The DeKalb County High School Tigers made the long trek to Hixson on Friday night to take on the Hixson Wildcats. Coming off a loss last week to the Smith County Owls, the Tigers bounced back nicely with a 30-14 victory to spoil the Wildcats' Homecoming.
The win improved the Tigers record to 5-1 with a big district match-up against York Institute slated for this Friday at Jamestown.
The Tigers played a very physical game against the Wildcats in the flag marred contest. The Tigers had penalties called against them for a total of  65 yards. The Tigers won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.
The first quarter saw both teams trading possessions three times, with neither team able to score. The Tigers offense was held to a mere two yards in the first quarter.
In the Tigers three drives, two were ended after Zach Taylor's punts of 36 yards and 41 yards. The other drive ended when Tigers tailback, Dylan Freeney, fumbled the ball away on the Wildcats' 44-yard line.
Offensively, the Tigers in the first quarter, seemed to be in a funk. However, DeKalb's defense was able to keep the Wildcats in check by forcing a punt, recovering a snap that was over the quarterback's head, and by stopping the Wildcats on a key fourth and two play.
Tiger cornerback Chris Chapman flew into the backfield and stopped the runner for a loss of 1 yard, giving the ball back to the Tigers at the Wildcat 36-yard line.
DeKalb County could not take advantage of the field possession and was forced to punt. Taylor's 36-yard punt was downed at the 8-yard line of the Hixson Wildcats.
On the next play, Taylor stopped the Wildcat runner after a pickup of 1 yard and as the first quarter buzzer sounded, the game in Hixson was scoreless.
The second quarter was kinder to the Tigers as they were able to move the football and punch it in the end zone.
The Tiger defense was again strong in the second quarter. On the first play of the quarter, the Wildcats had the ball on their own 9-yard line. Tiger linebacker Cody Puckett stripped the football away from the wildcat quarterback and strolled into the end zone for the games’ first score. Taylor's PAT was good and with 11:52 remaining in the first half, the Tigers led 7-0.
On Hixson's next drive, the Tigers’ defense forced the Wildcats to turn the ball over on downs at the Tigers’ own 35-yard line, led by plays from Ricky Spare and Caleb Cantrell.
The Tigers took possession of the ball and marched straight down the field with a 6-play, 65-yard drive that was capped off by a 35-yard touchdown run by Tiger quarterback Lucas Phillips. Again, Taylor's PAT was good. With 7:01 remaining, the Tiger lead was extended to 14-0.
The Wildcats got on the scoreboard at the 3:48 mark as Wildcat quarterback Justin Matheson plunged his way across the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown. The PAT was good by Matheson and the Tiger lead was cut in half, 14-7.
The Tigers’ next possession resulted in another score when QB Lucas Phillips connected withMolander for the 15 yard touchdown reception. Taylor's PAT was good, and after the 11-play, 90-yard drive, the Tigers were yet again leading by 14 points, with a score of 21-7.
The first half came to an end just 1:06 later, without a score by the Wildcats, and so, at half time, the Tigers led 21-7.
On the Tigers' second possession of the third quarter, place kicker, Zach Taylor, boomed a 45-yard field goal to extend the Tiger lead to 17 points with a score of 24-7.
Not giving up, the Wildcats' offense drove the football down the field and scored on a 10-yard run. With a good PAT, the lead was cut to 10 points with a score of 24-14. Only 2:24 remained in the third quarter.
The Tigers took their next possession 69 yards on 10 plays to score a touchdown by running back Cody Puckett from 6 yards out. Taylor's PAT was no good
 and with 11:20 remaining in the game, the Tigers pulled away with a score of 30-14.
The two teams traded possession two times in the remainder of the game. Both drives by the Wildcats ended in Tiger territory, with one ending in a turnover on downs and the other ending with a nice interception by Tiger defensive back, Will Molander. The interception by Molander was his second of the game.
The Tiger offense ran the football on their drives, trying to run out the time on the game clock. The game ended with the Tigers in the victory formation on offense. The Tigers won the contest 30-14.
After the game, Head Coach Steve Trapp spoke with the Review.
The Smithville Review: The offense took a while to get going, but settled down after the first quarter. What are your thoughts?
Head Coach Steve Trapp: The defensive score out of Puckett really sparked our offense. It truly jump-started our emotions. We started playing better, without changing what we were trying to do. We still missed some things; we were just a few inches away from hitting a few really pretty deep passes to Molander and Thompson. I am pleased, overall, with our offense. There are still some things that we need to work on. I think our passing game can be a lot better. But, we hit some big plays in our passing game. Lucas Phillips made some good scrambling runs. Times when he needed to scramble, he did. He had some plays scrambling through the air. He is getting better in that regard. And then he hit some stuff out of the pocket as well.  Offensively, any time you score 30 points, we feel that is enough to win.
Review: Other than the few big plays that the defense allowed, they played a solid game. Would you like to elaborate on your views?
Trapp: I am really pleased with our defensive effort. Again, we had a turnover that gave them a short field that ultimately led them to get a touchdown within three plays. We would ultimately like for our defense to shut the opposing team down. As an offense, we can't turn the ball over and allow our defense to be put in that situation. We were very confident going into the game with our defensive game plan. Hixson has some great ball players, but we really felt that we had their scheme pegged out. Our guys really had to focus in and recognize in order for us to be successful. As far as weather goes, we weren't able to go outside and have a physical week of practice so, I really commend our guys on mentally paying attention. I thought we stepped on the field and had a good mind game. I think we also had a good physical game; it was one of the best tackling games that we have had, and we have had some good ones. We still missed a few, but overall, I think it was a great tackling game.
Review: It was a very physical game. From the opening kick off, your team set the tone early. I don't think the opposing team was able to bounce back. Any comments?
Trapp: Yes, yes! That may be a result of the team not going outside and beat on each other all week. We wrapped up our weight room program this week. We tweaked and focused on working their core, legs, and hips with our squats and power cleans. The guys might not realize it, and they don't like doing it (trust me), but I could really see a difference in their legs and the power that they had. I think our fourth block weight room sessions last week really paid off. Their mindset really paid off, and it was a huge win for us.
Review: Cody Puckett has been a star all year defensively. The strip, inside the 10-yard line, was a great play. How would you describe his contribution?
Trapp: It happened so quickly, I really didn't know what happened. I just heard the horn blowing, looked up, and Puckett was in the end zone with the ball. He took it right away from the kid. #15 was a great athlete. Puckett has made a lot of big plays for us on defense, and now he is starting to come into his own. This is his first year playing high school football. He is getting better every week, and that is what we ask of all of our players. I think that play really jump-started our momentum and emotion. From then on, we played some pretty good football.
Review: There were several penalties. It got ugly at times. Both teams were at odds with each other.
Trapp: Ultimately, our guys are going to play hard, and they understand how we want them to play. I can't control the officials. You aren't going to see me blow up on an official too much. I will say my piece. Ultimately, I can't chew an official out or make them change a call. I can let them know how I feel in a correct manner. Some of those penalties, even though I haven't seen them on film yet, came at very good times for Hixson, but they got some bad calls also. Our guys were playing hard; I didn't see anything that was really out of our character. If I had, I would have addressed that. As long as my guys are playing hard and we get a few of those, I can live with that. But, when they start losing their head and losing their character, doing things against how we coach, then we will have a problem.
Review: Will Molander had another outstanding game at WR.
Trapp: We just find different ways each week to get him the football. If its on the jet sweep, throwing screens, or just throwing the ball down field, putting him in the back field and handing the ball off to him up the middle. We talked about, in the preseason, we want him to touch the ball. When he touches the ball, good things happen. Not only him, but also Zach Taylor as well; Sebastian Phillips will hopefully come back this week. Those three guys are who we really want touching the ball. They make stuff happen. We moved Zach out to wide out this week, so we could have Will and Zach on the field at the same time. Zach made a couple of big catches and played great on defense. He kicked a 46-yard field goal. I don't think that has ever been done here. This dude is having a great year all-around. He and Will are two big playmakers for us, all the way around, even on special teams.
Review: We have a district game coming up this week against York Institute. District is your ultimate goal. What do you expect in this game?
Trapp: We talked to our guys all week about the Hixson game being an opportunity to show what Tiger Pride is all about. The first “R” in Tiger Pride is about being resilient, about being able to bounce back. We told them that Hixson has a great record; they are a good football team. This was going to be a stepping stone for us to prove what this program is about, coming off the loss to Smith County, where we did some good things well but ultimately didn't get the win. I am really proud of our guys, bouncing back, taking care of business, putting that game in the “win” column, and getting that game behind us. As big as the Hixson game was, this game is big also, because you have to continue. You are resilient, you bounce back, you beat a team with a great record, you beat a good football team, and you can't relax at all. That is what we are going to tell our team this week. We have to prove that they can continue to improve. It's important because it is a district game. Traveling to York is tough. We beat them down there two years ago in a nail biter. I feel confident in our team, that if we limit our mistakes, take care of our first downs, and are efficient on third downs, we can pull out a victory.
Review: In reference to injuries, you said you look for Sebastian to be back this week, and after the ball game Friday night, Eli Gill collapsed. Are you able to update us on these two players?
Trapp: He gave everything he (Eli) had. Ultimately, that is what we ask our guys to do. If we have to carry you off the field at the end of the game, we know you played your hind end off. Eli did that for us. Jake Odom and Eli really were challenged all week. They had to be a presence in the middle of our defense to take away one of their whole packages on offense. Hixson wasn't able to do anything up the middle. Those two guys played great. Eli just had nothing left in the tank. We appreciate Mr. Reed being there for us as our trainer. Webb came out of the stands to check him out. We made sure he was alright. It was one of those situations where he literally ran out of gas. He should be good to go; he has rested up this weekend. We will monitor him daily at practice. It is a result of those guys playing really hard up the middle. Sebastian probably felt better this week, but we wanted to give him some extra time to rest. Again, we are going to check him out this week. That is going to be a big step up for us this week if we can get him back on the field. On the flip side of that, I think Lane Ball came in and played really good ball at line backer. Coming from a defensive end position, then jumping in at middle line backer, with only four days preparation, he made a lot of big plays for us. And then Lance Ball, his brother, came in and made some good plays, as well. We have a couple of sophomores and a couple of freshman playing on the front seven that are playing some really good football. After six games in, those guys aren't “youngsters” anymore. They are playing really good, and it looks really bright for our future.