HOMER — The Commerce Tigers showed why they are the big cats in the neighborhood, beating the Banks County Leopards 55-13 on Friday night in Homer.

The game was close for the entire first quarter, but the Tigers pulled away in the second quarter.

After J’Varius Wood opened the game with a 7-yard touchdown run, the Leopards answered with a 58-yard pass from Griffen Goodwin to Zez Steeple to tie the game 7-7.

Commerce didn’t waste time on their next drive, a 39-run by Cole Chancey and 17-run by Caleb Brooks was all the Tigers needed to regain the lead. Less than a minute into the second quarter, Travae Cain added an 8-yard touchdown run but the extra point was missed and Commerce led 14-13.

From there, the Tigers dominated and wouldn’t end a drive without scoring until all of the offensive starters were pulled in the third quarter.

Wood scored his second touchdown of the game on a 19-yard pass from Brooks. A stop on defense was enough to deflate the Banks County crowd and all momentum the Leopards had.

Will Thomas scored from 20 yards out to give the Tigers a 28-13 lead. Brooks followed that with a 2-yard run and a 15-yard pass to Wood giving the Tigers a 42-13 halftime advantage.

The scoring continued early in the second half, first on a 5-yard run by Chancey set up by a 47-yard run by Thomas. Then Austin Brock took his first carry of the game 76 yards to set the score at 55-13.

Thomas led the Tigers with 170 yards on just nine carries. Wood trailed him with 114 total yards and three touchdowns, 80 on the ground with a touchdown and 34 receiving with a pair of scores.

For Banks County, Cain put up 118 yards on 20 carries, Steeple had 63 yards on two catches.

Commerce opens up region 8-A play next week at Hebron Christian while Banks County hosts Johnson.