The Dawson County High School men's soccer team continued its winning ways with wins over West Hall on April 15, 1-0, and against visiting Banks County, 3-0, on April 18.

The team is currently 13-2 overall and 5-1 in Region 7-AAA play. The Tigers are ranked No. five in Class AAA.

Both games were played with weather being a major factor. The West Hall game was played with winds gusting up to 30-miles per hour. The Banks County game was stopped with 32 minutes left in the second half because of rain and terrible field conditions.

The Tigers needed only one goal against West Hall to get the victory and it came early. Brandon Lund made a steal at midfield and made a great run to score just two and a half minutes into the game.

"Brandon (Lund) is just a great player that makes everyone around him better. There was so much talent on the field tonight it was amazing," said Head Coach Jed Lacey.

Lacey then made a strategic move while playing defense and used the wind to his advantage for the rest of the match.

"The wind was a major factor. It caused us to change our formations throughout the game. We already played a game against Buford under similar conditions and that really helped make some decisions tonight," he said.

Lacey said that his team's defense played a huge role in the victory.

"Our defense came up huge. The four man crew of Austin Stewart, Josh Sage, Ben Leaver and Timothy Moody along with keeper Brooks Fulford denied every opportunity West Hall could come up with. Brooks came up with some of the best saves I have seen him do this year. Brooks stopped a point blank shot, which won the game for us, with less than five minutes to go in the game," Lacey said.

The win assured Dawson County of a playoff spot. The Tigers will have the tie breaker over West Hall for the region championship if both teams end up with the same record.

The April 18 game with Banks County was over early as Dawson County scored three first half goals within an eight minute span before the rain fell.

Sal Mendoza scored his third and fourth goals of the season at the 38:10 and 30:33 mark of the first half. In between, David Velasquez added his sixth goal at 37:50.

Picking up assists on the goals were Jose Zuniga, Randy Schultz and Velasquez.

Goalie Fulford recorded his eighth shutout of the season.

The Tigers were scheduld to play East Hall in Gainesville yesterday in a very big Region game. Results were unavailable at press time.

"The East Hall game is for all the marbles. If we win this game we will have our first region championship in school history," Lacey said.