The border battle heated up Friday night as the DeKalb County Tigers sloshed through the rain to put a damper on the Warren County Pioneer season by handing their rival a 19-14 loss in Smithville, leveling the series at seven apiece in a game that became an instant classic with a controversial ending.
Despite holding a lead for most of the game, the Tiger win happened in comeback fashion, thanks to a miscue that ended up being the key to the game. The issue came in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter as the Tigers found themselves on the short end of a 14-13 score and facing a fourth and seven just inside Pioneer territory. Not wanting to chance giving the visitors good field position, the Tiger plan was to pin the Pioneers deep in their own territory. However, a mishandled snap of the rain-slick pigskin left punter Andrew Fuson running for his life as a posse of Pioneers gave chase. Against all odds he was able to get the punt off and was promptly pounded by defenders. The contact brought flags and a 15-yard penalty for roughing the kicker, something Pioneer Coach Tom Moore protested, maintaining the ball had been touched by one of the defenders on the punt block attempt, meaning the punter would have been fair game. His protests fell on deaf ears, leaving the Tigers with the ball inside the Pioneer 30.
The end result of the penalty was the Tigers go-ahead score three plays later when quarterback Axel Aldino hit Zack Day in the end zone with a jump pass from the 13-yard line. A failed two-point conversion left the Tigers holding on to their 19-14 lead for dear life as the clock ticked. The Pioneers would actually have two more cracks at taking the lead, the first ending when they were halted on fourth down, trying a fake punt that was sniffed out by the Tigers. Their last shot came from deep in their own territory when Pioneer signal caller Clay Thompson threw up a Hail Mary, the prayer going unanswered as it was picked off by Tiger corner Isaac Knowles to seal the victory.
“Anytime you can get a win over a rival like Warren County, it’s a good win,” said Tiger Head Coach Steve Trapp. “We did some things right and there are other things we’re going to work on this week as we prepare for Upperman.”
The win comes in the first ever high school start for sophomore Tiger quarterback Aldino who showed well, going six of nine through the air for 128 yards and two touchdowns. His first touchdown came on the first drive of the game when a blown Pioneer coverage left receiver Andrew Fuson wide open for a 46 catch and dash to the end zone and an 7-0 lead. His heroics were matched by Pioneer running back Eric Haywood who busted through the line on the next Warren County possession to even the game at seven apiece. The Tigers took the lead going into half when running back David Bradford bulled his way into the end zone, a failed PAT leaving it 13-7 at the half.
After both teams swapped missed field goal attempts in the less than ideal elements, Pioneer running back C.J. Taylor would give his team its first and only lead of the night on a fourth down early in the fourth. Warren County pulled a page from the back of the playbook, using a direct snap after feigning confusion at the line to get Taylor into the end zone. The made extra point made it 14-13, clearing the way to the controversial roughing the kicker call minutes later.
A look at the stats showed they could not have been closer as the Pioneers had 326 total yards, one more than their hosts. The Pioneer numbers came on the ground with Haywood rushing 14 times for 156 yards and C.J. Taylor 20 times for a buck-50. For the Tigers, David Bradford ran the ball 14 times for 125 yards, Aldino 13 times for 54 yards and former Pioneer Tre Ladet, four times for 18 yards, including the first rush of the game. In all, the Pioneers outrushed the Tigers 320 to 197 while the Tigers out passed them 128 to 10. At receiver, the big gainers included Andrew Fuson with one catch for 46, former Pioneer Tyzaun Ladet, one for 35 and Isaac Knowles, two for 26.
The win knots the series at seven apiece with the Tigers winning the last three of four as their 6A neighbor.
The Tigers move on next week to host the Upperman, the Bees coming off a convincing 23-7 win over 6A opponent Cookeville. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Smithville.
