40 games and 40 wins : Tigers extend regular-season streak to four seasons, 41-6
Published 12:00 am Monday, October 31, 2005
GREENVILLE -The undefeated Demopolis Tigers continued their winning streak with a 41-6 victory against the Greenville Tigers Friday night.
Behind a strong passing attack, Demopolis scored early and often in the first half.
When halftime arrived, the Tigers took a 34-0 lead to the locker room.
Demopolis Head Coach Doug Goodwin was pleased with the outcome of the game.
“We played a good game and I couldn’t have asked for a better showing,”Goodwin said.
Demopolis started the fireworks when senior Dontrell Miller took an interception 90 yards for a touchdown after Greenville had the ball deep in Tiger territory.
Miller dodged tacklers en route to the 7-0 lead with 7:51 left in the first half.
“Defensively, our guys showed up tonight,” Goodwin said.
Miller also “showed up” on offense as the quarterback completed 12-of-17 passes for 183 yards including three touchdown strikes.
Miller had TD
tosses for 70, 7 and 12 yards in the first half.
“We threw the ball well in the first half,” Goodwin said.
Senior wideout Dwiuan White led Demopolis with four catches for 87 yards
including a 70-yard touchdown with 3:07 remaining in the first quarter.
Before Demopolis led 14-0, Greenville had good field position after two
early turnovers by the defending 4A State Champions.
However, Demopolis turned Greenville away behind their stout defense.
Senior Jacob Smelley led
Demopolis with eight tackles and fellow senior Ezell Braxton chipped in with
six tackles.
Demopolis increased the lead to 20-0 with 10:04 left in the second half as
senior tailback Rod Jones busted up the middle for a 24-yard touchdown.
This key third and one conversion was set up by a 25-yard reception by
Smelley.
“For the most part, we had trouble running the ball in the first half
against Greenville,” Godwin said.
“But our passing game bailed us out.”
Demopolis’ ground game picked up steam when White rushed 42 yards to the Greenville 34-yard line with just under seven minutes left in the first
half.
Demopolis then converted a key fourth and eight at the GHS 22-yard line on a pass from Miller to senior wideout Willie Gracey.
The Tigers hit paydirt
when Miller found White for his second TD reception on a seven-yard pass up the middle with 3:42 remaining in the first half.
While boasting a 27-0 lead, the Demopolis defense continued to hold the GHS offense at check.
Before the half ended, Demopolis scored another TD when Jones caught a
12-yard screen pass from Miller with :05 left.
At half, it was Demopolis
34 Greenville 0.
Greenville head coach Mike Williams complimented Demopolis on their win.
“Demopolis is a great team that will obviously make another run this year,”Williams said.
Demopolis has not lost a regular season game since 2001.
“The key with us is not to look ahead.
We focus on the task at hand,”
Goodwin said.”We play one play at a time and one game at a time,” Goodwin said.
“We beat a good team tonight in Greenville.
I wish Greenville luck in the future.”
Demopolis’ future continues to look bright as the Tigers head into the
playoffs with an unblemished record.
Going back to the game, particularly the second half, Demopolis started
playing its second and third string offense and defense.
“Our subs played with some good intensity tonight,” Godwin said.
“They
(subs) played well.”
On offense in the second half, Demopolis moved the ball on the ground
better.
“In the second half, we ran the ball much better,” Godwin said.
Junior Calvin Bryant led all rushers with 123 yards on 16 carries and
Lucious Haywood gained 72 yards on just seven carries.
Haywood had the lone TD score in the second half with 9:41 left in the third
quarter.
The Greenville Tigers closed the scoring with 4:30 remaining in the game as
quarterback Lynn Lewis connected with Isiah Mack on a 71-yard TD toss.
In closing, Goodwin spoke about the team’s composure during this season.
“We keep getting better week by week and we look forward to the playoffs,”Goodwin said.