Tigers cage Panthers, 47-7

Having taken a week off from official competition, the Demopolis Tigers looked a little hungry to get back to the grind. The Tigers used a 20-point second quarter to grab a 26-0 lead over the visiting Jemison Panthers and then scored another 21 in the third quarter, before allowing a fourth quarter touchdown for the final 47-7 margin of victory.

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Tigers capped their first possession at the 7:12 mark when Lamarion Kelly scampered into the end zone for the first score of the night. The PAT failed, giving the Tigers a 6-0 lead over the Panthers.

Hayes Atkins added to the Tigers’ lead at the 8:24 mark of the second quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run. Atkins also ran in the 2-point conversion, giving the Tigers a 14-0 lead.

Camron Wright made his mark on the scorebook when he hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Drew Seymore. The failed PAT left the Tigers with a 20-0 lead with 2:47 to go in the first half.

The Tigers defense forced the Panthers to punt with 1:22 to go in the half. The Tigers went three-and-out and the Panthers had the ball with 30 seconds to go. Jim Lawler picked off a Panther pass, then Seymore hit Peyton Stevenson with a 15-yard touchdown pass in the end zone. The 2-point try failed, but the Tigers took a 26-0 lead into halftime.

On the Panthers’ opening possession of the second half, a low snap caused the Panther punter to mishandle the ball and Demetrius Allen pulled the Panther punter down at the Panthers’ 20-yard line. Craig Nichols would cash in with a 9-yard run at the 9:11 mark of the third quarter. Cole Wilson tacked on the PAT and the Tigers increased their lead to 33-0.

Following a Panther punt on their ensuing possession, Kelly got his second touchdown run of the night from 13 yards out. The PAT brought the Tiger lead over the Panthers to 40-0 with 4:19 to go in the third quarter.

Eric Norwood got into the scoring column when he caught a swing pass from Seymore then weaved through traffic before breaking out for a 42-yard score. The PAT gave the Tigers their final scoring tally of the night at 47-0 with 1:16 to go in the third quarter.

With several clean jerseys in the game on the Tigers’ side, the Panthers got on the board at the 9:20 mark of the fourth quarter. A 16-yard run and successful PAT was the last scoring of the night and set the final score of 47-7 in favor of the Tigers.

Seymore’s debut as a starting quarterback was one that any signal caller would be happy with, completing 18 of 34 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns. Those 18 completions went to nine different receivers. Kelvin Rowser led in yardage, with two catches for 61 yards. Camron Wright had four catches for 52 yards with one touchdown and Stevenson had four catches for 51 yards with a touchdown, while Norwood had a single catch for a touchdown that covered 42 yards. Price Smith had three catches for 24 yards. Vincent Deas had one catch for five yards, Jaqualon Smith had one catch for four yards and Montgomery Freeman had one catch for two yards.

Kelvin Rowser was the leading rusher for the Tigers with 68 yards on 7 carries. Atkins added 43 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries. Nichols had 6 carries for 34 yards and one touchdown. Norwood had 27 yards on three carries and Seymore had 24 yards on two carries. Kelly made the most of his chances, scoring touchdowns on both of his carries which covered 17 yards. The Tigers had 213 total yards on the ground on 20 carries.

“It was definitely good to get a region win and I’m proud of our kids and how they played,” said Demopolis head coach Brian Seymore. “We came out and did the things we talked about – getting our opponent down and keeping the pressure on them. Really proud of our young kids getting out there to play.”

Regarding the Tigers’ aggressiveness, Seymore responded that “Last week, we had a two real physical practices. That’s what we do – we’re a physical football team and we have to be on both sides, up front. That’s got to be our mantra and what we need to hang our hat on. We want to impose our will on our opponents and I feel like that’s what we did tonight.”

The Tigers (7-0, 4-0) will travel to Marbury next Friday night for another region game with the Bulldogs.