirt and Benfield added the deuce as the ‘Landers cut the deficit to 41-8.

“We fought back in the second half,” Lunsford said. “I was very proud of that. The longer the game went on, the better we played and I couldn’t ask for anything more. McKinney did a great job. He made a nice move on the second pick. He waited for the right time and switched over. We thought we could pick on 34 (Ashton Jones) a little bit in the passing game and we had him isolated on the side, but McKinney figured out what we were doing and switched and picked it off.”

On Coalfield’s first play of the next sequence Jones broke through several tackles and raced 44 yards for the final points of the contest.

TSSAA Playoffs

Round Two

Coalfield 48-8

Coalfield 21 13 7 7 – 48

Cloudland 0 0 0 8 – 8

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

Co – Keathley 9 run (kick failed) 8:12

Co – Pe. McKinney 45 pass from Pa. McKinney (McKinney pass to Miklas) 1:33

Co – Pa. McKinney 45 interception return (Withrow kick) :37.5

Second Quarter

Co – Pe. McKinney 24 pass from Pa. McKinney (Withrow kick) 7:13

Co – Pa. McKinney 40 interception return (kick failed) 3:30

Third Quarter

Co – Pa. McKinney 11 run (Withrow kick) 8:26

Fourth Quarter

C – Coffey 45 pass from Benfield (Benfield run) 11:34

Co – Jones 44 run (Withrow kick) 11:15

TEAM STATISTICS

Co C

FIRST DOWNS 10 4

RUSHES / YDS 21-187 29-38

C-A-I 7-12-1 5-16-2

PASSING YDS 142 68

TOTAL OFFENSE 329 106

FUM / LOST 0-0 0-0

PUNTS / AVG 2-35.5 4-24.3

RETURN YARDS 155 107

SACK / YDS LOST 0-0 0-0

TOTAL YARDS 484 213

PENALTIES / YDS 7-60 1-5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Co – Keathley 5-51, Pa. McKinney 2-19, Jones 4-88, S. Lowe 6-17, Kelly 1-2, Woodward 1-(-1), Byrd 1-6, Duncan 1-5. C – Coffey 11-19, J. Blair 10-21, H. Blair 3-3, Benfield 3-(-1), Lacy 2-

(-4).

PASSING

Co – Pa. McKinney 7-11, 142 yds. 2 TD, 0 int. Jones 0-1, 1 int. C – Benfield 5-16, 68 yds. 1 TD, 2 ints.

RECEIVING

Co – Pe. McKinney 4-87, M. Lowe 2-28, Jones 1-27. C – Coffey 3-52, Lacy 1-9, Birchfield 1-7.