Tigers fight off Hornets for close victory
By Bart Moss for the FCT
All of sudden, the Red Bay Tigers like drama.
The last two weeks, Tiger fans have been kept riveted to their seats with nailbiter games. Last week, Red Bay completed a long Hail Mary pass only to fall just short of the endzone in a two-point loss to Mars Hill.
This week, however, the Tigers defense came up with a big stop on a two-point conversion to seal the two-point win over the Hatton Hornets, 32-30.
There were five scores between the two teams in the second half of Friday night’s game. The Tigers never trailed but kept having to fight off the Hornets to the very end.
“Our guys never give up. They play right to the end,” said Red Bay coach Michael Jackson. “As a coach, that’s what you want in a team. Never give up. Never quit playing.”
There were very few early indications, however, of the coming drama or the high score.
Aaron Lewey scored first late in the first quarter on a two-yard run. The two-point conversion attempt gave the Tigers an 8-0 lead with 1:52 to go in the opening period of play.
The Tigers scored again with 7:05 to go in the second quarter on 20-yard run by quarterback Kolby Bragwell to extend Red Bay’s lead to 14-0. Hatton closed the gap to 14-8 with 4:49 to go in the first half on short touchdown pass.
Red Bay Tigers extended their lead to 20-8 midway through the third quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run by Bragwell, but Hatton answered quickly on their next drive with a 55-yard touchdown pass. After a successful two-point conversion attempt, the Hornets trailed the Tigers by four, 20-16.
Red Bay had a solid next drive that ended in a short scoring run by Lewey to give the Tigers a 26-16 lead with 3:36 to go in the third quarter.
Hatton answered again with a two-minute drive that ended win a short touchdown run. Hatton nabbed the two-point conversion to pull to within two points of the Tigers, 26-24, with 1:32 to go in the third quarter.
Red Bay scored again with 4:28 to go in the game on a 4-yard run by Bragwell to make the score 32-24. Red Bay struggled with conversion attempts all night long, converting only one of five.
Hatton mounted another scoring drive that ended with a 1-yard run with 1:02 remaining in the game to pull to within two points. The Hornets had converted three straight two-point conversion attempts on the night. If they converted a fourth, it would tie the game.
The Tiger defense came up strong as Cam McKinney and Joseph Newell stopped the Hornets from getting into the endzone.
Bragwell and Lewey had big games running the football against the Hornets. Bragwell ran the ball 20 times for 188 yards and three touchdowns. Lewey ran the ball 27 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
“I was pleased with our offensive output,” said Jackson. “Hatton’s defense dictated the direction our offense would take. They really focused on stopping our outside receivers, and it opened up our running game.”
McKinney led Red Bay’s defense with 12 tackles.
Red Bay goes to 2-2 on the season and 1-1 in region play.
The Tigers will host stateline rival Belmont, Miss., Friday night.
