Demopolis throws for 300 yards in win over Jemison

Demopolis took its time getting started Friday night. The Tigers played themselves to a scoreless tie through the first quarter before opening the flood gates in a 50-0 win over Jemison.

“I just thought we played a little sluggish. I thought we came out a little flat. I told them, ‘Guys, that’s not how we play football.’ I didn’t think we played physical at times. They shouldn’t be pushing us around on the offensive and defensive lines,” Demopolis coach Brian Seymore said. “I felt like at times they were. It’s something you’ve got to do, challenge your team. When you feel like you’re better than your opponent, you’ve got to go out there and play football. You’ve got to play to a standard. We weren’t playing to the standard we usually do.”

Antonio Besteder capped a 14-play, 83-yard drive on a 6-yard touchdown run with 9:52 remaining in the second quarter. Demopolis then opted for chunk plays put the game out of reach by halftime.

Peyton Stevenson his Tyquan Alston over the top for a 48-yard touchdown pass. Keyjun Gracie hauled in a screen pass and darted 49 yards for a score. Gracie then caught a ball on a slant route and took it 80 yards untouched for a 28-0 lead.

The defense opened the scoring in the second half as Kel Williams dragged down a ball carrier in the end zone for a safety to move it to 30-0. Brandon Franklin found the end zone on a 16-yard run before Tavian Brown scooped and scored on a 56-yard fumble return. The Tigers capped it when Stevenson hit Grey Tripp on a screen pass and watched the senior take it 11 yards for his first varsity touchdown.

Stevenson completed 11 of 17 pass attempts for 327 yards and four touchdowns in the win. The outing makes Stevenson the first 300-yard passer in more than a decade for Demopolis.

“That was probably the focus in practice all week. We knew coming off of a 3 of 16 outing against Central, it just wasn’t good. It was something we wanted to clean up and emphasize a little bit better,” Seymore said. “We knew they were going to run some man coverage, so we liked some matchups between our guys and their guys. I think we exploited them in a big way and got some big shots.”

Gracie caught six passes for 183 yards. Alston had three catches for 134 yards.

“They’re a little bit different. Kejuan can blow the top off a defense but he can break tackles and make explosive plays after he catches the ball. He’s hard to tackle in space. They’re totally different but they both are big play threats,” Seymore said. “Peyton did a really good job of getting the ball to them. I thought Tyquan made some really good adjustments to a couple of balls and just catching the ball.”

C.J. Williams intercepted a pass in the game, giving him seven such takeaways this season. Mac Logan and Jataurrean Jones each had an interception each.

Demopolis (7-1, 5-0) travels to Clanton next week to face Chilton County in the final Class 5A, Region 3 game of the season.