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Defense focus of scrimmage
DCHS Fball pic1
Quarterback Tyler Dominy tries to find an open receiver under pressure in last Saturdays spring scrimmage game. - photo by Pam Jacobs Dawson Community News

It was a festive and exciting time on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Stadium.

The Dawson County High School football team held its annual spring game in hot and humid weather. The Dawson faithful didn't let the weather bother them as they enjoyed a day of games, rides, a car show and plenty of food.

"I would like to thank our Booster Club for a great job with the festivities on Saturday," said Head Coach Jeff Lee. "Several of our members took Friday off to start cooking and preparing for the day. There was a lot of planning that took part by our members, like the car show, and I would like to thank them again for all their hard work."

Defense was the focal point in the scrimmage. All spring the defense had played particularly well and it showed on Saturday. The Tiger offense had a difficult time moving the ball for the majority of the day.

"I felt like our defensive guys did a great job of running to the football. They just seemed to have a better attitude and boy did those guys get there in a hurry," Lee said.

The Tiger defense played well despite missing three key players at inside linebacker, outside linebacker and defensive lineman, due to injuries.

"This is the best we have looked on defense in a long time," Lee said.

The weather seemed to have an impact on the players. Earlier in the week the team practiced in cool weather with the temperatures barely reaching the 60's.

"It seemed like October earlier this week," Lee said.

Sun and humidity seemed to drain not only the players but the coaching staff on Saturday.

Offensively the Tigers seemed sluggish at times. Dawson quarterbacks had to scramble on several occasions due to missed blocking assignments, dropped passes or bad snaps.

"I'm not making excuses, but we have a new center for the first time in three years. We also had several key drops by receivers. The inside receivers just didn't turn and catch, so it was a little frustrating for our quarterback," Lee said.

Returning quarterback, Tyler Dominy, still had a good game for his team. He threw for 165 yards despite the drops and miscues on offense.

Keaton Toal played well at fullback with 63 yards.

"Keaton ran hard and did a good job," Lee said.

In spite of the dominance by the defense the final score was close, 34-31, in favor of the defense.

Lee implemented a scoring system that rewarded both offense and defense. The normal game type scoring system was not used during the scrimmage.

The offense had a chance to win the game on the last play, but the defense stepped up and made a huge stop.

"Overall I thought we got a lot accomplished this spring. We got a chance to implement our basic stuff on offense and defense. We still have a ways to go. I'm glad it's only May. We still have a couple of months to work things out," Lee said.