Last night, the Pickens Dragons varsity football team traveled to Gainesville to take on the Vikings of East Hall. These two teams played last season in Jasper with the Dragons taking it. Pickens looked to build off their hard fought victory last week over White County.

 

The Vikings won the toss and elected to receive. With help from a pass interference called on 3rd down, East Hall found the end zone on their opening drive but missed the PAT to lead it, 6-0 with 8:34 left in the 1st quarter. After picking off a pass from Marcus Byrd in Dragon territory, the Vikings added to that lead with a 22-yd run and 2-point conversion making it 14-0 with 5:01 remaining in the opening quarter. The Dragons got their first points of the game on a Chris Pittman 3-yd run cutting the Viking lead in half 14-7 as we’d head to the 2nd.

 

Pickens tied things up at 14 just 5 seconds into the 2nd quarter with C. Pittman finding pay dirt from 5-yds out. After being backed up deep into their own territory, East hall connected on a 95-yd pitch and catch to take the lead right back 20-14 with 8:03 left in the 1st half. Ty Chastain cut that lead in half with a 38-yd field goal as we went into the break with the Vikings leading the Dragons, 20-17.

 

Byrd gave Pickens the lead for the first time in the ball game after a 55-yd run making it 24-20 Dragons with 10:22 left in the 3rd quarter. Caleb Brooks took it from 18-yds and found the end zone on a sweep play stretching the Dragons lead to 31-20 with 4:10 to go in the 3rd. 3rd time was indeed a charm for C. Pittman as he got in from 9-yds out at the 1:43 mark in the 3rd giving Pickens a 38-20 lead.

 

Trevon Hawkins made his mark on the game in the 4th as he scampered 13-yds for the score making it 45-20 Dragons with 5:08 remaining in the game. East Hall got their final score of the game at the 4:04 mark in the 4th after a 64-yd pass and catch making it 45-28 Pickens. Hawkins added a 2nd score of the quarter, this one from 20-yds giving us a final of 52-28.

 

STATS

Pickens had 24 first downs, went 5/12 on 3rd down and 3/5 on 4th down ran 77 total plays for 591 total yards with 517 of those yards coming on the ground. The Dragon defense forced 3 turnovers, 2 interceptions and 1 fumble.

Marcus Byrd went 6/12 for 74 yards passing and added 124 yards rushing on 12 carries and 1 touchdown

Chris Pittman ran it 27 times for 224 yards and 3 td’s, and Trevon Hawkins added 37 yards on 4 carries and 2 touchdowns

Defensively, Will Wotring lead the way for Pickens with 10 total tackles with 7 solo and 3 assisted while Jacob Gordon collected 9 total tackles, 5 solo, 4 assisted, 2 tackles for loss, 1 interception, and 1 fumble recovery

Byrd punted once for 55 yards, Brooks had 47 punt return yards on 3 attempts, and Dillon Gasaway lead the kick return yards with 45

Ty Chastain went 7/7 on PAT’s and 1/1 on field goals with a long of 38

The Dragons will be on a bye next week but will be back in action and at home on Friday, the 18th as they host the Knights of Johnson, Gainsville