Demopolis defense smothers Sumter in 38-0 win

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014 Jeremy D. Smith AHSAA, Alabama, Demopolis, demopolis high school, DHS, football, prep sports, Tigers

Tyler Overstreet puts Demopolis on the board with a field goal against Sumter Central.

Despite a sluggish start, Demopolis (5-1, 4-0) remained in the driver’s seat of Class 5A, Region 4 Friday with a 38-0 win over Sumter Central (1-4, 1-3).

“We came out and played,” Demopolis coach Tom Causey said of his team’s second half showing. “And give Sumter Central all the credit in the world. Coach (Eddie) Jackson has done a fantastic job of having these guys ready to play. They outplayed us and outcoached us in the first half.”

Ryan Schroeder hauls in a pass against Sumter Central.

Demopolis held Sumter to 34 yards of total offense with 29 of those yards coming via the ground game. Sumter managed those yards on 33 rushing attempts.

Still, the Tigers led just 10-0 at half before emerging from the locker room to put together its best drive of the night. Demopolis put together a seven-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Jayjerrin Craig.

On its next possession, Demopolis covered 36 yards of real estate and punctuated the possession with another 2-yard scoring run from Craig to stretch the lead to 24-0 with 3:51 left to play in the third quarter.

“Tomorrow morning when you wake up, know that we survived,” Causey told his players following the game. “Let’s don’t survive. Let’s work on getting better.”

With 39.5 seconds left in the third quarter, Rashad Lynch sprinted 22 yards to the end zone to put the Tigers up 31-0. The final rush of the night for Lynch capped an 11-carry, 134-yard performance for the senior, who amassed 120 yards on 10 second-half runs.

Drew Jones added the final touchdown of the contest with 7:50 to play when he scored from 16 yards out to leave the advantage at 38-0.

Logan McVay breaks a tackle and looks for a block against Sumter Central.

“I think our guys came ready to play,” Sumter Central coach Eddie Jackson said. “We came knowing what they were wanting to do and our guys lined up right. We’ve got to get back in the weight room. I think as the game went on, they pushed us around a bit in the second half.”

Demopolis opened the scoring with 5:12 to play in the first quarter when Tyler Overstreet connected on a 20-yard field goal. With 6:39 left in the second, Jamarcus Ezell scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up 10-0.

Cameron Pruitt had a fumble recovery for Sumter while Daniel Lawson had an interception.

R.J. Cox led Demopolis with eight tackles and a sack. Freshman corner Demetrius Davis intercepted the first pass of his varsity career for Demopolis.

Demopolis is set to travel to Central-Tuscaloosa next week for another region clash.