TABOR CITY — After four years of dominating the Three Rivers Conference, the South Columbus football team witnessed the other side of a lopsided contest where the opposing team imposed its will at the line of scrimmage with a power run game when Red Springs came to town on Friday.

The Red Devils earned an impressive and historic win over the Stallions to open conference play with a 49-7 win. The win is the Red Devils’ first win in Tabor City since 1975, and the first win ever over the current South Columbus High School on the gridiron.

“This was an important thing for the seniors and everybody else stepped up. We talk about chapters in a book and tonight’s chapter is a good chapter,” Red Springs coach Lawrence Ches said. “I’m proud of my offensive line. They led the way tonight. They told everybody to follow them and that they were going to handle the game. And they controlled the game. The line of scrimmage was where this game was won.”

Red Springs’ (2-1, 1-0 TRC) new chapter came after a bad chapter two weeks ago when Forest Hills defeated the Red Devils 37-34. But Friday’s win over South Columbus (1-2, 0-1 TRC) was about setting the tone for the rest of the year.

“We worked hard in practice all week and wanted to put that behind us,” linebacker Hunter Bryant said of the Forest Hills outing. “We needed to prove something to everybody.”

Bryant was in on a majority of the stops for Red Springs as the defense held the Stallions to 155 yards of total offense, but also locked down the Wing-T rushing attack to 72 yards in the Stallions’ first Three Rivers loss since November 2017.

“It took hard work and dedication this week in practice,” Bryant said. “We got a lot of help from the defensive line.

“It was more like a team effort to combine and win.”

On the other side of the ball, Lee McLean led a balanced rushing attack for the Red Devils that total 338 yards and all seven scores coming on the ground. The senior running back McLean had three scores after missing all of last year, including the close South Columbus loss, due to a knee injury.

“I saw how we lost last year and I knew that if we played hard enough we could win,” McLean said. “The offensive line gave me holes and they gave me the ball. It’s my senior year and we never beat them (before) so it felt good.”

McLean scored the first two times for Red Springs as it took a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter. He tallied 170 yards rushing in the win.

In that second quarter, both teams lost the ball on fumbles with their opponent striking on the next play from scrimmage. After a Red Springs turnover with 10 1/2 minutes to go until halftime, Jaquan Jordan and the Stallions scored on a pass to Rajon Graham to knot the score at 7.

Later in the second quarter, Red Springs’ John Chavis scooped up a fumble at the South Columbus 22-yard line and Denym McKeithan trotted in for two touchdowns on back-to-back offensive plays for Red Springs to follow up the McLean touchdown.

After the giving up the touchdown drive, South Columbus had three first downs the rest of the contest.

Red Springs scored on all four drives after halftime in a variety of different drive lengths. There were the short drives like the opening one of the third quarter, when it took three plays before Angel Washington scored his first of two touchdowns to put the Red Devils up 28-7. And the Red Devils also scored on long, tedious drives like the 12-play series that ended with McLean’s final score of the night that ate 5 1/2 minutes off the clock to go up 35-7.

Washington had 81 yards rushing and Keyante Graham added the final score of the game with 5:15 left.

“We felt like where we had an advantage was the line of scrimmage and the game plan all week was simple, but effective,” Ches said of the balanced rushing attack.

Red Springs host West Bladen next week, while South Columbus goes to East Bladen.

Jonathan Bym | The Robesonian Lee McLean looks for room to operate in the Red Devils’ 49-7 win over South Columbus.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_IMG_8171.jpgJonathan Bym | The Robesonian Lee McLean looks for room to operate in the Red Devils’ 49-7 win over South Columbus.

Jonathan Bym | The Robesonian Red Springs linebackers Hunter Bryant, left, and Corey Newton wrap up South Columbus running back Letrell Brown for a tackle on Friday in the Red Devils’ historic win in Tabor City to open Three Rivers Conference play.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Thisone.jpgJonathan Bym | The Robesonian Red Springs linebackers Hunter Bryant, left, and Corey Newton wrap up South Columbus running back Letrell Brown for a tackle on Friday in the Red Devils’ historic win in Tabor City to open Three Rivers Conference play.
Red Springs gets first win over South Columbus

By Jonathan Bym

Sports editor

Jonathan Bym can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Jonathan_Bym.