Red Bay blanks Lee 34-0
By Staff
Keith Ledbetter
For the FCT
RED BAY – Six interceptions and an almost flawless Tiger run game helped kick-off Red Bay's season with a 34-0 blanking of Class 5A Lee-Huntsville Friday night.
"I am very proud of our kids," said Red Bay coach Dale Jeffreys. "I thought they played very hard.
Red Bay's Andre Newell, Kevin Hastings, and Jesse Venable each had an interception during the second quarter, turning around the Generals' drives.
A 24-yard pass from Tiger sophomore quarterback Hunter Childers to Venable at Lee's 3-yard line set up Newell's TD run up the middle. Chase Lindsey sealed the 7-0 lead with the PAT.
Red Bay capped off a 55-yard, 10-play drive early in the second when Childers scored from the three on a keeper up the middle to extend Red Bay's lead to 14-0.
"(Childers) had an excellent game. I'm very impressed with him," Jeffreys said. "We didn't throw the ball a lot tonight, and that's the way we're going to play. We're going to throw it when we need it.
"We're probably going to pass it more later on, but right now we're satisfied with doing what we knew would work."
An interception by Newell with 10:11 remaining in the second led to Red Bay's 58-yard scoring drive and a 21-0 lead with 5:35 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers ended the first half with their third interception – this one by Venable – halting the Generals' drive on first-and-10 from the Tigers' 27-yard line.
Red Bay drove 67 yards in just three plays in the early minutes of the third, scoring on Joseph Reach's 9-yard run for a 27-0 lead.
Red Bay's final TD came following a hard hit on Lee quarterback Raymond Russell by Reach. Bradley Patterson fell on the ball at the 49.
Reach took just 16 seconds to score on the first play with a 51-yard run up the middle.
Venable added the Tiger's fifth interception with 5:52 remaining in the
Fourth quarter. Red Bay's Barry Reach had the sixth with 39 seconds remaining.
"I thought we executed our game play just the way we wanted," added Jeffreys. "We're going to come next week and get ready for our first Region game."
Next week Red Bay will host West Minister Christian High School in their first region game of the season.
