In 2002, Commerce traveled to beautiful Bill Corry Stadium in Madison, Ga. to play a very strong Morgan County Bulldog team.

Commerce won by a (10-3) score in a great defensive struggle. Commerce pulled out all the stops in its bag of tricks in an effort to move the ball against this tough Bulldog defense.

What was most unusual was that quarterback Josh Haynes and halfback Dennis Wilder were an amazing eleven for eleven in passing for 121 yards on the night. No quarterback or passing combination in Tiger history has ever been that ….. proficient before or since.

Tiger receivers in the effort also made outstanding catches to help keep the passing streak alive during the contest.

An early touchdown by Haynes from three yards out on an option keeper in the first quarter, and a second quarter 27-yard field goal by Tommy Eason enabled the Tigers to go into halftime with a ten point advantage. The newly installed slide defense was used almost to perfection in the hard hitting contest, as Commerce came away with a tough (10-3) victory in Madison.

The run oriented Tigers had brought their air show to town and were on the mark on this pleasant September evening. Haynes was 9 for 9 in the passing department and Wilder contributed a 2 for 2 performance for Tiger faithful.

The 1965 Tiger team holds the Commerce record for the most shutouts in a season with seven during a thirteen game season.

The awesome Commerce defense shutout the following teams: South Habersham and North Habersham by the midway point of the season. Then they blanked North Hall, Rabun County, White County and Franklin County consecutively for a total of six to end the regular season while adding a final shutout against Carrollton in the state playoffs for a total of seven.

The 1965 team is the only Commerce football team to shutout….. …..   four teams in a row.

The only other Commerce squad to record six shutouts during the regular season was the 1949 team, which recorded shutouts against Covington, Buford, Cornelia (later changed to South Habersham in the early 1950’s), Campbell of Fairburn, Winder and Jefferson. Four of the last five games played by Commerce in 1949 were shutouts.

The 1964 Commerce team also had six shutouts to its credit during the season, however this was in a twelve game season. This total of six was also a great defensive accomplishment for this team of black and gold.

The 1949 team ended the season with a record of (8-2-0) but did not qualify for the playoffs, while the 1965 squad sported a record of (12-1-0) losing its last game to Americus in the state Class A championship game.

In its football history, Commerce has recorded a total of 121 shutouts, while the Tigers have been shutout themselves only 51 times.

Just as important as offensive achievements are the defensive ones. Football is a team game and shutting an opponent out is just as exciting as scoring numerous points in order to win a game.

Tiger helmets worn during the 1910’s and 1920’s were of the brown leather variety in the early history of Commerce football.

However, since football was rejuvenated in 1940, the Tiger helmet has changed on a few occasions.

From 1940-1951, the Commerce helmet was basically a black one with a few yellowish-brown sections in the late 1940’s.

From 1952-1959, Commerce wore a solid silver helmet. Beginning in 1960-1966, the Tiger helmet was solid black once more. However, in 1965 there was one white stripe down the center, and in 1966….. ….. two white stripes were placed down the center of the head gear.

In 1967, when Coach Ray Lamb became the Tiger’s head mentor he had Commerce players wearing a gold helmet with a white center stripe flanked by two black ones.

The following season in 1968 a black “C” outlined in white was added to both sides of the Tiger helmet. This lasted through the 1973 season.

In 1974 for the first 6 games, Commerce wore a black helmet again with a white stripe down the center. In game seven, the Tigers added a tiger paw on each side. This pattern lasted through the 1988 season.

With the coming of Steve Savage as the Commerce head coach in 1989, Commerce went to the solid gold helmet with a center black stripe. This lasted through 1994.

In 1995 Coach Savage initiated the black helmet once more with a wide center gold stripe flanked by two white stripes and a gold Cincinnati baseball “C” on each side outlined in white. This has been the Tiger helmet through the 2009 season.

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In 2003 versus #1 ranked Lincoln County, Commerce went down to defeat to the Red Devils by a (14-7) score. However, Dennis Wilder put on a performance that will not long be forgotten. It was one in which he had 37 rushing attempts which is the second most in school history.

In the game the previous week, Commerce was defeated by Morgan County and in the game quarterback Josh Haynes was injured and not likely to be available for play the following week against the Red Devils.

Coach Steve Savage then installed the Notre Dame Box single wing offense to utilize the running skills of tailback Dennis Wilder. Commerce had not run this ancient offense since ….. the final game of the 1951 campaign.

Commerce trailed in the game (14-0) going into the fourth period, after LC had scored on two possessions in the second quarter the final one was a 16-yard pass on the next to last play of the first half.

In the first three quarters, Wilder kept Tiger hopes alive with his running and passing ability although Commerce had been unable to find the end zone.

Of the 39 plays that Commerce had run in the first half, Wilder ran or passed the ball on 37 of those snaps. He was “so to speak” carrying the mail for the Tigers to give the team a chance.

Following a 7-play, 65-yard drive, the Tigers finally found the end zone early in the fourth period when Wilder plunged in to pay dirt from one yard out. Tommy Eason’s PAT was successful, as the Tigers were now only seven points down at (14-7).

Still behind by seven points and with only 3:51 to go in the contest, the Commerce defense came up with a big play when it recovered a Red Devil fumble at the Commerce 49.

In the previous four games with Lincoln County, Commerce had rallied in the fourth quarter in three of these contests to snatch victory away from defeat. In the 2002 game, the Tigers had a run away (28-6) win. What went through the mind of the Lincoln County faithful as well as their players had to be, “Is Commerce going to do it to us again”?

With the aid of two penalties a personal foul and a face mask infraction, the Notre Dame Box offense of Commerce run by the weary Wilder moved the pigskin down to the ten. However, a fourth down pass by usual QB Haynes to Wilder proved unfruitful, as he was tripped up back at the twelve with 47 seconds left in the contest. Lincoln County had won this another classic contest between the two Class A powers by a (14-7) score.

Commerce had run a total of 58 plays in the game, and Wilder was involved in 49 of them rushing, passing and receiving. He was indeed a horse for the Tigers on this night.

Wilder’s stats for the night were: 37 rushes for 145 yards, 4 of 11 passing for 60 yards and one reception for zero yards.

Wow! What a heroic performance. Commerce did not win the game, but Dennis Wilder gained the respect of everyone in attendance.

Wilder ended the 2003 season with 1925 rushing yards and eventually collected 3370 for a three year career total and placing him fifth on the Commerce career list.