The Demopolis Tigers took to the field Friday night and proved they were a number one contender, knocking out the Sumter County Wildcats, 62-0, in front of a wild home crowd in Demopolis.

On the second play of the game, the Tigers’ Devin Goodwin connected with Colby Roberts for a 57-yard touchdown pass to put Demopolis on top, 6-0.

After Goodwin kicked in the extra point, the Tigers were up 7-0 with 11:08 remaining in the 1st quarter.

“This game was fun,” Goodwin said.

“We got out to a good start, but they didn’t lay down and they fought hard all night and they gave us a good game.”

The defense came out playing superb, not giving up a first down until there was 2:40 left in the first half.

The Wildcats failed to make it past midfield until late in the fourth quarter, as the Demopolis offense went 6-8 on possessions in the first half and led 41-0 at halftime.

“The key to the game was coaching,” Goodwin said.

“Honestly, I think that’s the difference in the game.

But our team is a lot better and we proved that tonight.”

At the start of the second half, the Tigers kicked off to the Wildcats.

On the third play of the drive for Sumter County, the Wildcats fumbled the ball and Seth Bassinger jumped on it to give the Tigers possession at the 8-yard-line.

As the Tigers took over in the red zone, Goodwin sailed a pass to Chad Schroeder, who pulled it in for an 8-yard touchdown grab to put Demopolis up 48-0.

At the 7:30 mark in the 3rd quarter, Tigers head coach Doug Goodwin called on Dontrell Miller to come in as the quarterback.

And almost immediately, Miller was a success.

On the seventh possession of the drive, Miller handed the ball off to Jacob Smelly, who ran it in 5-yards for a touchdown, making the score 55-0 Demopolis.

By the time the 6:00 mark rolled around in the 3rd quarter, the second string was called-on for both the offense and the defense for the Tigers.

As the 3rd quarter came to a close, the Tigers still held onto a giant lead at 55-0.

With 7:48 remaining in the ball game, coach Goodwin called on sophomore Rob Quinney to relieve Miller at the quarterback position.

“I thought we executed the game plan well, but there were a few dropped balls,” coach Goodwin said.

“Defense played excellent all night.”

And again on the seventh play of the Tigers drive, Quinney handed off to Calvin Bryant, who took it 13-yards for a touchdown and a 62-0 Demopolis lead.

As the fourth quarter was closing in, the Tigers defensive coordinator Freddy Lawrence had called on a defensive group full of freshman to come in and finish off the game.

“Our second string guys played great tonight,” Lawrence said.

“They came in on offense and put up two touchdowns.

And the whole fourth quarter, we had a group of freshmen in there playing defense.”

After the Wildcats advanced the ball, making two straight first down drives, the Tigers defense stepped up and made the stops to prevent Sumter County from even entering the red zone.

Demopolis Sophomore Kyle Chancelor made a big tackle to end the Wildcats drive as the clock ticked down its final seconds, ending the game in a 62-0 Tigers win.

Many of the Tigers players had a vital role in the Demopolis win over Sumter County.

Rod Jones, Dusty Gracie, William Burrell, and Miller all scored a touchdown.

“It’s nice to have Burrell back this season for the carrying game and short yardage situations,” coach Goodwin said.

“He also plays one mean nose tackle.”

Schroeder added a punt return touchdown, carrying in a 39-yard touchdown run into the end zone on the Tigers third possession of the game.

“It’s great to get a touchdown out of the punt return team,” coach Goodwin said.

“But we have Bibb County next week and they have a new coach.

It was a great win and now we have to shift our focus to the next game.”

Goodwin led Demopolis in the passing game, going 7-16 with 145 yards.

Jones and Bryant led in rushing with 78 yards each.

The leading receiver for the Tigers was Roberts with 106 yards.