Since being ranked No. 10 in AA,  Dawson County has fallen on rough times.

The Tigers lost two games last week and three of their last four games to drop to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in Region 8-AA.

Last week, Dawson boarded the bus for two long road trips. Tuesday the Tigers visited Walnut Grove and lost a close contest, 54-51 to the Warriors.

On Friday the team made the long journey to Commerce to face a struggling East Jackson team.  East Jackson Head Coach Brian Turner’s team caught fire and handed Dawson a huge 56-34 loss.

“It was great to be ranked,” said Dawson County Head Coach Thad Burgess. “But right now we have to right our ship and get some wins.”

Dawson County held a slim 25-21 lead at halftime over Walnut Grove on Tuesday night. The Warriors and Tigers traded baskets in the third quarter with Walnut Grove outscoring Dawson 20-19, cutting the lead to 44-41.

Walnut Grove turned up the defense in the fourth quarter and held Dawson to only seven points. The Tigers still had a chance to win the game, but missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

“We could not finish the game out. We had beaten them (Walnut Grove) last Saturday after being down by 13 points in the fourth quarter. I knew on the road it would be difficult. This is the fourth game, in five games, that the ballgame has come down to the last shot. We have been fortunate to win three of those games,” said Burgess.

Jacob Evans had an enormous game for Dawson County. Evans scored 24 points to lead the Tigers. Stephen Scaife also scored in double digits, with 10 points.

Also scoring for Dawson were: Tyler Dominy with seven points; Stephen Johnson added six, and Levi Wilson and Logan Lewis scored two points each.

Chris Peters from Walnut Grove led all scorers with 25 points.

The game on Friday was a total domination by East Jackson.

The Eagles led from start to finish in their big 22-point win.

“We played just terrible,” said Burgess. “I was very disappointed with our effort. We had no answer to their athleticism. I was able to play a lot of ninth graders.

Hopefully, with the tournament this week we can gain back some confidence as we begin region play in January.”

Logan Lewis led all Tiger scorers with 12 points.

The Tigers traveled to Columbus for the Pacelli Christmas Tournament Monday, Dec. 21 and Tuesday, Dec. 22.

The Tigers matched up with Fellowship Christian High School (2-6) at 6 p.m. Monday. The winner/loser played the winner/loser of Pacelli (0-6) and Ware Magnet (2-4) on Tuesday. Scores were not available as of press time.