Playing with only seven able bodies, coach Thad Burgess' Tigers still found a way to pick up two big Region 7-AAA wins last week.
Burgess was missing a player with a concussion and another player with a broken finger, but even that wasn't enough to stop the team's winning ways, as the Tigers defeated Fannin County, 46-32, and Banks County, 66-52.
Dawson County is now 5-0 overall, but more importantly the team is 2-0 in Region 7-AAA play.
"We were shorthanded and only able to play with seven players due to a couple of more injuries. Our guys played with great emotion and intensity on the road, which was so far our best game of the year," Burgess said.
Tuesday night the Tigers used a 12-5 fourth quarter run to slide past the visiting Rebels from Fannin County (1-4; 0-1). Leading 34-27 going into the quarter, the Tigers relied on the scoring prowess of Lucas Pain and Sam Muenchen. Pain scored a game-high 12 points to lead all scorers, while Muenchen contributed 10 points in the win.
"We are always glad to get a region win, however, I was disappointed with our concentration and how we competed. This team must play with a great deal of intensity to have a chance every night. I thought we went through stages tonight when this did not happen," Burgess said.
Fannin County was led by Austin Williams and Will Holloway each with eight points.
Tigers scorers: Pain-12, Muenchen-10, Levi Whitmire-nine, Cameron Millholland-eight, Jackson Morgan-three and Jackson Putnam-one.
The Tigers made the long trip to Homer on Dec. 6 to face the Leopards of Banks County.
Banks County (0-3; 0-1) came into the game with two big post players 6'7" Austin Venable and 6'6" Zac Moore. Venable scored 23 of the Leopards 52 points in the game.
Dawson County jumped on the Leopards early in the first quarter and opened up a 23-12 lead after only eight minutes of play.
Both teams played evenly in the second quarter, but Dawson County clung to a 36-26 advantage at halftime.
A 28-26 scoring advantage over the last two quarters allowed the Tigers to come away with a tough victory.
Dawson County placed four players in double figures, led by Levi Whitmire with 20 points.
Whitmire was followed by Pain-16; Putnam-11 and Millholland with 10 points.
Rounding out the scoring for the Tigers were: Muenchen-four; Terrell Dawson-four and Kolton Brumebelow with one point.
"We played super," Burgess said. "I like how we practiced on Wednesday and Thursday and we were a focused team Friday night. We still have a long way to go. I thought we had great leadership from Lucas and Jackson Putnam, the only two players to have any playing time last year was very important, they set the example of what it will take for us to be successful this year."
Dawson County will play at Lumpkin County on Friday night before hosting Pacelli High School from Columbus on Saturday afternoon.
The Lumpkin game will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. The game with Pacelli will begin at 8 p.m.