No. 5 Red Bay dominates Cherokee en route to first 5-0 start since 2020

The Red Bay High School varsity football team’s first road game of the 2026 campaign provided no difficulties for the No. 5-ranked Tigers on Friday night. Traveling to region foe Cherokee, Red Bay took care of business, beating the Indians 56-14.

“We challenged our players to come out and take control of the football game and play to our standard, and we did,” Red Bay head coach Tyler Jeffreys said.

The visitors opened the scoring early.

After nearly recovering the muffed opening kickoff, the Tiger defense scored on Cherokee’s second play from scrimmage when senior defensive lineman Brody Cason ripped the ball out of the hands of the Indian running back and ran it 30 yards into the endzone.

Red Bay then made it a two-score game on its first offensive possession. A 66-yard run by junior Joshua Thorne, who went nearly untouched on his way to the touchdown, made it 15-0, RBHS, after the two-point conversion.

Thorne scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, this one from eight yards out, on the first play of the second quarter to give the Tigers a 22-0 advantage.

Later in the second quarter it was sophomore Andre Browning’s turn to score. Browning took the handoff from quarterback Sawyer Humphries 28 yards up the middle for Red Bay’s fourth touchdown of the contest, putting the Tigers up 28-0.

“JoJo Thorne had a great night running the football. Him and Andre Browning both had a couple touchdowns or more and both did a great job for us,” Jeffreys said.

Red Bay would take a 28-6 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, the Tigers continued to dominate their hosts.

A failed onside kick attempt by Cherokee gave RBHS great field possession to begin the third quarter of play, and the Tigers took advantage. Set up by solid first down runs by Thorne and junior Hayden Sartin, the quarterback Humphries punched it in on a designed run from seven yards out, giving Red Bay a 35-6 lead.

The Tigers would go on to score three more times via rushing touchdowns by Sartin and Browning and a pick-six by sophomore Clayton Lindley. Cherokee closed out the game’s scoring with a touchdown in the fourth to give the contest its 56-14 final.

Although Red Bay has remained unbeaten, Jeffreys was less than pleased with some of his team’s earlier performances. The second-year head coach has stated previously he felt his team lacked mental preparation going into those games. That was not the case Friday night, he said.

“We had a really good week of practice this past week, we really did, and it showed,” Jeffreys said.

“We played really hard, and we did a really good job on both sides of the ball,” he added. “The biggest thing is we were prepared, we were focused and we showed up ready to play, and that makes a world of difference.

Friday’s victory gave Red Bay, 3-0 in Class 1A Region 7, its first 5-0 start since 2020. The top 10-ranked Tigers are perfect through the first half of the regular season campaign, but Jeffreys emphasized his team still has a lot of work to do if they want to remain that way at the end of the second half.

“I still think it’s too early to compare where we are with other teams in our region. I don’t like to do that anyway, I prefer to stay focused on us,” he said.

“I continue to say this: If we’re going to have a chance to compete with these teams in our region it’s going to take great practice every week and showing up to games prepared and focused every week, not just one. It’s got to be a very consistent thing,” he added.

“We definitely still have a lot to improve on. Our opponents are only going to get better each week, so we have to continue to get better each week, too.”

Red Bay will travel to play state-line rival Belmont for its next game on Friday, September 25.