It was a pair of seniors who iced a 36-27 win for Demopolis (5-3, 5-1) over Brookwood on Senior Night Friday. With the halftime Homecoming festivities a fading memory, Demopolis’ defense lined up with less than three minutes in the game, clinging to a 36-27 lead that Brookwood intended to cut into with a 34-yard field goal attempt. As the ball shot off the foot of the Brookwood kicker, it was senior defensive lineman Neilson Renner that came up with his second blocked kick of the season to give the Tigers possession again.

The Tigers then handed the ball to senior tailback James Wilson four times, chewing up 35 yards of turf and the final minutes of play to put the win away.

The quartet of carries brought Wilson’s totes total to 16 in the game’s final period alone.

“James came out from the shoot running hard,” Demopolis head coach Tom Causey said. “I just didn’t feel like we ever got in a rhythm offensively. The one constant was James Wilson.”

Wilson put the team on his back with 9:02 remaining in the fourth quarter. After having watched his team’s offense sputter for nearly two full quarters of play as the Tigers’ 29-0 lead melted to 29-27, Wilson took a first down carry over the left side, bounced off a would-be tackler and sprinted 59 yards to the Brookwood 6. Quarterback Tyler Oates kept the ball on an option run one play later to hang the game’s final touchdown on the board. The Mitch McPherson extra point left the Tigers’ with the 36-27 advantage.

Wilson’s run came just 19 seconds after Brookwood’s defense stripped the ball from Demopolis O and darted 55 yards for a touchdown to cut the game to 29-27.

Just more than a minute earlier, Brookwood picked up a fumble and took it 29 yards for a touchdown.

Late in the third quarter, Brookwood got a six-yard touchdown run from its offense to pull to within 15 points of the Tigers. The Panthers began their roll at the end of the second quarter with a 13-play, 50-yard drive that ended in a four-yard scoring run to get Brookwood on the board after it watched Demopolis score the first 29 points of the contest.

The Tigers began the night with a 53-yard return from Demetrius Kemp on the opening kickoff but quickly squandered the opportunity when it turned the ball over on downs after pushing all the way to the Brookwood 27.

Three plays later, linebacker Wesley Anderson intercepted a pass and took it 31 yards for the game’s opening touchdown.

Three plays later, Demopolis cornerback Pierre Thomas stretched the lead to 14-0 when he recovered a fumble and sprinted 10 yards for a score.

Demopolis’ offense got in on the act with 8:05 to go in the second quarter when Oates hit Kemp on a 33-yard scoring strike to stretch the advantage to 21-0.

Roderick Davis recovered a Brookwood fumble on the ensuing kickoff, setting up a 22-yard touchdown run from Kemp. Oates ran in the two-point conversion to up the advantage to 29-0.

“Our defense played tremendous the entire night,” Causey said. “Brookwood does a lot of crazy formations and unbalanced lines. Our defense did a good job of recognizing what they were doing.”

Tyler Merriweather led the team with eight tackles. Spence Overstreet added seven stops while safeties Pat Taylor and Robert McVay each added six.

Wilson led the offense, amassing 203 yards on 28 carries, accounting for all but 73 of the Tigers’ yards on the ground.

Demopolis will wrap up region play next week when it travels to face Selma.