Dragons survive mistake-prone game against Fannin County

BLUE RIDGE - The Jefferson football team will not take away many fond memories of its first-ever trip over the mountains to Fannin County.

The Class AA seventh-ranked Dragons trailed early and had four turnovers before finally pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat the Rebels 42-27 in a key Region 8-AA game.

Fannin County (1-2, 0-2 in region) jumped out to a surprising 14-7 lead taking advantage of two early Jefferson turnovers. The Dragons (3-0, 2-0) rallied in the second quarter to lead 28-14 by halftime but then the Rebels staged a comeback of their own in the third quarter.

Fannin County forced two more Jefferson turnovers and turned them into 13 points to trail just 28-27 heading into the fourth quarter. But Jefferson put the game away with two fourth quarter scores to preserve the win.

J.J. Damons and Lucas Redd each scored two touchdowns for Jefferson, who managed just 300 total yards of offense a week after racking up nearly 500 yards in a win over Dawson County. Redd even threw a touchdown pass to Sky Porter on a halfback pass.

Quarterback Darius Minor finished just 6-of-12 passing for 125 yards and two interceptions for Jefferson. Hoytes Damons had two catches for 86 yards.

The Jefferson defense kept the Dragons in the game holding Fannin County to just 189 total yards of offense. Redd finished with 15 tackles and had one of the Dragons' three sacks. Peter Ly recorded 11 tackles and Kyle Mosley had nine tackles for Jefferson.