September 6, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
After two disappointing road losses to open the season, the DCHS Tigers are hoping for better fortunes tonight (Friday) as they host the Stone Memorial Panthers in their first home game of the season.
Kick-off is at 7 p.m. and WJLE will have LIVE coverage on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor and Luke Willoughby.
(Listen to WJLE’s Tiger Talk Program at link below)
Coach Steve Trapp, speaking on WJLE’s Tiger Talk program, said he was disappointed in the 35-0 loss at Upperman last week but the Bees are a good team.
“They are really good. From the first game to the second game they say you should see a lot of improvement in your team and it was weird talking to the team after watching film on them because on the score board we didn’t see any improvement but as far as their scheme and what we are supposed to be doing and things like that we didn’t really mess up a lot of plays. It was a refreshing thing to see because at Warren County we had some things that were done incorrectly that led to some things even worse. As far as scheme wise, running the right route, blocking the right dudes, and things like that we were doing what we were supposed to do but Upperman is very disciplined. Athletically I don’t see them being above us or size wise but as far as discipline and doing everything exactly the way it is supposed to be done its hard pressed to see a team do it any different. I am not taking anything away from our guys. We definitely want to play better. They were told all week long the type of football game it could be if we could execute at the same level as them. You look at the games they have had and those they have lost. Even the week before it was a nip and tuck game all the way to the end and that is the type of football game you must have against those guys. You are not going to hit big plays and you are not going to get big runs. You just have to execute and do what you are supposed to do and take your four or five yards at a time. We had a couple of drives where we did that. We just were not able to have those 12-15 play drives without making a mistake somewhere at the end of it. I think we did things better and we want the outcome to be different but there were a lot of things that we could build off of in a positive way from last week,” said Coach Trapp.
He also talked about the challenges the Panthers pose for the Tigers in tonight’s matchup.
“We have seen a lot of stuff from him (Coach Derik Samber). Going all the way back to when he was at Upperman as the offensive coordinator that he carried with him at York. He is always going to have a quarterback as a dual threat guy that does a lot of reading stuff. They are going to leave guys unblocked at different points along the line of scrimmage. They are going to get the run game going with the quarterback in that regard and the roll out pass game and then they want that two by one that everyone has gone to with that power run game and a lot of jet motion. There are a lot of things they do which are very familiar with what we have seen in the past but he has branched it out a little bit as well,” said Coach Trapp.
Stone Memorial is 1-1 with a loss two weeks ago to Grace Christian of Knoxville 34 to 6 and a 26-12 win last week over Coalfield. The Tigers are 0-2 with losses at Warren County 35 to 21 and at Upperman 35-0.
WJLE’s Pre-Game shows begin with “Coach to Coach” at 5:00 p.m. featuring former UT assistant coach Doug Matthews with former coach Dave McGinnis and broadcaster Larry Stone talking Tennessee and SEC football. The show repeats Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
“Coach to Coach” is followed by “Murphy’s Matchups at 6:00 p.m., a look at Tennessee High School Football from Murphy Fair with commentary on games and coaches interviews.
“Tiger Talk” airs at 6:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor interviewing Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger football players Diego Coronado and Peyton Leaf.
The game kicks off at 7:00 p.m. with play by play coverage on WJLE.