Red Bay suffers second round defeat to Southeastern, finishes ‘turnaround’ season with 9-3 record

A turnaround season for the Red Bay High School varsity football team (9-3) came to an end at Fred Bostick Jr. Stadium on Friday night after the Tigers suffered a 28-21 home loss to the Southeastern Mustangs (10-2) in the second round of the AHSAA Class 2A playoffs.

It was a back-and-forth affair for much of the game. RBHS led Southeastern at halftime but the visitors took their first lead of the game in the third quarter. From there the two teams traded touchdowns. In the end, it was the Mustangs that had the last say, scoring a go-ahead touchdown that proved to be the game-winner after a Red Bay turnover late in the fourth quarter.

“Those were two good football teams Friday night. Unfortunately someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose,” first-year Red Bay head coach Tyler Jeffreys said.

“I thought our kids played extremely hard. I never walked off the field and thought one time that we didn’t play hard,” Jeffreys added. “Unfortunately we just made too many mistakes that you can’t make in a playoff game against a team that’s just as good as you. But that being said, we made those mistakes going wide open and playing as hard as we could, so super proud of my kids.”

Red Bay drew first blood, taking an initial 7-0 lead over the Mustangs eight minutes into the game.

A 34-yard strike through the air from senior quarterback Jeremiah Thorne to sophomore receiver Davien Colburn set up a 16-yard touchdown run by the standout senior running back Jaxon Vinson with 4:50 left in the first quarter. 

Vinson would finish the game with 146 yards rushing on 35 carries.

Southeastern answered on its ensuing possession with a drive capped by a short touchdown run from the five. After the extra point, the game was tied 7-7 with 2:09 to go in the opening period.

After both teams traded fruitless possessions for the remainder of the first and most of the second quarter, the hosts went back up by a score thanks to a little trickeration.

Lining up for a go-ahead 20-yard field goal attempt with 19 seconds to go in the first half, the Tigers faked it with the holder Jaxon Swann taking the snap, standing up and finding Colburn, who was brushing off defenders in the endzone, with the pass.

Lining up in the same formation for the extra point, the snap was low and the PAT was botched, so the half ended with the Tigers leading 13-7.

Coming out of the break, Southeastern received the third quarter kick and took advantage. The Mustangs drove down the field and ended the drive on a short touchdown run with 7:21 left in the third quarter. The extra point was good and the visitors took their first lead of the game, 14-13.

On third down and eight from the Southeastern 28-yard line, Red Bay found its reply to the Mustangs’ go-ahead score with another of its own on the game’s next drive.

Thorne hit his go-to target, Colburn, who finished the game with 84 yards receiving, on a wheel route from the backfield. The sophomore receiver, after making the grab, just needed to juke one defender to reach the endzone untouched. The two-point conversion was successful on an inside pass from Thorne to fellow senior Cayson Johnston, making it 21-14, Tigers.

A few minutes later, a 37-yard touchdown pass by Southeastern tied the game up at 21. With just over a minute to go in the third quarter, that was the score the two teams would take into a pivotal final 12 minutes.

After a couple possessions petered out for both teams to start the fourth quarter, it was Southeastern quarterback Jericho Pendleton who broke the deadlock on a 27-yard quarterback keeper with 4:07 left in the game. The touchdown rush by Pendleton and the ensuing successful extra point gave the Mustangs a 28-21 lead—but with just over four minutes to play it gave RBHS time to score, as well.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, their final possession would end in a turnover. 

Vinson, after receiving the option pitch from his quarterback, coughed the ball up after being hit by a Mustang defender. The rare fumble from Vinson was recovered by Southeastern with about a minute to play, all but ending Red Bay’s chances.

The 28-21 defeat eliminated the Tigers from the postseason, but it doesn’t erase what the RBHS football program was able to achieve under its first year coach.

The Tigers won nine games compared to two victories last campaign, and captured their first region title since 2019 with a flawless 5-0 region record. RBHS also turned Fred Bostick Jr. Stadium into a fortress this campaign as they went unbeaten, 7-0, at home until the Southeastern contest.

While much of the praise for the Tigers’ turnaround in 2025 has, justifiably, gone to the head coach, Jeffreys himself gave all the credit to his players.

“I can’t thank our seniors and all our kids on the team enough for working as hard as they did,” Jeffreys said.

“The turnaround was all them,” he added. “They did a great job. They were bought in from day one, and I told them after the game that I was very appreciative of all that they did.

“This season’s been a blur, but it’s been very enjoyable. I didn’t want it to end. I think of all the teams I’ve coached, this one has been one of the most unselfish groups that I’ve ever been around. That’s the reason we’ve been successful.”

The RBHS head coach said it was his group of seniors, a class that was 14-18 coming into the 2025 campaign, that were the first to latch on and follow his guidance. That, he said, was critical.

“These seniors were the very first ones to buy in, and they did a great job leading this team,” Jeffreys said. “I think the biggest thing about this turnaround was their buy-in and the amount of effort they put in week in and week out.

“I think this group (of seniors) will hold a special place in my heart because they were the first ones to buy in and do the things that they needed to do to put us in the most successful situations,” he added. “I’d love for them to continue to be around (the program). They’ve left their legacy here in terms of showing what you have to do to be successful.”

Jeffreys told the Franklin Free Press that he doesn’t know what the future will hold but believes that if his underclassmen continue to follow the example set by this year’s upperclassmen, the Red Bay Tigers will continue to see their achievements stack up.

“I told the rest of the team, ‘Don’t let what these seniors have done this year go to waste. Let’s keep building off this and keep working hard,’” he said. “If we continue to do those things, I know this program will be successful.”