Last Friday, the Pickens Dragons football team traveled to take on the North Forsyth Raiders out of the 7A classification. This was the 7th all time meeting between these two schools with the series tied at 3-3. The Dragons were looking to end a tough two game stretch as this was their final game before region play.

 

Pickens won the toss and elected to take the 2nd half kick off giving the Raiders the ball first. After managing to get one first down on the drive, the Dragons were able to hold the high powered Raider offense and it would be Pickens’ turn with possession. Chris Pittman got the first points of the ball game as he rumbled 60 yards for the score, giving the Dragons a 7-0 lead with 7:53 left in the opening frame. After getting the ball back after another defensive stop, Kelton Gilbert added to the lead for Pickens at the 4:07 mark with a 5 yard run, making it 14-0.

 

North Forsyth found the end zone for their first points on a 4 yard run at the 2:25 mark to make it 14-7. The Dragons however answered right back with a touchdown of their own as C. Pittman got in from a yard for his 2nd score of the frame, making it 21-7 as we headed to the 2nd quarter. The lone score of the quarter came from the Raiders as they punched it in from 3 yards out, giving us a halftime score of 21-14 Pickens.

 

The 3rd quarter saw both teams go back and forth, trading possessions. The Raiders again found the only points to be had on a 1 yard run, tying things up at 21 as we went to the 4th and final quarter. The Dragons got their first points of the 2nd half at the 7:27 mark of the 4th quarter after a 29 yard field goal from Rudy Perez, giving Pickens the lead back, 24-21. North Forsyth answered back with a 5 yard touchdown run with 5:41 left, giving them their first lead of the game, 28-24.

 

Showing fight and determination, the Dragons drove down the field and Jacob Brumby connected with Zach Goss for a 5 yard touchdown with 48 seconds left giving Pickens a 31-28 lead. However, North Forsyth had some magic left of their own and were able to connect on a 42 yard pass with 16 seconds left to take a 35-31 lead. Pickens were unable to get anything on their final drive as the Raiders came away with the win in a back and forth thriller.

 

Stats against North Forsyth:

 

15 1st downs, 5/13 on 3rd down, 2/3 on 4th down, 393 total yards on 63 plays, 257 rushing yards, 136 passing yards

Jacob Brumby went 11-19 for 102 yards and 1 touchdown

C.J. Streicher went 1-1 for 34 yards

Chris Pittman led in rushing with 152 yards on 21 carries & 2 td’s, Dylan Huffman rushed for 50 yards on 7 carries, Trevon Hawkins rushed it 4 times for 24 yards, Brumby 6 times for 18 yards, & Kelton Gilbert ran it 5 times for 13 yards and a td

Zach Goss led in receiving with 7 catches for 57 yards and a td, Hawkins had 1 catch for 30 yards, Huffman had 1 catch for 24 yards, C. Pittman had 2 catches for 15 yards, & Streicher had 1 catch for 10 yards

Michael Cain & Will Wotring led with 12 tackles with M. Cain adding a sack, Avery Luke made 10 tackles, Alex Pittman made 7 tackles, Michael Burrell, Michael Casey, & Devin Grant finished with 6 tackles each

C. Pittman punted it 3 times for 129 yards with a 43 yard average, Rudy Perez was 4/4 on PAT’s and 1/1 on field goals with a long of 29

 

The Dragons finish up their non-region portion of their schedule at 1-3 after facing some tough teams. The combined record of those teams is 11-4. Two of those schools (North Hall, Pepperall), went 7-3 and made the playoffs in 2015, while Chattahoochee & North Forsyth have greatly improved from a year ago. This is all building to what comes next, and that is region play. These next 6 straight games that Pickens have coming up are of the utmost importance.

 

The first region game just happens to be against a familiar face in the Gilmer Bobcats. This year’s match up will be like last year’s, at Gilmer. Pickens has a bye week next week and will essentially have 2 weeks to prepare for the Bobcats. This showdown will happen on September 30th, at 7:30