Our Week Nine Game of the Week takes us to Dawsonville for the first time this season in an intense rivalry game between the Tigers and Warriors.
MORE North Georgia’s Week 9 matchups
Dawson County
The Tigers needed a win, and got just that against Johnson. It was a breakthrough for a team that had 70 combined points all year. Dawson went out and snagged 71 in a shutout of the Knights. Gunnar Weaver had a 4 TD game and Elijah Odom showed out on defense as well. Even as the team has had struggles early on, it’s been fun to see players emerge, such as Weaver, Dylan Edwards, Chatham Burnett, Aden Bannister, Jacob Felkai, etc. This is not a team to sleep on.
White County
The Warriors are also 2-4 overall and 1-2 in region play, and have an offense worthy of the hype behind star QB Tripp Nix, who each game climbs up the all-time passing leaderboard in Georgia state history. Nix is currently 17th overall in the state in passing for this season, and is the leader in Class 3A. He recently has passed up Connor and Jaybo Shaw (Flowery Branch), Caiden Tanner (Union), Baxter Wright (Gainesville), Bo Hatchett (Habersham), and even Mike Bobo (Thomasville) in career yards, a slew of names people locally know well. He’s surrounded by a young and talented receiver group as well as an emerging star RB in Noel Lammers. Defensively, this team has so many big playmakers.
By The Numbers (2024)
Dawson County
2-4 (1-2 in 6-AAA)
Region Standings: T-4th
23.5 OFFENSE AVG
23.0 DEFENSE AVG
N/A State Ranking
White County
2-4 (1-2 in Region 6-AAA)
Region Standings: T-4th
29.67 OFFENSE AVG
28.17 DEFENSE AVG
N/A State Ranking
Game Highlights
Be looking for highlights post-game later tonight as well as a story recapping Week Nine. BLITZ partners with Fox 5’s 11 PM “High 5 Sports” show throughout the season. We make sure to get Dawson and White coverage on the big market show! (schedule is different this week). You can also follow us on Twitter (@BlitzSportsGa) for live score updates (5G pending).
Prediction
We typically make a case for both, with our official pick linked below. Let’s begin with the Tigers. Gunnar Weaver…he’s going to be key. To lead his team to a win, he’s going to have to orchestrate the offense with precision, limit turnovers, and convert on the opportunities Dawson gets. If the Tigers are to win, it’s going to require a minimum of 30 points. The Warriors average that and then some. If White County is to win this game, it’s going to be getting ahead early. If Nix and company can get 10-14 points ahead and keep it that way though the first half, it might provide too much of a hole for Dawson County to climb out of.
Matchup Details
TIME: 7:30 PM Kickoff
PLACE: Dawson County HS / Dawsonville, GA
LAST MEETING: 2023: White County 24, Dawson County 14
ALL-TIME RECORD: White County leads 7-5 in the all-time series
RECORDS: Dawson County Tigers (2-4; 1-2 in 6-AAA); White County Warriors (2-4; 1-2 in 6-AAA)
Head Coaches: Sid Maxwell (195-126; 30 Seasons); Chad Bennett (11-16; 3 Seasons)
Historically Speaking
Crazy enough, these local rivals haven’t played too much in their history. Though the series dates back to 1980 (when White Co won the first matchup), it was only played in 1980 and 1981 (both White Co wins). Then a respite that went til 2000. Dawson won that version while the Warriors won the next year. Then again a 10-year hiatus until a 2012 meeting. Since 2012, the series is even at 4-4, though White County just won last year to break a 3-game slide in the history of the teams meetings.
Team Leaders (2024 Stats)
*Stats accumulated by team-published data on Ga MaxPreps
Dawson County
Passing
Preston Bannister – 622 yds, 2 TD, 3 INT
Gunnar Weaver – 487 yds, 6 TD, 3 INT
Rushing
Cody McBrayer – 464 yds, 2 TD
Aden Bannister – 170 yds, 2 TD
Preston Bannister – 143 yds, 4 TD
Gunnar Weaver – 25 yds, 1 TD
Receiving
Chatham Burnett – 424 yds, 3 TD, 24 rec
Dylan Edwards – 260 yds, 2 TD, 23 rec
Eli Phillips – 100 yds, 1 TD, 8 rec
Defensive Leaders (incomplete stats available)
Jacson Rickett – 37 TKL, 2 TFL
Owen Wooten – 36 TKL, 2 TFL, 1 INT, 2 FF
Zach Cruz – 35 TKL, 2 TFL
Elijah Odom – 33 TKL, 10 TFL, 4.5 Sacks, 1 FF
White County
Passing
Tripp Nix – 1,482 yds, 5 TD, 3 INT
Rushing
Noel Lammers – 393 yds, 7 TD
Tripp Nix – 357 yds, 9 TD
Receiving
Gaines Clark – 352 yds, 1 TD
Noel Lammers – 301 yds, 0 TD
Zach Godfrey – 281 yds, 3 TD
Brayden Roach – 257 yds, 1 TD
Sawyer Gailey – 105 yds, 1 TD
Defensive Leaders
Jon Scott – 81 TKL, 6 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 INT, 1 FF
Zach Godfrey – 68 TKL, 1 INT
Bryce Dockery – 40 TKL, 1 TFL
Cade Dockery – 37 TKL, 1 TFL
AJ Carter – 30 TKL, 1 TFL
Alex Johnson – 26 TKL, 1 TFL
