The DeKalb County Tigers got off the snide in a big way Friday night as they traveled to Coalmont and handed the Grundy County Yellow Jackets a stinging 28-6 loss despite missing several starters due to injury.

“We had several step up and answer the call,” said Coach Steve Trapp of the road win which ended a three-game losing streak, all three loses coming to top ten teams. “We had played against some top competition the last few weeks so it was good to get a win under our belts.”

It didn’t take the Tigers long to get going against the Jackets as quarterback Axel Aldino hit Grayson Redmon with a 54 yard bomb at the 10:20 mark of the first quarter. The early volley was indicative of the break-through night for the sophomore signal caller as he would put up 209 yards passing along with 123 yards on 14 rushes.

Grundy County was unable to do anything offensively early as the tandem of quarterback Ethan Nunley and running back Gavin Tate accounted for 90 percent of their team’s total offense. Keeping them with a glimmer of hope were a pair of miscues on punt returns which gave the Jackets new life on two different occasions.

However, unable to convert on two prime opportunities, one which saw them fail on a fourth down try deep in Tiger territory, the Jackets put the ball back in Aldino’s hands. In just his fifth career start, Aldino hit T.J. Alexander for a 46-yard touchdown, making the count 14-0 as the first quarter came to an end.

The Jackets would put together its only sustained drive of the night during the second quarter but a failure on fourth down gave the pigskin back to the Tigers. Aldino would cap a career first half with a second touchdown pass to Redmon, hitting him for 53 yards and a 21-0 lead. Redmon had four catches on the night for 123 yards.

The next possession of the Tigers provided Aldino’s lone mistake as an interception led to the Jackets’ only touchdown when Tate make good on the miscue a few plays later and took it in for a five-yard touchdown. The Jackets trailed 21-6 at the break.

The Tigers would continue their proficiency in the second half, taking a 28-6 lead behind a Tre Ladet 39 yard gallop to give his team a 28-6 lead which would prove to be the final score. Ladet ran the ball seven times for 84 yards, his increased carries coming in the absence of backfield workhorse back David Bradford who was injured late in the Watertown game last week. Coach Trapp said Bradford’s availability for the rest of the season is unclear. Sharing the load with Ladet was running back Nathaniel Crook who carried the ball four times for 19 yards.

With the win, Coach Trapp said the Tigers need to keep building on the positives when they travel to Cannon County this Friday night for a 7 p.m. kick off.

“This isn’t the same old Cannon County team we’ve seen in the past,” Trapp admitted. “They have some talented players and we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

The Cannon County Lions share a 2-3 record with the Tigers. They lost last week at Upperman, 49-0, the same Upperman team that beat the Tigers 43-0 a few weeks ago. The Tigers beat Cannon County here last year 42-0.