By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
With last Friday's 35-6 win over Cherokee, the Red Bay Tigers ensured that a season marked by adversity and tragedy will nonetheless end where the previous seven have–in the state playoffs.
Red Bay (4-3, 4-1 in Region 8) clinched a Class 2A playoff berth for the eighth straight year with Friday's win.
A playoff berth was anything but a certainty after an offseason in which the Tigers lost two projected starters to transfer and another to a knee injury.
Then, former teammate Matt Hester passed away in early September after an 11-month battle with cancer.
Red Bay held things together and earned critical region wins early in the season over Phil Campbell and West Morgan.