On the surface, football may seem to have little to do with science, but Red Bank found the perfect formula on the field Friday night.
Behind 363 rushing yards, including 229 from junior running back Zay Brown, the Lions beat Central 33-14 at Central Memorial Stadium.
"We've gotten beaten up on a couple times this year, so we feel like we were due to give one eventually," a noticeably exhausted Brown said. "It feels good to have an impact, but it was all about the (offensive) line tonight. They played really good."
The Lions evened their record to 3-3 while dropping Central to 1-4.
"He's worked real hard this offseason in the weight room," Red Bank coach Chad Grabowski said of Brown. "He's gotten to the point where he's willing to take on that guy for the extra yards, and it's added a new dimension to his game for sure."
Another huge component in the running game was Lions quarterback Calvin Johnson. The sophomore managed the game well and rushed for 117 yards with a pair of scores while passing for 48 yards.
Central's duo of quarterback Jaheim Jones and receiver D.J. Baxter provided bright spots for the Purple Pounders
Baxter, who has committed to play for Army, had the Central sideline buzzing after returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown that was called back because of an illegal block. Undaunted, the senior showed up again five plays later when Jones found him down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown pass. Baxter ran for two points to make it 8-0.
From there, though, the Lions' half of the field was protected nicely while Central's was being bombarded time and time again. Red Bank put up 20 straight points from 7:00 in the first quarter until the opening minutes of the fourth.
In that period, Baxter made an incredible catch over the top of a Red Bank defensive back and managed to finish the job by walking in for a 40-yard touchdown.
But on the next drive, the Lions used a nice kick return to set themselves up for a 29-yard touchdown run by Brown.
"One of the things we've been lacking is that consistency and laser focus. It's something we have not done here historically," Central coach Cortney Braswell said. "The one thing we've learned so far this year is how to compete. We've just got to do what we're being coached to do on a more regular basis."
Both teams return to region play next week. Red Bank takes its two-game winning streak - which followed consecutive losses to Baylor, Howard and McCallie - to Signal Mountain for a Region 3-3A game, while Central is scheduled to face Region 3-4A leader Stone Memorial.
"It's good for our guys to see that everything we've worked on since the beginning is going to pay off," Grabowski said. "We knew those first few weeks were going to be rough, but we're in a part of the schedule where there's some winnable games and we've got to take advantage of it."
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com.