iStockphoto
Red Boiling Springs forfeited a playoff game vs. South Pittsburg.
Red Boiling Springs High School in Tennessee will not play its previously scheduled playoff football game against South Pittsburg in the opening round. The Bulldogs have forfeited the contest.
The next opponent is one of interest. That familiar foe has ended the Bulldogs‘ season in embarrassing fashion each of the last two years. Red Boiling Springs will not give South Pittsburg an opportunity to do so again, but there are repercussions.
The forfeiture has no impact on the anticipated outcome. The Pirates were expected to dominate as they’ve done in the past. Still, the decision was disappointing to South Pittsburg coach Wes Stone.
“I’m disappointed that our seniors don’t get another chance to play at home. You only get so many opportunities to play on your home field, and our seniors will miss out on getting to have one of those special nights in the playoffs in front of our community.”
-Wes Stone
Regardless, the game has been cancelled. The Pirates will advance to the next round without having to play. Red Boiling Springs’ season is over.
Let’s explain how we got here, and what comes next.
The Bulldogs made the high school football playoffs on technicality.
There are only four teams in the Bulldogs’ region. Everyone in the 1A Region 4 District automatically makes the postseason under TSSAA rules.
That even applies to the Bulldogs, who went 0-10 on the field this year. They were outscored a combined 476-54 in those losses.
The winless season continued a losing streak that’s now stretched to 29 games. The program has not won a game since September of 2024.
Despite the skid, the Bulldogs have made the playoffs thanks to that region setup. The last two seasons have ended with shutout losses to South Pittsburg. They were again slated to make the 2.5-hour trip south for the postseason in 2026.
Google Maps
South Pittsburg is three hours south of Red Boiling Springs.
These two schools are separated by about 130 miles, with each competing at the Class 1A level. Red Boiling Springs is about 10 minutes from the Kentucky border. The city is home to about 1,200 residents. The school serves grades 6-12.
South Pittsburg, meanwhile, is located on Tennessee’s southern border just west of Chattanooga. The high school was established in 1924 and serves 420 students from grades 9-12.
The two programs do not meet regularly during the season. They have been matched up for a third straight time to open the playoffs, however. The last two meetings have been one-sided affairs.
South Pittsburg owns Red Boiling Springs.
In 2024, the Pirates beat Red Boiling Springs 60-0. That was followed up by a 58-0 shellacking last fall. South Pittsburg scored five touchdowns on their first six offensive plays in 2025.
Another lopsided result was anticipated this year. South Pittsburg is the state’s highest-scoring team. They outscored opponents 559-68 in the regular season on their way to a 9-1 record. They remain the cream of the crop in Tennessee’s 1A Class.
The Pirates have won three titles since 2021. The Bulldogs have won two games in three years. Given the previous combined scores of 118-0, Red Boiling Springs bowed out. It will not suffer another beating. Player safety was cited in the school’s reasoning.
“We are forfeiting Friday’s game against South Pittsburg due to injuries and low roster numbers,” Bulldogs coach Michael Tirjan confirmed in an email to The Tennessean. “The decision was made with the health and safety of our student-athletes as our top priority. We wish South Pittsburg the best moving forward!”
As a result of the decision, Red Boiling Springs will face sanctions.
The TSSAA handbook reads: “Schools that choose to drop out of the play-off series during a classification period, or refuse to play in a playoff game for which they have qualified, will be subject to the following:
“The school will be out of the playoffs for the remainder of the two-year contract cycle and the next two-year contract cycle. The school will pay all contracts to the teams in the same region they are unwilling to play. If a contract is not written between the region teams, the minimum payment to the schools affected will be $2,000 per year.”
Not only will Red Boiling Springs remove itself from this year’s postseason field, but The Tennessean says a playoff ban will stretch two more years to follow.
The Bulldogs will also pay South Pittsburg $2,000 to not play the game. One forfeiture will impact the postseason outlook for three years. Wild!