The war drums of the Bibb County Choctaw Marching Band were beating Friday night as the Demopolis High Tigers football team took the field in Centreville. Those drums would be silenced quickly as the Tigers put on another impressive offensive and defensive effort, beating Bibb County 48-0.

The score could have been worst. The DHS defense stuffed the Choctaws for much of the evening, allowing quarterback Devin Goodwin a lot of time to spread the wealth to many different receivers.

However, things didn’t start out good for Demopolis. The opening kickoff return was muffed, and DHS started on their one-yard line. The Tigers weren’t able to move very far, and they kicked to the Choctaws. Bibb County was held to four downs, and as DHS got the ball back, head coach Doug Goodwin was visibly upset about the effort he was getting on offense.

After a great reverse play featuring Chad Schroeder was called back due to penalty, the offense finally got on track with two passes from Devin Goodwin to Bart Pettus.

Rod Jones finished off the drive with a one-yard TD run. Devin Goodwin’s PAT kick was good, and with 4:09 left in the first quarter, Demopolis led by 7.

It didn’t take DHS long to score again. Ezell Braxton shocked the Choctaws with an interception and 39-yard touchdown run. A penalty against the Tigers for unsportsmanlike conduct made for a long PAT attempt by Goodwin, which was no good. With 2:07 left in the first, the score was DHS 13-BC 0.

Moving into the second quarter, both teams muddled around with penalties until DHS got a drive going with a pass to Schroeder to get them out of deep in their own terrority. The Tigers would move the team with passes to Michael Lee, a hard run by Dontrell Miller and another pass to Schroeder. Devin Goodwin would run the ball himself five yards for a TD with 6:27 left in the second.

A two-point conversion run by Miller was good, and Demopolis led 21-0.

The DHS defense stuffed the Choctaws again, and the Tigers pretty much let the air out of Bibb County with a 39-yard punt return by Schroeder with 4:46 left in the first half. The PAT was no good, and the Tigers were ahead 27-0.

DHS would have the ball again at the end of the second half. A pass by Devin Goodwin to Bart Pettus, a long run by Dustin Gracie set up a secen-yard TD pass to Colby Roberts with 36 seconds left in the first half. The PAT was good, and the halftime score was DHS 34-BC 0.

The Choctaws could never get much going offensively despite the Tigers turning the ball over twice in the third quarter on muffed punt receptions.

At halftime, defensive guru, coach Freddy Lawrence, was troubled by the amount of yardage the Choctaws were able to scrape together. They only managed 90 total yards.

Bibb County’s only decent drive was in the third quarter but was ended on a fourth down attempt.

The Tigers had two scoring drives in the second half. In the third quarter, a drive featured an 18-yard run by Jonathan Sommers, a 14-yard run by Rod Jones and a pass to Sommers. The drive was finished with a three-yard TD run by Jones with 5:50 left in the third. The PAT was good, and DHS led by 41.

The final scoring drive for the Tigers in the fourth quarter featured Miller at quarterback. On the second play of the drive, Gracie scored on a 61-yard TD run with 10:22 left in the game. The PAT was no good, but a penalty on Bibb County allowed a rekick which was good. The final score was 48-0.

The Tigers led by quarterback Miller and then quarterback Rob Quinney was threatening to score from the Choctaw 13-yard line as time ran out.

Demopolis hosts Greene County in the home opener Friday.

Editor’s Note: The Demopolis High state champion softball team will be honored with their rings Friday at 7 p.m. before the kickoff against Greene County in Memorial Stadium.