October 28, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County Tigers can nail down 3rd place in the region tonight with a victory over the visiting Stone Memorial Panthers in Smithville on Senior Night.
It’s the last game of the regular season as the Tigers prepare to enter the state play-offs next Friday night. The top four teams of the region will see post-season play including DeKalb County, Stone Memorial, Macon County, and Upperman. Seeding for the play-offs will be determined after tonight’s games.
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DeKalb County has compiled a 6-3 record with a 2-2 mark in the region while Stone Memorial is 8-1 overall and 3-1 in region play.
The Tigers will be hoping to finish the regular season tonight strong after losing the past two weeks to Upperman 17 to 16 in overtime and to Goodpasture 24-17.
Tiger Coach Steve Trapp said although his team held Goodpasture to only a field goal in the second half, the Tigers came out flat to start the game.
“It was another one of those games where if a couple of plays had gone differently for us we would have had a chance to win it. The biggest part of it I didn’t like was that for the first time this year we really didn’t start the game the way we are accustomed to starting and there are no excuses for that and coming out a little bit flat. We started very good offensively and drove the ball right down the field and got to the 17-yard line and then went backwards and didn’t even have a chance to kick a field goal and we were out of sorts for the rest of that first half. We challenged them at halftime to give us an opportunity to win and they did that especially defensively. They did a great job in that second half only giving up three points but offensively we dropped a touchdown pass and threw one a little bit short. We really didn’t execute at our highest level,” said Coach Trapp.
Coach Trapp said the Tigers must be motivated in tonight’s game because a win for Stone Memorial would earn them a regular season region championship.
“Stone Memorial is a veteran club with some of the same names of kids we have heard from the last two or three years. We will be challenged defensively more than we have in any other game as far as the passing and run game because they do both pretty well. They do a lot of different things. They are creative and we will have to guard against any trick plays, throw backs, reverses and all that and then on defensive they are going to guard who needs to be guarded and send everybody else but we have the guys who can handle it and make plays,” added Coach Trapp.
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 and Tennessee Titans Radio Play by Play Color Analyst Dave McGinnis and broadcaster Larry Stone talking Tennessee and SEC football.
“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 Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger football players Colby Barnes and Ean Jones.
Kick-off is at 7:00 p.m. with play-by-play coverage on WJLE AM 1480 and WJLE FM 101.7 from Luke Willoughby. You may also listen on the LIVE Stream at www.wjle.com
The DCHS 2022 Football Schedule is as follows:
REGION OPPONENTS (*)
August 19: Warren County-(Tigers won 35-34).
August 26: Smith County-(Tigers won 17-14)
September 1 (THURSDAY): Macon County*- (Tigers lost 21-13).
September 9: Watertown-(Tigers won 26-14)
September 16: Cumberland County* (Tigers won 48-13)
September 23: Cannon County- (Tigers won 55-7)
September 30: Livingston Academy* (HOMECOMING)-(Tigers won 48-0)
October 14: Upperman*- (Tigers lost 17-16).
October 21: Goodpasture-(Tigers lost 24-17)
October 28: Stone Memorial* Smithville 7 p.m.
WJLE will have LIVE coverage of each week’s games and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com.