Fannin and Pickens battle until the very end

Fannin County High School and Pickens County High School battled to the very end September 4 on the gridiron in Blue Ridge and after multiple scores and yards, the Dragons came away with the win 45-35. "We competed all the way down to the final whistle. There was no giving up," Rebel Head Coach David Nichols said. "We continued to play every single down." Both defenses had strong showings early in the first quarter. On Pickens' first possession, Fannin's Luke Nichols forced a Pickens fumble which was recovered by Isaac Watkins. This gave Fannin the ball on it's own 26 yard line. Fannin proceeded to drive the ball 74 yards on eight plays for the touchdown. The drive included a two yard run by Casen Bailey, a two-yard pass from Cannon Holloway to Luke Nichols, and three receptions to Tristin Bernier for 13, 23 and 20 yards. The touchdown was the Bernier 20-yard reception from Holloway at 5:43 left in the first quarter. With Anthony Mubanda's extra point, Fannin led 7-0 at the first quarter buzzer. Pickens scored with a 26-yard field goal on it's next possession early in the second quarter, then Fannin scored again at the 9:33 mark of the second quarter. The Rebel 73-yard, five-play drive ended with a 63-yard Holloway keeper for the touchdown. The Mubanda extra point gave Fannin a 14-3 lead. Pickens answered with a touchdown to lead 14-10 at 4:02 left. Pickens would lead 17-14 at halftime. After a failed Pickens drive to open the second half, Fannin had it's opening drive stall on an illegible man down the field penalty that erased a 50 yard pass to Bernier. Fannin would punt the ball on the drive. Pickens' kick receiver bobbled the catch on Casen Bailey's 45-yard punt and Rebel Brody Burnette recovered the ball to give Fannin the ball on Pickens 46-yard line. The Rebels would capitalized on this turnover and score at 3:59 left in the third quarter. The Rebels scored four plays later when Holloway connected with Reid Holloway for 17-yards. Mubanda's kick made it 21-17 in the Rebels favor. Pickens answered with seven points to lead 24-21 at the third quarter buzzer. Fannin fired back with a touchdown to regain the lead 28-24 at 11:41 in the fourth quarter when Bernier rushed for nine yards over the goal line. The Dragons would score again at 9:22 to lead 31-28. Fannin scored again at 6:59 when Holloway broke away for a 50-yard touchdown. Fannin led 35-31. Pickens would score two more times in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Nichols was happy with the offensive and defensive efforts. "I was really proud and really happy for coach Wade Woodall and his staff. They did a great job. They had a great game plan. They got the kids ready to play and, in my mind, 35 was a number that could win the game. "We knew their offense was explosive. Jay Fields does a phenomenal job, too. If people truly knew the amount of work and time that a quality defensive coordinator puts in, they would be amazed." Holloway finished the game 19-for-35 for 283 yds and two touchdowns Cannon Holloway rushed 15 times for 162 yds and two TDs. Bailey had eight rushes for 34 yds. Bernie had one rush for nine yards and one TD. As a team, Fannin had 24 rushes for 205 yds and three touchdowns. Receiving Reid Holloway had four receptions for 97 yds and one TD. Burnette had one reception for 11 yards. Bernier had five receptions for 86 yds and one TD. Nate O'Neal had four receptions for 56 yards. Bailey had two receptions for 20 yards. Nichols had two receptions for 6 yards. Brayden Walker had one rec for seven yards. As a team, Fannin had 19 receptions for 283 yards and two TDs. In total, Fannin ran 60 plays and earned 488 yards and five touchdowns. Defensively, Walker had five tackles key and five assists. Cannon Holloway had one tackle. Reid Holloway had five tackles and three assists. Isaiah Stephens had two tackles and four assists. Bailey had six tackles and one assist. Nichols also had six tackles. He had five assists. Burnette had three assists. Garrison Ensley had five tackles and seven assists. Landon Isley had one take and five assists. Isaac Watkins had two tackles. Cayden Reece had four tracks and two assists. Ethan Majors had one tackle. Adrian Ruiz had one assist. Cash Ades had two tackles and five assists. Bernier had two tackles and Mubanda had one tackle. The Rebel staff have this week off. They play White County at home Sept. 18. During the downtime, Nichols said the roster is full of versatile players and they will continue to tweak their play packages to take advantage of it in the future.

Fannin and Pickens battle until the very end

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