DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — If you’re counting varsity minutes, North Forsyth and Dawson County ended tied at 21. But if you’re a fan of either, you’re counting the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers’ junior varsity squad punched in the go-ahead touchdown late in the final period to lift Dawson County to a 28-21 win Thursday at Tiger Stadium.
But the storyline wasn't the score of the game. For the Tigers, it was the official start of the Jaybo Shaw era in Dawsonville, and for the Raiders, youth was the name of the game.
“Man, I’m proud of the effort our guys,” Shaw said. “It was good to see our guys go against somebody else and compete. We had great energy tonight. Did we make mistakes? Absolutely. But we’re getting closer to our brand of football. We’re all learning. All of this is new to everyone, and it's a learning process for both the coaches and players. So, I’m really proud of how we’ve handled everything so far.”
The Raiders are breaking in two new quarterbacks, a sophomore (Noah Bourque) and a freshman (Tucker Lamb). They’re also young in several positions on the field.
NoFo coach Robert Craft said the scrimmage was what they needed.
“We’re playing a lot of guys, and a lot of them are young guys, so they're playing hard,” he said. “But it’s the first time under the lights for a lot of these guys, a lot of ninth graders and 10th graders. So this is what we need. And you know, we need stuff to get better off of, so this gives us a chance to do that.”
Needless to say, it wasn't perfect for either team. The Tigers tossed two interceptions. The Raiders were penalized frequently early on and also committed an interception. There was good news for both. Senior running back Darron Parry looked really good. The offense, although a work in progress, had its shining moments, and the defense had a solid first half. The Tigers also showed promise on defense, and when the offense found a rhythm, you could tell Shaw's fingerprints were all over it.
However, it was the Raiders who controlled the first two quarters of the varsity scrimmage, leading 14-0 before the Tigers found the end zone.
Sophomore quarterback Noah Bourque hit senior running back Parry with a 70-yard scoring strike with 6:07 left in the first quarter. The extra point gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead. In the second quarter, John Caleb Halstead scored on a two-yard run. Jackson Hall’s interception set up the drive.
The Tigers finally broke through late in the first half when Cody McBrayer scored on a two-yard run with 1:25 left, cutting the lead to 14-7.
The Raiders scored first in the second half when Fabiano Pinto scored on a seven-yard run to up the lead 21-7.
However, the Tigers reeled off back-to-back scores, including a McBrayer 6-yard run and a 56-yard bomb from Gunner Weaver to Paxton Phillips to tie the game with 3:17 left.
Nate Grizzle scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter to push the Tigers ahead for good.
Regardless of the outcome, the scrimmage gave insight to both coaches.
“I think our defense has played with great effort and has been able to get them off the field a couple of times, bailed out the offense a couple of times as well. But we’ve got to get more of a rhythm on offense and kind of kick-start a drive. There was good and bad on both sides, but the good part is all of it's fixable, and hopefully we can fix some of this moving forward.”
"We had a lot of penalties in the first half that slowed us down offensively, just got behind the sticks," Craft said. "So I'm glad for some of that to happen now, and we get a chance to fix it. But positives are we're playing a lot of guys, a lot of young guys, and they're playing hard. I think we're playing really well defensively. We just need to clean a few things up on offense."
North Forsyth opens the regular season on Aug. 15 at home against Wheeler. The Tigers play host to Banks County on Aug. 22.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/8/1296696/football-nofo-dawson-county-learn-from-scrimmage