Heading into week two looking for a win, the Tigers were overwhelmed by Upperman in the second half as the Bees claimed a 49-27 victory over DeKalb Friday night leaving them 0-2 on the season.
Adding to the Tigers woes, starting RB Colton Seifert left the game after a leg injury early in game play and couldn’t return. According to Head Coach Steve Trapp, it might be a while before he is game ready.
“Our starting running back is probably done for the year,” Trapp said. “It’s a tough spot to be in, but we’ll keep working.”
It was the second border battle in as many weeks for the Tigers, who lost to neighboring Warren County last week and this week’s “Battle of Center Hill” cost DeKalb the trophy oar they won after defeating the Bees last year. The oar was chosen due to each team being geographically on opposite sides of the lake.
“Two weeks in a row, mentally, we just didn’t play very well,” Trapp said. “Injuries again, lack of depth, bad tackling and can’t line up on offense...all of us just have to figure out what kind of team we want to be this year. Right now we’re not putting a good product on the field.”
The Tiger defense forced Upperman to punt on their first possession on a fourth-and-eight situation. Blocking the punt, Braxton Linder scooped it up for a 25-yard run to the end zone for 6 and a good PAT by Andrew Fuson gave DeKalb an early 7-0 first-quarter lead.
Upperman was quick to answer as on third-and-10 Bees quarterback Duke Maresh found Donoven McCallister in the end zone for a touchdown and tied it up with a good PAT.
The Tigers made quick work adding to the tally after QB Tyler Cantrell found his way around the left side for a break-out 70-yard run to the Bees 1-yard line and Seibert punched it in for the score. Fuston made good on the PAT for a 14-7 ballgame with 7:19 left in the first quarter.
The Bees, with a little help from a Tiger penalty, made it to first-and-goal on the 5-yard-line and Blake Metzgar ran it in with 5:49 left in the first. A good PAT tied the game 14-14.
The Tigers were forced to punt after Cantrell was caught in the backfield trying to get off a pass on third-and-16.
Upperman regained momentum on its next drive, as Metzgar scored on a third-and-1 from the 12-yard line, but the Bees couldn’t convert the extra point, making it 20-14 at the end of the first quarter. With both teams having a lull offensively, the Bees added a field goal at 3:46 making it the last score before the half 23-14 in favor of Upperman.
After the break, the Tigers came out of the locker room looking like they had enough back-and-forth for one night. After two consecutive first downs on first possession, Cantrell found Bradley Miller for a 44-yard TD pass and Fuson made the PAT to close the gap at 23-21 with 10:06 left in the second.
DeKalb’s success just made the Bees swarming mad however, as they rallied to put 20 unanswered points on the board to stymy the Tigers with a 43-21 jump entering the fourth quarter.
“We haven’t been able to do anything consistently in any phase even through our scrimmages where we’ve done well,” Trapp said. “It’s been big plays, so yes, we had a good play but we haven’t sustained a drive on offense...we’re not doing a whole bunch of stuff right. It’s hard to watch and to be honest it’s hard to coach but we’re going to keep grinding. That’s what we’re going to do and these guys have to make a decision what kind of football team they ultimately want to be.
“Like we told them the first two games as far as playoff implications that’s really what we’ve got to be about. They don’t hold a lot of water but next week starts that prime. Again we’re down on the depth chart, we’ve got four or five starters that’re already out, so I don’t know if we’ll build back or not.”
Cantrell found Miller once more to close the deficit a bit with 6 more points, now 43-27 with 9:34 left on the clock.
It was Upperman who tacked on the final score at 6:08 with a final touchdown.
“We’ve got to figure out how we can consistently do stuff and that comes down to me and the coaching staff,” said coach Trapp.  “We’ve done it every way we know how; we grinded on ‘em, we’ve loved on ‘em, we’ve lifted them up, and we’ve told them the truth but, bottom line is it comes down to what kind of decisions they’re going to make. As a coaching staff we have to help guide them but ultimately it comes down to them to make that choice.”
The Tigers have their first home game of the season Friday as they take on district rival Stone Memorial. Stone is 1-1 on the season.

Game at a glance:
Passing: Tyler Cantrell threw for 8-19 for 124 yards in the contest with 2 TDs
Receiving: Bradley Miller 5-92 with 2 TDs, Braxton Linder 2-30, Tyler Cantrell 1-6, David Bradford 1-2.
Rushing: The Tigers rushed 19 times for a total of 169 yards with an average of 8.9 yards per carry. Cantrell had the longest run of 69 yards followed by Colton Seifert with a carry of 53.
Seifert went 4-71 with 1 TD Cantrell 7-74
David Bradford rushed 4-23
Defense: The Tigers had 44 tackles total with Nick May heading up the board with 9.5 followed by Braxton Linder with 7.5