The Dawson County Tigers traveled to East Hall Friday night where they kept their perfect region record intact with a 38-24 win over the Vikings.
The Tigers defense had three goal line stands on the night in a tough first half on the offensive side of the ball.
The first Viking possession of the game was ended by a Noah Brock interception and the Tigers got on the board courtesy of a Cole Dennis field goal.
East Hall's next drive picked up a little more steam with Austin Parker connecting with Amir Ellison. Dawson's defense stiffened and the Vikings turned the ball over on downs after a failed fourth down attempt on a Parker keeper.
After a three and out the Tiger D held the Vikings again, but did not get any rest after a fumble on first and 10 on the next possession.
The Vikings were able to drive behind Ellison's running all the way to the one foot line. The Dawson County defense got the stop on fourth and short and the Tigers took possession again on downs.
Another fumble by the Tigers gave the Vikings excellent field possession, but the defense stood tall. Taylor Swofford came up with a timely sack for a loss of 8 yards and the following pass attempt by East Hall fell incomplete.
The Tigers defense held for the third time at first and goal before heading to half with a 3-0 lead.
Dawson County got the ball at the start of the second half and running back Nasser Clark went to work for the Tigers with multiple carries.
Payton Myers got in the end zone on a short run to make it 10-0 with 9:17 left in the third quarter.
The Vikings struck back quickly on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Parker to Markese Jackson.
The 2-point conversion was good and with 8:28 in the third, Dawson held a thin 10-8 lead.
After Dawson could not move the ball, the Vikings again went to Jackson for another touchdown in the third quarter and another 2 point conversion to take the lead at 16-10.
The ensuing Dawson drive saw Coey Watson connect with Austin Young and Nick Murphy before Watson got in the end zone on a keeper. The Tigers took the lead back with 3:52 in the third at 17-16.
Dawson County's defense came up big when Colin Glover intercepted Parker just outside of the Viking's end zone.
The Tigers took over at the 5-yard line.
After completions to Young and Glass, Myers took off on a 36-yard touchdown run. Watson got in on the keeper for a 2-point conversion to give Dawson a 25-16 lead with 10:13 in the game.
The Vikings took the next kickoff to the 35 yard line before a tipped Parker pass would be intercepted by Jakob Scoggins.
Myers running helped sustain the following drive before Watson would score on another keeper. The PAT was no good, but the Tigers stretched their lead to 31-16 with 7:12 left.
After yet another defensive stop, Clark came up with a 43-yard run for another Tiger touchdown.
With 3:14 in the game, the score was 38-16.
East Hall managed to put one more score on the board with 1:05 left in the game and Dawson County took home the 38-24 win.
The Tigers are now 6-1 overall and 4-0 in region play.
The last two regular season games are Lumpkin County at home next week and a potential region championship showdown with Greater Atlanta Christian on Nov. 4.