Demopolis prepping for American Christian
Demopolis will look to answer a few more questions and notch a win Friday night when it travels to face always formidable American Christian Academy.
In the Patriots, Demopolis finds a team with a penchant for being adept at the run and the pass. However, Demopolis head coach Tom Causey understands that slowing American Christian’s offense will be predicated upon stopping its ground game and playing keep-away with its own rushing attack.
“All you’ve got to go on is what they’ve done in the past,” Causey said. “I know (American Christian head coach John Causey) is a lot like me, he wants to run the ball if he can and try and stop the run.”
The Tigers enter the game off of a 21-14 win over Sweet Water in last week’s preseason Jamboree. Despite the win, Causey recognizes that his young team has plenty of growing to do if it is to be a contender this season.
“Our red zone offense is not really good. We have a couple of lineman who didn’t play very well,” Causey said, noting the flaws that jumped out at him following the exhibition victory.
The Tiger offense broke in a pair of new running backs last week in Roderick Davis and Tyrelle Barnett. While Causey concedes the tandem is far from polished, he sees potential in his young backs.
“I thought they got better with every carry,” Causey said. “We’ve still got a lot of little fine things they’ve got to get better at. They’ll get better as they go. They both worked hard and they both ran hard. There’s little fine things to being a running back you can’t teach, you have to experience.”
While the Tigers got some answers to their backfield questions, the team is still not settled on an every down quarterback. Tucker Jones, a senior, began the 2011 season as the starter but suffered an injury in five weeks into the campaign. Tyler Oates, a junior, took the reins of the offense in week six and finished out the season. The duo has battled for the position throughout the offseason with a clear victor yet to emerge.
While Oates sparked the passing game against Sweet Water, Jones showed his aptitude in the run game against Sweet Water, a crucial aspect of the position in Tom Causey’s option offense.
“They’re both competitors and they’re both doing a good job of getting better,” Tom Causey said of his two quarterbacks. “I feel like we’ve got two starting quarterbacks. As long as we’ve got those two guys competing and working and helping each other, we can’t go wrong.”
The Tigers are set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at American Christian Academy Friday night.