Game of the Week: Dawson County vs. Rabun County

It’s Week 3 of high school football, and our Game of the Week takes us to Dawsonville for an intriguing matchup that has some added sauce to it – Dawson County vs Rabun County!

DAWSON COUNTY
The Tigers are off to a 0-2 start. They have shown a tendency to fall behind early in contests, but more importantly, to battle back with grit. The opener against Lumpkin saw Dawson constantly come back and not give in until the final horn blew. Then came a catastrophic first half against East Forsyth, only to see the Tigers shut it down in the second half and storm back to make it a respectable final. Brody Sorensen is having a solid start to his junior year, and up-and-comer Blake Turner is already here it appears. There’s a lot to like about this team, especially when some key players start getting mixed back in after coming off injuries.

RABUN COUNTY
The Wildcats played a little Jekyll and Hyde. A blowout road loss in an opening scrimmage caused a good bit of talk in Rabun County about what this season could look like. But after a BYE week to start, the Cats came out and took care of business against visiting Metter and former coach Lee Shaw. Rabun County came from behind twice in the win, and looked solid in several areas. Still a lot of work to do, but it’s a good start.

By the numbers

DAWSON COUNTY
0-2 (0-0 IN 6-AAAA)
Region Standings: N/A
39.5 OFFENSE AVG
27.5 DEFENSE AVG
N/A State Ranking

RABUN COUNTY
1-0 (0-0 IN 8-AA)
Region Standings: N/A
27.0 OFFENSE AVG
23.0 DEFENSE AVG
#5 State Ranking

BLITZ prediction

We typically make a case for both, with our official pick linked below. Let’s begin with the Tigers. First things first – Dawson cannot continue to play from behind. If they can score first and hold a lead throughout, it greatly increases their chances of forcing Rabun County into mistakes while playing catch-up. The Tigers must perform better than their 27.5 pts/allowed average on defense. If the Tigers allow fewer than 20, they’ll probably win this game. Rabun County, on the flip side, must open the field with the passing game. JK Fruster had a great night running the ball for the Cats last week, and that’ll be needed again. But picking apart the defense with the passes will open the field up even more. Rabun County will also need to be ready to stop Brody Sorensen when he scrambles – which is no easy feat. Rabun needs 28+ points to win this game.

Team records

For Dawson County, the Tigers have gone 13-10 overall in our 23 games covering them, but lost each of the last two. Meanwhile, Rabun County has gone 56-18 in the 74 we’ve been to for the Wildcats, and have won five of the last six we’ve seen.

Matchup details

TIME: 7:30 PM
PLACE: Dawson County HS / Dawsonville, GA
LAST MEETING: 2011: Dawson County 41, Rabun County 17
ALL-TIME RECORD: Series tied 10-10 all-time
RECORDS: Dawson County Tigers (0-2) vs #5 Rabun County Wildcats (1-0)
HEAD COACHES: Jaybo Shaw (58-29; 8 Seasons); Rance Gillespie (181-94; 24 Seasons)

Historically speaking

It’s been 15 years since Dawson and Rabun have squared off in a regular-season contest. The series is tied all-time at 10 wins apiece. The first of 20 meetings came in 1976, a 47-0 Wildcats victory. In fact, Rabun County won each of the first five meetings from ’76-’96, outscoring Dawson 212-45. The Tigers finally won in 1997 in a 25-22 thriller, and the two teams alternated wins over the next six chapters of the series. Starting in 2003-05, Dawson won all three meetings in consecutive years. Rabun interrupted that streak with a win, but the Tigers would claim four of the next five meetings, including a current 3-game win streak in the series from 2009-11. The head coaches have never squared off, but Jaybo Shaw got his start with Rabun County and led the Wildcats to some of their highest highs with current UGA star Gunner Stockton at QB.

Team leaders (2026 Stats)

*Stats accumulated by team-published data on Ga MaxPreps

Dawson County Tigers

Passing
Brody Sorensen – 343 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 57% passing

Rushing
Blake Turner – 165 yds, 2 TD
Brody Sorensen – 99 yds, 2 TD
Gunnar Weaver – 38 yds, 1 TD

Receiving
Gunnar Weaver – 96 yds, 0 TD, 8 rec
Avery Martin – 72 yds, 0 TD, 4 rec
Cash Watkins – 62 yds, 0 TD, 7 rec
Blake Turner – 53 yds, 1 TD, 4 rec
Zeke Dotson – 47 yds, 0 TD, 8 rec

Defensive leaders
Jayden Cohen – 15 TKL, 1 INT, 1 PD
Ben Tippins – 12 TKL, 1 PD
Carter McMeans – 12 TKL, 1 INT
Josiah Holtzclaw – 10 TKL
Chuck Yarbrough – 10 TKL

Rabun County Wildcats

Passing
Cooper Kowalsky – 26 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 46% passing

Rushing
JK Fruster – 137 yds, 3 TD
Amari Thompson – 52 yds, 0 TD
Ashton Justus – 24 yds, 0 TD

Receiving
Colter Cannon – 11 yds, 0 TD, 3 rec
Reed Burrell – 10 yds, 1 TD, 1 rec
Hayden Cannon – 5 yds, 0 TD, 1 rec

Defensive leaders
Baylor Potts – 17 TKL, 2 TFL
Brock Brady – 11 TKL, 2 TFL
JK Fruster – 8 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FF
Mack Williams – 8 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 QBH
Simon Robinson – 8 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 Sack, 3 QBH
Ryan Yearwood – 7 TKL, 1 TFL, 4 QBH
Colter Cannon – 6 TKL, 1 INT