Dragons Run Through Gilmer To Move To 8-1

Dragon's Corner

Last night, the PHS Varsity football team made their way up 515 to take on their bitter rival, the Gilmer Bobcats. This match up was important not only for bragging rights but both teams fighting for playoff positions. Pickens came in having already clinched a spot in the playoffs while Gilmer was looking to stay in the hunt for a possible 3 or 4 seed.

 

The Dragons won the toss and decided to receive to start the ball game off. A couple botched plays led to Pickens having to punt away to the Bobcats. Gilmer would not be able to find any points either as we went into the 2nd quarter tied at 0. At the 6:55 mark of the 1st half, the Bobcats grabbed the first points of the game with a field goal to go up 3-0. The Dragons would come right back as Chris Pittman found the end zone from a yard out at the 4:06 mark giving Pickens the 7-3 lead. The Dragon defense held off Gilmer near the end zone in the closing seconds of the half and denied them a field goal giving us a 7-3 Pickens lead going to the break.

 

Chris Pittman would help add on to the Pickens lead in the 3rd quarter as he rumbled 76-yards down the field and scored two plays later from 4-yds out giving the Dragons a 14-3 advantage with 4:52 left in the quarter and we would head to the 4th and final quarter with that same score. Pittman again found pay dirt  for the 3rd time, this one from 8-yds out with 8:04 left in the ball game. Another long Pittman run helped set up a Marcus Byrd 14-yd td to stretch the lead to 28-3 with 2:50 left in the game.

 

Gilmer tacked on a late touchdown after a 20-yd pass & catch with 41 seconds left. The ensuing 2-pt try was no good giving us a 28-9 score. Pickens then would fall on the onside kick and run out the clock taking this one over the Bobcats, 28-9 to improve their overall record to 8-1 and move their region record to 5-1.

 

On the night, Pickens had 10 1st downs, went 3/8 on 3rd down, racked up 386 total yards on 41 plays including 346 of those yards coming via the run.

Marcus Byrd went 1-4 passing for 23 yards & Jacob Brumby went 2-2 for 14 yards

Chris Pittman led the way in rushing on the night with 220 yards on 16 carries and 3 tds with a long of 76-yds, Byrd finished with 101 yards on 12 carries and a score with a long of 53-yds

Defensively, the Dragons held Gilmer on two redzone stands, blocked a field goal, forced a fumble, & picked off two passes

Leading Pickens in tackles was Dillin Eilers with 16 total, 9 solo and 7 assists, Jacob Gordon & Cortlin Norton each had 10 total tackles, & Avery Luke finished with 9 total tackles, and 2 INT’s

Chris Pittman punted it 5 times for 184 yards for a 36 yard average and Ty Chastain went 4/4 on PAT’s

 

Next Week, the Dragons will host the 9-0 & #2 ranked Purple Hurricanes of Cartersville. This game will determine the Dragons seeding in the upcoming playoffs. A win gives them the #1 seed and a region title. If Cartersville wins, Pickens will most likely be the #3 seed and have to travel in the 1st round.

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