DeKalb Falls to York, 19-13

The DeKalb County Tigers traveled to Jamestown Friday night with hopes of making up ground in District 8 by beginning a stretch of 4 district games with a win against the rival York Institute Dragons.  After a 34-0 loss to the Tigers last year, YAI running back Caleb Probst and the Dragons seemed to have figured out some answers this year as the Purple and White was able to run early and often through the Tiger Defense.  Led by Probst who had 113 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground, the Dragons put up 255 yards of offense against the Tigers in route to a 19-13 avengement of last years loss.

Munoz takes a hard hit

Luke Boss gaining some yards on the ground

While the Dragon Defense helped, 2 early fumbles killed any Tiger momentum and set the stage for what would prove to be a frustrating night for the Tiger Offense.  Tiger Quarterback Steven Jennings was 14 of 32 for 129 yards and a touchdown and an interception in the game, but did get his team rallied late in the game, leaving the Tiger Faithful wondering what the outcome would have been with one more opportunity to come out on offense.

Aaron Patterson hauls it in for a touchdown.

Steven Jennings with heavy pressure

The Tiger Defense played very well to open the game, forcing 2 punts and a fumble on York’s first 3 offensive possessions.  However, Caleb Probst broke free for 71 yards and a touchdown early in the second quarter to put the Dragons on the board, 7-0.

The Tigers would elect to go for it on 4th down of their next drive but Jennings would get sacked, giving the Dragons excellent field position at the Tiger 21 yard line.  The Dragons would take advantage of the gift and 5 plays later, Probst would find the end zone again.  The PAT would fail this time, however, and suddenly the Tigers found themselves in a hole 13-0.

Luke Boss gets tripped up

Jennings would bring his offense to life late in the second quarter though, marching the Tigers 80 yards downfield, culminating with a 28 yard strike to Aaron Patterson to put the Tigers on the board with 2:27 left in the half.   Still, normally sure footed kicker Matthew Poss would miss the extra point and the Tigers went into the break with an uneasy sensation, down by 7 at the half.

Joey Moon stops Probst

The sensation would prove to be much more dark in the second half as the Tigers were unable to make any kind of headway offensively until very late in the game.  Meanwhile, the Dragons muscled another Probst touchdown in the third quarter, this time with Ethan Probst added to the family name by scoring a 7 yard touchdown of his own.  DeKalb would block the extra point, but the damage was done as the Dragons took what would prove to be a fatal, 19-6 advantage.

Jennings with plenty of time

Patterson grabs one right in front of the Dragon bench

Not until just over a minute was left would the Tigers finally find the end zone again when Jennings would carry the ball in from 4 yards out to cut into the Dragon lead.  This time Poss was true and the Tigers had hope, down by one score, 19-13.

DeKalb would be unable to recover the onside kick though and the Dragons were able to run out the clock and hand the Tigers a frustrating district loss.

For the game, Aaron Patterson led the Tigers rushing with 81 yards.  Luke Boss ended the game with 44 yards and Aaron Patterson had 22.

Patterson had 46 yards receiving and Jonathan Munoz had 3 receptions for 36 yards while AJ Mooneyham had 19 yards, Austin Brown had 18, Luke Boss had 8 and Dalton Halfman had 4.

A.J. Mooneyham with a defensive stand

Defensively, Lance and Lane Ball led the team in tackles with 7 apiece.  Jacob Washer and Hunter Stone each had 4 tackles and Joe Pack, AJ Mooneyham and Aaron Patterson had 3.  Joey Moon and Luke Boss had 2 tackles while Jonathan Munoz, Taylor Lee, Christian Pruitt and Eli Cross each had 1.

With the loss, the Tigers fall to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the district, but come back home for the rest of the regular season, beginning with Macon County this Friday.