DAWSON — A week ago the Dawson Bulldogs earned the District 21-1A title with a gutsy, inspired, comeback victory over Italy, a game dubbed around the Daily Sun as the Mud Bowl.

A fitting name. For all the hard hits exchanged between Bulldogs and Gladiators in the contest, it was Willis Field which showed most of the scars from the hard-fought duel.

The Bulldog offense was impressive. Down 20-6 at halftime, coach Scott Hawkins’ squad came out and imposed its will on the Gladiator defense, driving like clockwork to score on its first two possessions of the second half.

Dawson also came through in the fourth quarter, as stalled drives left the Gladiators with less than ideal field position. Italy’s final offensive series began at its own 1-yard line with 5:13 left after a superb punt by Dawson’s Steven Travis was downed short of the goal line. The drive was short, resulting in a punt.

With the score tied at 20, and with just 2:36 to play, Dawson’s offensive unit needed to cover 60 yards to take the lead. A 31-yard pass from quarterback Trey Tennison to running back Michael Vaughn on the visitor’s sideline and a 21-yard run by running back Alex Shaw helped set the Bulldogs up inside the Italy 5-yard line. With only six seconds left in the game Shaw plunged across from 1-yard out, securing the game.

Defensive coordinator Gary Kay watched his Bulldog defense put forth perhaps its most aggressive and determined performance all season. Italy drives ended with a turnover-on-downs, a punt and an interception by senior Nick Warren.

Italy quarterback Jasenio Anderson gained only 61 yards in the second half. In the first half he racked up 229.

Anderson spent most of the final 24 minutes on the run, sometimes by design, usually with the likes of Oscar Padron, Trevor Carr, Tyler Kimbriel, Michael Passini, Lee Demmings or Kirk Williams breathing down his neck.

According to both Hawkins and Kay the effort was as much a result of confidence and attitude as physical performance. Both coaches believe in their group’s physical ability and athleticism. They also now see a squad that believes in itself. That has been one of Hawkins’ focal points since his arrival in Dawson.

“I was walking in behind all of them going in at halftime, and I was thinking, ‘OK, what do I have to do to fix this?’” Hawkins said. “And just walking behind them and listening, and seeing how they responded I realized, ‘Hey, I don’t have to fix it.’ They believed, and they weren’t worried a bit because they knew they could get it done, just like we did.”

An outstanding performance in any case, last week’s effort is made even more impressive by the fact that a large number of Bulldogs battled the flu most of the week leading up to the contest. The majority were well, and able to play against the Gladiators, and Hawkins takes pride in the fact that his group was able to overcome the physical drain of battling sickness, and showed great mental toughness in willing themselves and their teammates to perform at optimum levels.

“I wasn’t sure how we were going to respond,” Hawkins admitted. “But you couldn’t even tell some of those kids were sick, and it just says a lot about their desire and heart.”

Last week’s contest against Italy summed up the 2009 Bulldogs better than any other.

Calling on heart, determination, and teamwork, they clawed through the mud, dug themselves out of a hole, stood toe-to-toe to overcome an obstacle.

Hawkins expects his team to maintain the intensity shown in the Italy game, and doesn’t believe there will be any big-game let down as the Bulldogs face the always arduous task of tackling the Axtell Longhorns tonight at Ed Mitchell Field. The head coach has faith that his athletes will remained focused through this week and into next Friday’s first-round showdown with Mart in Groesbeck.

“I think the attitude is a little different this year, going into the playoffs,” Hawkins said. “But we’ve got a tough match-up this week with Axtell we have to get past first, and it should be a good one.”