By De’Issac House

With the division title on the line, the Tigers were faced with a battle against the Grenada Chargers. Coming in undefeated in the division, Grenada was looking to hand the Tigers their first district loss of the season and put the number one seed up for a tie breaker.

“Getting this win puts us in great position going into the playoffs,” Tiger head coach Lance Pogue said, “This gives a good look at the state championship with a couple of home games in the playoffs.”

With seven fumbles on the night, five by Rip Kirk and two by Jarien Barksdale, the Tigers had to deal with their own battles before they could take control of the game.

On the first drive of the game Grenada came out, but could not get it together as they had a quick three and out. As the Tigers came out on their first drive they seemed to match their counterpart and did the same.

The next drive for the Chargers seemed promising as they began to move the ball down the field. With 5:55 left in the first the Chargers were faced with a big 4th down & 1 and a hard decision to make. Instead of punting the ball they went for it and converted for a first down. Then the drive stalled on two short runs and two incomplete passes, one coming on a fourth down.

The Tigers could not get it together as they came out for their next drive. The drive started with an offsides against Grenada. This gave the Tigers a good start with a first and five. The line did not provide any push up front as Darrell Henderson had two short runs that set up a long third down play. Kirk completed a short pass to Dashawn Lindsay that only got two yards. Then on fourth down the Charger defense caused a fumble, but Tavian Bibbs recovered.
On the next drive for the Tigers Kirk fumbled again on a second down and two which was his second for the night. The beginning of the second was a slugfest for both teams as no one could really get it going.

With 7:57 marked in the second Kirk had another fumble that he recovered. This seemed to put a spark under the Tigers’ offense because they went on a drive that would put points on the board. Then Kirk had back to back fumbled snaps.

“It impacted me mentally, but going into the locker room my teammates told me that was the past and I need to move,” Kirk said.

This left them still in field goal range, but a short kick by Matthew Williams left them still with nothing on the board. On the next drive for the Chargers, they were faced with a huge third and 15. Matthew Davis came through for the Tigers defense with a sack that forced the Chargers to punt. This gave the ball back to the Tigers with 2:20 left on the clock, enough time for the Tigers to put a drive together.

The Tigers began their drive, but another fumble by Kirk closed out the drive and gave Grenada a long field to work with. The Chargers just took a knee and ran out the clock. This sent the game into the half scoreless.

“I went in and told my guys that they have to eliminate all the mistakes,” Pogue said.
Coming out of the half Tigers had change at quarterback with the Tyler Pogue switch. The fumbles continued with two back-to-back fumbles by Jarien Barksdale. The drive came to a three and out stop. Grenada came back and struggled as they threw an interception to Tiger Gabriel Lloyd with 5:35 left on the clock in the third.

With the turnover, Pogue took the Tigers down field. Darrell Henderson had two big runs on the drive of 15 and 27.
This set up the Tigers in the red zone with 3:34 left in the third. Pogue rolled out on his first throw in the game and it fell incomplete. Then the Tigers tried to push it in two plays in a row, but would be denied. On fourth down Williams converts on his second field goal of the day for 25 yards to put the first points on the board of the game.

“It was no different than practice,” Pogue said, “You just don’t want to mess up in when you get in something like this.”

After three points went up, the offense took off because on the next offensive drive things went a different direction.

On the first play Kirk hit Reginald Morris for nice chunk for 21 yards. Then Henderson rushed for nine yards that set up an easy second down. Kirk went on the offensive as he hit Lindsay for five yards. Then he got in rhythm as he hit Ephraim Kitchens on a 35-yard touchdown pass that gave the Tigers a 10-point lead with 10:47 left in the fourth.

“When they put me back in and let me pass, I knew they were trying to get my confidence up,” Kirk said “ I knew that I was the only one that could stop myself.”

The Tiger defense had an outstanding game also as on the ensuing Grenada drive, they stalled out the Charger offense that so potent against other teams. On the next drive the Tigers took the ball down the field, but the drive came to a 4th and 10 that they could not convert. The Tiger defense got the ball back for their team as Anfernee Benson got an interception for the second week in a row with 2:02 left in the game.

“I just wanna make big plays,” Benson said, “We just wanted to play hard for the offense.”

On the first play of the drive, Roosevelt Jones scored on a 19-yard run. The score gave the Tigers a 16 point lead after the missed PAT. On the following kickoff there was a fumble on a squib kick that was recovered by Justin Armstead. Three plays later Jones scored again on a 20-yard run with 31 seconds left after a missed PAT. That score stood at the end of the game.
“ I felt like I carried the team when they needed me” Jones said, “ I was thinking score.”

Kirk completed seven of 14 passes for 120 yards and one touchdown. Henderson led the team in rushing with 19 carries and 122 yards. Bibbs had nine carries and 47 yards. Jones had five carries and 45 yards with two touchdowns. Oluwain Hoskins had six carries and 35 yards.
 
Lindsay led the receiving corps with four catches and for 44 yards. Demetrivis Market had one catch for 20 yards. Kitchens had one catch for 35 yards with a touchdown. Morris had one catch for 21 yards. Kirk had 4 punts for 114 yards.

The Tiger defense was led by Davis who had seven tackles and a sack. Stephen Sanford also helped with seven tackles. Ryan Lee had six tackles. Benson had five tackles, an interception and a pass deflection. Desmond Lester also five tackles. Brady Smith had four tackles, three pass defended and a fumble recovery.

Others contributing on defense include Quandez Lee, four tackles; Lloyd, three tackles, an interception, two pass deflections; Kitchens, three tackles, three pass deflections; Javon Norris, three tackles; Lindsay and Turner Rotenberry, two tackles;  Cole Rotenberry and Donald Twilley, one tackle; and Armstead, one fumble recovery.

The Tigers had 19 first downs while Grenada had 10. The Tigers had 209 yards rushing and Grenada had 133. The Tigers had 120 yards passing and Grenada had 26. The total yards for the Tigers were 329 while Grenada had 159.

Grenada had three fumbles with two lost and two interceptions. The Tigers had seven fumbles on the night with two lost. The Tigers were hit with three penalties for 25 yards and Grenada had four for 30 yards. Grenada controlled the time of possession with 26:51 and the Tigers with 21:09.