The Tiger football team will have to finish the season without senior Quarterback Steven Jennings.
“Unfortunately his football career came to an end last week at Smith County during the first offensive drive of the third quarter,” Tiger Head coach Steve Trapp told the review. “He is undergoing surgery Friday morning at 9 a.m. at Centennial, but he said he will be at the game Friday night.”
Trapp said that Jennings has, incredibly, not missed a practice this week despite a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
“He has been out there throwing footballs on one leg,” the coach shared. “You can use that as an example for the rest of the team. He understands that he will never play football again, but he’s going to compete with his therapy and he is going to be back sooner than later. He should be back on the field playing baseball for the Tigers this spring, and his future seems solid in that regard. Ultimately we hate to lose him as a quarterback, but he is still around as a great human being, and a great person. He is still out there helping me, and he’s helping Tyler (Cantrell). He’s still a captain on this team, and he’s still a leader.
Backup quarterback Tyler Cantrell, a junior, will now lead the Tigers, who are looking for their fourth straight win Friday in a road game against Macon County. Cantrell acquitted himself admirably against Smith County, taking the team to a 34-32 win after Jennings was injured.
“We’ve had a long line of great quarterbacks here, and I told Tyler that his time had come sooner than we expected, but we’ve got a lot of confidence in him. He came in last week and did an excellent job. As far as the offensive game plan, we didn’t change anything. When we needed big plays in the passing game he came up with them. When we needed big plays in the running game he produced first downs as well. Super proud about the way he came in, and super proud about the way our guys rallied around him. I’m expecting him to have a good football game against Macon County.”
DeKalb County travels to Lafayette at 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in the Region. Macon County is 3-2 overall and 0-2 in their region.
