Gay resigns at Red Land

Under head coach Frank Gay, the Red Land football program went places it had never been before.

Now, after back-to-back losing seasons, Gay is turning the keys over to someone else.

Red Land athletic director Robert Ackell confirmed to The Sentinel on Wednesday via e-mail that Gay handed in his resignation Monday afternoon.

Gay coached the Patriots for eight seasons and compiled a record of 45-43.

In 2006, he led Red Land its first postseason football victory and won the District 3 Class AAA championship.

The Patriots ended that season with a 17-7 loss to Pottsville in the PIAA semifinals. Red Land went 13-2 that year.

Red Land returned to postseason play the next two years but never came close to another district championship. Then, in 2009, the program began to slide.

The Patriots went 5-15 over the last two seasons and, playing arguably the most difficult schedule in the district, finished 2-8 this fall.

Before the season started, Gay expressed frustration with his team.

"(The 2009 season) killed me because we pride ourselves, and we always have, on being physical and when people played Red Land, they realized we came after them," Gay said in August. "It was tough to take."

In terms of wins and losses, this season was worse than 2009 but Gay saw some bright spots. The Patriots played hard and were in the game against eventual 3-AAAA champion Cumberland Valley until the fourth quarter.

In all, Red Land played eight games against eventual district qualifiers and Gay also made the difficult decision to move his son, Spencer, from quarterback to wide receiver after the younger Gay, who his father admitted was the team's best receiver, got off to a slow start.

Still, the Patriots never quit this year and battled through all the adversity they faced.

"Our kids fought hard," Gay said after the loss to CV. "And they're going to continue to fight hard."

The mentality Gay instilled in his team: tough, resilient and physical to the end.

In all, Gay had a decent career in Lewisberry. He had as many winning seasons (four) as losing seasons and led Red Land to the district playoffs three times. Gay went 5-2 in district playoff games and 5-3 overall in the playoffs.

What defined his career more than anything else was the success he had against West Shore School District rival Cedar Cliff. Gay won his first six games against the Colts but hadn't beaten them since 2008.