BRUCE FIELD — As a chilly breeze whisked across the gridiron Friday night, Kyle Crane's scarlet jersey, a pigskin clutched next to it, inched across the chalky stripe of the north end zone. Crossing that barrier not only secured a two-touchdown, fourth quarter lead against rival Gaylesville; it also fulfilled the Cedar Bluff Tigers' year-long quest to make the state playoffs.

Statistics in the 26-14 win may single out junior Tyric Scales's two touchdown receptions, junior Zach Taylor's 98 receiving yards, and Crane rushing and passing for all four Tiger scores. However, Cedar Bluff coach Jonathan McWhorter pointed out that his team's success comes in part from the people who don't often get their names in the newspaper.

“I want to really commend our scout team, because we saw as good of a look at Gaylesville schemes during the week,” McWhorter said. “Coach Mitchell, Coach Welchel, and Coach McFry do as good a job as anybody. It was a total team effort this week.”

Though Cedar Bluff, which hasn't lost to Gaylesville since 1995, controlled most facets of the game, a Tiger victory was far from certain in the early going. After Audrey Leach sang the national anthem, spectators had hardly returned to their seats before Gaylesville's first score.

On the second play from scrimmage, Josh Whitaker received a pass from fellow junior Luke Murphy, then scampered 46 yards for the touchdown. After the conversion pass to David Sanford, Gaylesville led 8-0.

Despite the deficit and noisy elation from the Trojan faithful, Cedar Bluff's “spread” offense took control of the scoreboard. After punting on their second possession, Crane connected on touchdown strikes to Scales for eight yards, Taylor for 66, and Scales again for three yards to give the Tigers a 20-8 halftime lead.

Gaylesville's defense stiffened in the third quarter and kept Cedar Bluff out of the end zone on seven straight possessions.

“I have to tip my hat to Coach Clowdis and his guys, they do some things defensively and offensively that are just not easy to contend with,” McWhorter said. “They come right at you. They are very physical.”

A big defensive play brought Gaylesville to within one touchdown of the lead with 8:30 left in the third. John Paul Van Pelt blocked a Tiger punt and returned it 42 yards for the touchdown. After missing the two-point try, Gaylesville was down 20-14.

After Crane scored on a one-yard run, Gaylesville put together three first downs and crept inside the Cedar Bluff 20-yard line. But the Tiger defense stiffened and the Trojans turned to ball over on downs with just over two minutes remaining. Cedar Bluff was able to kill the clock and secure the win.

Clowdis, clearly disappointed that his team didn't play better, shouldered all the blame.

“We didn't have them ready to play,” he said. “Next week, we'll come back and fight.”

Gaylesville (5-4, 4-3), secured a playoff berth last week, and will travel to Jefferson Christian for a non-region game Friday. Next week, the Trojans will begin the playoffs at either Appalachian or Coosa Christian.

Cedar Bluff (6-3, 5-2) also travels out of region for their final regular season game, against Randolph County. The game has been switched to Thursday night because of impending bad weather later this week.

The Tigers will host a first-round playoff here at Bruce Field next Friday.