The DeKalb County Tiger football team edged Smith County 34-32 in an offensive barnburner in Carthage Friday night.

The Tigers practically spotted The Owls a touchdown when an opening kickoff fumble on the DeKalb seven-yard line was picked up by Shermar King and run in for a touchdown. A good EP kick put the owls up 7-0 with 9:54 left on the clock in the first period.

DeKalb tied the score on a 38-yard run by Quarterback Steven Jennings with 7:52 left in the first and an EP from the foot of Matthew Poss. Smith County pulled ahead again with 4:09 on the clock in the first when King ran a four-yard touchdown in. A failed EP attempt put the score at 13-7 Owls.

On the next series, DeKalb looked poised to score again when a turnover at The Smith County 14-yard line allowed Quarterback Carson Hackett to hit Campbell Gregory with a pass that turned into an 86-yard touchdown with 33 seconds left in the first. Another failed EP kick put the Owls ahead 19-7.

The Tigers began to claw their way back in the second quarter, putting six points on the board on a one-yard run by Nick May with 7:52 on the clock. Matthew Poss missed his second EP attempt for the year, and the score stood at 19-13.

Tiger Bradley Miller soon picked off an Owl pass on the DeKalb 39, and the next play saw Jennings hit Isaiah Jones for a 61-yard touchdown. A good kick by Poss put DeKalb back in the lead, 20-19, with 6:43 left in the second period.

Smith opened up the second half of the game receiving the ball and marching downfield to score on a five-yard run by John Ross Hord. A good EP placed the game back in the Owls claws with the score at 26-20 with 11:20 left in the third quarter.

Steven Jennings was banged up on the next Tiger possession, and backup QB Tyler Cantrell came in, immediately showing that he is capable of leading the Tigers by taking the team to the goal line to score on a four-yard Tyler Bundy run. Matthew Poss put the EP up, and the Tigers regained the lead, 27-26, with 5:18 left on the clock in the third.

Cantrell added another touchdown on a 22-yard run with 4:57 left in the fourth. Poss placed another good EP, and the Tigers pulled ahead 34-26.

The Owls were not giving up, however, scoring again with 4:37 on the clock on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Hackett to King. An attempted two-point conversion was unsuccessful, and the clock ran out with the Tigers hanging on to a 34-32 lead.

Head Coach Steve Trapp told the Smithville Review after the game that he was proud of the performance his backup QB put in.

"(Tyler Cantrell) did a great job," Trapp said. "He’s a quality football player. Unfortunately he’s sitting behind one of the best quarterbacks we’ve ever had here, but he came in, was very poised, and was upbeat in the huddle. We were backed up here, and everybody was yelling at me to run the ball, but he made a couple of passes that got us down the field, and ended up running the ball for the touchdown and doing a great job for us."

Trapp said that he is not as pleased with the DeKalb defensive effort.

"Defensively, just nowhere near good enough for us to be what we want to be," the coach shared. "It’s just disappointing, because we keep seeing inconsistent play, but again, I’ll never apologize for a victory. I was proud of our guys. They did show character. They did rise up. They did make plays ultimately, when we had to. Credit to Smith County, they played a good ball game, but we know we have to do better."

As always, the coach had good things to say about Tiger fans.

"They do support these young men out here, we appreciate these guys traveling to these road games, and bringing the horn and everything they do. Tiger Pride is alive and well, and fortunately for us we’re still clean in the region (having beaten York Institute and Smith County). We do have a lot of guys who are going to have to step up and do it in a great fashion."

Trapp said he expects more from the Tigers when they face Macon County this week.

"It will definitely be a tough ball game, they have an excellent quarterback, and our defense is going to have to want it more. They are going to have to step up and execute better. It’s going to be an exciting football game."

The Tigers, now 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in region play, visit Macon County Friday night, then will return home to host Sequatchie County on Sept. 30 for homecoming. The Tigers will travel to Grundy County on Oct. 7, will play at home against the Upperman Bees on Oct. 21, and will travel to Cannon County on Oct. 28 to wrap up the regular season.

All games kick off at 7 p.m.