Oakland’sLazarius Patterson (4) runs the ball as Smyrna’s AJ Carter (3) moves in to stop Patterson during the game at Smyrna, on Friday Oct. 30, 2015.
MURFREESBORO — Oakland kept things simple in the second half Friday night.
The second-ranked Patriots put the ball in the hands of their running backs and ground out a 20-7 win over eighth-ranked Smyrna at Robert L. Raikes Stadium to win the Region 2-6A championship.
“It’s a testament to our offensive line,” Oakland coach Kevin Creasy said. “I thought they took great pride last week (against Cookeville) in running the ball. I was a little disappointed that we threw an interception right before half when we were in field-goal position and could have gone up two scores.”
Oakland finished the game with 55 carries for 287 yards. The Patriots, who didn’t throw a pass in the second half, ran the ball 34 times for 150 yards in the final 24 minutes.
“We were going to try and run it,” Creasy said. “We’re a little banged up, but they are as well. When we saw they had to play a couple guys both ways, we felt we could run the ball in the fourth quarter.”
Oakland (9-1 overall, 7-0 in Region 2-6A) will be host to William Blount (2-8) next Friday in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs. William Blount is coached by former Blackman coach Philip Shadowens, who won two Class 5A state titles at Smyrna High. Smyrna (7-3, 5-2) will be host to Jefferson County (5-5) in the first round of the playoffs.
LSU commitment JaCoby Stevens’ 2-yard TD run and 2-point conversion run capped a 13-play, 70-yard drive to give Oakland a 14-0 lead with 5:50 left in the third quarter.
Lazarius Patterson rushed 35 times for 188 yards to lead Oakland. Smyrna played without leading rusher Casey Perkins after he violated “school policy,” Smyrna coach Matt Williams said.
“We’re going to do whatever coach Creasy says,” Stevens said. “We’re a discipline team. We’ve worked on that since summer. Whatever he wants us to do, we’re going to do.”
The Bulldogs countered Stevens’ score, driving the ball to the Oakland 16 before Ty Nix sacked quarterback John Turner on fourth-and-6. Turner had what appeared to be a touchdown pass to Ikenna Okeke ruled incomplete one play prior to the sack.
“We had a game plan that on passing situations, we wanted to get after the quarterback,” Nix said. “We worked pass-rushing moves throughout the week. If we could get pressure on him, we knew we could get the ball because of our secondary.”
Stevens’ returned an interception 59 yards from the Oakland 1 to set up the Patriots’ final score — a Kendrick Johnson’s 5-yard TD run to make it 20-0.
But Smyrna didn’t budge. Turner hit Nathan Sanders for a 70-yard TD pass with 2:16 left. The Bulldogs tried to recover a pooch kick inside the Oakland sideline, but officials ruled the ball out of bounds, giving Oakland the ball to finish the game.
Kaleb Oliver intercepted John Turner’s pass, returning it 42 yards for the touchdown for a 6-0 lead on the first series of the game.
Patterson broke a 40-yard run to spark an eight-play, 78-yard drive. However, Ian Cleveland ended the drove at the Smyrna 3 when he picked off Oakland quarterback Brendan Matthews’ pass.
“That was a must-stop situation,” Williams said. “I thought all of our guys played hard.”
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Kreager.