Dawson looks to build on title

DIV. II REGION III-1A BI-DISTRICT: DAWSON VS. MART, 7:30 P.M. FRI., GROESBECK

By James Ratliff

DAWSON — It’s been 10 years since Dawson last won a district championship, and four since the Bulldogs made it past the first round of the playoffs. The 2009 Bulldogs ended one of those droughts by earning the title of District 21-1A Champions, and aim for Friday night’s showdown against the Mart Panthers in Groesbeck to bring an end to the other.

Boasting a smash-mouth, yet athletic offense that averages just over 35 points per game, and a fiery, suffocating defense which held opposing offenses scoreless in 16 of 36 quarters played in the regular season, Dawson barrels into the post-season with confidence.

Bulldogs coach Scott Hawkins expects his team to have learned from last year’s short-lived playoff stint, and doesn’t believe his squad will fall victim to intimidation of the situation or the opponent, heading into a game against a perennial playoff team like the Panthers. After watching his squad maintain its composure when struggling in big games, Hawkins is confident that it knows it belongs on the field with Mart.

“They are Mart, and they have that mystique with them, but hopefully they won’t have that mystique in our heads,” said Hawkins. “because I think we had that a little bit last year against Bremond, but this is a different team, and the attitude is different this year.”

Indeed, the Bulldogs have taken the best shots 21-1A had to throw at them, and they came out victorious each time.

Tied with district foe Wortham at halftime, the Bulldogs scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to record a win. Trailing 20-12 at intermission against Itasca, Dawson scored 21 points in the second half while keeping the Wampus Cats out of the end zone for the victory. Perhaps the district champs’ biggest show of fortitude came in the contest that earned them that title. Against Italy the Bulldogs found themselves trailing at half-time 20-6 against one of the most athletic teams they would see all season, but pitched yet another shutout after halftime while scoring another 21 points to notch the win.

“In our big ball games against Italy, Itasca and Wortham — the playoff teams, basically, from our district — we’ve had second-half shut-outs,” said Hawkins. “It’s not like Coach (Gary) Kay or I make a lot of adjustments at half-time, the kids just turn it on, and that has a lot to do with the way they’ve conditioned themselves both mentally and physically.”

Although Hawkins wants his team to feel confident in how good it is, and shed any post-season jitters, the coach does expect it to have a healthy respect for its opponents.

“As long as we continue to get up for the big games, and the big teams, we’ll be OK,” Hawkins said. “We’re going to have to, I mean, this is Mart, and you can say they’re down this year, and they’ve lost a couple of games, but they’re still Mart.”

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Dawson vs. Mart

Division II Region III-1A Bi-district Playoffs

7:30 p.m. Friday

At Groesbeck Stadium

RECORDS: Dawson is 8-1, 6-0 the champions of District 21-1A. Mart is 6-4, 4-1 in District 22-1A.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Dawson: OL/LB Tyler Kimbriel, TE/DL Nick Renfro, OL/DL Troy Trusty, WR/LB Tyler Green. Mart: QB Holden Strunck, RB Anthony Martin, LB Terrell Pride, LB Deshun Kinsey.

UPDATE: Last Friday the Dawson Bulldogs finished their undefeated run through district with a 34-8 thumping of Axtell ... Dawson outscored its nine regular season opponents by 144 points ... the Bulldogs seem to play their best ball in the third quarter, scoring a total of 102 third-period points while holding opponents to just 26 ... Dawson's defense has held its foes to only 68 total second-half points ... the top three Bulldog rushers average over seven yards per carry ... Mart pounded Reisel, 41-7, a week ago ... JaKeem Hoffman ran for 114 yards, and scored two Panther touchdowns in the win ... Hoffman has racked up 748 rushing yards with nine scores this season according to wacotrib.com ... Mart QB Strunck threw one touchdown pass in his 144-yard performance to end the regular season ... two of Mart's four losses came at the hands of 25-1A District Champions Goldthwaite and 22-1A Champs Lovelady ... Mart finished the 2008 season as state finalists.

— James Ratliff