The DeKalb County High School Tigers Football Team traveled to Smith County last Friday night to take on the Owls in their last regular game of the season. As a district game, the important match would decide where the Tigers would go during the postseason. But big mistakes would be the story of the game, mistakes that would cost the Tigers dearly.
Things looked good for the Tigers at the start of the game. Smith County would get the ball first and return the DeKalb kickoff to the Tigers’ 44-yard line. Then, on the first play from scrimmage, an Owl pass was complete then fumbled at the 40-yard line. Dustin Warner recovered the ball and was able to take it all the way in for a touchdown. The extra-point attempt by Matthew Poss was blocked, but the Tigers took the early lead only 23 seconds into the game, 6-0.
The Owls’ next possession would start at their own 30, and Smith County would waste no time answering. On a second and seven from their own 33, Grant Williams was handed the ball and broke through for a long touchdown run. The extra point was good, and just like that Smith County was up by one, 7-6 with 10:22 left in the first quarter.
The game would go into defensive mode on the next several possessions, with each team going three-and-out on their next two possessions. The DeKalb offense would show some signs of life right before the end of the first quarter, converting second downs and moving to the Smith County 24-yard line. But there the drive would stall with a false-start penalty and a couple of incomplete passes. DeKalb would punt and the Owls would take possession at their own 18.
Smith County would be able to push to their own 33-yard line before being forced to punt, and backing the Tigers up at their own 36. From there DeKalb would mount a drive that would put them on the board again. A big pass play by Tigers’ Quarterback Steven Jennings to Jonathon Munoz set DeKalb up at the Owls’ 18-yard line. The next play Devonta Milan had a big run into the end zone for six. Poss’ extra point was again no good, but the Tigers were up, 12-7.
The Owls’ next drive would push them to the DeKalb 14, but a stiff defense would push them back and hold Smith County to a field goal attempt. From the 19 the kick was up but no good.
DeKalb would take over but soon would face one of several big mistakes that would ultimately cost them the game. After getting a first and 10 from their own 30-yard line, a Jennings pass was intercepted by the Owls’ Bailey Kemp. Kemp would take the ball down to the DeKalb 24 and Smith County would waste no time to take advantage. On a second and 15 from the 30-yard line, Kaleb Young would catch a pass in the end zone and give Smith County the lead. The extra point attempt was no good, but the Owls were up, 14-12 with 1:38 left in the half.
DeKalb would bounce back during their next drive however and score before the end of the half. The drive would see Milan carry the ball each of the three plays. With a first and 10 from the Tigers’ 19-yard line, Milan ran the ball in 81 yards for the touchdown with only 15 seconds left in the half. A run for a two-point conversion was no good, but the Tigers would go into the locker room with a narrow lead, 18-14.
While the big plays at the end of the first half gave Tigers’ fans high hopes, a big mistake at the beginning of the second half took some wind out of DeKalb’s sails. With Smith County kicking off to start the half, the ball deep into Tigers’ territory. Warner, thinking the ball would simply roll into the end zone for a touchback, left the area of the ball. But the ball landed at the three-yard line and stuck like a rock, hardly moving at all. Smith County would fall on the live ball and take possession with a first and goal at the three. The next play had Smith’s Jalen Manning in for the touchdown.  With the extra point, Smith regained the lead, 21-18.
DeKalb would battle back on their next drive. With Jennings mixing it up between runs by Milan, and passes to A.J. Mooneyham and Warner, the Tigers pushed down to the Owls’ 22-yard line. From there, on a second and 10, Jennings found Aaron Patterson for a touchdown. Poss’ extra point kick was tipped, but the Tigers took the lead back, 24-21.
The Owls would return the kickoff to their own 25-yard line on their next possession and begin an eight-play drive that would take them down to the Tigers’ six. There, facing a fourth and two, the Owls elected to go for it rather than try for a field goal. The running play by Austin Gregory was stopped at the five, and the Tigers took over on downs.
The Tigers looked to have put the nail in the coffin on their next drive. With some big pass plays by Milan and Patterson, the Tigers moved down six plays to the Smith County 38-yard line. There, Jennings would keep the ball and run it in for six. The extra point by Poss was good and DeKalb had a ten-point lead, 31-21.
Smith would start at their own 26 on their next possession, and as the fourth quarter began, would find themselves on the Tigers’ six yard line. Then, on a third and goal from the one-yard line, Manning was handed the ball and took it up the middle for six. The extra point was good, and DeKalb’s lead had narrowed 31-28 with 10:10 left in the game.
On their next possession the Tigers would make yet another mistake that would cost them points. Starting at their own 20, a run by Milan lost three yards. The next play, a Jennings pass was intercepted at the 18 by Smith’s Brad Rankin. Two plays later Manning was in for six. With the extra point, the Owls were back on top, 35-31 with 8:48 left in play.
The score seemed to have zapped the life out of the Tigers and their next possession went three-and-out.
Now Smith County looked to seal the win, and their next drive would take them eleven plays from their own 38 to the Tigers’ three-yard line. There the DeKalb D stiffened and on a fourth and goal from the three a running play by Mason Dillon was stopped with a tackle by Patterson.
With only 1:15 left in the game, the Tigers mounted what looked to be a game-winning drive. Starting from their own three, DeKalb would move to the 26, from where Milan would get a big run all the way down to the Owls’ 24-yard line. With only seconds on the clock, a Jennings pass to Patterson was intercepted by Rankin, sealing the Tigers’ fate.
Smith would come away with the win 35-31, finishing the season 6-4 and 5-1 in district play.
DeKalb ended its season the fifth seed at 6-4 and 4-2 in the district. They will face fourth-seeded Knoxville Catholic during the first round of the 2013 Division I BlueCross Bowl Class 4A Football Playoffs on Friday. The winner will face either number one seed Signal Mountain or number eight seed Marshall County.
"We had some upper classmen making decisions on the field that we don’t know where they came from," Coach Steve Trapp told the Review after the game. "We let a ball sit down there at the one-yard line, and turnovers deep in our own territory. They had a short field the whole second half."
"Our guys played hard. We don’t have to question their effort. We had some guys that had a breakout night statistically, but this is a team and ultimately we’ve got to play better if we want to be successful."
When asked if the team will be ready for the playoff game in Knoxville, Coach Trapp said, "It’s going to be a long trip but these guys have rebounded. They rebounded last week and put a lot out there on the field for us. Mentally, we’ve just got to be a whole lot better. The frustrating thing is, it’s things we’ve coached them to do, and then something gets lost out there [the field]. These guys will bounce back, they’ve been resilient all year, and we’ll be okay."