TUNNEL HILL, Ga. - The Peach State's Region 6-AAAA football teams have been put on notice: The Pickens hit squad is out to get you.
The Dragons added victim No. 8 in dominating fashion Friday night, ending years of frustration by routing Northwest Whitfield 55-13.
The 8-0 start is the first in program history, and it sets up a region championship showdown in Jasper next week, when Ridgeland (5-2) comes to town. Pickens and the Panthers are both 3-0 in 6-AAAA, and everyone else in the region has at least two league losses.
Quarterback C.J. Streicher led a powerful and efficient offense, passing for 176 yards and three touchdowns while also running for a pair of scores. Pickens put up 506 total yards and held Northwest (4-3, 1-2) to 145.
"We are excited," Pickens coach Chris Parker said. "We've had our ups and downs for 70 or so years. I've been there seven years and we've had some good seasons, but we've never been 8-0 and it's mainly because we haven't been able to beat the good teams up here like Northwest and Ridgeland.
"Our guys are really excited because they know how good these guys are. The ball kind of bounced our way tonight, and we took it and ran with it."
The Dragons scored on all but two of their possessions, one ending with a fumble and the other a punt inside Northwest territory. The first two touchdown drives featured daring calls by Parker and his staff, the first a 14-yard completion from Streicher to Kaleb Ray on fourth-and-5 that led to the quarterback's 2-yard keeper into the end zone.
On the next drive, Pickens was staring at fourth-and-15 at the Northwest 33 when Streicher calmly hit Alex Snelgrove for 17 yards on a perfect out pattern. Three plays later, Streicher connected with Hunter Hermann on a 2-yard jump pass for the touchdown that set up a 14-0 lead.
"We executed well early, and the two long fourth downs really changed the game," Parker said. "This is pretty much the same exact group of kids that have been beaten by these guys every year and, to be honest, we didn't expect this kind of score. We expected a dogfight tonight, but we took them out of it early."
Meanwhile, the Pickens defense, led by ball hawk Trevon Hawkins, forced Northwest into three straight three-and-out possessions and harassed quarterback Ty Fisher all night with an assortment of blitzes. The Bruins' screen game was snuffed out early and often, resulting in several negative plays.
Robert Davis, who led all rushers with 101 yards on 14 carries, capped a 42-yard touchdown drive with a 4-yard run and, after an interception by Snelgrove, Streicher scored one a 1-yard sneak for the touchdown that set up a 28-0 lead. Streicher connected with Zach Goss Jr. on touchdown passes of 34 and 53 yards to cap the night.
The Bruins had beaten the Dragons in three straight regular-season games and a mini game to determine playoff seeding last year. Now they'll try to exact revenge against Ridgeland, a 55-21 winner against the Dragons last season.
"We've got a really good quarterback who makes plays, and we've got most of the players back from last year," Parker said. "It's going to be exciting next week with Ridgeland. They've lost one region game in three years and it was to us, but they beat us pretty good last year."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.