Lethgo, defense help Red Devils advance to quarterfinals
By Ken Lay
For the first time since 1996, Halls High School has reached the quarterfinals of the TSSAA state playoffs
And as a reward, the Red Devils will get a rematch with Central this week.
Halls (7-4) posted a dominant performance on its way to a 42-14 victory over Lawrence County Friday night at Dink Adams Field.
It didn’t take Red Devils’ coach Brent Hughes long to invoke the past in his emotional postgame speech to his team.
“It feels like 1996, man,” Hughes said.
The victory over the Wildcats (8-4) was definitely cause for celebration as Hughes is happy just to have another week with his team.
“I get emotional. I get another week with my guys and that’s all I care about,” Hughes said. “I don’t know how long this thing is going to last, but I’m going to cherish every moment with these guys.
“I couldn’t be more proud.”
The story of the night and the win over Lawrence County as it all came down to defense and the play of quarterback Amari Lethgo.
“All this week, all I heard was how our defense was going to have to play against their big defensive line,” Hughes said. “And we came out and we smacked them in the mouth.
“I’ve just got a bunch of kids that find a way. I’ve got dudes that find a way and in these games, you want your dudes to be dudes.”
The defense answered when called upon as Gavin Self recorded a tackle for loss on fourth down late in the second quarter to thwart a promising drive for the Wildcats and Eddy Soto had an interception in the waning seconds of the third stanza. Dom Culp also had a big impact on that side of the ball for the Red Devils as he was in on a bevy of crucial stops.
On offense, Lethgo, who has been Halls’ starting quarterback since his freshman season, put up another clutch performance.
He was 23-for-28 through the air, amassing 335 yards and throwing five touchdown passes. He also had a scoring run on a night that saw things get off to an inauspicious start. He threw an interception to end his team’s first offensive possession. The Wildcats, however, couldn’t cash in as Halls blocked a field goal.
But Lethgo recovered quickly and lofted a 54-yard touchdown strike to Jarrell Chandler with 4 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
After the Wildcats tied the contest early in the second quarter, Halls and Lethgo answered. The quarterback had a 4-yard touchdown run, making the score 14-7 and giving the Red Devils the lead for good with 2:16 to go before halftime.
And Halls wasn’t finished.
Lethgo’s touchdown toss to Brody Rogers with 53.6 seconds left in the second stanza to give the Red Devils the 21-7 advantage they enjoyed at the break.
After halftime, the Halls defense shut down Lawrence County, and Lethgo had a 1-yard scoring toss to all but put things away.
The Wildcats were able to pull within 28-14 before Lethgo had two more touchdown passes to Rogers to close the scoring in the contest.
Next up for the Red Devils: Halls will make the short trip to Fountain City to tangle with Black Oak Ridge rival Central (10-2) at Dan Y. Boring Stadium.
The Bobcats edged the Red Devils 38-35 in the annual regular-season meeting between the two longtime rivals.
Central punched its ticket to the Class 5A quarterfinals with a 38-28 victory at Columbia.
