Dragons Start Season Off With Win Over 6-A Chattahoochee

This past Friday night, the PHS Dragons varsity football team took to their home field in Dragons Stadium to begin the 2016 season. The Dragons hosted the Chattahoochee Cougars out of the 6-A classification in what would surely test them early on in non-region play.

 

The Cougars won the toss and elected to receive to begin the ball game. The Pickens defense came ready to play on the opening drive as they forced a punt. A good punt return by Dylan Huffman set up the Dragons offense in prime position for points. Chris Pittman found those 6 points by way of a 9-yd touchdown run. The PAT from Rudy Perez was good and the Dragons held an early 7-0 lead on Chattahoochee. Chattahoochee tied things up when they were able to recover a fumble and take it back 46-yds for the score. We ended the opening quarter of the 2016 season as we began it, tied at 7 a piece.

 

The 2nd quarter was a wild and crazy ride to say the least. After tight end Alex Pittman made a catch down field, the Cougars punched the ball away, but Trevon Hawkins was there at the right time and fell on it in the endzone to give the Dragons a 14-7 lead. Pickens stretched their lead out to two scores as Kelton Gilbert got in from a yard to make it 21-7 with 6 minutes left in the 1st half. Chattahoochee came back with a 90-yd kick return for a score to cut the Dragon lead to 21-13. C. Pittman found pay dirt for a 2nd time, this one from 5-yds to make it 28-13 with 3:48 still to go in this 1st half.

 

After a 38-yd touchdown pass for the Cougars, they were unsuccessful at the two-point conversion making it 28-19 Pickens with 2:15 left in the 1st half. The Dragons had one more score left in them before halftime as Jacob Brumby found Huffman down the sideline for a 65-yd touchdown making it 35-19 Dragons as we headed to the break.

 

Pickens wasted little time getting more points after starting the 2nd half with the ball. Brumby found Hawkins for a 5-yd score to make it 42-19 with 9:14 left in the 3rd. Hawkins found the endzone again at the 4:26 mark this time, by way of the ground as he got in from 16-yds out, making it 49-19 Dragons.

 

The 4th quarter saw a running clock and the young guys getting a chance to play and they did really well. With no scoring from either side in the 4th and final quarter, the Dragons came away with their first win of the season in the opener, 49-19.

 

Stats for the night

 

Pickens had 14 1st downs on the night, went 8-11 on 3rd down, had 499 total yards on 54 plays for a 9.2 yard average, 356 rushing yards on 48 attempts for a 7.4 yard average, & 143 yards passing on 6 attempts for a 23.8 yard average

Jacob Brumby went 5-6 for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns

Chris Pittman led the way in rushing with 133 yards and 2 tds, Dylan Huffman had 77 yards, Kelton Gilbert had 63 yards a 1 score, Trevon Hawkins had 26 yards and a score, freshman C.J. Streicher had 33 yards

Dylan Huffman led the team in receiving with 66 yards & a score followed by Alex Pittman with 1 catch for 42 yards, Colby McDowell had a catch for 24 yards, & Trevon Hawkins had a catch for 5 yards & a score

Defensively the Dragons were all over the field and especially in the backfield. Pickens totaled up 5 sacks Friday night and 11 tackles for loss as a team

Devin Grant led the team with 10 total tackles. 4 solo, 6 assts, 2 TFL, and 2 sacks, Will Wotring had 9 total tackles on the night, 6 solo & 3 asst, Josh Cain had 7 total tackles, 5 solo, 2 asst, 1 TFL, Michael Cain had 6 total tackles, 4 solo, 2 asst, 2 TFL, Jordan Burton had 6 total tackles, all assts, Alex Pittman had 4 total tackles, 3 of which went for a loss, and 2 of those were sacks. Nick Southern also had a sack.

Chris Pittman punted twice on the night for 72 yards

Dylan Huffman had 3 punt returns for a 52 yard total and a long of 31

Rudy Perez went 7/7 on PAT’s

 

Pickens will have next week off as they prepare to face the Dragons of Pepperell on the 2nd of September. That game will also be at home and will have a kickoff time of 7:30