DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Dawson County scored 22 straight points in the second half as the Tigers were victorious Friday night over Jackson County, 28-21.
The Tigers scored on two passing touchdowns of 50 yards each from Davis Glass to Dom LeBlanc, a safety and a pick-six from Christian Webb to turn an eight-point deficit into a 28-14 lead late in the third quarter.
“We made a lot of mistakes tonight,” said Dawson County head coach Sid Maxwell. “Our boys answered back, which we are very proud of. This football team has a whole lot of fight. We have to get better fundamentally, but the effort was there, and if you have the effort, you have a chance to win.”
The Tigers had a very balanced attack offensively, tallying 171 yards on the ground, with Glass accounting for 130 yards through the air. The Panthers had just 205 total yards, with 120 coming on the passing attack.
Elijah Smith got the Tigers on the board first, capping off a 67-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 2:01 to play in the first period. Jackson County would answer with under 90 seconds to play in the first half with a 52-yard passing touchdown from Chase Berrong to Markel Oliver, giving the Panthers a 7-6 lead headed into the half.
Berrong kept the Panthers in the lead to start the second half as he fired a 24-yard bullet to Jaydan Hibbert to extend the lead to 14-6.
After the 22-point barrage from Dawson in the third period, Berrong would trim the lead to a touchdown after a 6-yard pass to MJ Spurlin, but the final drive for Jackson County would end in a fumble at midfield with under three minutes to play.
Dawson County will head to Lambert next week in a battle of teams that won their openers.
“This is a non-region schedule where we are going to play really good teams, regardless of classification, so that we can challenge ourselves and get ready for region play,” said Maxwell.
