L.D. BRUCE FIELD — After Friday night, maybe red simply isn’t Ryan Bullock’s favorite color. Almost every time Hackleburg’s heralded quarterback clutched the pigskin, swarms of red-clad, Cedar Bluff defenders pestered the all-state senior.

By the time the Panthers and Bullock escaped back over the bridge towards Hackleburg, Cedar Bluff had thumped the seventh-ranked defending state 1A runners-up, 29-6.

Previously, Hackleburg had been averaging over 35 points per game. Their six points easily eclipses their previous season-low total.

In chilly weather seemingly more suited to Wisconsin than Weiss Lake, Bullock initially seemed up for the challenge. After a Cedar Bluff punt on the game’s first possession Hackleburg, donning white jerseys and pants with black and gold trim, registered the scoreboard’s first tally on a Bullock scramble, a 30-yard touchdown escape from the Bluff pass rush. After a failed point-after attempt, the Panthers led, 6-0.

Indeed, all game, most of Bullock’s scant positive yardage either came on short passes to the flat or on broken plays, eluding red waves of lunging linemen and blitzing linebackers.

On their next possession, the Tigers returned the favor, scoring on a four-play 25-yard drive sparked by senior Kyle Beck’s 41-yard kickoff return. Sophomore quarterback Levi Mintz’s sneak over center and a successful Mando Williams PAT inched Cedar Bluff into the lead at 7-6, the score at the end of the first quarter.

After Hackleburg’s next possession ended in a punt, Cedar Bluff’s balanced attack led a time-consuming drive. Senior Tyric Scales scored with a three-yard reception on the twelfth play of a 78-yard possession. After a botched PAT snap, Scales improvised, rolling to his right and lobbing into a crowd of players. Senior Tony McGinnis emerged with the ball and Cedar Bluff led 15-6.

After Hackleburg, then Cedar Bluff, then Hackleburg failed on offensive possessions, Cedar Bluff struck again when sophomore receiver DeAngelo Hardy’s 15-yard grab over the middle and senior kicker Williams’s PAT stretched the Tiger lead to 22-6, a lead they would take into the locker room.

With a substantial halftime margin, Cedar Bluff tweaked its pass rush for the second half, opting at times for a less bulky line.

“We put some smaller, quick guys in and interchanged them,” coach Jonathan McWhorter said after the game. “Some of the younger guys who we substituted in, kind of our quick package, made a big difference tonight.”

Consequently, the Tiger pass rush became even more effective, forcing Bullock into two of his three interceptions and registering five sacks in the second half.

Hackleburg controlled the ball for eleven of the half’s first twelve plays, aided by a Tiger fumble and penalties. But the Panthers failed to advance past the Cedar Bluff 25-yard line.

The Tigers scored again, driving 56 yards on five plays. Kyle Beck’s six-yard touchdown trot up the middle gave Cedar Bluff the 29-6 lead.

Smothered under the relentless Tiger pass rush, the Panthers were for their last two possessions. Bullock spent much of that time on his back, buried underneath red jerseys.

“We knew what we had to do. We had to get pressure,” McWhorter said. “We had to contain the quarterback.”

With the win, Cedar Bluff (9-2) advances to the second round of the state playoffs for the tenth consecutive year. The Tigers will travel to play R. A. Hubbard (10-1), which defeated Hackleburg, 20-14, earlier this season.