Red Bay loses heartbreaker

By Bart Moss for the FCT

The Red Bay Tigers almost won in dramatic fashion Friday night in their region opener against the Mars Hill Panthers. Instead, the Tigers lost a heartbreaker.

The Tigers’ Colby Bragwell heaved a Hail Mary pass toward the endzone that sailed over the outstretched hands of a Mars Hill defender into the waiting arms of Red Bay receiver Max Bullen, who came down just short of the goal line as time expired.

“I am really proud of the effort our guys gave,” said Red Bay coach Michael Jackson. “We fought right down to the end but came up just short. Mars Hill is a much-improved team.”

“We did a lot of good things, and we did some bad things,” explained Jackson. “We had over 400 yards in total offense, but we also turned the ball over five times. It’s hard to win when you give the other team the ball that many times.”

Mars Hill scored the first and last touchdowns of the night in their first-ever win over Red Bay, 27-24.

Red Bay took a slim 16-14 lead into the halftime locker room and was up 24-20 in the fourth quarter with 7:23 to go in the game. Mars Hill scored the game-winning touchdown with 2:17 to in the game on a four-yard run.

RB’s Aaron Lewey finished the night with 21 carries, 102 yards and two touchdowns. Bragwell completed 12 of 24 passes for 192 yard but threw three interceptions. Bragwell also carried the ball 14 times for 62 yards.

Luke Rooker caught seven passes for 96 yards.

Red Bay falls to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in the region.

The Tigers will host their first regular season home game since week six of last year. Red Bay will host Hatton Friday night in a region matchup.