While standing toe-to-toe with the Wildcats for a half, the DeKalb County Tigers saw hope slip away in the second as the seemingly impenetrable Livingston Academy defense denied their visitors the end zone, blanking the Tigers 31-0.
The win leaves undefeated Livingston in the driver’s seat for top seed in the playoffs while DeKalb’s Oct.18 game with Macon County will likely decide who gets second seed and a home playoff game in the first round of the post season.
The Tigers were competitive in the early going as they were first able to dodge a bullet when the Wildcats missed a chip shot field goal on their first possession. However, baffled by the Wildcat defense, the Tigers gave their hosts a short field on the ensuing punt. Livingston was able to establish a 40 yard drive, culminating in a 12-yard dash by Kaleb Robinson with a minute to go in the opening quarter.
The Tigers would then go on their most impressive drive of the night, chewing up a lot of the second quarter clock before the deep penetration into Wildcat territory was ended when an Axel Aldino pass was tipped and intercepted at the Livingston 24. Wesley Smith immediately made the Tigers pay for the miscue when he caught a 35-yard pass which would eventually set up a field goal from 20 yards out to put the score at 10-0 at the half. Also assisting Livingston on the drive were Tiger penalties including unsportsmanlike conduct, offside and pass interference.
While the score was manageable coming out of the locker room against the team that had beaten the third-ranked Upperman Bees 10-7 just two weeks ago, it soon became unmanageable as Robinson burned the Tigers again at the 6:53 mark of the third with a 20-yard touchdown run, giving the hosts a 17-0 lead.
With the Tigers unable to do anything offensively for most of the night, the Wildcat offense converted on yet another driver with quarterback Will McDonald hitting Wesley Smith for the 6-yard TD with 1:25 left to make it 24-0. Robinson would get a hat trick of touchdowns and end scoring for the evening with 9:07 left in the final quarter with a five-yard burst to make the final 31-0.
With the win, Livingston goes to 7-0 on the season and 3-0 in the district, meaning only Macon County has a chance of catching them for the region title. DeKalb drops to 3-4 and 1-1 in the region. They already have a game in hand on Stone Memorial who is fifth in the district at 0-3 and 1-6 overall. Cumberland is also behind the Tigers as they haven’t won a game all year and were blown out by the Tigers here last season.
The Tigers will entertain the Smith County Owls in non-region action this week before a show down with Macon County for what will likely be second seed and home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Macon County will enjoy the advantage of having a bye-week this week to prepare for the DeKalb County game while the Tigers play the Owls. Macon lost to the Owls to open the season, 13-9.
