It was senior night at Tiger Stadium last Friday night. Head Coach Jeff Lee and his staff honored five young men who have dedicated the last four years to Tiger football.
In a ceremony before the game, Lee said goodbye to Grant Brown, Taylor Welling, Nick Marsh, Alan Boeke and Chase Williams. These players played their final game at Tiger Stadium on a rainy, dreary night in Dawsonville.
East Jackson came into the game with a perfect 8-0 record. The team left Dawsonville still undefeated as they dominated Dawson County in a 41-0 rout.
The Eagles will now face county rival Jefferson in a battle for No. 1 in Region 8-AA next Friday night. Jefferson came out on top against North Oconee, 20-6.
The Dragons are also unblemished with a 9-0 record.
Dawson County fell to 1-8 and 1-7 in the region. The Tigers will play their final game of the season Friday night at Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville.
The game will be an important one for Riverside. If they defeat Dawson County then they have the upper hand at the No. 4 spot in the region and a state playoff game.
Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m.
Coach Frank Caputo’s East Jackson team got on the scoreboard quickly in the first quarter Friday night.
Quarterback Evan Williamson found an open receiver for a 62-yard touchdown pass only a minute and 21 seconds into the game. The extra point was good and East Jackson jumped out to a 7-0 lead.
Tiger quarterback Ethan Brown was intercepted at the 6:49 mark of the first quarter, which set up another Eagle touchdown.
Once again, Williamson found an open receiver for a touchdown. The extra point made the score 14-0.
Coach Caputo’s defense was relentless, as they only allowed three first downs to the Tigers all game. It was the first shutout for East Jackson this season.
Dawson County didn’t pick up it’s first. first down until there was only 1:10 remaining in the half on a keeper by Brown.
The Tigers managed two more first downs on a scramble by backup quarterback Tyler Dominy, and a pass from Dominy to Grant Brown late in the game.
Coach Lee’s offense just couldn’t get on track. East Jackson’s defense was dominant against the inexperienced and young Tiger offense.
Dawson plays up to six freshmen on offense and at times eight freshmen on defense.
“Our kids battled, but we are so young,” Lee said. “East Jackson played well and it should be a good game between them and Jefferson next week.”
East Jackson scored two more touchdowns before halftime to give them a huge 27-0 lead.
The Eagles added three more scores in the second half to put the game away 41-0.
It was the third straight game that Dawson’s defense had given up more than 40 points in a game. Offensively, it was also the third game this season that the Tigers failed to score.
Riverside comes into Friday’s game after a 28-27 win over Union County. The Eagles have the inside track because of the win over Union and a defeat of Fannin County a couple of weeks ago.
“They are going to be tough. Riverside has an incentive to win. Our kids will show up to play,” Lee said.
Riverside comes into Friday’s contest with a 4-5 overall record, but are 4-4 in region play.