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Coffee County football made the trek up I-24 to Rutherford County Friday night, traveling to Smyrna High School to take on the Bulldogs.

A quick start for Smyrna put the Red Raiders in a hole early on, leading to a deficit they were unable to overcome on the way to a 40-7 loss.

The Bulldogs got it going with three straight scoring drives in the first quarter to quickly build up their lead.  A missed 2-point conversion attempt on Smyrna’s third possession closed out the early run and put Coffee County down 20-0 as the second quarter got under way.

Still trailing by 20 after halftime, the Red Raiders were able to get on the board during their first possession of the second half when quarterback Kaysen Lowery took off for a 63-yard run to the end zone.

With its lead now cut to 13, Smyrna responded with two more touchdown drives on its next two possessions to make it a 33-7 game by the end of the third quarter.

The Bulldogs were able to add one more touchdown before time expired, bringing the game to what would be its final score.

With the loss, Coffee County dropped its season record to 2-4. This was the Red Raiders’ second straight loss after falling 35-6 to Independence in a Class 6A-Region 6 matchup on the road the previous week.

After back-to-back road contests, Coffee County will return home next Friday to resume region play against Brentwood. The Bruins come into next week’s game at 3-3 overall and 2-0 in region play, with region wins over Summit on Sept. 5 and Shelbyville Central on Sept. 19, respectively.

Brentwood fell in its week 6 matchup Friday, falling to Henry County 25-16 on the road in Paris.

Coffee County will look to get its region record back above .500 with a win over the Bruins, coming off a 7-6 home win over Franklin on Sept. 12 and its loss to Independence on Sept. 19.