Stand-up defense and big plays on offense clicked for the Tigers in Cumberland County Friday, as DeKalb County took home a 16-8 victory over the Jets as well as a first-round playoff spot.
“Defense really did a good job with what they do offensively,” said DCHS Head Football Coach Steve Trapp. “It wasn’t a lot of different stuff so it was a good matchup for us.”
“Now they had some really big, bruising running backs so that was a challenge,” Trapp said. “One of the things we talked to our defense about was that they gang tackled. I thought we had a lot of white jerseys around the football tonight and when it really mattered we got some turnovers; we did give a couple up that could have hurt us, but the guys responded and ultimately did enough to get us another week of playing time so we’ll take it day by day and see how it goes.”
Both teams went scoreless in the opening quarter, struggling for the right combination that would work.
With big plays going DeKalb’s way, the Tigers scored first when QB Tyler Cantrell found Bradley Miller for a 45-yard touchdown pass as he hit the turbos outrunning the Jets defenders to the end zone. With a good PAT by Andrew Fuson, the Tigers led 7-0 with 11:49 left in the second quarter.
Scratching and clawing, neither team added anything more to the tally by the half, and DeKalb went into the break with a 7-point advantage.
DeKalb kicked off to the Jets to start the second half, and Cumberland mounted a good drive, but on a fourth-and-2 on the Tiger’s 41-yard line, DeKalb’s D shut down the Jets running play for a turnover on downs.
Making it back to Cumberland’s 15-yard line, DeKalb opted for a field goal on a fourth-and-4 situation and Fuson didn’t disappoint with his 32-yard field goal furthering the Tigers’ lead to 10-0 with 5:28 left in the third.
Cumberland County had prime real estate, returning the Tigers’ kickoff to DeKalb’s 32-yard line, but once again the Tiger defense denied the Jets a first down and any more points after they missed on the fourth-down field goal attempt.
It would be another big play for the Tigers, who widened the gap after Cantrell connected with Miller again for a 79-yard TD pass, making the score 16-0 after missing a rare PAT with 2:08 left to play to play in the third.
Cumberland County’s only score came early in the fourth quarter, after the Jets big RB Jacob Kerley scrambled for 27 yards and a touchdown, and a successful 2-point conversion accounted for the final score of 16-8.
The DeKalb County Tigers (3-7, 1-3) face a tough challenge Friday in Lewisburg as they face the Marshall County Tigers (7-3, 5-0) in a TSSAA Class 4A playoff matchup.