The atmosphere was electric on Saturday as the Dawson County Middle School Tigers squared off against cross-county rival Riverview Middle Eagles.
Both teams opened the season in front of a huge crowd at Tiger Stadium on the campus of Dawson County High School.
In another storyline, the head coaches of the two teams are brothers and are very competitive.
Dawson Middle dominated the line of scrimmage to take a huge 32-0 victory.
The Tigers under head coach Thomy Edwards used their experience and depth to wear down Riverview.
The Tigers got on the board first on a Hunter Lebaron touchdown run from 11 yards out. The extra point was good and Dawson led 7-0 with 5:08 left in the quarter.
Edwards' offensive squad added two more touchdowns in the second quarter to take a commanding 19-0 lead at halftime.
One of the scores came on a pass from Tiger quarterback Colin Glover to Austin Young from 12 yards out. The extra point was not good.
With 42 seconds left before halftime, running back Taylor Cronan scored from 9 yards out.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but on the first play from scrimmage to begin the final period, Caine Wells found the end zone on a sweep to score from 10-yards out. The extra point was good for a 26-0 lead for the Tigers.
The final score came on a great run from 37-yards out by Glover with 5:20 left in the game.
"I thought my boys played really good," said Dawson Middle head coach Thomy Edwards. "We have been practicing hard for the last month. Our players came out ready to play, which is something I think we have lacked in the past.
"I thought the offense moved the ball well and the defense was flying to the ball like they should."
The Tigers' coach said he did see some areas that must improve for the team to continue to see success in the league.
"We are going to have to stop all the mental errors and penalties," he said.
Dawson will host Pickens Middle on Thursday, while Riverview will travel to Ellijay to face a tough Clear Creek team.
"I saw some good things at times. It would have been easy for them to just give up but they kept fighting. We have to execute much better on offense and make our tackles on defense," said Riverview Middle head coach Benjy Edwards.
Pickens defeated rival Jasper Middle, 26-6, on Saturday. Clear Creek picked up a season opening win over Fannin County.
Kickoff will be at 5 p.m. for both teams.