Can anybody beat Red Bay?

By Staff
Mike Self, FCT Sports Editor
In January of 2000, the Vina Lady Red Devils were forced to forfeit their semifinal game against Red Bay at the Franklin County Tournament due to a team-wide bout with the flu that left only three players healthy enough to dress out.
Red Bay advanced to the finals with what was officially recorded as a 2-0 win. It was only a formality, but given the Lady Tigers' domination of their county rivals in recent years, the same could almost be said for the entire tournament.
Red Bay has won eight straight county championships, dating back to the 1998-99 season. Since losing to Phil Campbell in the 1998 finals, coach Donnie Roberts' team is a perfect 16-0 in tournament play.
As the Lady Tigers prepare to pursue a ninth consecutive county title this week at Northwest-Shoals Community College, their yearly ritual of hoisting yet another first-place trophy toward the heavens has become almost inevitable.
Almost.
There have been signs that Red Bay's reign could be nearing its end. The Lady Tigers trailed by 11 points in the second half of last year's championship game before rallying to beat Phil Campbell.
Just this past week, the Lady Bobcats came within a whisker of handing Red Bay its first loss to a Franklin County team in six years before falling, 46-45. Perhaps more than any other during the past eight years, this particular Red Bay team appears somewhat vulnerable. The air of invincibility that has surrounded the Lady Tigers for so long in intra-county matchups doesn't seem quite as thick-particularly to some in Phil Campbell.
The Lady Bobcats are 0-6 against Red Bay over the past two seasons, but they have held fourth-quarter leads over the Lady Tigers in three of the past four meetings.
"We just have to get over that mental hump," Phil Campbell coach Amy Moss said. "People look at our record [7-12 entering the weekend] and say we've gotten worse as the year has gone along, but look at our schedule. We've lost five or six games to ranked teams. I think we're as good or better as anybody in the county."
Moss emphasized that the Lady Bobcats won't get caught looking ahead to a potential championship game meeting with Red Bay.
"We have to take care of business against Vina and Belgreen first," said Moss, whose team will face the Lady Red Devils in what amounts to a play-in game on Tuesday at Phil Campbell High School.
Red Bay, meanwhile, will face Tharptown in the semifinals on Friday in the Lady Wildcats' first-ever varsity game at the county tournament. Roberts said the best way for his young team to win championship No. 9 is to forget all about the first eight.
"Each year is a completely different county tournament," he said. "You can't really afford to look at the past. We just have to focus on who we're playing on a given night and what we have to do to beat them."
Will the Lady Tigers heed their coach's advice and bring home another championship trophy, or will someone finally knock them from their perch after nearly a decade of dominance?
Only time will tell. But, as Moss said earlier this week, one thing's for sure.
"This should be a very interesting county tournament."