By Staff
Kim West
Franklin County Times
RED BAY – In Week 3, the Red Bay Tigers stunned West Morgan with a 21-point comeback with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Afterwards, Red Bay coach Dale Jeffreys called it the greatest win of his career. That could change if his eighth-ranked Tigers can stop the No. 7 Addison Bulldogs at Fred Bostick, Jr. Memorial Stadium tonight in a showdown of the top two teams in Class 1A, Region 8.
Addison, the Class 1A state champion in 2005, moved up to Class 2A last season and defeated the Tigers 22-6 in a game that Red Bay played without starting quarterback Anthony Horton and the backup quarterback suffered a mild concussion on the opening kickoff.
The Bulldogs' lone loss this season came against non-region opponent R.A. Hubbard, which won on the last play of the game.
"Addison is strong fundamentally like they always are – they block and tackle well and are real patient with the football on offense. They always seem to get a score in the kicking game and can score on punt returns or kickoff returns," Jeffreys said.
Jeffreys said his team needs to be balanced on offense, along with taking care of the football.
"We're going to pass and run on offense, and we need to not turn it over – that's the big thing. If we turn the ball over, then we'll get beat," said Jeffreys, who is 0-3 against the Bulldogs.
This season Red Bay (7-0, 5-0) has nine seniors leading the way, including Anthony Horton, Pablo Makepeace, Joe McKinney, Steven Prestage, Bradley Rhodes, Greg Miller, Adam Henson, DJ Elrod and Josh Senkbeil, a group that last won the region title during their freshman season.
"The winner of this game will be the region champions," Jeffreys said. "I'm sure they'll bring a packed house, but we just want to have one point more than they've got."