The Pickens High School Dragons football team welcomed the Vikings of East Hall to Dragon Stadium. The stands were packed with green and white on a great night to watch high school football. The home town fans were in for a treat as the Dragons lit fire to he Vikings with a 38-10 drubbing that saw Kyle West break the school single game sack record, with three and a half.East Hall got ball to start the game and drove deep into Dragon territory until an offensive penalty slowed the momentum and forcing the Vikings to settle for a field goal with 8:03 left in the opening quarter.

The Dragons’ offense would take the field and with four-play drive, utilizing the legs of Marcus Byrd and Shannon Brooks, to score on a Brooks 14 yard touchdown run. PHS led 7-3 with 6:36 left in the 1st.

East Hall stalled offensively and the Dragons drove into field goal range and got three points from Jr., kicker Ty Chastain to end the first quarter with a 10-3 advantage. After several stops by both defenses, Brooks took it to the end zone for a 2nd time from 4-yards out to stretch the lead to 17-3 with 6:12 remaining in the first half. That would be the score at halftime in Jasper.

The Dragons got the ball first in the second half and only needed 2:17 to strike as Dillon Gasaway ran it in from seven yards out to make it 24-3 with 9:43 left in the third.

A quick turnover forced by an aggressive Dragons defense gave the ball right back to the offense and Byrd connected with Walker Lawrence on a 21-yard pass with 8:46 left in the 3rd to make it 31-3 Dragons. The offense added another third quarter score as Kalyn Brooks, would scamper for a 2-yard touchdown with 3:20 to go in the quarter to make it 38-3.

As the game moved into the fourth quarter, the Vikings added on two yard touchdown run with 6:38 to go to make it 38-10, which would end up being the final score as the Dragons moved to 2-0 on this young season.

Offensively, the Dragons complied 19 first downs, 4 for 8 on 3rd downs, 405 total yards, on 56 plays, and averaged 7 yards per play. Pickens ran it 43 times for 351 yards and averaged 8 yards per rush and threw it 13 times for 54 yards.

Marcus Byrd was 4/11 for 39 yards and 1 touchdown through the air and ran the ball 8 times for 74 yards averaging 9.2 yards per carry. Shannon Brooks ran the ball 21 times for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns and added 15 yards receiving. Chris Pittman added 50 yards rushing, Kalyn Brooks gained 25 yards and a touchdown, and Dillon Gasaway chipped in 12 yards and a touchdown. Walker Lawrence led in receiving with a catch for 21 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Dragons had 7 sacks on the night. Kyle West had 9 tackles, 8 solo, 4 tackles for loss, and a school record 3.5 sacks, Gasaway finished with 9 tackles, and 6 solo. Alex Pittman had 5 tackles and a sack and Kalyn Brooks had 4 tackles and 2 sacks.

Byrd had 1 punt that went 61 yards. Ty Chastain was 5 for 5 on PAT’s and is 11-11 on the year. The Dragons now can rest with a bye week next week and focus on the road games against the Knights of Johnson, on September, 19th.