by Rusty Ellis
The DeKalb County Tigers started last season 6-1 before falling in their final four games, all of which came by a single score.
A lot of that could be attributed to injuries, but one thing was for certain about Steve Trapp’s team: they battled all the way to the end and that’s all he could ask of them.
Now Trapp and the Tigers are preparing for the new season, something that the long-time DCHS head coach says still gets him and his staff excited about to this day.
“It’s fun, if it ever (wasn’t exciting), it’d be time for me to turn it over to someone else,” Trapp said. “These guys doing what we ask them to do, it has a way of keeping you young. It’s a really exciting time.”
One battle to watch is the quarterback spot, as senior Briz Trapp returns from an injury that shortened his season to just three starts. Backup Jordan Parker is also back for the Tigers and while Trapp is currently penciled in as the starter, Coach Trapp has made it clear that he wants both players to push each other so the best player is the one on the field at all times.
“We want everyone to compete, and the way Jordan came in last year and did what he did, the competition started there,” Trapp said. “Briz is our signal-caller and we hope for nothing but health for him all year and JP is our number two…we want everyone to compete. If you’re a one, you should be competing to stay there, and if you’re a two, you should be competing to take somebody else’s job.”
Another player to watch offensively will be Malachi Trapp. He was relied upon heavily as an outside receiving threat a year ago, but his role has changed significantly now, as he makes his move to running back.
Trapp, like everyone else, saw glimpses of greatness from him last year, but now he needs him to be a consistent scoring threat with every touch.
“He is a dynamic athlete and he needs to touch the football,” Trapp said. “Putting him at running back, he has the ability to run it and we can still use him as a receiver…he’s done a really good job at it, and he’s just so athletic.”
Trapp has never been afraid to set high expectations for his group, and an already-tough region that features Upperman, Stone Memorial and Macon County gets even tougher with the addition of White County into the mix.
Even with that, Trapp’s goals are clear for the Tigers in 2023.
“Coming into every year, our first goal is to win the region,” Trapp said. “If you do that, you’re playing at home first round of the playoffs and you reset your goals from there…we’re not looking for anything short of that. We also understand there’s a lot of quality football in this region, and it was that way last year. We started 6-1 and we never won another game and they were all by one score. We’re hungry and I like our potential, but we also have to understand the work and the drive it takes to be called victorious.”
