By Keith Ledbetter

For the FCT

Two third quarter touchdowns broke a first half 7-7 tie to earn Red Bay a 24-14 region win over Sulligent last Friday.

The Tigers got in the red zone three times but were able to score only once in the first two quarters.

With just seconds remaining and no time outs, Red Bay ended the first half unable to put the ball across the goal line from the three.

“We ended up needing a time out at the end of the first half, but we just ran out of time before we could get it across,” Tiger head coach Michael Jackson said.

“Defensively we were lights-out except for a couple of drives. Offensively we got the ball down there but we just couldn’t finish it off.”

The Tigers picked up three first downs on their first drive that took five minutes off the clock. Red Bay turned the ball over on downs after they were not able to finish on fourth and goal at the three yard line of the Blue Devils.

Nick Thorn, a key player for Red Bay, was injured on the opening drive and didn’t play for the remainder of the game.

Thorn had already caught two passes for 30 yards for the Tigers.

“We had to make some adjustments after we had some injuries early in the game,” Jackson said.

“That kind of threw us off. We had some new guys playing in skilled positions, so that limited some of the things we were doing.”

Nine plays into the second quarter, Red Bay’s Reed Holt put the Tigers across the goal line on a 36-yard run around the right side. Dekota Hester added the point after to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

The Blue Devils tied it up 7-7 after completing a 70-yard drive with a TD run by Riley Cagle.

A recovered Blue Devils’ fumble by Dylan Gresham set the Tigers up for a score just four plays later.

A pitch out to Tate Ozbirn carried the Tigers to the nine yard line.

Tiger quarterback Troy Borden added another three, and Ozbirn picked up four to give Red Bay a third and goal at the two.

Borden’s keeper and Hester’s point after kick gave the Tigers a 14-7 lead with 9:18 remaining in the third quarter.

A 30-yard run by Tyler Reach picked up a first down and put the Tigers within scoring range at the 31 of Sulligent.

A Borden pass to Jade Pounds that drew an interference call against the Blue Devils moved the Tigers to the 11 yard line.

Ozbirn completed the distance on the next play and, along with Hester’s PAT, Red Bay took a 21-7 lead.

Tiger kicker Dekota Hester booted a 30-yard field goal late in the fourth to put Red Bay up 24-7.

Sulligent added a TD with just over one minute remaining in the game to leave them trailing 24-14.

The Tigers are 3-1 overall and 2-0 in region play.

Next week Red Bay travels to Phil Campbell to play the Bobcats in another region match-up.

“We’ve got to get these guys healthy. We have a couple of players that are a little banged up right now just like everyone else at this point in the season,” Jackson said.

“We’re going to look at what we did wrong and fix those problems and then move on.”