The Red Level Tigers showed major improvements as they finished the season 5-5.

It was a vast improvement from the team that finished 0-10 in 2017.

“All-in-all, it was a good year,” Red Level head coach Kenny Skipper said. “We went from 0-10 last year to 5-5 this year. Even during that 0-10 season we got better each week and we did that this year. This year was success and we were just one win away from the playoffs. That’s a feat in itself here.”

Skipper said that the Tigers are not content with where they are.

“We aren’t happy with where we are at,” Skipper said. “We aren’t going to be satisfied with this. It’s a process and we still have to get a lot better and stronger to compete in this region.”

Coming into this year, Skipper said he knew things would be different.

“You could tell from the attitude last year that this year would be a turnaround,” Skipper said. “You have to give credit to the six seniors that we had. They were the leaders of this team. Their hard work and dedication to getting better was impressive.”

Skipper said he had some surprises this year also.

“We got some really good play out of some young kids this year,” Skipper said. “We started an eighth grader (Demarcus Johnson) at running back and we didn’t expect to get the kind of play out of an eighth grader like we did. He ended up just shy of 1,000 yards rushing. We also had a freshman (Parker Spears) playing quarterback. We got a lot of good production out of him until he got hurt. Kade Green came in the last four games of the year at quarterback and he also did a really good job.”

The fans and the community helped make the team successful, Skipper said.

“This community has been amazing this year,” Skipper said. “The support we have had has been great. Last week at Fruitdale, we had more fans than they did and that’s a two hour drive for our fans. They can sense a change in this team and we are going to continue to get improve.”

After starting the season off with a close loss to Zion Chapel, the Tigers rolled off four-straight victories and appeared primed for a postseason berth.

Red Level knocked off McKenzie (12-6), Pleasant Home (15-14), Kinston (41-40) and Calhoun (54-0) before a losing streak knocked them out of playoff contention.

Red Level ended the season with a 20-13 win over Fruitdale to finish the season 5-5.