Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The DeKalb County Tigers took the field in scrimmage action on Friday night, hosting Gordonsville in a battle of the Tigers.
A strong defensive showing from both teams saw DCHS score the lone touchdown of the evening on a slant-route from Briz Trapp to new receiver Malachi Trapp. This added to an excellent defensive effort for the host Tigers, as head coach Steve Trapp pointed out several things he felt like that unit did well.
“The defenses really did well tonight,” Trapp said. “Our guys played hard and I really liked that. I didn’t love the start…but coming back there at the end, I feel like they did a really good job. Even in the spring, they’ve been really flying around and giving great effort. I really liked how hard they played.”
The offense left a little to be desired thanks to three turnovers and a couple big penalties that negated big plays, including what would have been Malachi Trapp’s second touchdown of the game. As Trapp went on to say, it’s a good thing it happened now and not in week one of the season.
“That’s why we have these scrimmages,” Trapp said. “Hopefully, we don’t see those things when it’s the real thing on August 19…you can’t have three turnovers and costly penalties and be successful.”
One individual standout was junior Ari White, as he took some snaps at running back on offense and middle linebacker on defense. What Trapp appreciated the most about his performance was how he did the little things to get extra yards out of the backfield and make plays in the backfield on defense.
“He’s such a good player,” Trapp said. “He does a great job for us. He’s our number two running back and he might not get the explosive plays, but he’s going to get you those tough yards. He’s a middle linebacker, so you know he’s going to play tough for you…that’s good to have that option.”
The Tigers will hit the road for their next scrimmage, as they’ll take on Friendship Christian next Friday at 6 P.M.
