Upperman took the upper hand early and never looked back, beating Smithville on its home field with a stinging 43-0 defeat.
It was all Bees from the opening kickoff as they marched down the field on their first drive with Blake Metzgar doing the honors with a one-yard touchdown. The drive began near midfield when a Tiger punt after their opening drive of the game was partially blocked.
The second possession of the game for the Tigers was the only sustained drive DeKalb County would have on the night. Tiger quarterback Axel Aldino completed five passes as he worked his team from his own 25 to the Bees’ 10 yard line. Aldino, in just his second high school start, went eight for nine in the air for 57 yards in the first half. However, it wasn’t Aldino’s arm that stopped the drive, it was the gremlin that stymied the Tigers all night – penalties. Back-to-back holding and false start calls backed the Tigers up to the 25, forcing them into a field goal attempt that sailed wide.
The ensuing drive saw Metzgar ramble into the endzone again after a Donoven McCallister to Jake Penland bomb, making the score 14-0. The Tigers would find themselves stuck deep in their own territory the next drive with Aldino being sacked in his own endzone for a safety making the count 16-0.
Another drive stalled, giving the ball back to Upperman as the second quarter got underway. Metzgar didn’t waste much time notching his third TD of the night. McCallister would then hit Cole Bush with a 55-yard touchdown bomb with less than 30 second left in the second quarter to make it 29-0 at halftime.
Metzgar wasn’t through as he scored his fourth touchdown of the night on the Bees’ first drive of the third, making it 36-0 and leading to a constantly running clock. Then, adding insult to injury, the Bees’ second team was able to turn a botched play into a 64-yard touchdown run, finishing the game with a 43-0 victory.
In the loss, the Tigers managed less than 100 yards in offense with Aldino going eight for 15 for 63 yards passing and 10 for 18 yards rushing. Due to the constant clock in the second half which begins when a team goes down by 35 in the second half, the Tigers only got off 27 offensive plays. David Bradford led the Tigers on the ground rushing nine times for 27 yards. He had 125 yards rushing last week. Grayson Redmon led the team in receiving, hauling in three balls for 32 yards. Isaac Knowles had two catches for 13 while Tyzaun Ladet and Desmond Nokes both had single grabs.
“A blocked punt, missed assignments, a bad snap and penalties,” lamented Tiger Coach Steve Trapp. “You can’t do stuff like that against a team like Upperman.”
Trapp said the only positive he took away from the loss was the way his team was bothered by the way they performed.
“Hopefully they can take that feeling into practice this week and channel it into getting ready for Stone,” the coach said, noting Stone has been playing hard this year.
“This begins district play,” Trapp said. “No matter how good or bad we’ve done in the past two weeks, this is where we need to be ready.”
The loss to Upperman comes after a season opening win over Warren County, 19-14. The Tigers head to Crossville to play undefeated Stone Memorial this Friday after Stone beat Scott 28-13 this past week. DeKalb fell to Stone last year 38-16. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.