GAINESVILLE — Dawson County coach Sid Maxwell swears he didn’t say much at halftime to his Tigers. But whatever it was, they may want to remember it for future reference.
The Tigers scored on every second half possession, and got help on a pair of huge special teams breakdowns by North Hall, to pull away for a 45-27 victory Friday night over the Trojans in a key Region 7-AAA matchup at The Brickyard.
“I’m not a big rah-rah type of guy. I wish I could be,” Maxwell said. “We just told them the adjustments we wanted to make in the second half. I thought it was total team effort. We got contributions from the offense, defense, and special teams. The kids did a great job.”
Dawson County (3-1, 1-0 Region 7-AAA) trailed 14-10 at halftime after watching North Hall (4-2, 1-1) erase a 10-0 Tigers lead in the second quarter.
The Tigers needed just 14 seconds to show they got the message. Kolton Brumbelow took the second half kickoff right through the middle of the Trojans kick team, shook off kicker Joel Barrientos near midfield, and then outraced the rest of the North Hall defenders for a 99-yard kickoff return and a 17-14 lead. They never trailed again.
“Anytime you can grab quick momentum like that it’s great,” Maxwell said. “A tremendous play.”
The Tigers were able to put the game out of reach midway through the fourth quarter when a bad punt snap by North Hall gave them a 1st-and-goal at the Trojans 2. Junior quarterback Coey Watson plunged in on the next play for a 38-21 lead.
“Those were huge plays,” North Hall coach David Bishop said. “Big momentum changers. That’s 14 points right there. The disappointing thing is that our special teams has been a strong area for us this year. But we’ll use this to show you can’t take one snap off during a game.”
After the kickoff return, the Tigers defense quickly stopped the Trojans on their first third quarter drive and then Watson capped a 9-play drive with his second touchdown pass of the game to Nick Murphy for a 26-yard score and a 24-14 lead with 6:36 left.
The Trojans temporarily halted the momentum with a long drive that was capped by a 1-yard Kyle Bacus touchdown run to pull within 24-21 with 28 seconds left in the third quarter. But Dawson County exploded for 21 points in a four minute stretch in the fourth quarter to blow it open.
“North Hall hurt us in the first half when they went to their counter run so really for us it was about trying to find a way to stop that play,” Maxwell said. “The defense made some adjustments at halftime and we did a much better job in the second half.”
The Tigers defense did control the first quarter, however, stopping both Trojans drives to set up Watson and the offense. Watson connected on a pair of passes to Brumbelow to move them to the North Hall 26 on their first drive but it stalled and Peyton Allen drilled a 39-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
Watson accounted for all 72 yards of Dawson County’s second drive, going 5-for-5 and capping it with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Murphy for a 10-0 lead with 34 seconds left in the first quarter.
The second quarter was all North Hall. Jack Brown capped a quick 4-play drive with an 8-yard touchdown run that was set up by a 41-yard run by Maddox Turner with 10:34 left in the half.
On the next Dawson County drive the North Hall defense got the game’s first turnover when Mac Bennett tipped a Watson pass and Cutter Sanford snagged it out of the air for an interception and returned it to the Tigers 24.
Brown capped a 6-play drive with a 1-yard scoring run to give the Trojans their only lead of the game at 14-10 lead with 6:10 left.
The Trojans were poised to add on late in the half forcing a Tigers punt and then moving to the Dawson 5 on a 43-yard run by Turner. But the Tigers stiffened and stuffed Bacus on 4th-and-2 at 1:57 of the second quarter.
Watson and the Tigers also had a chance to add on when Watson connected with Austin Young on a 31-yard pass to the Trojans 46 but the drive stalled at the 23 with 5 seconds remaining in the half on a Bennett sack of Watson. Allen’s 40-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right to end the half.
Dawson County piled up 406 yards of offense, 223 through the air behind Watson, who finished with one touchdown pass and one interception to go with 38 yards rushing. Peyton Myers finished with 107 yards on the ground for the Tigers, including a 1-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter set up by his own 33-yard run.
North Hall piled up 233 yards rushing for the game but managed just 71 after halftime and did not register a first down in the fourth quarter until its final drive of the game, which was capped by a 7-yard pass from Madonna to Noah Holman with just 59 seconds left.
Turner led North Hall with 97 yards rushing and Bacus had his lowest output of the season with just 75 yards on 24 carries.
SCORING SUMMARY
Dawson Co.....10....0....14....21 -- 45
North Hall.......0...14.....7......6 -- 27
First Quarter
D -- Allen 39 FG 3-0, 7:01
D -- Murphy 18 pass from Watson (Dennis kick) 10-0, 0:34
Second Quarter
N -- Brown 8 run (Mavity kick) 10-7, 10:34
N -- Brown 1 run (Mavity kick) 14-10, 6:10
Third Quarter
D -- Brumbelow 99 kickoff return (Allen kick) 17-14, 11:46
D -- Murphy 26 pass from Watson (Dennis kick) 24-14, 6:36
N -- Bacus 1 run (Mavity kick) 24-21, 0:28
Fourth Quarter
D -- Martin 6 pass from Watson (Dennis kick) 31-21, 9:31
D -- Watson 2 run (Dennis kick) 38-21, 7:26
D -- Myers 33 run (Dennis kick) 45-21, 5:09
N -- Holman 9 pass from Madonna (pass failed) 45-27, 0:59
