The Dawson County middle school football Tigers finished the regular season with a perfect 5-0 record after defeating Union County, 24-0, Sept. 25 at Riverview Middle.

Head Coach Benjy Edwards' team will be the No. 1 seed from the region and will face White County on Thursday in Dawsonville. The Warriors are the No. 2 seed coming into the game.

As of press time a field hadn't been decided upon by the Dawson County administration. The game will either be played at Dawson County Middle School or at the high school, according to Edwards.

With a win, the Tigers will secure a spot in the Oct. 9 championship game.

"It's win or go home time. We have to come out ready to play. I expect White County to be big and physical and try to run the ball right at us," Edwards said.

"Our defense will have to tackle a couple of speedy backs this week. They like to try to get outside so we will have to contain them on the ends. Offensively, we will have to pick the blitzes up and open up some holes for Luke (Smith), Robbie (Rarick) and Shawn (Thomas)," he said.

Kickoff will be at 5:30 p.m.

In last week's regular season finale against Union County, the defense was strong and forced a shutout.

On the Tigers second possession, Smith found Ryan Glass for a 41-yard pass that took the ball down to the 5-yardline. Smith capped off the drive bulling his way into the end zone.

The point after by Frankie Muldoon was good and gave Dawson County a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Dawson County took a 13-0 lead on a Smith 12-yard scamper just before halftime. The play was set up when quarterback Kelton LeBaron found Glass on a 53-yard pass.

Muldoon was good for the extra point and the Tigers took a 14-0 advantage.

The Dawson defense came up strong as Union mounted a drive just before halftime.

The Panthers were stopped on an interception by defensive back Glass as time ran out, ending the second quarter.

Edwards's team added a third touchdown on its first possession of the third quarter. On third and 11 from their own 32-yard line, running back Smith out ran Panther defenders down the home sideline for a 63-yard run.

On second and goal, Thomas found the end zone from 5-yards out. The extra point was true by Muldoon and Dawson held a 21-0 lead with 5:16 left in the third quarter.

Dawson's defense forced a Union County turnover on downs with a huge stop by linebacker Christian Summers, who tackled the Panther ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage.

The stop led to a Tigers field goal by Muldoon from 23-yards out with 7:02 left in the fourth quarter.

"I thought we started off kind of sluggish on offense. Union was bringing a lot of blitzes that we were struggling to pick up," Edwards said. "The defense had a huge shut out. They had several sacks and tackles for loss all night. We had people in the backfield causing all kinds of confusion for Union."