Last night, the PHS Dragons varsity football team traveled north to take on the Southeast Whitfield Raiders in a crucial 6-AAAA region game. Pickens came in 3-2, & 1-0 in region play while Southeast Whitfield came in 5-1, & 1-1 in region play. This, was the Dragons first road game in about a month.

Pickens would win the toss and elect to differ to the 2nd half. This will come into play later. Southeast Whitfield took the opening possession and drove down towards the goal line. A low pass into the end zone allowed Sophomore C.J. Streicher to pick it off to give the Dragons a chance at the first points of the game. Junior Trevon Hawkins would run to the left & score from 11-yds out to give Pickens a 7-0 lead with 6:27 to go in the 1st. A 4th down stop deep inside Raider territory, gave the Dragons a short field to work with for their 2nd possession. Junior Robert Davis capped off that drive with a 9-yd TD run at the 2:43 mark. Pickens lead 14-0, going to the 2nd.

Hawkins got in for the 2nd time on the evening with a 5-yd run just as the 2nd quarter got underway, to make it 21-0 Dragons. Southeast Whitfield found it’s first points on the night after a 25-yd pass at the 10:17 mark to make it 21-7. The Raiders would tack on another touchdown, this time, a 17-yd pass would connect & the Pickens lead was cut to 21-14, with 5:32 left in the 2nd. As time was winding down to end the 1st half, Streicher strolled through a big hole created by the o-line for a 1-yd score, to make it 28-14 Dragons going to halftime.

Remember at the beginning of the game when Pickens differed the toss to the 2nd half? The Dragons used the momentum gathered off of their late 1st half score, to grab the first points in the 2nd half with a 20-yd pass from Senior Jacob Brumby, to Sophomore Alex Snelgrove to make it 35-14 Pickens with 9:14 left in the 3rd. Southeast Whitfield found themselves in the midst of a drive down near the end zone looking to cut into the Dragon lead when Hunter Hermann leaped and picked off a pass attempt to stop the Raiders scoring chance. The turnover would lead to points for Pickens as Brumby barreled his way in for the touchdown to make it 42-14 with 4:15 left in the 3rd. Southeast Whitfield scored quickly after a 50-yd TD pass to make it 42-21 with 4:06 left in the 3rd. Before the end of the 3rd, Brumby connected with Zach Goss from 20-yds out to make it 49-21 Dragons we headed to the 4th and final quarter. Neither team found any points in the fourth & your final score on the evening was 49-21 Dragons.

Pickens will be back home next week as they host the 4-3, (1-2) Northwest Whitfield Bruins. The Dragons will come into that game winners of two straight, & owning a record of 4-2, (2-0).