Dawson Brings the Heat, Dominates the Warriors
Dawson County High School, FYNTV, Sports, Team FYN Sports, TeamFYNSports October 2, 2022
Wow. That sums up my reaction to last Thursday nights game. Wow. What a showing for the Tigers as they were able to beat White County 31-0 in a big region showdown. Though both teams struggled to get going early on, Dawson finally got it going at the end of the first half and never looked back. The Tigers defense played insanely well, and the Tigers run game slowly wore out the White County defense and the Warriors failed to limit the Dawson momentum. Dawson County held the Warriors to only 92 yards on offense and the Warriors were a poor 1/11 on third down. A trick play and a solid defense was the difference in this huge win for Dawson. Dawson County and Gilmer are the only remaining teams in this region to have not lost a region game.
Photo from Rio White Dawson County Newspaper
Team Notes
The Tigers defense dominated. They won this game by picking off the Warriors four times, one for a Pick 6, limiting them to less than 100 yards, and not allowing a single point. The offense struggled to get going in the first half but a crucial trick play to end the half gave the Tigers all the momentum and they were able to dominate in the third quarter. Led by Kade Moledor, the Tigers run game totaled 194 yards while QB Davis Glass added another 112 in the air. Moledor ran the ball 18 times for 109 yards in his first real big breakout game of the season. Not only that, Moledor made huge defensive plays all night. Unfortunately, neither Hudl nor Maxpreps had individual defensive stats for Dawson. Davis Glass also was productive in the run game as he added 69 yards and a rushing touchdown. Kenny Nelson also had a big game as he rushed for 46 yards and a touchdown while also accounting for the big Pick 6 in the 4th. Matt Bennett added the other TD as he was able to execute the epic trick play that gave the Tigers their first lead of the game. Dom LeBlanc led the team in receiving with 59 yards on 4 catches.
Unfortunately, there is not much to say on White County. Tripp Nix, who has had a great season so far, failed to have a positive impact in this one. He was 4/13 for 14 yards and 2 interceptions while only adding 11 yards on 7 carries. The Warriors threw 4 total interceptions and were held to just 92 yards on 52 plays. On defense Jacob Holbrook had 17 tackles and 2 TFL and Jon Scott also notched 17 total tackles. J.D. Trowell racked up 2 TFL while Caysen Duvall ad Devin Norton also picked up 1 TFL each.
Game Breakdown
Things were quick to go the Tigers way as they picked off Nix on the first possession of the game, but they failed to take advantage of the solid field position and were forced to punt. It was the same story for each of the teams first five drives, Dawson put together a few plays, but could not finish a drive and White County barely moved forward. That changed on the last Tigers play of the first half. HC Sid Maxwell called a TO with 18 seconds remaining to force the Warriors to punt and to Maxwell’s liking the punt was not a good one and they took over on the Warriors side of the field. With no timeouts remaining, it looked like Maxwell would try and play it safe and move into field goal range, but that wasn’t Maxwell’s plan. His offense perfectly executed a HUGE hook and ladder play as Matt Bennett ran it up the sidelines for a big 48-yard TD and gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead into halftime.
In the second half it was all Dawson County. On White County’s first possession of the 2nd half, they tried to work out their own trick play, but WR Kane Lowery threw a terrible ball that was intercepted by the Tigers which later led to a Glass TD on a designed QB run. Dawson posted 17 points in the 3rd quarter and later added a Pick 6 to really throw it into the faces of the Warriors. Dawson traveled to White County and totally owned their region rival and it would appear after this statement win, Dawson County is the favorite to claim the region.
Look Ahead
Dawson moves to 4-2 (2-0) on the season and will play host to the Pickens who is coming off a much-needed Bye Week. As for White County, they fall to 2-3 (0-1) and will host the Wesleyan Wolves on Friday night. The Wolves are coming off an impressive win against Lumpkin County last week.
Dawson Finds the Win Column After a Big Road Win
Dawson County High School, FYNTV, Sports, Team FYN Sports, TeamFYNSports September 5, 2022
On a very rainy Friday night in Gainesville, Dawson stormed into the Brickyard and knocked off the Trojans, 30-13. The umbrellas were out in full force as the rain was coming down throughout the pregame and carried into the first half. But when it was time for football, the Dawson Tigers were ready. Despite some early miscommunications, where a very frustrated Coach Maxwell had to burn two timeouts in the games first 4 minutes, the Tigers dominated on both sides of the ball. Size played a factor in this one as the Tigers dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball as they gained 309 yards on the ground, while holding the Trojans to just 2 rushing yards.
Team Notes
The Tigers were led by Elijah Smith, Matt Bennett, and Kade Moledor as the three combined for 91% of the Dawson offense. Bennett had himself a nice game as he had 100 yards on the ground on 10 carries while also adding two big TDs, one for 39 yards and one to put the game away late in the 4th. Smith led the team in rushing as he had 118 yards on 18 carries while notching a TD and Moledor had 68 yards on 13 attempts and opened the scoring with an early TD run. The defense was very dominant all game and gave the Trojans very little to work with. The only obvious knock on the Tigers is they totaled 113 penalty yards.
North Hall was never in this one as they struggled to do anything against the Tigers defense. Tanner Marsh did connect with Ryals Puryear for a 62-yard scored to end the half and Marsh later connected with Sam Gailey for the other Trojans score. Their defense had nothing go their way as the Tigers ran it all over them. Trey Patterson the junior LB led the defense with 16 tackles while junior Zeke Harris and senior Alston Self had 12 tackles each.
Game Breakdown
It was a very wet day in Gainesville as they rain started around 6:30 and did not stop until halftime. The Tigers had some early communication issues forcing Maxwell to burn the two timeouts early, but after the Trojans Punter shanked his first punt of the game, it was all Tigers. Moledor and Bennett’s touchdowns put the Tigers up 13-0 in the first quarter and the Tigers defense shut down the Trojans. The Trojans were frustrated, and things became a bit chippy. Elijah Smith got his rushing TD in the second quarter and Dominic LeBlanc added a field goal to put Dawson up 23-0. However, after throwing six straight incompletions, North Hall QB Tanner Marsh was able to connect with his WR Ryals Puryear on a beautiful wheel route that went for 62 yards as the Trojans evaded the first half shutout.
The Trojans carried that momentum into the second half as Marsh connected with Gailey for a 17-yard TD pass. North Hall went for two to try and make it a 10-point game but failed to convert and Dawson led 23-13. Unfortunately for North Hall, that’s where the momentum ceased as the Tigers defense persisted and held off anything the Trojans threw their way and in the 4th quarter Matt Bennett was able to find the end zone again to put the game away.
Look Ahead
Dawson County will return home to host the Stephens County Indians (2-1) who are coming a 27-11 victory over Flowery Branch. As for North Hall, they will host the Walnut Grove Warriors (2-0).