Tigers tame Bibb County 56-28
Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 6, 2007
DEMOPOLIS &8212; Tensions were high at Memorial Stadium as the Tigers faced off against the undefeated Bibb County Choctaws at home. It would be the last night that Bibb County could be called undefeated this season.
It seemed that the Choctaws won the momentum early when Jaquail Rutledge returned Tyler Brooker&8217;s opening kick-off for 65 yards only 12 seconds into the first half. On the extra point attempt, Bibb County tried to fool the Tigers with a fake field goal, but the defense was undaunted and stopped the run in the backfield. With the clock at only 11:48 in the first quarter, it was Bibb County on top 6-0.
Demopolis went three and out on their first offensive drive of the night, but that was the last time the Tigers went silent. The Tiger&8217;s defense was an impenetrable brick wall on the Choctaws next drive and held them to a punt.
After pushing down the field on a series of runs, the Tiger&8217;s Shantrell Braxton races for an uncontested 11-yard touchdown. Brooker&8217;s extra point pushed Demopolis into the lead 7-6 with 2:56 left in the first quarter.
The Choctaws were plagued by penalties and an unstoppable defense as Tigers forced Bibb County to punt on fourth and 25. The punt was kicked into the back of one of Bibb County&8217;s players and Demopolis started the second quarter with excellent field position.
With 11:52 on the clock and a second and goal from the 9-yard line, Demopolis&8217; Jeremy Wallace leapt over two defenders for a 9-yard touchdown carry. The extra point by Brooker was good expanding the Tiger&8217;s lead to 14-6.
The Tiger&8217;s defense stood tall all night long, and held the Choctaws on a third down and forced a bad punt. On Demopolis&8217; next drive, quarterback, Rick Boone drove up the field on a 36-yard keeper, pushing the Tigers into the red zone to the 6-yard line. The next play, Braxton ran it in for a 6-yard touchdown. The extra point failed and Demopolis led 20-6 with 8:38 left in the half.
Bibb County&8217;s next touchdown came in the form of a 78-yard pass from Lamichael Goree to wide out Jonathan Underwood. Though an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called on the Choctaws, moving the point after back, the extra point split the uprights narrowing the Tiger&8217;s lead to 20-13.
Six of Demopolis&8217; 28 points of the second quarter came when Braxton burst up the middle for a 35-yard touchdown carry. And Boone made up the missed extra point with a run for the two point conversion. Demopolis led 28-13 with 2:42 on the clock.
With 1.4 seconds left on the clock, the Tiger&8217;s forced a fumble and Martez Jackson ran it back for a 39-yard defensive touchdown. The extra point was good and the Tigers led 35-13 at the half.
Less than a minute was off the clock at the beginning of the second half, when Boone broke free in the secondary for a 56-yard quarterback keeper. The extra point was good by Brooker widening the lead to 42-13 Demopolis.
The Choctaws rushed down the field on their next possession, and capitalized on their best drive of the game when Goree hit Underwood for a 3-yard touchdown pass on fourth down making it 42-20.
Boone came back with a huge stiff arm to cap off an enormous 45-yard touchdown run for Demopolis. The score at the end of the third quarter was 49-20.
Choctaw had another long, hard drive against the Demopolis&8217; defense in the fourth quarter, and broke through on a 26-yard touchdown catch from Goree to Marquette Richardson making it 49-28.
Jeremy Wallace gave the Tiger fans one more big run to cheer for when he grabbed the ball from quarterback Kerby and ran it down to the Choctaw&8217;s one yard line. Boone gave Demopolis their final touchdown in a 1-yard quarterback keeper, making the final score 56-28.
The Tigers rushing game put up 416 yards on 43 carries, and the defense held up their end of the deal only allowing 87 yards on 29 carries. On passing the group went 7-for-9 with 78 yards and no interceptions. Bibb County&8217;s passing was around 50 percent, going 10-for-23 with 215 yards and one interception by Jeremy Wallace. Demopolis had a total of 494 yards offense and the Choctaws had a total of 302 yards.