SPRING GARDEN — The defense held running back Forrest Livingston to 81 yards and the offense lit up the scoreboard in the second half as the Cedar Bluff Tigers won their first region championship in six years with a 41-14 win over the Panthers Friday night.

After the game, Spring Garden coach Jason Howard said he knew his team would have to produce a near-perfect effort to win against the team he called “hands down, the best in the region”.

“We had to play mistake-free, stay ahead of the chains, control the tempo,” Howard said. “For two and a half quarters we were able to do that, and then the speed of the game got away from us.”

The speed of the Tigers (8-0, 8-0) was evident in the first half, particularly on a pair of Levi Mintz touchdown passes to DeAngelo Hardy. The seniors hooked up for scores of 51 and 25 yards to help give Cedar Bluff a 13-7 halftime lead.

But until midway through the third quarter, it looked like either team's game to win.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Panthers (7-2, 6-2) got on the scoreboard first on a two-yard run by Livingston with 10 minutes to go in the half.

Mintz and Hardy teamed up from near midfield less than a minute later. A missed extra point left the score at 7-6 with 9:07 in the half.

Mintz finished the game 17-of-27 for 327 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another. Hardy had five catches for 92 yards. An impressive 75-yard catch in the second half was called back because of an illegal block.

Spring Garden answered the Tigers with a seven-minute drive that stalled at the Cedar Bluff 22-yard line when Blake Terry sacked Panther quarterback Will Ivey on fourth down.

Hardy's second scoring catch of the game with 25 seconds remaining made the score 13-7 at halftime.

Spring Garden opened the third quarter with another impressive drive, and made this one pay off. Livingston punched the ball into the end zone from a yard out with just under seven minutes left in the third to give his team a 14-13 lead.

On the ensuing possession Mintz came out firing, marching the Tigers from midfield to the end zone with four consecutive completions. Rickey Pendley caught the last, from 17 yards out, for a 19-14 Cedar Bluff lead. Pendley finished with six catches for 118 yards.

After a short Spring Garden punt, Cedar Bluff took possession at the Panther 38-yard line and quickly drove to the goal line. Mintz dived in from the 1-yard line for a 27-14 lead with a minute left in the third.

After Spring Garden fumbled the kickoff, Mintz quickly found senior wideout Alex Hairston for a 54-yard score and a 20-point lead. Running back D'Shawn Fife scored the final touchdown for the visitors on a shifty, elusive run with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

The win marked the Tigers' first Region 7 title since 2006. But head coach Jonathan McWhorter said his team has plenty more items to cross off its list of goals for the 2012 season.

“Our goals as a team are always to win a region championship, and this is the first one in a while,” McWhorter said. “We also want to go undefeated, if possible, and win a state championship.”

With the week one playoff picture set, McWhorter said he is looking forward to renewing a rivalry that has been missing from the Tigers' schedule for a couple of years.

“We're not looking past Sand Rock,” McWhorter said. “Growing up and playing in Cedar Bluff, that was always the big game. Doesn't matter whose record is what, it was always going to be the toughest game all year. It's not going to be any different this year. They will come ready to play, and I feel like our kids will come ready to play.”

Cedar Bluff leads the series with Sand Rock 29-24, but has not won since 2006. The teams first met in 1948.