RBS Football Set to Make History
The year was 1973 when a group of concerned citizens from Red Boiling Springs decided to start the process of having a high school football program.
The 2014 Bulldog squad is set to play in the postseason for the first time in school history.
After much hard work a football program began at RBS. No Bleachers, no press box, no field, there were just a squad of kids that wanted to play football. By 1976 a lot of changes had taken place with the program. All the basics you would expect to see became available, a nice field, bleachers, a scoreboard, and a concession stand.
A lot of games have been played since then on the field at Red Boiling Springs. The one thing that has never happened in 43 years was a state playoff appearance. That will change this Friday night November 7th as the Bulldogs welcome Midway High School to the Dogpound. If you love Bulldog football, you need to be there to root on RBS and see history.
Kyle Shoulders is a 2002 Macon County High School and a 2006 MTSU graduate who began as an assistant coach at his high school alma mater from 2005 to 2008. He accepted the head coaching position at Red Boiling Springs in 2009. Kyle and his wife Brandy have two children, a daughter Kendall(2) and a son Kiffen(5 mths).
After the TSSAA Class “A” playoff bracket was announced, I sat down with Bulldog head coach. The following is an excerpt of an interview I conducted with Coach Shoulders.
Coach, you and your staff have worked hard to accomplish of making the playoffs for the first time. As a staff how does that make you feel?
“We are very proud that fruit off everyone’s hard work resulted in a state playoff game for the first time ever in the history of this program. We are thrilled to be playing at home and think that the entire community is very excited.”
How do you deal with playing only 15-16 kids total on both sides of the ball and the fatigue that can create?
“Our conditioning starts in the spring and we work very hard knowing we will need our players to be in tip-top shape and ready to play four quarters of football.”
What do you know at this point of the 4-6 Midway team you’ll face this Friday night?
“We know they are a very sound football team that is well coached and very physical. We will need our “A” game to compete but I think our players and coaches are very confident that we can compete, plus we are playing at home. We like playing at home.”
I remember you making the statement a few years ago that RBS would make the playoffs in a few years. Now that you have accomplished that goal, which have you enjoyed the most, the journey or the destination?
“Working with these kids, plus having a great set of assistant coaches on our staff, has been a journey that I have really enjoyed. We just hope the destination can last a long time.”
Is there anything else you would say about your success?
“The success of our football team wouldn’t be possible without our coaching staff and their families and the students and faculty of Red Boiling Springs High School. Most of all I want to thank the players and their parents who have given so much so kids could play football at our school.”
Members of the 2014 Red Boiling Springs Football coaching staff are: Mike Brown, Jonathan Peoples, Spencer Young, Jacob London, Terrell Sutton, and Garrett Crowe. Michael Owens is the statistician and Rachel Hester is the Athletic Trainer. The 2014 squad finished the regular season with a 6-4 record and a #4 seed in Quad 2.
Red Boiling Springs meets Midway on Friday night November 7th at home. Game time is scheduled for 7 pm so come out to the Dogpound and support your Bulldogs!