The Demopolis Tigers jumped out to an early lead over the Thomasville Tigers Friday night and held on in the second half to win 27-26.

“I’m proud of our kids in the fourth quarter,” Tom Causey said. “They needed that test. They hadn’t been tested like that yet.”

Thomasville was not able to move the ball on Demopolis in the first half, and Demopolis was able to move the ball at will. Untimely turnovers deep in Thomasville territory made the score a lot closer than it should have been.

In the first quarter, Demopolis took the lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by Tucker Jones with 7:46 to go in the quarter. On the next drive, a big pass play set up a 9-yard TD pass from Jones to Cortez Lewis, making the score 14-0. On Thomasville’s next play from scrimmage, they fumbled and the ball was recovered by Demopolis. The first play of their drive was a 56-yard catch and run by Cortez Lewis which gave Demopolis a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Thomasville answered in the second quarter, only after Demopolis fumbled at the Thomasville goalline. They returned the fumble all the way down to the Demopolis 25, and a horse-collar penalty gave Thomasville the ball at the Demopolis 10 yard line.

A 10-yard TD pass made the score 21-6 after a blocked extra point. This score stood until the third quarter.

Demopolis opened the second half with a long touchdown drive that lasted for nearly seven and a half minutes. It was capped off by a 2-yard run by Tyrelle Barnett to make it 27-6 Demopolis.

Thomasville then scored 20 unanswered points and had a chance to win the game late until a Thomasville pass with 1:13 to go in the game was intercepted by Mason Rogers.

“I give credit to Thomasville and their coaches for keeping the ball away from us in the second half,” Causey said. “They are a first-class program and they play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. It was a great team win.”

Assistant coach Matt Geohagan was not with the team Friday night, and Causey said he was proud of how the other defensive coaches stepped up and filled his shoes in his absence.

Demopolis is now 5-0 overall and will travel to Greenville next week.