Coming off a bye week, the Red Bay Tigers looked flat and got off to a slow start before dominating their state-line rival Belmont 43-16 Friday night.

The first quarter was dominated by Belmont. The Cardinals controlled the time of possession thanks to a Red Bay turnover deep in Belmont territory. 

The Cardinals, however, had nothing to show for it because of Red Bay’s stifling defense. The first quarter ended scoreless.

The Tiger offense finally found its rhythm in the second quarter. Quarterback Jalen Vinson scored on an eight-yard run to put Red Bay on the board, and Arden Hamilton added a two-point conversion run to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead with 9:20 to go in the second quarter.

Vinson added another touchdown run late in the second quarter from three yards out. Hunter King ran the ball in on the two-point conversion to give Red Bay a 16-0 halftime lead.

Red Bay tacked on three more unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter to put the game out of reach: King scored runs of one-yard and 10 yards to give Red Bay a 30-0 lead; tailback Colyn Humphres added another with :37 seconds to go in the third quarter to give Red Bay a 36-0 lead; and sandwiched between two Belmont touchdowns in the fourth quarter was a 31-yard touchdown run by Blake Nix.

Vinson completed 11 of 18 passes for 247 yards. Hamilton finished the game with six catches for 146 yards.

Hunter King rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, while Gavin Edgmon led the Tigers on defense with 15 tackles.