Red Bay rolls 51-26
By Staff
Skip Vaughn
For the FCT
HUNTSVILLE – Westminster coach Shane Goodwin liked what he saw in the last three quarters of Friday night's game against Red Bay.
But the first quarter was a different story as Red Bay built a 20-point lead.
Red Bay went on to beat the host Wildcats 51-26 in a Class 2A, Region 8 opener. The fourth-ranked Tigers improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the region while Westminster fell to 1-1 and 0-1.
"After the first quarter I think we won this game," Goodwin said. "That first quarter we shot ourselves in the foot."
In the first 12 minutes, the Wildcats suffered two interceptions and gave up a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Cody Tucker as the Tigers went up 26-6.
Red Bay quarterback Cody Palmer opened the scoring at 7:22 on his 25-yard touchdown pass to Dustin McCarthy.
After an interception, Cody Armstrong's 1-yard run put the Tigers up 13-0. Palmer's 1-yard run put Red Bay up 19-0 at 4:38.
Westminster scored on Brian Park's 3-yard pass to Andy McWilliams with 14 seconds left in the quarter. Then came Tucker's 75-yard kickoff return with two seconds on the clock.
Park threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to McWilliams with 14 seconds left in the half to pull the Wildcats within 38-12 at intermission.
"We just played a lot better offensively tonight than we did last week against Lee," Red Bay coach Dale Jeffreys said.
Red Bay hosts Hatton Friday.
