Although only a handful of college football teams are still playing, especially below the Division I level, but more than one Demopolis native will still be suiting up this Saturday.

One is the University of North Alabama’s Vincent Jackson, a cornerback for Demopolis’s 2004 state championship team and now a second-string corner for the Lions. Jackson’s UNA team has won three consecutive playoff games to move to the NCAA DII semifinals this Saturday. Jackson registered a quarterback hurry in the first of those wins, over Valdosta St., and appeared in the Lions’ second win, over North Carolina-Central. He did not participate in the Lions’ win last Saturday over Central Arkansas.

John Essex graduate Ta’mar Scott has been a big part of a big season for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs. The Bulldogs finished the year 9-2 and will compete for the SWAC championship Saturday in Birmingham vs. Grambling St. Scott had his biggest statistical day of the season Nov. 5 against Jackson St., when he rushed 14 times for 110 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns. He followed that with an eight-carry, 50-yard performance in a win over Alcorn St Nov. 12. In the first meeting with Grambling, Scott rushed seven times for 35 yards.

A loss to Furman in the first round of the playoffs ended the season, however, for Anthony Harris’s Nicholls St. Colonels. Harris, the former Demopolis running back, ran four times for 19 yards in the 14-12 defeat. The number of attempts for Harris was a sharp decline from the previous week, when he carried 18 times for 149 yards and a touchdown in a conference-title-clinching win over McNeese St. Harris had also received the starting assignment the week before, when he carried seven times for 86 yards and touchdown against Southeastern Louisiana. Harris finished his senior season with 547 yards and four TDs on 78 carries, an average of seven yards per carry.

2004 Demopolis Tiger defensive tackle Ray Williams finished his season with the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks Nov. 17. Williams turned in another consistent performance, totaling a pair of tackles in the Skyhawks’ win over Murray St. Despite coming off the bench, Williams had at least one tackle in every game but one for UTM, including two (one a tackle-for-loss) Nov. 12 against Eastern Kentucky. Williams concluded his freshman season with 19 tackles, three for loss, and one recovered fumble.