TRENTON, Ga. — When the final horn sounded Friday night after Trion's 28-21 win over host Dade County at Magic Morgan Stadium, it was hard at first to tell who had won and lost.
Players on both teams, having slugged it out for 48 hard minutes, fell on the turf or bent over to try and catch their breath after a game with four lead changes, the final one coming on a Toby Maddux 7-yard run with 8:15 remaining to give the Bulldogs their final lead.
"This is a tough place to play, and (Dade County coach Jeff Poston) does a great job with those kids," said Trion coach Sean Patrick, whose team improved to 5-0 overall for the first time since 1997 and 1-0 in GHSA Region 7-A Division I. "Man, this is Class A ball, and those kids play both sides of the ball and special teams. Those kids competed, and at the end of the game you should be spent and they all were tonight."
Dade County's hard-luck season continues, with the Wolverines falling to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in league play despite outgaining the Bulldogs 374 yards to 350. It is their fourth loss against a ranked team this season, including losses by four points to Tennessee's Marion County and six to Darlington.
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The game was tied at 7 when a 54-yard run by Braylon Sullivan sparked a 95-yard drive by Dade that ended with Gavin Childress' 3-yard run, but Trion answered right back to close out the half on a 74-yard drive culminated by Kade Smith's 26-yard pass to Garrett Mahan.
The Bulldogs seemed to be in control after taking a 21-14 lead on Smith's perfect toss to Logan Stokes on third-and-goal from the 12, one play after a penalty negated a touchdown pass.
Dade, though, came right back behind hard running from Sullivan (108 yards for the game) and Landon Williams (79 yards), with Sullivan capping a 70-yard drive to tie the game on a 3-yard run on the first play of the final quarter.
The lead lasted just more than three minutes as Maddux, slowed by an ankle sprain suffered two weeks ago, put the team on his back with 61 of the 70 yards, scoring from 7 yards out for a 28-21 lead. The senior finished with 155 rushing yards.
Dade's final three drives each reached Trion territory but stalled.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.