Demopolis trumps Sweet Water 21-14 in Jamboree
SWEET WATER – Demopolis’s second unit outpaced the Bulldogs 15-0 to anchor a 21-14 Tiger win in Friday night’s Jamboree contest.
Demopolis saw Tyrelle Barnett carry the ball 10 times for 65 yards and two touchdowns in the second half to pace the Tigers’ ground game.
Barnett relieved Roderick Davis, who toted the ball 13 times for 57 yards and a touchdown while working with the starters during the game’s first half.
“They are both inexperienced and they both ran hard,” Demopolis head coach Tom Causey said of his running back tandem.
After Sweet Water’s Caderius Ward returned the opening kickoff of the second half 85 yards to put Sweet Water up 14-6, Demopolis’ first unit squandered a 45-yard kick return by Demetrius Kemp when it turned the ball over on downs.
The junior varsity group got its first crack on the ensuing series, taking the ball to the Sweet Water 4 before a would-be touchdown pass fell incomplete.
“We did not put it in in the red zone offensively,” Causey said.
The Tigers forced and recovered a fumble on the next play to set its second team offense up at the Bulldog 23. Six plays later, Barnett punched the ball in from six yards out for his first touchdown of the night. Quarterback Tyler Oates kept the ball on the two-point conversion play to tie the game with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.
On Demopolis’ final scoring drive, Barnett carried the ball six times out of eight plays, culminating the march with a 12-yard scoring run that left the Tigers up 21-14 with 5:21 to play.
“I thought our twos played extremely well when they got their opportunity tonight,” Causey said.
Sweet Water got the scoring started on the first play of the second quarter when Jacoby Aldridge found paydirt at the end of a 24-yard scamper.
Demopolis got its first score with 1:39 to play in the second quarter when Davis found the end zone from five yards out after Kemp blocked a Sweet Water punt on the previous play.
Kemp halted Sweet Water’s first drive of the game by stripping the ball from a Bulldog runner and recovering the fumble himself at the Demopolis 11.
Daniel Sewell responded in kind for Sweet Water when he intercepted a pass at his own 42 to set up the drive that led to Aldridge’s scoring run. Aldridge finished with 80 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.
“I think all five of our backs complement each other,” Sweet Water head coach Stacy Luker said of his team’s stable of runners. “We didn’t run Demarcus Gamble tonight. We were trying to get him some reps at tight end. We’ve got to hold onto the football though.”
Demopolis travels to American Christian Academy next week to open its regular season while Sweet Water plays rival Thomasville.