The Dawson County High School wrestling team walked away with a split in its opening match.

The Tigers dropped a match against Flowery Branch, 51 points to 28 points. Joseph Toal, Evan Kells, Preston Adams and Levi Pressley earned wins for the Tigers by way of pins.

We lost to a very good class 4-A team in Flowery Branch, coach Arron Hayes said. If a couple of matches turned out differently, which easily could have, then we would have beaten them.

The region 8-AA clash against Fannin County was a completely different story. The Tigers walked away with a convincing win, 60 points to 15 points.

Dawson collected six pins and two decisions against the Rebels. The Tigers won nine out of 12 matches. James Evans, Levi Pressley, Preston Adams, Billy Smith, Evan Kells and Joseph Toal all earned pins against Fannin County.

Fannin was a tough physical team as always and we were fortunate to have our weights match up well with them, Hayes said. It is always good to pick up a win against a region 8-AA opponent.

The team and coaches also named Seniors Preston Adams and James Evans team captains for this season.

The Tigers traveled to Johnson High School to face off against Johnson High School and Winder-Barrow High School on Tuesday, Nov. 29, but results of those matches were not available at presstime.