Game of the Week: White County vs Dawson County

Posted on September 29, 2022 by blitzsportsga Leave a comment

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Our Week Seven Game of the Week takes us to Cleveland on a rare Thursday night as the White County Warriors host the Dawson County Tigers. Dawson is looking to start a win streak of multiples after a big win last week, while White County is well-rested following a BYE week.

WHITE COUNTY

The Warriors have a good amount of talent on the roster. With Chad Bennett taking over the program, we’ve seen the offense come to life behind Tripp Nix under center. The sophomore has 783 total yards and 8 TD, though only one of those came through the air. A good sign is despite the loss to Stephens a couple of weeks ago, Kane Lowery looked like he was taking a more prominent role in the receiving corp. There’s not been much consistency there. The run game also has lacked a consistent player in the backfield getting yardage. Right now, it’s Tripp Nix all the time. The defense has been susceptible to giving up points for sure, but there are some great players on that side, like JD Trowell for example. Caysen Duvall has been a player that has proven to change games. The Warriors are hoping to start to put a lot of things together heading into the region opener.

DAWSON COUNTY

The Tigers have been much like White County. Scoring points, but also allowing a good amount. Except last game, when everything clicked in a win over West Hall. So many players are contributing, which speaks to the depth of this team. At QB is Davis Glass, a sophomore with 484 total yards and 4 TD. He’s thrown for 427 yards and 4 TD this season. Dom LeBlanc is typically the go-to wideout, as he has 308 yards and 3 TD. At RB is a committe including seniors Matt Bennett (164 yds), Kade Moledor (258 yds), Elijah Smith (207 yds). Moledor and Cade Adams are outstanding on that side, and are the undisputed leaders there.

BY THE NUMBERS (2022)

WHITE COUNTY

2-2 (0-0 in 7-AAA)
Region Standings: 1st
27.8 OFFENSE AVG
29.0 DEFENSE AVG
N/A State Ranking

DAWSON COUNTY

3-2 (1-0 in 7-AAA)
Region Standings: 1st
26.0 OFFENSE AVG
25.6 DEFENSE AVG
N/A State Ranking

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Be looking for highlights post-game late tonight as well as a story recapping Week Seven. BLITZ partners with Fox 5’s 11 PM “High 5 Sports” show throughout the season. We make sure to get White County & Dawson County coverage on the big market show! You can also follow us on Twitter (@BlitzSportsGa) for live score updates (5G pending).

OUR PREDICTION

Let’s make the case for both teams here. We like both Dawson and White and the makeup of their rosters. Both have struggled to find consistency, and neither has put together back-to-back wins. Right now though, it appears Dawson County might be starting to heat up at the right time. If common opponents is any indicator, White and Dawson have a couple similiar – North Hall and Stephens County. Both teams beat North Hall, Dawson 30-13 (17-pt win) and White 35-14 (21-pt). Both fell to Stephens County, Dawson 10-38 (28-pt loss) and White 14-53 (39-pt loss). This doesn’t show the whole picture, but it does maybe show something that we already feel…both offenses are equal in terms of what they can do. Defensively, though, Dawson County is a little deeper in that next wave of players. For that reason, Dawson County can win because of the depth of the defense and the stable of running backs. White County can win because of Tripp Nix’s ability to stretch a play, though the lack of an air attack so far hurts those chances too. White County also is pretty stout at the first and second level on defense. OUR PICK: SEE HERE

DO WE BRING LUCK?

So far this year, home teams are 5-1 for whatever that is worth. But as for these two programs, we’ve covered 18 Dawson County football games, and the Tigers have gone 11-7 in those, including winners of 6 of the last 7 we’ve been to. For White County, our W-L mark is 16-15 in 31 games covered, though the last 4 times we’ve caught the Warriors, they have come away empty-handed. As for this exact matchup, we’ve seen it before in 2013 (White County win) and in 2020 (Dawson win).

DETAILS OF THE MATCHUP

TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff (Thursday)
PLACE: White County HS / Cleveland, GA
LAST MEETING: 2021 (Dawson County 31, White County County 28)
ALL-TIME RECORD: White County leads all-time series 6-4
RECORDS: White County Warriors (2-2; 0-0 in 7-AAA); Dawson County Tigers (3-2; 1-0 in 7-AAA)
HEAD COACHES: Chad Bennett (2-2; 1 Season); Sid Maxwell (186-113; 28 Seasons)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

Crazy enough, these “rivals” haven’t played too much against each other. Going back to 1980, this series has contained only 10 games. Dawson County has won the last two meetings, including last year’s 31-28 thriller and the prior year’s 42-35 dramatic game. The last White County win was 2017, though the Warriors hold the 6-4 advantage. White County won the 1980 first-time meeting and the next in 1981. The teams didn’t meet again until 2000, when Dawson took a win. White County won the next 3 times before another Dawson County victory. The home team is 5-5 in the series, so it doesn’t seem to matter who has home field.

TEAM LEADERS (2022 Stats)

*Stats accumulated by team-published data on Ga Maxpreps

WHITE COUNTY

PASSING
Tripp Nix – 455 yds, 1 TD, 4 INT, 55% completion

RUSHING
Tripp Nix – 328 yds, 7 TD, 5.1 YPC
Ryan Fowler – 124 yds, 1 TD

RECEIVING
Cam Wilson – 107 yds, 1 TD, 5 rec
Kane Lowery – 88 yds, 0 TD, 9 rec
Colton Turner – 55 yds, 0 TD, 5 rec

DEFENSIVE LEADERS (incomplete stats)
JD Trowell
Jacob Holbrook
Trenton O’Kelly
Nate Bray
Noah Williams
Caysen Duvall
Cade Dockery
Cam Wilson
Devin Norton