Haleyville’s Jarett Sherril tries to stop Tiger quarterback Troy Borden in the Lions’ and Tigers’ game last Friday night. Also shown is Red Bay’s Andrew Ray. Photo by Keith Ledbetter.

By Keith Ledbetter

For the FCT

Red Bay took a 6-0 lead at halftime against Haleyville Friday night, but the Lions came back with some big third quarter plays to take a 14-6 win over the Tigers.

“Defensively we did a great job in the first half,” said Tiger head coach Michael Jackson.

“We almost got them down and I thought we would take advantage of that, but they came back with a couple of big plays early in the third quarter that got them going again.”

After both teams remained scoreless in the first quarter, the Tigers started to build a scoring drive to start the second after Haleyville missed a field goal attempt in the beginning of the quarter.

A completed pass from Red Bay quarterback Troy Borden to Tate Ozbirn sparked the Tigers’ scoring drive with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half. Two consecutive runs by Tyler Reach put Red Bay first and 10 on the 45.

Annoyed by the inability to stop the Tiger drive, Haleyville received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that moved Red Bay down field to the 31 of the Lions.

On a third and 10 play, Borden connected with Nick Thorn for the Tigers only TD of the night. After missing on the point after kick, the Tigers led 6-0.

Red Bay’s defense stopped Haleyville on their next possession, forcing them to punt, but Red Bay failed to take advantage of a shanked punt and turned the ball over on a Lions’ pass interception.

Red Bay’s Tate Ozbirn returned ownership to the Tigers after picking off a Walker Hughes pass a few plays later.

Midway through the third quarter Haleyville took a 7-6 lead on a TD run by Connor Kiser and a point after kick.

With their momentum building, the Lions struck again just minutes later when Hughes connected with Jonas Dodd for Haleyville’s last TD of the game. With a completed PAT kick, the Lions led 14-6.

Red Bay made a last attempt late in the fourth, but an attempted pass on fourth and five from the 12 yard line fell incomplete.

This Friday, Red Bay starts region play on the road to Cherokee.

“It’s a big region game,” Jackson said. “Cherokee has a lot of good athletes and they’re going to want to win as much as us.

“We’re going to come back and fix the things that went wrong this past week and get ready for our first region game.”