Dominant Red Bay rolls past Lamar County 41-8 in Jeffreys’ debut

The Tyler Jeffreys era at Red Bay started off in winning fashion Friday night as the Tigers football team ran rampant over Lamar County, knocking off the Bulldogs 41-8 at Frank Bostick Jr. Stadium.

“I was very, very, very pleased with the crowd we had and the atmosphere we had,” RBHS head coach Tyler Jeffreys said on the Football in the South Scoreboard Show following Friday’s game. “It was just a great night for high school football, and it was really good to be back at Red Bay.”

Jeffreys, who was hired by Red Bay over the summer, picked up his first win as head coach of the Tigers with the lopsided result, and the football program earned its first win over Lamar County since 2011.

“They (the players) were super excited after (the win), and I was super excited for them,” Jeffreys told the Franklin Free Press. “They’re a good bunch of kids. They’ve worked really hard, and they want to be good.

“They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. They had a really good night, and I’m super proud of those guys,” he added.

Offensively, the Tigers were dominant, scoring five touchdowns in the first half to take a 35-0 lead into the break before tacking on another score in the second half for good measure. 

Senior quarterback Jeremiah Thorne finished a perfect 6-of-6 for 67 yards and two touchdowns through the air, including a 27-yard passing touchdown to junior receiver Jaxon Swann. And picking up right where he left off from his 1,000-yard rushing junior campaign, senior running back Jaxon Vinson rushed for 255 yards on 15 carries and accounted for five touchdowns—four on the ground and one receiving.

Defensively, the Tigers were stifling all night and kept the shutout over the Bulldogs going into the second half.

“We played really well on defense tonight,” Jeffreys said after the game. “Watching the film from last year and even the (jamboree) game last week against Carbon Hill, I don’t think we played as physical as we should’ve, but tonight we were. I’m super proud of our guys for doing that—for being physical. We challenged them to do that, and they did it tonight.”

The first-year Red Bay head coach said the big opening win will give the Tigers confidence as they head into their first road game of the season next week, but the team can’t afford to be complacent after just one success. Consistently putting together performances like the one against Lamar County is what the Tigers are working towards.

“I truly believe that Lamar County has a really good football team, so to play against a good football team the way we did, it should allow us to have a little bit of confidence,” Jeffreys said. “I want our kids to have that confidence, but at the same time I want us to continue to get better. I still think we can continue to get better each day.

“It’s all about being able to know that this is how we played and we played really hard and we have to have that every day. So I want us to have confidence, but I really want us to have consistency because if we can have that day in and day out then we’ve got a chance at winning some more games,” he added.

“Like I said, I’m super proud of these guys and couldn’t be more proud, and we’re going to enjoy it tonight and Saturday, but then next week it’s time to get back to work.”

Red Bay will travel to Livingston to take on University Charter School for its next game on Friday, September 5. The Tigers and Trail Blazers will play the game at Tiger Stadium on the campus of the University of West Alabama with kickoff set for 7 p.m.