Led by Colburn’s four touchdowns, No. 10 Red Bay defeats Sheffield 34-14 to improve to 2-0

Red Bay’s offense lines up against the Sheffield defense. (Photo by Caleb Ramey)

The Red Bay High School varsity football team, ranked No. 10 in Class 1A, improved to 2-0 Friday night after a 34-14 home victory over Sheffield High School (0-2).

Led by four touchdowns scored by junior Davian Colburn, the Tigers, although not at their best throughout the night according to head coach Tyler Jeffreys, managed to put down the Class 2A Bulldogs in the end.

“We didn’t play our best game,” he said. “We missed way too many tackles on defense. On offense we didn’t execute very well when we got into the redzone. But we survived and advanced.”

The Tigers started off the contest well. The RBHS defense forced Sheffield into a three-and-out on the first possession of the game, and then on Red Bay’s first offensive possession the hosts found the endzone on their second play from scrimmage thanks to a 47-yard touchdown run by Colburn to make it 6-0.

After the ensuing kickoff, Red Bay immediately got the ball back after Colburn, from his safety position, picked off the first down pass and returned it into Sheffield territory. A few plays later Colburn was making another impactful catch for his team: the junior caught a screen pass from quarterback Sawyer Humphries and took it 13 yards for the score to extend Red Bay’s lead to 12-0.

The rest of the first half was a back-and-forth affair.

The visitors responded with a touchdown to cut Red Bay’s lead to 12-7. But the Tigers came back looking for Colburn again and again Colburn found his way into the endzone. The junior’s third touchdown of the night was a 19-yard run from the backfield to the promised land, making it 18-7. The Bulldogs scored late in the first quarter to make it 18-14.

The second quarter was mired by mistakes and turnovers by both teams, the only big offensive highlight being running back Joshua Thorne’s 51-yard touchdown scamper for the Tigers. The junior’s rushing touchdown, his first of the season, gave RBHS a 26-14 lead after the successful two-point try.

Thorne finished the game with 21 carries for 143 yards.

Red Bay would take its 12-point lead into the halftime break.

After the intermisssion, the final touchdown of the game came early in the third quarter on Red Bay’s first possession of the second half. Scoring it was—guess who—Davian Colburn, this time from about 13 yards out. Colburn took the handoff from Humphries right up the middle and skipped into the endzone for his fourth touchdown of the evening.

Colburn’s fourth touchdown on Friday night was his seventh so far this campaign. An all-around playmaker, Colburn has accounted for over half of Red Bay’s offense up to this point. After making a name for himself with his performances last year, Colburn, Jeffreys said, has taken his role more seriously and it’s paid off on the field.

“I feel like he’s had a huge growth (from last season),” the second-year RBHS head coach said. “He’s a really great player, one of the best I’ve ever coached. He’s got another year, and he’s going to continue to get better taking it one day at a time.

“Like I said, he’s grown a lot and we’re very thankful to have him,” Jeffreys added.

At the end of the Sheffield game Colburn had 11 carries for 127 yards, two catches for 17 yards and three interceptions on defense.

Colburn’s last touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion gave Red Bay a 34-14 lead over Sheffield, a 20-point lead the Tigers would take to the final whistle.

Although Red Bay received the result it wanted, Jeffreys said the way the Tigers prepared for didn’t past muster. Jeffreys hopes the Sheffield game will serve as a wakeup call for the Tigers ahead of their first region contest vs. Phillips on September 4.

“We didn’t have a good week of practice this past week and it showed in the game, and I think that’s what we’ve got to take from it for the rest of the year” he said. “We’ve got to have a good week of practice and get after it if we’re going to make a run. We can’t have bad days at practice; we’ve got to take it seriously and continue to get better every day. That starts on Monday.”