DEKALB EDGES TROUP IN OVERTIME | Tigers slip, 40-34, in a classic, finishing their season

Troup came about as close as a team could come to winning a playoff game Friday night, only to have it slip away.

The Tigers, trailing for much of the game, led double-digit-win DeKalb twice in the second half, as the game went to overtime, only to see DeKalb quarterback Jaylen White plunge into the end zone for a 1-yard score, the game-winning touchdown in the extra session and escape Pine Tree ISD’s Pirate Stadium in Longview with a 40-34 win.

DeKalb (11-1) moves on to round three of the University Interscholastic League’s Class 3A, Division II playoffs to face Woodville (10-2), which upset unbeaten Grand Saline, 48-21, on Friday night.

For Troup, the season unfortunately comes to an end, as the Tigers wrap it up with an 8-4 record. More on that below.

Friday was a tug-of-war with DeKalb’s Bears, who fumbled the ball away to Troup on the game’s first possession, with the Tigers recovering at their own 23-yard-line.

DeKalb’s first three possessions would end in a turnover and back-to-back punts. Troup’s Tigers would get it together as in just three plays, as Bryce Wallum would say “give me that football,” and hit the hole for a big 55-yard touchdown run. Then, he put on his placekicker hat, and kicked the extra point to give Troup the early 7-0 lead, with 6:26 left in the first quarter.

Dekalb said, “Not so fast; we can score it, too,” and in four plays would march the ball down the field. White would find his man, Koby Spurgeon, for a 23-yard TD pass. They would hook up again on the two-point conversion and take an 8-7 lead with 4:40 left in the quarter.

Troup would have to punt again on its next drive, and the Bears would get it at their own 20-yard-line. A big play got the Bears to the Tiger 10-yard-line, where White would then find Bryuan Gardner for the score and hit R.J. Giddens for a two-point conversion, giving Dekalb a 16-7 lead with 11:53 left in the first half.

Did we tell you this was a dog fight? If not, we’re telling you now, as the Tigers would answer the bell in three plays, capped off with a 40-yard bomb from Bryce Wallum to James Pierce. The extra point from Wallum was good and got Troup within two, 16-14, with 10:57 left in the half.

The defense showed up for both teams, with five punts and possibly six, had the half not ended.

In the second half, we saw the offenses come back in a big way, as Troup would start it off with a big drive ending in a 4-yard pass from Wallum to Childress for a score.

The two point try would fail but Troup had taken a 20-16 lead, with 8:48 left in the third quarter.

DeKalb would answer with a score of their own as White would find Walker Matteson for a 24-yard strike. The two-point try would not be good, but Dekalb re-claimed the lead with 5:19 left in the quarter.

Then the Tigers would roar back, taking almost all the time remaining in the quarter to finally get Wallum a hole and let him run in from 10 yards out. The conversion failed, and make it 26-22 Tigers, with 50 seconds left in the quarter.

The teams traded possessions, and Wallum, trying to hit his receiver, instead found Dekalb’s Koby Spurgeon for an interception.

The Bears would use it and take the ball to paydirt, as White would hit (who else?) Spurgeon for a 15-yard touchdown. The conversion failed, again, but Dekalb led, 28-26, with five minutes left in the game.

Or so we thought.

The Tigers said, “We aren’t done yet,” as Wallum said “James Pierce, go get open,” and he did, and the two hooked up for a 83-yard touchdown. Wallum would hit Zach Burris for the two and make it 34-28 Troup, with 3:29 left in regulation.

Dekalb would use all but 27 seconds left on the clock and drove from their own 32 to find the end zone, a 2-yard run by White to tie it (34-34), and then to overtime we went.

The Tigers would have the first shot in the extra session, where in Texas high school overtime rules say Texas each team gets a possession from the 25-yard-line to start. You play until someone is ahead, although after the second overtime, it goes to a series of two-point conversions until one team can’t tie the game.

Troup got its turn first, but the Tigers had a fumbled snap that would back them up to the 32. The drive stalled and on fourth down, Wallum could not find his receiver and it was a turnover on downs, with DeKalb getting the ball and only needing a score of any kind to win.

Dekalb would run the ball with White, repeatedly, until he wound up at the Troup 1.

You know the rest: White would score on QB run, and take the Bears to round three next week.

Troup finished the season as the second playoff seed from District 11-3A, Division I, behind only (previously unbeaten) New Diana. Coach Sam Wells’ Tigers did defeat arguably their two biggest rivals, Arp and West Rusk, and at one point had a five-game winning streak. And they defeated Anderson-Shiro, 35-6, in the first round.

Wallum had just an unbelievable year: he ran for 1,740 yards and 23 touchdowns, averaging 145 rushing yards a game and 9.9 yards a carry. He also completed 88-of-143 passes for 1,355 yards and 17 touchdowns, with seven interceptions.

He also caught three passes for 15 yards; had 24 total touchdowns; averaged 38 yards a punt on 27 punts this season; had 17 kick returns for an average of 21.4 yards a return; had 31 punt returns and averaged 15 yards a return; went 41-of-47 on extra point attempts and 5-of-8 in field goal attempts, a long of 32 yards; and on defense, had 38 total tackles, two for loss, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery.