Jefferson's Tanner Murphy Is The ETSN.fm + Dairy Queen Defensive Player Of The Week

Week 12 of the high school football season was a week of ridiculous tackle counts.

Wills Point linebacker Sloan Rodberg made 29 tackles in a low-scoring, one-touchdown playoff win. Jefferson senior linebacker Tanner Murphy did just a little bit better, 33 takedowns to help the Bulldogs avoid a four-seed versus one-seed upset in the opening round of the postseason.

Murphy, who made 17 of his 33 tackles in open field, is the ETSN.fm + Dairy Queen Defensive Player of the Week.

Jefferson upset a dominant White Oak team earlier this season for the District 8-3A Division I crown, but Winnsboro apparently didn't get the memo as the fourth and final team to reach the playoffs out of District 7-3A Division I.

Forged by its own tough district games against Mineola and Farmersville, Winnsboro went stride-for-stride with the heavily favored Bulldogs.

It's a good thing Jefferson had Murphy. He delayed multiple Winnsboro scoring drives, the clock became a factor and fellow linebacker Jordan Randle came up with a fourth-down stop to finally secure a 43-36 win.

Murphy, who now has 120 tackles on the season, isn't the first Bulldog to win Defensive Player of the Week. Defensive back Taylor Smith won the Week 2 honor and is one of four players on the roster with at least 100 tackles.

Jefferson will face Howe later this week in the second round of the Class 3A Division I playoffs. The game will be played Friday at Lindale's Eagle Stadium and the winner will likely face two-time defending Region II champion Mineola in the third round.

Howe averages nearly five touchdowns per game.