Opening their season at home on Vanhooser Field Thursday, the DMS Saints took care of business by defeating Avery Trace 36-8.
“It’s not bad, but as coaches we’re never 100 percent satisfied,” said Saints Head Coach Justin Poteete. “We still have a long way to go and lot of work on the little things. We were decent up front and had some gritty hitting -  that’s what I like to see, kids who are not scared to hit.”
Coach Poteete is in his first year as head coach for the Saints, but is no stranger to the team, having served as an assistant coach for the last seven years. Poteete moved to the position when Coach Tadd Webb was named the principal of DeKalb County Middle School this year.
Saints RB Brady Hale put DeKalb on the board first, with an outside run with 3:32 left in the first half followed by a pass from QB Kolter Kilgore to Kolby Barnes for the PAT and 8-point lead.
Some excellent special teams’  tackles by Diego Coranado and Josh May plus an overall defensive upfront game by the Saints kept the Raiders on their heels throughout the ballgame.
Avery Trace’s best offense came up on the next set of downs after the Saints scoring drive when Raider Brock Owen found some running room in the secondary after catching a pass from QB Aiden Jones with 1:45 left on the clock. A successful PAT made it 8-8 after Raider Donald Sullivan found the end zone. It would be the last score Avery Trace would make in the contest.
Saint running back Isaac Knowles tore up the turf all night and made the next six points for the Saints after breaking several tackles along the way at the start of the second quarter. Knowles then took in the successful PAT for a 16-8 ballgame.
The Raiders started to show some life with a breakout run by Sullivan, but the Saints defense responded again and good backfield penetration by May forced a turnover on downs by Avery Trace.
Two good runs by Knowles and a 15-yard pass from Kilgore to Barnes set up the Saints next score as Knowles again scampered into the end zone for the 22-8 lead. Knowles PAT attempt was also good making  it 24-8 for DeKalb with 2:08 left in the second quarter.
The Tigers scored again in the third quarter when Kilgore found an open receiver with the PAT being no good, followed by Knowles who again added six more to round out the final tally with a run after Matthew Vickers recovered a fumble to set up the offensive drive.
The DMS Saints travel to Jackson for their next contest on Aug. 17. Game time is 6:30 p.m.