Demopolis – The Demopolis Middle School Tigers bested the Camden School of Arts&Technology (CSAT) Jaguars Tuesday night 28-6. The Tiglets had whipped CSAT in their opening game in Camden 28-14 several weeks ago.

The first quarter was dominated by both defenses as they pushed their offensive counterparts backwards. CSAT (the middle school in Camden that feeds into 5A powerhouse Wilcox Central) was in the red on their first two possessions just as Demopolis was minus 21 yards on their initial series. The Tigers ground game was completely overwhelmed as they tried to go to Shontrell Braxton who was a marked man by the Jaguar defenders. Coach Chris Tangle called time and had a visit on the field to the DMS huddle which apparently yielded benefits.

The home standing Tigers broke open the defensive struggle early in the second quarter when Jacob Kerby rolled left on a naked bootleg, escaped the Wilcox containment and passed to Jeffery Spears for a 6 yard score. Shontrell Braxton punched in the two point conversion to put DMS up 8-0. The drive which started in the waning seconds of the first quarter at the DMS 44 featured Braxton and Mark Jackson bulldozing Jaguars along the way as DMS racked up 4 first downs before the Kerby to Spears connection.

Just before halftime Spears recovered his second Jag fumble at the CSAT 37. Braxton rambled for 30 yards on the next play to set up a first and goal with 27 seconds left in the first half. On the ensuing play Braxton took a pitch from QB Allen Brooker, cut back to the middle and went in standing up. Anthony Hardy was successful on the rush for the two point conversion sending DMS into halftime with a 16-0 lead.

Demopolis had few problems shutting down the Jaguar Wing -T offense. Nose guard Carl Johnson had another productive night disrupting an opponent’s game plan along with DT Fredrick Irby and DE Brian Taylor. The lone CSAT score came with 4:59 remaining in the third quarter. A Tiger fumble was recovered by the Jags at the DMS 31 yard line. A running play failed to gain and the Jags then went to the air and found paydirt on a 30 yard pass. The try for two failed leaving Demopolis in the lead 16-6.

The third Tiger QB of the evening, Rick Boone, hooked up with speedy Martez Wallace on a beautiful 60 yard pass and run. The two point conversion failed and the score remained 22-6 in favor of home town cats.

Later in the third quarter, safety Mark Ellenberg picked off a CSAT pass putting the Tiger offense in business at their own 47.

18 seconds later, Coach Chris Tangle pulled a trick out of the bag. Braxton took what appeared to be a toss sweep to the right which the Jaguars diagnosed well only to see Braxton pull up and loft a perfect toss to a totally wide open Martez Wallace.

Wallace was at least 20 yards behind the closest defender and if the rules allowed he would still be running, probably somewhere close to the Knoxville exit on I-59 by now.

This masterpiece closed out the scoring as the ensuing try for two failed.

Coach Tangle after the game was pleased with the effort, “We’ve got a good group of kids. We started a little slow in the first half, picked it up in the second half and finished real strong”.

The victory raises DMS to 5-0 on the year. Next Tuesday the Greensboro Junior Raiders pay a visit to Tiger Stadium. The following week the Tigers go to Greensboro to complete the home and home series and close out the 2004 season.