On a hot and humid Saturday afternoon, the Dawson County Tigers took the practice field for the conclusion of football camp with a spirited scrimmage.

The practice field was surrounded on all sides by parents and fans excited about this year’s team. More than 100 fans cheered at the end of the very physical scrimmage.

“I thought the scrimmage was very good,” said Head Coach Jeff Lee. “We were sluggish earlier in the week, but today we looked pretty good.”

Offensively, the Tigers were hitting big gaps in the defense earlier in the week.

Saturday was a different story, as the Dawson defense stepped up and held the offense.

Lee commented about his defense: “Our defense looked better. I was really pleased with the physicality of our defense today.”

The tone of the scrimmage on Saturday was set early as Lee began the day with goal line offense and defense. There were several hard hits as the offense had a difficult time finding the goal line.

Overall, Lee seemed pleased about his team’s effort.

“I feel a little better about where we are right now. We have our base offense running and passing game in and our defense is starting to play physical. This week we will introduce our shotgun sets into our offense.”

This year’s team will feature only five seniors. The freshman class is huge with around 35 ninth graders stepping on the field.

“We have a good bunch of kids, but we have a long ways to go. We have got to stay injury free to be successful this season,” remarked Lee.

The team will practice on Thursday after picture day, Friday and will hold an intersquad scrimmage at 8:45 a.m. Saturday at Tiger Stadium, all in preparation for a preseason scrimmage against Sonoraville on Aug. 20.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.