Tigers tested during spring football jamboree

By Rob Pearson

Special to The Watchman

Coach Stacy Luker designed a spring football jamboree for his Demopolis football team like a comprehensive final exam, bringing in Kemper County (Miss.) and Thomasville to test his Tigers. The results on the Tiger Stadium scoreboard were mixed, but the coaches’ evaluations remain to be seen.

“I don’t know, we’ll look at the film and we’ll see,” said Luker. “I know we played two pretty good football teams tonight, and it was physical and it was good. That was our goal for this game, to have it as physical as it could possibly be, and it was.”

The format allowed for Demopolis, Kemper County and Thomasville to play round-robin two quarters of football for each match-up.

Up first for the Tigers was a Kemper County team from near Scooba, Miss. that have won 30 games during their previous three seasons.

Demopolis started first on offense from its own 30-yardline, and embarked on a 16-play drive that ended with a turnover on downs at the Wildcat 1.

Following a defensive three-and-out, the offense again was able to drive into the Kemper red zone, but was unable to produce points.

The Wildcat offense, led by two highly touted offensive weapons, quarterback Eric Clark Jr. and running back D.J. Clayton, took advantage of a fourth down pass completion near midfield, and completed its 80-yard drive in 10 plays, resulting in a touchdown.

Upcoming senior Tiger Matt Beckum intercepted Clark on the Wildcats’ ensuing possession, but Clark would later pass for another Kemper touchdown with 1:08 remaining, ending the scoring at 14-0, Wildcats.

Following two quarters of Kemper County vs. Thomasville, the Demopolis Tigers took the field again to face their rival, the Thomasville Tigers. Similar to the start of the Kemper contest, the Demopolis Tigers were able to force the opposing offense off the field, and the Tiger offense was able to drive deep into its opponent’s territory, only to come up just short. This time, facing a fourth-and-goal from the Thomasville 6-yardline, Logan McVay was intercepted by Thomasville’s Quinton Brown at the 2-yardline.

That’s where the similarities between the two contests ended. On their next two possessions, the Tiger offense exploded. Upcoming sophomore AJ Besteder broke through the middle of the Thomasville defense, 47 yards, for a Tiger touchdown. Later, senior Logan McVay tip-toed the right sideline, then hurdled a defender before outrunning the rest of the defense for 69 yards and a TD, giving the Tigers the decisive 14-7 advantage.

McVay’s TD run (and 2-pt conversion) followed a Thomasville score and PAT that had given Thomasville a 7-6 lead with 6:58 remaining.

Alexander Besteder sealed the Tiger victory with an interception at the Demopolis 36-yardline with 1:01 remaining.

“It’s spring, you know, your focus is here and your focus is there,” Luker explained about the differences in his team between the two contests. “I thought we were physical in both halves. We broke a couple of long runs and were able to get off the field on defense, which was good.”

For the night, AJ Besteder led the Tigers in rushing with 26 carries for 141 yards and a TD. Logan McVay finished with 13 carries, 122 yards and a TD rushing. William Wilkins added 7 carries for 26 yards.

“We were missing (junior running back) AJ Jackson. I thought William (Wilkins) and Antonio (Besteder) both ran hard tonight, and Logan… Logan had a really good game,” added Luker.

Overall, Luker was upbeat about the end of his second spring at the helm of the Demopolis Tigers.

“It was probably better because just knowing coaches, knowing terminology, knowing expectations… so from that part it was probably a lot smoother (than last spring). I like what we did here tonight.”

“We’ll go to work this summer, man… we’ll be okay”.

The Demopolis Tigers will open their 2016 season with an appearance in the Champions Classic, at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, against Hillcrest of Tuscaloosa.