Red Bay runs away with it in Homecoming game, region opener against Phillips

The Red Bay High School varsity football team ranked No. 7 in Class 1A, took care of business on the school’s Homecoming night, shutting out Phillips High School 54-0.

The runaway victory improved the Tigers’ record to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in Class 1A Region 7.

RBHS opened up the scoring early in the first quarter thanks to a 47-yard touchdown run by junior Davian Colburn. Colburn’s eighth touchdown of the season gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead after the missed extra point attempt.

When Phillips (1-2, 0-1) took over on offense, the Bears’ game plan was apparent from the get-go: stall the pace of the game, eat clock and limit Red Bay’s number of possessions—not a bad idea when facing a team that can score so quickly.

“Things were slow in the first few minutes of the game. They would run the ball and snap it with one or two seconds left on the play clock, so they did a good job controlling the ball in the first quarter,” Red Bay head coach Tyler Jeffreys said of his opponent’s offense.

However, the Bears’ strategy wasn’t enough to keep the Tigers caged up completely.

Red Bay added a second touchdown later in the first quarter to make it 13-0. Two long runs by junior Joshua Thorne set up a drive-capping 14-yard touchdown rush by Colburn, his second of the evening.

On Phillips’ ensuing possession, Red Bay’s defense also helped put points on the board: the Tigers pinned the Bears back near the goal line and forced a bad pitch from the quarterback which resulted in a safety, giving RBHS a 15-0 advantage.

In the second quarter Phillips forced a defensive stop or two and continued to try to keep the ball from the Tigers. However, a couple of defensive takeaways by Red Bay opened cracks in the Bears’ resolve, and that momentum ultimately led to a flood of points Phillips was helpless to stop.

Andre Brownlee recovered a fumble to give the Tigers the ball inside Phillips’ territory before the sophomore ended the next RBHS drive in the end zone himself, rushing for the two-yard score to make it a 22-0 game.

Brownlee showed up again on the ensuing kickoff with a solo tackle that brought the Bears’ return man down deep in PHS territory; a few plays later, from his defensive end position, he recorded a sack and forced a fumble which was recovered by junior Colton Patterson in the end zone for a Tiger touchdown. That defensive score gave the hosts a 28-0 lead.

“Andre Brownlee made a few big plays for us on defense, and that really sparked us,” Jeffreys said.

Red Bay continued to pour it on from there.

Set up by a powerful run by Brownlee, Colburn scored his third touchdown of the night from 15 yards out to make it 34-0, RBHS. Then, right before halftime, the Tigers tacked on another six points via a 25-yard touchdown pitch-and-catch from sophomore quarterback Sawyer Humphries to sophomore receiver Clayton Lindley.

The Tigers would take the 40-0 lead into the break.

Red Bay continued to cruise easily in the second half, adding two more touchdowns, both scored by sophomore running back Pearson Tanner. Tanner broke a long 70-yard touchdown run put the home team up 47-0 in the third quarter; he followed it up and closed out the scoring with a short touchdown rush in the fourth to give RBHS the final 54-0 lead.

Of course, it’s always a little more fun to win on Homecoming…

“The crowd and the community were awesome. It was a great atmosphere, and a great win,” Jeffreys said.

…but more importantly the Tigers were able to take the first step towards their playoff ambitions with a crucial region victory—and one of seven steps the Tigers will have to take if they want to secure back-to-back region titles for the first time since 2014-15.

“It’s a big deal,” Jeffreys said. “It’s a solid win that puts us 1-0 in the region.

“We’ve got another big region game next week against Belgreen, and we’ve got to keep getting better. There are teams in our region that are just as good as us, so we’ve got to continue to get better every day to be able to compete with them,” he added.

Red Bay will host Belgreen at Fred Bostick Jr. Stadiium on Friday, September 11, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.