October 20, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County High School Tigers, coming off a bye week, will be back in action tonight at White County and the stakes couldn’t be higher with a state playoff bid on the line for both of these teams.
https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk/
The Tigers enter the game at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in Class 4A Region 4. White County is also 4-4 with a 1-3 Region record. A win for the Tigers and they are in the playoffs in two weeks at least as the 4th place team from Region 4.
Two weeks ago DeKalb County snapped a two-game losing skid with a senior night win over visiting Cumberland County 42-10.
“I was really proud of the team against Cumberland County,” said Tiger Coach Steve Trapp. “We needed a game like that to come out and do what we were supposed to do. There was a lot of good execution and a lot of other good things, offensively, defensively and on special teams. Even so there were still some moments where it got a little sloppy and ugly. I think we backed up some bad offensive play with a bad defensive situation but that comes down to the offense putting the defense in a short field but I really liked how our guys came out after halftime and responded. They cleaned things up and got a victory for us,” said Coach Trapp.
In order for the Tigers to punch their ticket to the play-offs they will have to get by the White County Warriors tonight and their talented junior quarterback Trip Pinion.
“Pinion is super athletic,” said Coach Trapp. “He has a lot of experience as far as being a starter at White County and the offense they run is tailored around him with a lot of the option read game type stuff. Everybody for us is going to have to be very disciplined tackling the football no matter who has it but especially Pinion. That is definitely critical and I have been preaching all week while on defense to not assume that your teammate has the tackle made. We have to get a lot of hats to the football. We must have our run fits right and keep our eyeballs right. If we get loose with our eyeballs then we are going to be looking at something we shouldn’t be and he (Pinion) will pop it out the back door. He is very elusive. He can start on one side of the field and take it all the way back to the other and all the running around that he does sets up their passing game. Pinion has 1,100 more rushing yards than passing yards but we still have to make sure we are in tune with what they can potentially do there,” added Coach Trapp.
WJLE’s Pre-Game shows begin with “Coach to Coach” at 5 p.m. featuring former UT assistant coach Doug Matthews with Tennessee Titans Radio Broadcaster Dave McGinnis and broadcaster Larry Stone talking Tennessee and SEC football.
“Coach to Coach” is followed by “Murphy’s Matchups at 6 p.m. A look at Tennessee High School Football from Murphy Fair with commentary on games and coaches’ interviews.
Following Murphy’s Matchups will be WJLE’s Tiger Talk program featuring host John Pryor interviewing Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger football players Briz Trapp, Marquez Chalfant, and Jonathan Hernandez.
The game will kick off at 7 p.m. and WJLE will have LIVE coverage with Luke Willoughby on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and on the LIVE stream at www.wjle.com.
Here’s how the Region race is taking shape after eight weeks into the season. The top four teams at the end of the year earn a state play-off berth.
Upperman: 8-0: Overall, 4-0-Region
Stone Memorial: 6-2 Overall, 4-0 Region
Macon County: 7-1 Overall, 4-1 Region
DeKalb County: 4-4 Overall, 2-2 Region
White County: 4-4, 1-3 Region
Livingston Academy:2-6 Overall, 0-4 Region
Cumberland County: 2-6 Overall, 0-5 Region