Football season has started. This weekend will see two rivals fight it out until the final whistle sounds.

Riverview and Dawson County middle schools will battle it out on Saturday night. The Riverview Eagles are coming off a 7-1 record and a Mountain League Championship. Dawson County Middle School, under first year head coach Thomy Edwards, finished up with a 4-3 record last season.

“Practice has been going pretty well. We have been putting in all of our special teams and already have the majority of our offense in place. We are still trying to make sure that we have people in the correct place,” said Riverview Head Coach Mark Thomason.

Riverview and Dawson traveled to Gilmer County last Thursday for a scrimmage, but weather forced both teams to see limited action.

“We only got to run 20 plays on offense, then it got rained out. We looked good on those 20 plays,” said Edwards.

“Jackson Putnam did really good at quarterback. He was six for seven throwing the ball.  Lane Venters did a great job at wide receiver, catching two key passes.  The offensive line did a great job protecting Jackson,” said Edwards.

On the other hand, Riverview didn’t get any scrimmage time because of the downpour.

“One thing that stinks about getting rained out is that we did not get to see how these kids respond to being hit in the mouth. It is hard to tell sometimes if you have everyone in the correct position,” said Thomason.

Both coaches are apprehensive about saying anything that could be used against them as bulletin board material.

“We are looking forward to the big game against DCMS. We are hoping for a big crowd and I believe it will be a good and fun experience for these kids. This will give the kids a chance to see how it is to play under the lights. It is hard to know exactly what to expect from DCMS because it is the first year there for Coach Edwards and who knows, they could completely throw everything they did last year out the window,” said Thomason.

“I do know that they have a really talented quarterback and a couple of good offensive linemen. The rivalry is strong between the schools, both sides want to win, but it is important to remember that all of these kids will be going to school together next year, so after the game they will become teammates again.”

Edwards said about the game: “We look forward to the opportunity to play Riverview. It should be a good, competitive game among friends.  We expect the game with Riverview to be a hard fought game. In order to be successful we need to make as few mistakes as we can, not fumble the ball, and do not have any penalties.”

“I am looking forward to a fun Saturday night. Hope to see everyone in Dawson County there,” Thomason added.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Riverview Middle School.