Kingston weathers the rain to crush Dickson

Friday night brought another district showdown for the Kingston Redskins as they moved into the second half of their district schedule. After playing through the district also-rans in Coalgate, Tishomingo and Marietta, as well as the suddenly rebounding Davis Wolves, Kingston’s last three weeks of the regular season feature three playoff contenders. Their first test was against the Dickson Comets, on a cold, wet windy fall night in Dickson. Undeterred by the miserable weather, the Redskins blew out the Comets 46-0 and remained undefeated in district play.

Dickson started well with their first drive, as do-everything sophomore Johnny Smith started the Comets off with a 12-yard run for a first down. Three plays later, however, Dickson’s offense sputtered, and Kingston went to work. The Redskins pounded the Comets with the run, and when the Comets crowded the line, mixed in enough play-action passing to take advantage of the Dickson secondary, and junior running back AJ Smith finished off the drive with a one-yard touchdown on fourth and goal - the second fourthdown conversion of the drive - to put the Redskins up 7-0.

Dickson’s offense went backwards the next drive, and the Comets lined up to punt on fourth and 17 from their own

13. Dickson head coach Steve Day, feeling that his Comets had to be aggressive to stay in the game, called on Smith to run from punt formation. Smith put on a show, picking up 16 of the 17 yards he needed, but Dickson turned it over on downs at their own 29.

The short field was not kind to the Dickson defense. Kingston picked up a first down on a 15-yard run by McKinney, and two plays later junior quarterback Jase Hayes hit a wide open target, junior tight end Matthew Hawkins, in the end zone for another Redskins touchdown, giving Kingston at 13-0 lead late in the first quarter.

Dickson’s offense sputtered again, and Smith was in punt formation again after another three-and-out from his own end zone. The weather played a role in Smith’s shanked punt, and Kingston took over again with a short field on the Dickson 22. This time, two runs by sophomore running back Brandon Watson gave Kingston another touchdown and a 21-0 lead four plays into the second quarter.

The Comets had plenty of fight left though and put together their best drive of the first half. Senior quarterback Rusty Beaird mixed in runs of his own along with handoffs to Smith on a series of read-option plays to drive the ball into Kingston’s red zone. However, on fourth and 11, Beaird’s pass to freshman receiver Jzavionn Bennett picked up only eight yards, and the Comets turned over the ball on downs.

It was time for Kingston’s offense to struggle, and Kingston gained only two yards before the Redskins punted, with the ball being downed on the Redskins’ 38. Dickson proved unable to take advantage of the great field position, and the Comets’ punt went out of