CEDAR BLUFF – Cedar Bluff football coach Alan Beckett said he wanted his Tigers to be the hammer and not the nail Friday night against Gaylesville.

Beckett eventually got his wish, but it took a little while for the Tigers to take control in a 27-10 victory that keeps them atop the Class 1A, Region 7 standings at 4-0 (4-3 overall).

Senior quarterback Jacob Burleson connected on 14-of-24 pass attempts for 192 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 53 yards on seven carries, but he was also a drive killer in the second half against Gaylesville from his safety position.

Burleson picked up three turnovers in the game, including two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

“I started out slow, but I had to take a step back and reset,” Burleson said. “The rest of the night went well.”

Beckett agreed.

“I thought defensively we finally got them behind the chains, which was really big,” Beckett said. “We took them out of their game and forced them to throw the ball, then we got some picks. We wore them down. We got some big runs and screens.”

There was no doubting Cedar Bluff was the aggressor against their Hwy. 68 rivals from the beginning, but maybe a little too much.

The Tigers couldn’t convert on a fourth-down play in Gaylesville territory on its first drive of the night. On their second drive, Burleson threw an interception to the Trojans’ Xander Watts. On the Tigers’ third possession, Burleson completed a 25-yard pass to Aiden Green down to the Trojan 8-yard line, but Green fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Trojans’ Seth Lee.

Despite the offense’s early struggles, Cedar Bluff’s defense held the Trojans (4-4, 2-3) without a first-half touchdown.

“It was a little sluggish, but we wanted to be the more physical team,” Beckett said. “We felt like in the fourth quarter we were OK with that kind of game. We felt like if we could take it into the later rounds we were fine. That kind of proved to be the case.”

Following a Trojan punt early in the second quarter, Cedar Bluff’s offense finally put some points on the board. Nick Clifton connected on a 32-yard field goal, giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead with 5:05 remaining in the first half.

“We needed a score,” Beckett said. “We’d driven down there, but we shot ourselves in the foot. We can’t be our own worst enemy. We’ve talked about that from day one. It’s got to improve. It’s something we’ve got to work on.”

After a high snap on another Trojan punt, Cedar Bluff took over at Gaylesville’s 20-yard line. One play later, Burleson connected with Preston Burt for a touchdown. Clifton’s extra point was no good, keeping Cedar Bluff’s lead at 9-0 with 1:35 to go before halftime.

Another potential Gaylesville scoring opportunity fell by the wayside when Bucky Leek recovered a Trojan fumble. However, the Tigers ran out of time before they could score again.

“We watch a lot of film,” Leek said. “When it’s third and long, they’re going to pass the ball, so I backed up a little bit and stayed in my zone and got a pick.”

As Beckett alluded, the Tigers’ defensive hammer pounded away like a jackhammer in the third quarter, particularly Burleson.

He intercepted Gaylesville quarterback Kyler Bradley on the third play of the quarter. The turnover led to another Clifton kick, this one from 29 yards, which gave the Tigers a 12-0 lead.

Clifton’s two kicks seemed to jumpstart the Tiger offense.

“Nick hitting those field goals kind of brought the momentum to us,” Burleson said. “We started out slow, but then we started making plays. We eventually put them together for touchdowns.”

After the Trojans turned the ball over on downs near the end of the third quarter, Burleson connected with Burt on a 26-yard touchdown to open the fourth-quarter scoring. Burleson hit Leek on the 2-point conversion, and all of a sudden, Cedar Bluff was up 20-0.

But Burleson wasn’t satisfied with just one interception on defense. He picked off Bradley again on the Trojans’ ensuing possession to set the Tiger offense up near midfield.

Three plays later, Burt bowled his way into the end zone from 46 yards. Clifton’s extra point made the score 27-0 with just under eight minutes to go in the game.

The Trojans appeared as if they would finally get on the scoreboard on their next drive. A Bradley-to-Jacob Gordon 34-yard pass set Gaylesville up at the Tiger 7, but Burleson ended that drive as well with a fumble recovery on the next play.

It was the Trojans’ fifth turnover of the game.

“We’d cross the 50, get down to the 25, then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot,” Gaylesville coach Brian Knapp said. “I’ll take the blame for that. We just put it on the ground too much. Turnovers definitely hurt us tonight, but I will say this. We didn’t give up. We kept fighting.”

Gaylesville did finally get some points on the scoreboard, but it was in the most unconventional way. Burleson was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, which by rule is a safety, making the score 27-2 with 5:29 to go in the game.

Following the free kick, Gaylesville got its first touchdown on a Bradley-to-Keylon Higgins 22-yard connection. Bradley then tossed a 2-point pass to Gordon, which proved to be the final.

Bradley connected on 5 of his 13 pass attempts for 61 yards and the lone Trojan touchdown. Gordon ran for 88 yards on 10 carries. Michael Reynolds added 70 yards on 10 totes.

Burt posted 71 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown on the ground. He also caught a touchdown pass from Burleson. Leek was the Tigers’ top pass catcher, with seven receptions for 60 yards.

“We fought hard,” Burt said. “We had a few flags we shouldn’t have had, but I think we fought back pretty good.”

Cedar Bluff seeks to stay unbeaten in the region when it travels to winless Appalachian on Friday. Gaylesville, which dropped to fifth in the region standings with the loss, travels to winless Woodville.

“We’ve got to take care of business next week, and hopefully we’ll get in (the playoffs),” Knapp said. “Getting in the playoffs would obviously be big for us.”