It’s been a long time coming, but the Dupo High School football team is moving on to the second round of the playoffs.

The Tigers (9-1) defeated Salt Fork at home on Saturday, 28-7, for their first playoff win since 1994. 

They say great players come to play in big games, and that was especially true for Dupo senior quarterback/defensive back/kicker Deegan Prater. He had a hand in all of his team’s points on this day. 

Prater intercepted a Salt Fork pass and returned it 32 yards to open the scoring at 8:25 of the first quarter. He also kicked the extra point, putting Dupo up 7-0.

On the next possession for Salt Fork, Prater intercepted another pass and returned it 16 yards for a TD just more than a minute later. He missed that extra point attempt, but Dupo was up 13-0. 

Then it was time for Prater to show off his quarterbacking skills. He threw a six-yard TD pass to Brady Portell at 3:07 of the first quarter, then ran in the two-point conversion to put the Tigers up 21-0.

In the middle of the second quarter, Prater’s 18-yard TD pass to Thinh Staggs was followed by a Prater extra point kick to give the host Tigers a convincing 28-0 lead. 

Salt Fork finally scored on a long TD pass late in the first half, but that would be all of the scoring on this day. The defenses for both teams held strong. 

Dupo head coach Zach Klaustermeier said his players were keenly aware of the decades-long playoff drought entering Saturday’s contest.

“Our community loves to talk about it,” he said. “Saturday was pretty awesome –  a big crowd that did a great job, along with a pretty exciting game.”

Klaustermeier was excited abut his team’s strong start but otherwise was not content with the final product.

“We started super hot and really jumped on them early,” he said. “Really, the only negative on my end was our overall offense performance.  We were able to take advantage of a short field and managed to put together one long drive to score… otherwise, we really struggled.  We will for sure need to get the offense cleaned up for our match-up this week.” 

Dupo will play this Saturday at Carrollton in a second round Class 1A playoff contest. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

Prior to this season, the Tigers last enjoyed a playoff victory in the fall of 1994 with a Class 2A quarterfinal win over Central A&M. Dupo lost in the state semifinals that season to Georgetown-Ridge Farm.

The Tigers had three 11-win seasons and 12 playoff appearances with multiple postseason victories under legendary head coach Gary Mauser’s tenure from 1980-1994. Following a two-season hiatus, Mauser returned to coaching the Tigers from 1997 to 2001.

Prater has thrown for 2,158 yards and 28 TDs compared to seven interceptions, has rushed for 438 yards and 10 TDs, and has eight interceptions on defense this season. 

He’s also converted nine two-point tries, kicked 30 extra points and has kicked a field goal on the season.

Portell is the leading receiver for the Tigers this season with 703 yards, followed by Staggs (623) and Brrayden Esterlein (541).