They were who we thought they were. For Coach Steve Trapp and his DeKalb County High School Tigers, there were no surprises when they traveled to Crossville to play the undefeated Stone Memorial Panthers Friday night other than the results – a 35-0 loss in which the Tigers were held to zero net yards from scrimmage and one first down.

“Our youth was showing,” said Coach Trapp following the Tigers’ second consecutive loss in their present 1-2 campaign. “There wasn’t a lot positive we can take away from the game. We just got to keep working hard and I think our guys will do that. We will turn it around at some point. We just have to make a decision if that’s next week, the week after or next year.”

The issues started after the Tigers had their hosts pinned deep in their own territory during Stone’s first possession. However, on third down, Stone signal caller Thomas Arnold heaved a bomb from his own endzone to Jesus Murillo for a 60-yard gain. One of the only bright moments of the night happened next as the Tigers recovered an errant toss by Arnold. Stone would not be deterred as after a three and out by the Tigers, Stone drove the field and took the lead 7-0 in the late first quarter. It took Stone just two minutes to find the endzone again after another Tiger three and out, making the score 14-0 behind Arnold’s second TD. Stone wasn’t through in the first quarter as Arnold hit Murillo for a touchdown in the waning moments of the opening stanza. By the end of the half, DeKalb found itself down 35-0 and a running clock in the second half allowed for few possessions to make up the difference. The only real scoring opportunity came when Axel Aldino, making just his third career start, heaved a 60-yard bomb but the ball ended up being just off the fingertips of the receiver.

The only Tiger first down came at the nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter. After deducting the sack yardage from the overall offensive numbers, the Tigers ended up with zero yards of offense.

Trapp said he was disappointed because he thought the team was well-prepared going into the game and there were very few wrinkles in the Panther game they had not trained for during the practice.

“That was getting our job done and we didn’t’ get it done,” Trapp said of execution problems in the Stone game.

Helping sink the Tiger hopes were seven sacks that cost them 47 yards. Their top rusher, David Bradford, was limited to just 11 yards on five carries while Aldino went four-for-13 in the air for 40 yards, half of those from a 20-yard completion to Travante Alexander.

There will be no time to lick wounds; however, as undefeated Watertown comes to Smithville this Friday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

“They’re the best team we’ve seen all season,” Trapp admitted, saying his squad will need to pick themselves up and get ready to compete. “We’re going to have to pack our big boy pants.”