TRENTON, Ga. - A sense of relief was apparent on Dade County football coach Bradley Warren's face after his team held on to win a thriller to open the 2017 season.
Dade County won 20-19 at home Friday night against rival Gordon Lee behind 300 rushing yards on 49 attempts.
"That's just who we are, running the ball and play-action," Warren said. "We played hard with a lot of effort. We made a few mental mistakes when we got tired that we have to clean up."
Senior Lee Spencer led the Wolverines ground attack, running 12 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving.
"This win means a lot," Spencer said. "All of us seniors don't want to have a season like last year (3-7). We don't want to just win a few, we want to be good, and we came out with a positive start."
Sophomore Malaki Webb was the workhouse for Dade County with 21 rushes for 113 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion that would prove to be the game winner.
Dade County struck first with a 1-yard run by Webb at the end of the first quarter. The Wolverines set up the score with a key fourth-and-5 conversion on a pass from Greg Templeton to Makain Everett to get inside the 1-yard line.
Gordon Lee answered through the air on its first possession of the second quarter. A 17-yard pass from Austin Thompson to Hunter Hodson set up a 21-yard touchdown catch by freshman Henry Ellis.
It was a defensive struggle for much of the first half as the Wolverines held Gordon Lee to 79 total yards and the Trojans defense had three interceptions, led by Tucker Miller with two.
Both offenses heated up in the second half as the defenses began to get tired in the heat.
The Trojans scored on a Braden Jarvis 31 yard run midway through the third quarter to extend their lead to 13-6. Jarvis finished with 68 yards on 10 carries.
Less than a minute later Spencer broke off an 81-yard touchdown run that involved several changes of direction and key downfield blocks to pull the Wolverines within one.
Dade County's passing game had managed just 21 yards all night until Templeton found Spencer for a 39-yard touchdown two minutes into the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion by Webb gave the Wolverines a 20-13 lead.
Jarvis took the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, but the Trojans missed the extra point and the Wolverines defense held on despite a late fumble that gave the Trojans the ball near midfield late in the fourth quarter.
"We've just got to work on playing mentally tough when we're tired," Warren said. "We got a little sloppy with the ball handling, and there are some things that we need to fix."
Dade County travels to North Sand Mountain next week while Gordon Lee gets the week off before playing at LaFayette.
Contact Kevin Llewallyn at sports@timesfreepress.com