L.D. BRUCE FIELD — Last week after a win over Collinsville, Cedar Bluff defensive coordinator Scott Clifton pointed out to the media that his starting defense had only given up 21 points all season. In that regard, nothing had changed after the Tigers’ dominating 53-9 win over Donoho on homecoming.

In fact, only one other defense in the recorded history of high school football in Alabama has put on a more dominating display. The Falcons’ minus-48 yards rushing Friday night trails only a minus-49 yard effort by Aliceville in 1969.

It was the Cedar Bluff offense that posted the first two points of the night for the visitors. Late in the game with the score 53-0, an errant snap inside their own 5-yard line resulted in the Tigers donating two points to the Falcons on a safety.

A few minutes later, the Tigers’ second-string defense gave up a 17-yard touchdown pass. But Donoho’s 9 fourth-quarter points was way too little, way too late.

The Cedar Bluff defensive unit set the tone for the evening on the Falcons’ opening drive. Curtis Abernathy sacked quarterback Marshall Ghee on three consecutive plays, forcing a punt on fourth-and-33.

Ghee, who spent most of the night either scrambling from intense pressure of picking himself up off the turf, finished the night 8-of-25 for 30 yards and a pair of interceptions--both by the Tigers’ Terrance Scales.

If not for the dominating performance by the Cedar Bluff defense, the story of the night would have been the passing performance of quarterback Levi Mintz. The senior completed 16 passes in 22 attempts for 317 yards and five touchdowns. He rushed for another score.

The Tigers were forced to punt on their initial drive, but got on track on their next possession. On the third play of the drive, Mintz passed deep over the middle to a wide-open DeAngelo Hardy from 33 yards out to make the score 7-0 with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter.

Consecutive sacks by the Tigers’ Nick Combs quickly ended another Donoho drive. Three plays later, Mintz again hit Hardy over the middle, this time from 48 yards for a 13-0 lead after a missed extra point.

The two teams swapped unsuccessful drives, then Cedar Bluff drove down the field again. After Mintz moved the ball into the red zone with long passes to Rickey Pendley and Devante Dixon, running back D’Shawn Fife scooted into the end zone from three yards out. Halfway through the second quarter, the score was 20-0.

Three minutes later, Mintz connected with Dixon from near midfield to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 26-0.

After the Cedar Bluff defense held the Falcons to another three-and-out drive, Mintz again maneuvered the offense down near the goal line. He dove into the end zone from the 1 as time expired in the first half to push the lead to 32-0.

On their first drive of the second half, the Tigers again took to the air. Mintz completed four consecutive passes on a four-play scoring drive, the final 35 yards going to senior Alex Hairston. Another missed extra point left the score 39-0 with less than two minutes gone in the third quarter.

Eight minutes later, Mintz lobbed a pass to Pendley in the corner of the end zone from 15 yards out to extend the lead to 46-0.

Cedar Bluff’s final score of the night came on a 35-yard run by sophomore running back Blake Terry early in the fourth quarter.

After the game, Cedar Bluff head coach Jonathan McWhorter talked to his team about staying focused before addressing the media.

“With it being homecoming week and there being so much going on, you worry about focus, but our kids did a good job,” McWhorter said. “They understand that we are playing for a lot of stuff. We’ve got a game in two weeks for a region championship.”

After an off week, the Tigers travel to rival Spring Garden (6-1, 5-1) on Oct. 26.