TANNER – Turnovers can make or break a game.

Red Bay learned that lesson the hard way Friday night with Tanner capitalizing on three turnovers in route to a 34-9 win.

The Tigers fumbled the football six times in the loss.

“You’re not going to win very many football games turning the ball over like we did tonight,” Red Bay coach Dale Jefferies said. “Good teams always take advantage of situations like that. Turnovers are the difference in the game.”

The Tigers got on the board early in the first quarter when Chris Frame made a 43-yard field goal.

On the ensuing drive, Tanner quarterback Demarcus King scrambled out of the pocket and hit Cliff Burch on a 35-yard touchdown pass. George Adams made the extra point to give the Rattlers a 7-3 lead.

“We knew how Red Bay was going to come at us, so we did a few things different this week,” Tanner coach LaRon White said. “We threw the ball a little more and were able to move the ball effectively.”

Red Bay drove within the Tanner 25-yard line in the second quarter, but the Tigers turned the ball over on downs after a couple big plays from the Rattlers’ defense.

“We got into scoring position a couple times, but couldn’t find the end zone,” Jefferies said. “We dropped a few passes and they made some good plays. It could have easily been 17-7 going into halftime.”

On the ensuing series, Tanner capped off a 75-yard drive that ate over seven minutes off the clock when King hit Rod Byrd on a seven-yard touchdown pass. Adams made the extra point to give the Rattlers a 14-3 lead.

“Our guys did the little things right tonight,” White said. “That’s what you have to do to beat good teams like Red Bay.”

Rattlers’ linebacker Blake Montgomery recovered a Josh Senkbeil fumble on the Tanner 13-yard line and returned it 87-yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter. Adams’ missed the extra point.

“Our goal this week was to create turnovers,” Tanner safety George Adams said. “Our defense stepped up and came through tonight. Now that we’re getting into the heart of the region we have to keep getting efforts like this from our defense.”

Mason scored on a one-yard touchdown run midway in the third quarter. Adams’ point after was good to give Tanner a 27-3 lead.

Byrd returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Adams’ extra point was good.

“We made some adjustments this week in practice,” White said. “Our guys responded the way we wanted them too.”

Senkbeil scored an 18-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter for Red Bay. Frame’s point after was good.

“We’ve got a lot of injuries right now,” Jefferies said. “That’s really hurting us right now. We still did a lot of good things tonight even though we didn’t come out with a win.”