The Dawson County Middle School Tigers remain undefeated following a hard fought 30-14 win over Fannin County in Blue Ridge last week.

With the Sept. 13 win the football team is currently 5-0 on the season with one regular season game remaining.

That game will be a huge affair as the Tigers play host to undefeated Clear Creek in Dawsonville on Thursday.

The winner of the game will be the No. 1-seed going into the Mountain League football playoffs that are set to begin Sept. 27.

Kickoff will be at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

"The players played really hard," said head coach Thomy Edwards.

The Tigers received the kickoff and drove down the field for a touchdown.

Fannin rebounded with a quick touchdown of its own to tie the score at 6-6.

Once again Dawson County answered with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to take a 14-6 lead with just a few minutes left before halftime.

Dawson's defense then rose to the occasion.

The Tiger "D" stopped Fannin with just 2 minutes remaining at the 40-yard line.

With two timeouts in their pockets, the Tigers scored their third touchdown when running back Hunter Burt found the end zone as time expired to end the first half. Dawson led 22-6 at half.

"That touchdown by Hunter was a turning point in the game," Edwards said.

The third quarter was a defensive battle as both teams exchanged punts.

The Rebels mounted a drive to start the fourth quarter. With 3 minutes remaining Fannin scored to cut Dawson's lead to 22-14.

Fannin tried an onside kick, but it was unsuccessful as Dawson's Austin Young recovered the kick.

Dawson put the nail in the coffin and scored a late touchdown to come away with the 30-14 victory.

"The defense played really good," Edwards said. "They only scored on two big plays. One was a deep pass and the other was a long run. We should have stopped the long run, but we had lots of missed tackles."

Edwards praised the play of several of his players.

"Evan Povolny had lots of big tackles for us on defense. I thought Jordan Hannah was a beast on both sides of the ball. Hunter Burt and Taylor Cronan ran the ball like they had something to prove. Quarterback Colin Glover threw the ball well and controlled the game from under center. Austin Young made a huge touchdown catch on a fourth and long play.

"I thought the offensive line blocked extremely well. Jacob Branson, Carson Weatherford, Jordan Waddell, Cody Garmon and Sawyer Smith controlled the line of scrimmage," he said.

Edwards said he was very encouraged by his team's play.

"I was really pleased with the way the entire team played. I think the best part of the game was how the defense played. It was like they were on fire. Flying to the ball and getting tackles," he said.

The coach said that this week's game will be a big one for his team.

"This is a big week for us, when we play Clear Creek. We hope to get a huge crowd at the game to give our guys some support," he said.