It was the color purple in Watertown Friday night as the sixth-ranked Purple Tigers thumped DeKalb County in the battle of West Alexandria, improving to 3-1 with a 42-20 victory.

The Purple Tiger win came over a game Tiger squad which pulled out all the stops in the early going, with DeKalb converting a fake punt into points when Isaac Cross surprised the Watertown defense and ran the ball deep in the Purple Tiger territory. Junior quarterback Axel Aldino was then able to connect with Isaac Knowles for 30-yard touchdown pass to even the score at seven with 3:10 left in the opening quareter. Watertown had struck first, nine minutes into the game, when they capped a 73-yard drive with a pass from quarterback Brayden Cousino to Brandon Watts for a 13-yard touchdown.

While DeKalb started out standing toe-to-toe with the highly touted Purple Tiger squad, their success would not last as their hosts tacked on a score with 25 seconds left in the opening frame when Jordan Carter scampered into the end zone to make it 14-7.

The separation between the border rivals began in earnest in the second quarter as Watertown went with a no-huddle offense which left DeKalb, which has many of its players playing both ways, on its heels. The end result was a Cousino to Elijah Williams 34-yard touchdown pass at the 9:24 mark of the second.

The tandem were not through in the second as they again connected at the 3:15 mark of the second for a 34-yard hook up that came off a deflected pass to make it 28-7.

Making matters worse for the Tigers was the awakening of one of the state’s best running backs as D-Ray Carey got started up late in the second, bulling his way through DeKalb defenders for a 4-yard touchdown carry to make it 35-7 at half.

Despite being hit in the mouth in the first half, the Tigers were able to come out and mount a 61-yard drive to start the second half, culminating with an 11-yard Aldino to Desmond Nokes hook up to make it 35-14.

However, it was Kerry on the carry as Watertown erased any hopes of a comeback with a 3-yard touchdown, making it 42-14 with 6:43 left in the third. That would be the last score for Watertown but it was all they needed as the fourth became a battle of bench players. The Tigers were able to get some window dressing on the board with a Colter Kilgore to Silas Cross touchdown pass on the last play of the game.

The Tigers dropped to 1-3 with the loss but keep their fenders in-tact in the district with last week’s 33-0 shellacking of Stone Memorial. They will play host to Grundy County this Friday in non-district action. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at VanHooser Stadium.