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Defense solid for Tigers
Boys are ready for region play
Boys Soc pic
Tiger Cody McGinnis throws the ball in during last Fridays 1-0 win over a tough Stephens County team. - photo by Ryan Coker Dawson Community News

The Dawson County High School varsity boys’ soccer team has elevated its play and it’s beginning to pay off as the team enters region play this week.

 

Dawson hosted Stephens County Friday and came away with a big 1-0 win over the Indians. Stephens is known for it’s boys soccer program in the AAA classification.

 

Last Tuesday, Dawson traveled to Gainesville to face a very skilled Chestatee team. Playing short-handed, due to a red card, the Tigers lost 1-0.

 

Head Coach Jed Lacey’s team is currently 3-3 on the season.

 

Defense was a major factor in both games last week.

 

“Ethan Brown is a beast on defense. I want to make this point now on Ethan. In 17 years of coaching soccer, he is the best defender I have ever seen. He is just one of those athletes that comes around once in every coaches career and thank God he came around in mine,” Lacey said.

 

Dawson scored its only goal against Stephens with 8:52 remaining in the game on a penalty kick by Jose Miranda. It was Miranda’s fifth goal of the season.

 

Tiger goalie Brooks Fulford, a freshman, played a spectacular game in goal to get a shutout.

 

“Man was Brooks impressive tonight,” Lacey said. “Our goalie coach, Dane Trosterud has done a great job teaching Brooks.”

 

Lacey added: “We need to fix our offensive woes and we will. We have been moving people around to fill this void and it has taken a little bit longer than I thought, but it will be rectified quickly.”

 

Against Chestatee on March 1, the defense, once again, was very good. The defensive combination of Brown, Cody McGinnis, Eian Perry, Cody Hall and Stanton Rogers played a great game.

 

The only goal by Chestatee came after the referee gave a red card for a dangerous tackle. With the red card, Dawson was down a man with only four minutes gone in the second half. The score was notched at 0-0 at half.

 

Lee Molina scored the goal at the 14:23 mark of the second half for Chestatee. Chestatee is currently 3-3 overall for the season.

 

“Our defense was rock solid again. They, defense, are so fast and can recover on any switch made. They are good athletes and know the game. They work well together,” Lacey said.

 

The Tigers will begin region play this week. The team will play host to Rabun County (2-0) on Friday, before traveling to Fannin County (0-5) next Tuesday.

 

Both games will begin at 7 p.m.