Tiger middle school teams shut out Mountain Grove

In the seventh grade game, running back Kentley LaJoie stole the show when he started the Tigers off with a great touchdown run. Tight end Brayden Hughes had a diving catch in the end zone for the 2 point conversion to take the 8-0 lead. LaJoie would go on to score another touchdown in the second half to put the Panthers away. Fullback Cameron Utnage, running back Peyton Mercer and quarterback Dylan Mayberry added some really nice runs in the game to help the Tigers move the football up the field. Our offensive line of Bryer Black, Ryder Duncan, Wesley Smith, Cooper Case, Brody Walker, Brayden Hughes, Trenton Taysom and Maddix Lough did a good job making the blocks needed for our backs in this one.

The Tigers defense had multiple defensive stands in this game and improved tremendously on their tackling and finishing plays this week. Our secondary made plays through the air and came up to support the run game as well. Safety Dillon Emory, safety Foster Jones, linebacker Peyton Mercer, corner Carter Woolf and corner Dash Gallagher stepped up big time in the run game with some important tackles to keep Mt Grove off the scoreboard. This was a great team win by the Tigers. We improved quite a bit in a short period of time. We travel to Mt View Liberty next Thursday to battle the Eagles.

In the eighth-grade game the Tigers came to play. Running back David Brooks, Jr started it off with a great run around the edge to score for Salem. Brooks, Jr would go on to score again to give himself a pair of touchdowns on the day. Running back Weston Tackett was banged up last week but made his impact in this game with two rushing touchdowns as well. He had some great strong runs breaking tackles left and right as he ran into the end zone. Quarterback Thomas Lewis capped off the win with a rushing touchdown of his own off the left side of the line on an option run. Our offensive line Owen Parker, Brantley Thompson, Bryce Coates, Rafe Dodson, Braxton Hopkins, Keegan Terrill, Madden Schloemer and Ben Hobson did an incredible job opening up running lanes for our backs. We controlled the line of scrimmage all night on offense and defense.

Our defense was relentless in this game. My Grove couldn’t make much ground at all on our defense with stop after stop. Some highlight hits by our linebackers Eli Decker, linebacker Braxton Hopkins and linebacker Weston Tackett were a big difference in this one. I was very proud of our kids in this game. We had an early turnover in the first quarter and didn’t let it rattle us. We went on to put scoring drives together and then get stops on defense. This is a special group of young men and very proud of their effort and execution.