MARK EDWARDS

Decatur's defense the difference

After Decatur survived with a 10-7 victory against rival Austin, Red Raiders head coach Jere Adcock wrote these three things on the board in the team room at Ogle Stadium:

The final score.

"We are Decatur!"

And this: "Thank God For Defense."

That last one was especially important Friday night.

On a night when Austin limited Decatur's offense like nobody else had this season, the Red Raiders needed their defense to win this one.

Adcock said he stresses defense, kicking game and offense — in that order. And Decatur won the game in that order.

The defense even provided Decatur's lone touchdown. Aaron Boykin picked off a pass and raced 72 yards for a third-quarter touchdown and a 10-0 lead.

Other than that, Decatur's only points came on a 45-yard Michael Schuster field goal that looked like it would've been good from 55.

Decatur intercepted five passes, and according to Adcock, that reversed a season-long trend — "We've dropped more interceptions than we've caught."

Linebacker Levi Cook grabbed two of them — his first two of the season. Afterward, he said he went where he was coached to go, and in the process, he managed to step in front of a pass.

Boykin, William Sartain and Tom Gray each intercepted one.

Decatur's Dewan Troupe and Pierre Key combined for a sack.

Three other times, the Red Raiders put enough pressure to force three intentional grounding penalties against Austin.

On Austin's last drive, the Black Bears appeared to have an open receiver in the end zone, but Decatur's Antwon Owens batted the ball away. Twice in the fourth quarter, Austin runners broke free, but Gray ran them down from his defensive back position to keep them from scoring. Will Dennis did the same once.

And then there was senior linebacker Tim Witherspoon, who provided consistency for the Decatur defense.

In other words, you can't point to just one single person as the star of the defense on this night.

Decatur gave up some big plays, such as in the fourth quarter when Austin got its touchdown. Freddie Moore sprinted behind the Decatur defense and caught a perfect pass on the run from Justin Jones. The result — a 77-yard touchdown play.

But after that, Decatur held. Sometimes just barely, but Decatur held nonetheless.

"Austin has a good football team," a tired Adcock said afterward. "We knew they could do things on offense. We knew we would give up some plays. But we made the plays when we had to."

Lee Cagle coordinates Decatur's defense, while Steve Netherton coaches the linebackers. Kevin Lockhart handles the defensive tackles, and Rod Lovett coaches the defensive ends.

Certainly, they must deserve plenty of credit for this win, because afterward, Witherspoon, Cook and Gray took time to talk about the defensive effort, and they kept emphasizing this theme: They were doing what they were coached to do.

"When we executed and did what we were told, good things happened," Gray said, smiling.

The funny thing about this game was that Decatur didn't have the only good defense Friday night, and if Austin had managed another touchdown, you would be reading about the great effort by the Black Bears in this space.

Before Friday, Decatur had scored fewer than 24 points only twice this year — 14 against Huntsville and 19 against Sparkman. Austin allowed Decatur's offense closer than 49 yards from its goal line only twice all night, and on one of those, an interception had put the Red Raiders at the Black Bears' 37.

But Decatur's defense produced more big plays.

And won Friday night's game.