Red Bay holds off rival Belmont to secure 22-20 OT victory, program’s 500th win

For the first time in the 50-some-odd-year history of the Red Bay—Belmont football rivalry, a year’s worth of bragging rights were decided in overtime.

The Red Bay High School varsity football team (6-0), ranked No. 5 in Class 1A, and Belmont High School (1-3), located across the state line in Mississippi, battled to the very end Friday night, but it was the visitor from Alabama that walked away victorious, 22-20, in what was the closest contest between the two teams since 1999.

“As much as I hate to say it, that’s kind of how these games are supposed to go,” second-year Red Bay head coach Tyler Jeffreys said. “There’s still a lot of things we need to clean up, but overall I’m proud of our kids for playing their guts out in second half and winning in overtime.”

Red Bay had its opportunities to gain an advantage in the first half, but flags—seven of the Tigers’ 13 penalties on the night came in the first 24 minutes—and mental mistakes squandered those chances.

“We had 13 total penalties that really hurt us, and we dropped some passes in big downs. We’ve got to do a better job and clean that stuff up,” Jeffreys said.

So, with the game locked in a scoreless stalemate at halftime, it was in the second half that all the drama unfolded.

The Tigers scored on their first offensive play of the third quarter on a 65-yard run by junior Davian Colburn to give them an 8-0 lead.

Red Bay then extended its lead minutes later when quarterback Sawyer Humphries dashed seven yards into the endzone to make it 14-0, RBHS.

Down two scores the Cardinals, led by former RBHS head coach Michael Jackson, were not going away, however. Belmont responded late in the third quarter with a drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run to cut the Tigers’ lead to 14-8. Then in the fourth quarter, Belmont’s Aaden Rojas made a great special teams play, returning Red Bay’s punt 60 yards to tie things up at 14-14.

“Give credit to Belmont—they did a great job,” Jeffreys said.

“Belmont came out and matched our intensity, and made it a great game,” he added.

Red Bay, nearing the redzone, had one more opportunity to potentially score late in the fourth quarter but was stopped by the Belmont defense and turned it over on downs. That defensive stop sent the game to overtime.

In OT the Tigers started on offense and needed just two plays to go the 10 yards needed to reach the goal line. Colburn’s first down run of nine yards set up a successful QB sneak by Humphries; the vital two-point attempt was converted by Humphries and put the visitors back up 22-14.

Now the Tigers needed a stop; the RBHS defense didn’t get the first one they wanted—Belmont senior Kylei Estes ran the ball in from five yards on third down to pull the Cardinals back within two—but they came up clutch on the Cardinals two-point try. Estes, who was able to score the initial touchdown, wasn’t able to add the necessary two points to continue the game as he was stuffed at the line of scrimmage by a host of Tiger defenders.

“Defensively, Coach (Jamie) Purser had a great game plan for us, and our kids played extremely hard to execute it,” Jeffreys said.

Red Bay’s 22-20 overtime triumph wasn’t just special because of the school it was over but also because it was the program’s 500th win in its 99-year history.

“It means a lot to me. I want this place to be as good as it can be and to keep the winning tradition and hard-working culture alive,” Jeffreys said. “For a program to win that many games, it’s special. We didn’t tell our kids about it until it was over, but to win like that and get the 500th win in that way, it’s special.”

Jeffreys and the Tigers will aim for program win number 501 in their next contest on Friday, October 2—but it won’t be easy. Red Bay will travel to face region opponent Hackleburg, a storied program in its own right, that is currently ranked in the top 10 in 1A with the Tigers.

“They are a really good football team, and it’s going to take a big, big effort to go over there and win,” Jeffreys said of Hackleburg. “They’ve got a great program, two good running backs, a really good quarterback, and they’re a really, really solid team. It’ll be a good matchup—probably the first top 10 matchup Red Bay has played in in a while—so it should be a fun night.”