September 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County’s talented football player Isaac Knowles, who has scored points this season as runner, wide receiver and punt returner, led the Tigers back to victory Friday night at quarterback with a 35 to 10 win over the Cumberland County Jets in Smithville.
The Tigers improve to 2-2 overall and even their region record at 1-1 while Cumberland County drops to 2-3 and 0-2 in the region.
The Region standings as of Saturday, September 18 are as follows:
Macon County 4-1 (2-0)
Upperman 4-1 (2-0)
Stone Memorial 3-2 (1-1)
DeKalb County 2-2 (1-1)
Cumberland County 2-3 (1-1)
Livingston Academy 0-5 (0-2)
DeKalb County will host Cannon County for homecoming Friday, September 24. The Lions are 3-2 with wins over Webb School 42-16 and Lookout Valley 39-0 and Sequatchie County forfeit to Cannon County due to Covid exposure. The Lions have lost to Monterey 35-6 and to Cascade 25-0.
Knowles started and finished the game at quarterback for the Tigers in place of Briz Trapp who was out with an injury. Until Friday night, Knowles had scored a total of 5 touchdowns through three games this season. Knowles added 4 more TDs to his total Friday night alone.
The Tigers struck first with 8:44 left in the 1st period as Knowles scored on a 1 yard keeper completing a 51 yard drive. Axel Aranda added the extra point and DC took a 7-0 lead.
After recovering a Tiger fumble, the Jets mounted a 37 yard drive with Ryan Dowlen scoring on a 29 yard touchdown run with 5:14 left in the 1st period. Jaime Perez tacked on the extra point and the game was tied at 7-7.
DeKalb County grabbed the lead again on a 10 yard touchdown run by Isaac Knowles capping a 70 yard drive. Aranda split the uprights on the PAT and the Tigers were up 14-7 with 11:53 left in the 2nd period.
Cumberland County’s kicker Jaime Perez got the Jets on the board again with 9:32 left in the 2nd period on the strength of a 45 yard field goal to cut the Tiger lead to 14-10.
Gifted Tiger runner Colby Barnes extended the DeKalb County lead on a 4 yard touchdown run, his 4th TD run of the season, with 8:03 left in the 3rd period completing a Tiger 66 yard drive. Aranda’s extra point pushed the Tiger lead to 21-10.
Later in the 3rd period Isaac Knowles scored his third touchdown of the night on a 51 yard run and with Aranda’s extra point DeKalb County opened up a 28-10 advantage.
Knowles added the exclamation point to the outcome with 11:32 left in the 4th period on an 18 yard touchdown run. Aranda booted the extra point and DeKalb County snapped a two game losing skid winning 35-10.