It was a hard-fought contest for the Red Level Tigers, but J.U. Blacksher left Red Level with a 33-25 victory on Friday night.

“I thought we played hard and didn’t quit,” new Red Level head coach James Wise said. “We just didn’t play well enough on some of the little things to win. I thought the fans got their monies worth.”

Red Level got down early, but clawed their way back into the contest.

“We ran the ball well,” Wise said. “We also had some young guys that stepped up and made big plays for us.”

Red Level got a few scores in unconventional ways, when Jeffery Perdue picked up an onside kick off one bounce and raced 60 yards to the end zone.

Dylan Jordan picked off a pass, and turned it into 6 points after he went 70 yards for the touchdown.

John Lee had a pair of touchdowns for the Tigers with an 8-yard touchdown on a screen pass and a 20-yard touchdown run.

Wesley Holley added the other Tigers’ touchdown with a 25-yard run.

“Overall, I thought we played hard,” Wise said. “I was very proud of them, and we saw some things that we can work on now. The offense played great, but our defense didn’t play as well as we could. I have to give credit to J.U. Blacksher, though, they are well coached and they played hard.”

Defensively for the Tigers, Dameyune Scott led the way with 8 tackles. Austin Huckabaa had 7 tackles, and Ontaryo Nearer finished the night with two sacks.

Red Level will go on the road next week to face Notasulga.