Two plays into the game, Brentwood Academy had set the tone as well as an ominous trend of things to come. The Eagles scored less than a minute in and consistently continued using their tremendous speed advantage to run away from McCallie for a 42-21 Division II-AA victory.

Brentwood Academy had six plays of 20-plus yards and scored all six of its touchdowns in the first half. Junior running back Derek King turned the right corner and sprinted 66 yards for a touchdown on the second snap, and after forcing a quick McCallie punt, the Eagles wasted little time building on their lead. This time it was Josh Tate breaking free for a 65-yard scoring run, giving Brentwood Academy 164 yards on its first five plays.

"We're fortunate to have quite a bit of speed," Eagles coach Ralph Potter said. "We felt like if we could get to the corner, we had an advantage.

"It was important to get out to a comfortable lead early."

The Eagles amassed 456 yards of total offense and averaged 8.5 yards per rushing attempt.

The teams combined for 42 second-quarter points, beginning with the Blue Tornado scoring on the first play of the quarter to cut the deficit to 14-7. But the Eagles countered with two TDs in a 17-second span -- Cody Nelson's 1-yard run to convert fourth-and-goal, followed by Drew Martin recovering a mishandled pitch that rolled into the end zone.

"They really put us back on our heels early," McCallie coach Rick Whitt said. "Our concern was if they got out on the perimeter with their speed. They're very difficult to catch once they do.

"They just hit us with too many big plays. They had long runs and deep passes and kept us fighting uphill."

Even when McCallie gained a measure of momentum, driving 83 yards in 13 plays to close within two touchdowns, the Eagles answered immediately, King going 71 yards on their next offensive snap.

By halftime the Eagles (6-3) had scored on five of their first seven possessions and had 390 yards, 259 more than McCallie. The Blue Tornado (4-6) will travel to Memphis Briarcrest (6-4) in next week's playoff first round.