THE JEFFERSON DRAGONS 1961

The 1961 football season saw the Dragons play their home games in Commerce while the new Memorial Stadium was being built.

East Hall - 13 - 0 - Friday ~ September 10, 1961 in Commerce.

After having two touchdowns called back within 35 seconds of each other in the first quarter, the Dragons picked up scores in the second and fourth quarters as they downed East Hall in a non-region scrap 13 - 0 in Commerce.

The Dragons were led by quarterback Brian Duke and an experienced line.

While a little ragged at the edges and over-anxious early in the game, the Dragons settled down to play some good football as the game progressed.

The Dragons first score came in the second quarter when Duke went off right tackle from the five after the Red and Blue had marched from its own 36 in eight plays. Larry Benton smashed over from the two for the extra point.

With less than two minutes remaining in the game Rod Johnson slammed into East Hall’s offensive backfield. He hit Rick Thomas, who was fading back to pass. The pass went awry enabling Damon Gause to pick the ball out of the air and take it 64 yards for the final score. The extra point attempt failed.

The game ended two plays later.

Coach Davis singled out Jack Wilson, Larry Benton, Tommy Riddle, Damon West and Buck Tolbert as playing well during the course of the game.

With Captain Don Tompkins sitting out the game with an injury, the Dragon defense looked more encouraging than its offense.

Jefferson managed 10 first downs to 7 for East Hall.

The Dragons rushed for 235 yards while East hall had only 107 yards along with 27 yards passing for a total offense of 134 yards.

The Dragons were 0 - 10 throwing the ball. The Dragons lost three fumbles and threw an interception. Larry Benton also had an interception for the Dragons in the third quarter.

Oglethorpe County - 10 - 0 ~ Friday, September 17 in Crawford.

Don Tompkins made his 1961 football debut with two touchdowns and an extra point on a clear night in Crawford as the Dragons rolled over Oglethorpe County 19 - 0 for its second consecutive victory. Their first in region 4-B play.

Tompkins picked up 215 of Jefferson’s 247 yards on 19 attempts for a healthy 11.3 yards per carry average.

Larry Benton had several long runs called back on penalties, but still managed 37 yards on only 7 carries.

Brian Duke, still limping from an injury received in the East Hall game last week handled the ball well and carried the ball only once on the night.

Penalties cost the Dragons 60 yards, but it was key penalties that prevented Jefferson from routing the Oglethorpe County team.

Damon Gause, Jerry Waddell, Larry Cooper and Earl Tompkins stood out on defense for the Dragons. Cooper, Earl Tompkins and Jerry Waddell each recovered fumbles for Jefferson, while Sophomore Jack Wilson crashed through the Indian line to block a punt in the fourth period.

Tompkins made his presence felt early as he crashed through on a third down play to stop Oglethorpe’s Charles Martin dead in his tracks with a crushing tackle that forced an Indian punt on their first possession.

On Jefferson’s first play from scrimmage Tompkins ran for 18 yards to the Dragon 38. Another carry moved the ball to the 44. Larry Benton zipped off runs of 26 and 35 yards, but both were called back for clipping penalties. Tompkins went for two yards, Duke threw incomplete to Tompkins. On third down Tompkins took a quick pitch from Duke and turned left end for the 39- yard touchdown. His PAT attempt sailed wide left leaving the score at 6-0. Dragons early.

After the Dragon kickoff, the Indians picked up two first downs before halfback Sammy Nations coughed up the ball to Jefferson’s Larry Cooper at the Indian 40.

Benton broke for 18 yards on a cross buck before Tompkins broke off tackle and ran 66 yards for his second score of the game. Tompkins kicked the extra point to give Jefferson it’s 13 - 0 halftime lead.

Oglethorpe mounted a drive toward the end of the half that was ended when Damon Gause brought down Nations for a 10-yard loss on the last play of the first half.

Jefferson didn’t waste any time putting points on the board in the third quarter as Tompkins and Benton alternated carries on a seven-play drive that culminated with Benton darting in for the score from the five-yard line. The PAT attempt by Tompkins was blocked as the 19 - 0 final score went on the scoreboard.

The Indians couldn’t get anything going against the Dragon defense and were forced to kick.

A pass from Duke intended for Rod Johnson was intercepted by Jimmy O’Neal of Oglethorpe County at the Indian 40-yard line.

After three downs gained only four yards the Indians dropped back to punt.

On a safety blitz, Jack Wilson ran untouched through the line to block the punt and give Jefferson the ball on the Indian 43-yard line.

A Tompkins fumble gave the ball back to Oglethorpe two plays later at their own 20.

As the game wound down the Indians failed to make the first down.

A punt to Benton at the Jefferson 14 was returned to the 27 of Jefferson, before two lines plunges by Damon West and Buck Tolbert ended the game at the Dragon 32.

Jefferson had ground out 15 first downs to 8 for the Indians.

While the Dragons had rushed for 238 yards the Indians could muster only 61 yards.

Jefferson was 1 - 4 on passing for nine yards. The Indians had 14 passing attempts with four completions for 51 yards.

Jefferson had lost one of two fumbles, Oglethorpe had lost three of four.

Jefferson had 60 yards in penalties while the Indians had only 20 yards.

Oglethorpe had the only pass interception of the game.

Benton had ran well. Tompkins had picked up Jeff Davis-like yardage running the ball.

The Defense had thrown it’s second straight shut-out.

One primary concern was the fact that Jefferson had thrown the ball on four occasions with only a nine-yard screen pass to Johnson being completed.

Coach Davis knew that there would have to be at least the threat of a pass if they were going to beat the Commerce Tigers the following week.

Commerce - 7 - 13 - Friday ~ September 17, 1961 in Commerce.

Commerce came into the game with three fairly convincing wins over Madison County 26 - 7, Winder-Barrow 33 - 13 and a strong Central Gwinnett team 19 - 7.

Jefferson was, of course 2 - 0 with wins over East Hall and Oglethorpe County. Jefferson had not surrendered a point in those two games.

The starting lineup for Commerce featured;

LE - Kenneth Lord, LT - Johnny Langston, LG - Donald Chandler, C - Tommy Touchstone, RG - Joseph Beachamp, RT - Toye Brown, QB - Farris Gary, HB - Buford Howell, HB - Roger Love, FB - Ken Davis.

The Dragons would start;

LE - Harold Bone, LT - Damon Gause, LG - John Davis, C - Earl Tompkins, RG - Roger Jackson, RT - Jerry Waddell, RE - Billy Curruth, QB - Brian Duke, HB - Larry Benton, HD - Damon West, FB - Don Tompkins.

The speed of Commerce High School’s Roger Love and his tremendous barefoot Kicking made up for his mistakes as the Commerce Tigers fumbled past Jefferson 13 - 7 in Commerce before more than 3,000 Dragon and Tiger fans.

Love, the Tiger’s leading scorer with seven touchdowns and two extra points to his credit in four games, accounted for all of the Commerce points. On the first play of the game he split the Jefferson line and went 58 yards to give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish.

Midway in the fourth quarter Love broke loose again. This time he ran 48 yards to complete the Tiger’s scoring for the night.

Roger Love, however impressive as a halfback, or how far his booming punts traveled ( 50 and 58 yards ) the Tigers were far from the same team that came from behind to beat Central Gwinnett a week ago.

Six fumbles, each recovered by Jefferson, kept the Tigers from putting together a sustained drive. It was the “home run” ability of Love that sealed the final outcome.

For the Dragons, it was a night of frustrations offensively. A noted absence of downfield blocking made it impossible for driving fullback Don Tompkins or speedy halfback Larry Benton to get past the line of scrimmage.

Jefferson, as mentioned, recovered six Commerce fumbles, but is was with less than a minute left in the game that they were able to capitalize on one and generate any points. Benton scored from the five. Tompkins kicked the extra point.

Aside from Love’s personal performance, backed ably by Buford Howell, a Dragon lineman was the most outstanding player of the game.

Damon Gause, a 180-pound tackle was attributed with 16 tackles. He also personally recovered three Tiger fumbles. He was relentless in pursuit of the Commerce ball carriers throughout the night. For Gause, a senior, it was a show of determination and fine football as he entered the Commerce backfield so often that on one occasion Commerce quarterback Ferris Gary almost lateraled the ball to him.

Jefferson managed to close up the center of its line adequately in the second half after the Tigers had ripped gapping holes in it during the early periods. The Dragons surrendered only 87 rushing yards to the Tigers in the second half with more than one-half of that on the 48-yard touchdown by Love late in the fourth quarter.

They made only two first downs the second half after seven the first half. The Tigers had rushed for 120 yards in the first half.

The Tigers were without the services of senior fullback Ken Davis. Coming into the game Coach Davis had praised the aerial artistry of the Tigers. On this night the Tigers were able to complete only one pass out of five attempts with two intercepted. This was a 10-yard toss to Runt Smith in the second quarter.

Jefferson intercepted two Commerce passes.

Jefferson ran 50 offensive plays in the game to only 44 for Commerce.

The stats showed Jefferson with only six first downs, Commerce had nine.

Jefferson rushed for 100 yards, Commerce for 207 yards.

Jefferson found somewhat of a passing attack that had been missing from their first two games with seven attempts and six completions for 28 yards. The longest an 11-yard toss to Jimmy Benson in the fourth quarter.

The Dragons had lost three of three fumbles, two by Benton and one by Tompkins.

Love had lost four fumbles for Commerce and Gary two.

Gause had recovered three Tiger fumbles. Larry Cooper, Roger Jackson and Billy Curruth also had fumble recoveries for Jefferson.

Jefferson again rolled up too many yards in penalties with six flags for 70 yards, including three clipping penalties in succession in the third quarter. Commerce had only 25 yards on three flags.

Jefferson punted eight times for only an average of 29.6 yards. Love punted three times for an average of 49.0 yards.

It was once again a case of the Dragons going into the Tiger den and not playing well. But, Commerce had not played well either.

It was now wait until next year for another shot at their across the bridge neighbors and their fleet footed halfback, Roger Love.

North Hall - 32 - 0 - Saturday ~ September 30, 1961 in Commerce.

North Hall came into Commerce with only a 7 - 6 win over Pickens County on the chart. They had been beaten by Johnson 14 - 6, Stephens County 28 - 0, and East Hall 14 - 12 just this past week. They were a AAA school that was hungry for a win over the Class B Dragons.

It was a mismatch from the beginning as Jefferson blasted the North Hall Trojans 32 - 0 on a crisp, clear night in Commerce.

Larry Benton, Don Tompkins, Brian Duke, Jack Wilson and Damon West had their way offensively, while Jerry Waddell, Mike Arnold, Billy Curruth, Roger Jackson, Damon Gause and Earl Tompkins controlled the Trojans on defense. Damon Gause even lined up some at the halfback position and powered out three or four yards per carry.

It was a good Dragon effort on both sides of the ball for the local lads.

The Dragons fumbled the ball six times. But their quickness and alertness enabled them to recover four of the six drops. The penalties in critical situations again popped up as three clipping penalties stopped at least two more Dragon scores during the game.

Don Tompkins started the scoring parade for Jefferson with a 34-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Also in the first quarter, Brian Duke threw to Jimmy Benson in the end zone only to have the pass intercepted by North Hall’s Austin White. He, in turn, fumbled the ball before getting it out of the end zone. Benson fell on the ball for a Dragon score. Tompkins added his second extra point kick for a 14 - 0 score in the first quarter.

Tompkins, West and Benton battered the Trojan line for two first downs before Benton carried the ball in for the score from the 20-yard line. Tompkins kick sailed wide on the PAT attempt. Jefferson led 20 - 0 at the half.

North Hall came out fired up and drove to the Dragon 39 before giving up the ball on downs.

Benton, Wilson, Duke and Tompkins pushed the ball to the Trojan 37. Tompkins ran for the score, but a clipping penalty brought the ball back to the Dragon 23. Benton and Tompkins picked up 19 yards on two carries before Gause crashed in from the two for the score.

Damon West added the final Dragon score on a nine-yard run in the fourth quarter putting the 32 - 0 final score on the board.

Jefferson had 17 first downs to four for the Trojans.

Tompkins rushed for 93 yards while Benton had 64 of the team’s 277 yards rushing. West was becoming a force with 38 yards of his own.

Jefferson completed only one pass out of four, a flat toss to Benton, for no gain. Both teams had an interception.

Jefferson lost two fumbles, while North Hall fumbled twice, but recovered both.

Jefferson again had too much penalty yardage with 60 yards while North Hall had only 15 yards whistled against them.

The Dragon defense had three shutouts in four games. With undefeated Morgan County looming in Madison the next week, the Dragon defense would again have to step up and play well.

Morgan County - 0 - 26 - Friday ~ October 6, 1961 in Madison.

Morgan County entertained the Dragons on a cool, windy night in Madison with only a 6 - 6 tie with a very strong Thomson team going against their record. Wins had been over AAA Newton County 21 - 6, Mary Persons 50 - 0, Monticello 33 - 7 and Jackson 32 - 12.

They featured the McWhorter twins, Bob and Bill. Two of the better Junior running tandems in the state.

It was evident early on that Jefferson was not going to be able to move the ball consistently against the larger Bulldogs.

Midway through the first quarter, Bill McWhorter took a pitch, turned the left corner and ran 35 yards to put the Bulldogs on the board. The Extra point failed.

With three minutes left in the half, it was younger brother Bob McWhorter darting in from the nine for another score and a 12 - 0 lead at the half.

Jefferson had not been able to move the ball as two fumbles and an intercepted pass stopped any Dragon momentum that might have been gained.

Jefferson moved the ball better in the second half and had five pass completions that gave the Dragons faithful some hope of at least denting the scoreboard against the strong Bulldogs. It was just not going to happen on this night.

Bill McWhorter threw to flanker Richard James for a 65-yard touchdown with three minutes left in the third quarter. McWhorter Kicked the extra point to make it 19 - 0. With four minutes left in the game after a Tompkins punt to the Bulldog 34-yard line, Bill McWhorter took a quick toss and ran 66 yards for a touchdown. His extra point made it 26 - 0.

The Dragons had not played that badly all around. They had made 10 first downs to 14 for Morgan County.

While the Bulldogs were rushing for 254 yards the Dragons ground out 98 yards.

Morgan County threw eight passes with four completion for 107 yards with the long touchdown pass. Jefferson had their best success of the season throwing the ball with seven completions in 11 attempts. Harold Bone made a good reception for 13 yards and Jimmy Benson pulled in two catches for 29 yards.

West, Benton, and Buck Tolbert had the other catches out of the backfield from Duke and Wilson.

Morgan County would go on to beat defending State Champion Washington- Wilkes 18 - 13 and win the region. They finished 11 - 1 - 1. They would beat Rabun County 26 - 0 and Tucker 22 - 7 before losing to eventual State Champion Fort Valley in the semi-finals 9 - 7. With both McWhorter boys back next year it looked like they would be back in the mix as a title contender.

Georgia Industrial Institute - 27 - 13 - Friday ~ September 13, 1961 in Commerce.

Georgia Industrial brought a 1 - 3 record to Commerce with only a 20 - 13 win over Tallulah Falls and losses to Pickens County 26 - 13, Forsyth County 27 - 9 and Stone Mountain 13 - 0.

On paper the Dragons were supposed to win the game. The Dragons were 3 - 2 after the Morgan County loss the previous week.

The Hornets won the toss and received. A three and out brought about a punt to Larry Benton at the Dragon 41.

Nine plays later Brian Duke skirted left end for 23 yards and the Dragons led 6 - 0. Tompkins kicked the point after for a 7 - 0 lead. Big plays on the drive before Duke’s touchdown run were a 15-yard run outside by Benton and a 13-yard blast up the middle by Tompkins.

Early in the second quarter, Jimmy Benson recovered a Hornet fumble on their 45. Tompkins ran for five, Jack Wilson lost eight attempting to pass, A Wilson fumble was recovered by the Hornets at the Dragon 32 yard line.

Jerry Lee passed to Richard Hagler for five to the 27. Earl Tompkins dropped Lee for an eight yard loss back to the 28. A Lee to George Moore pass carried to the Jefferson 20. Fullback Robert Ryder eventually crashed in from the three for the score. A pass from Lee to Hagler was good for the extra point.

With the score even at 7 - 7 at halftime, it was still anybody’s game.

The Dragons were a different team in the third quarter. Tompkins took the second half kickoff at his 25 and ran over tacklers out to the 42. From there the Dragons moved to their second score. The “Tank” Tompkins was the big weapon on the drive as he ripped for 15 yards to the 35. Benton picked up thee to the 32 before Tompkins went off tackle for the score. His second conversion kick of the night made it 14 - 7, Dragons.

The Hornets took to the air only to have West intercept the pass at the Dragon 25. A 15-yard penalty for illegal roughing moved the ball to the Dragon 10. West lost eight yards on a sweep. Pass attempts to Benson and Bone fell incomplete before Tompkins was brought down at the three on a fourth down draw play. It had almost fooled the Hornets as Tompkins was brought down by the last man that had a chance at him.

Georgia Industrial failed to move the ball. They quick-kicked on third down to the Jefferson 35. On the next play Tompkins and Benton collaborated on the most exciting play execution of the night. Tompkins ran for 15, was hit, but pitched out on his way down to Benton who went the remaining 20 yards to score. Tompkins extra point attempt was blocked, so the score was 20 - 7, Jefferson.

The final score for Jefferson came after a Benson fumble recovery at the Hornet 23. Tompkins ran for nine before scoring from the 14. His extra point kick put the final 27 points on the board for Jefferson.

The Hornets scored late on another pass play to Hagler from Lee covering 17 yards. The final score was 27 - 13, Dragons.

Jefferson had 9 first downs in the game. Georgia Industrial had 7.

While the Dragons rushed for 204 yards with Tompkins going for 101 yards on 14 carries, the Hornets could muster up only 24 yards.

Jefferson had thrown 7 passes, completed four for 27 yards. Georgia Industrial had thrown the ball 14 times for 100 yards on their eight completions.

Jefferson had a pass interception to go with a lost fumble, while the Hornets did not throw an interception, but had 2 lost fumbles.

Coach Davis singled out Earl Tompkins and Damon Gause as having outstanding games defensively with 14 and 11 tackles respectively. Sophomore Terry Cotton had played his most significant minutes of the season in the Dragon secondary and had broken up three Hornet passes from his defensive side-back position.

The Dragons improved to 4 - 2 on the season with a strong Milton team waiting in the wings in Alpharetta next week.

Milton - 26 - 0 - Friday ~ September 20, 1961 in Alpharetta.

The Atlanta suburb school brought a 4 - 1 - 1 record into the game with the Dragons.

Wins had been over Douglas County 7 - 6, College Park 7 - 6, Roswell 26 - 6, and Hapeville 19 - 14. An earlier tie with Forest Park at 13 - 13 preceded their last week’s loss to a good Headland team, 28 - 6.

If ever there was a game the Dragon’s wanted to win it was this game. In their meeting in the previous season after Jefferson had won 33 - 0, the Milton players had literally trashed the visitors locker room at the Jefferson gym. B-team equipment was tossed all over the room, lockers were overturned and some equipment had also been deliberately damaged. After an apology by Milton school administrators and a pledge to reimburse any damage repair cost to Jefferson and issue reprimands to the involved players, tempers had cooled somewhat. Jefferson had made it clear they would not ever play Milton during the regular season again.

After a scoreless first quarter the larger Milton line began to assert itself as they pushed the Dragons all over the field. The Eagles rushed for 312 yards while holding the Dragons to 104 yards and only four first downs.

Jefferson tried to pass but was hit for losses on six occasions as they made the drop back. The Dragons only completed one pass for the night out of 11 attempts for seven yards.

Three lost fumbles and two interceptions made it a lost night offensively for the visiting team.

Don Tompkins found some success off tackle, but Milton deployed a mostly nine man defensive front to stop any long drive potential for the Dragons. Their ineffective passing attack limited any offensive threat for the night.

This may have been the worst game overall Jefferson played in several seasons.

The Dragons now found themselves with a 4 - 3 record with Thomson, Royston and Washington-Wilkes left on the schedule.

Thomson - 0 - 13 - Friday ~ September 27, 1961 in Thomson.

For three quarters the out-manned, but never outfought, Dragons battled a bruising line and overwhelming odds, fought off several mistakes, and held a strong Thomson Bulldog team at Bay.

They were able to do this without their starting halfback, Larry Benton, who went out early with an arm injury. He never carried the ball for the Dragons on this night. It was later determined to be a broken arm. Benton was lost for the season.

While Jefferson struggled mightily with its offense, the defense played well.

Don Tompkins ran for 45 of the Dragons 72 rushing yards for the night, but was never able to break the big one.

Jefferson remained without a valid passing attack with only one completion out of 6 attempts for 10 yards to Benson in the second quarter.

The Dragons were able to have one of their least penalized games of the year with 35 yards lost while Thomson had 45 yards in lost flag yardage.

Jefferson had only five first downs for the game, while Thomson had nine.

The Bulldogs rushed for 167 yards with 160-pound Senior halfback Billy Harvey accounting for 116 yards on some strong inside running.

Billy Curruth of Jefferson broke through to block a Bill weaver punt in the second period, giving the Dragons the ball at the host 47.

Tompkins and Damon West teamed up to carry the ball down to the Thomson 31 before a Tompkins pass to Tommy Riddle fell incomplete on fourth down at the Bulldog 21-yard line.

Damon Gause, Billy Curruth, Earl Tompkins and Jack Wilson were singled out by Coach Davis as having outstanding defensive games for the Dragons.

Royston - 20 - 0 - Saturday~ October 4, 1961 in Commerce.

Royston never really had a chance.

The Dragons scored on their first possession with Don Tompkins scoring his seventh touchdown of the year on a 30-yard run over the right side of the Jefferson line.

Brian Duke hit Damon West with a 15-yard touchdown pass, on the next Dragon possession. Tompkins kicked the point after.

Late in the first half Duke again went to the air with a 35-yard scoring pass to Buck Tolbert down the sideline. Another Tompkins kick put all the points for the night on the board as Jefferson led 20 - 0 at the half.

The Dragon defense played as well as it had all year. Royston lost a total of 23 yards rushing in the game. Royston did manage to pick up 25 yards on four complete passes to give them a net total of two yards for the game.

Coach Davis later stated, “ I can’t recall a game at Jefferson where we ever held the opponent to a negative rushing total.”

Larry Benton was lost for the season, but Sophomore’s Damon West, Buck Tolbert and Terry Cotton were now seeing some ball carrying action for the Dragons.

Jerry Waddell played his best defensive game and had a blocked punt early in the game.

The Purple Hurricane could manage only two first downs for the game. Jefferson had nine.

Jefferson had 40 yards in penalties while Royston had none.

The Dragons had found a semblance of a passing attack with four completions in nine attempts for two touchdowns.

Jefferson punted three times for an average of 30.0, while Royston punted seven times for an average of 26.4 yards.

Now it’s Washington Wilkes, the defending state champions, lying in wait with it’s gaudy 7-1-1 record.

Washington-Wilkes - 0 - 46 - Friday~ October 10 , 1961 in Commerce.

Jefferson took a 5 - 4 record into the Washington-Wilkes Game.

Washington-Wilkes came into the game off a heartbreaking 18 - 13 loss to Morgan County that gave the Madison Bulldogs the region crown.

Earlier the Tigers had won over Lincolton 19 - 0, Jenkins County 27 - 7, Richmond Academy 47 - 0, Elbert County 27 - 6, Oglethorpe County 46 - 0, Washington County 37 - 7 and Waynesboro 33 - 0. A tie with Thomson between the Washington County and Waynesboro games completed their 7 - 1 - 1 record.

On the stat sheet Jefferson was able to record 6 first downs to 13 for Washington-Wilkes, but the total offense of 36 yards rushing and 34 yards passing ( four for 13 ) ( 70 yards ) paled in comparison to the 237 yards the Tigers picked up over the ground.

Throw in three fumble lost out of four and two pass interceptions and it is easy to see why the Dragons could not dent the scoreboard.

Washington-Wilkes All-State Tailback Bill Cloer drove seven yards for the first Tiger score early in the first quarter.

Jefferson star Don Tompkins was injured on the touchdown play and never returned to action. He never carried the ball for the Dragons in the game.

Cloer and the Tigers turned it on in the second quarter with the Tiger star dashing 44 yards for one score and throwing to All-State end Jack Thornton for a 21-yard score as the half ended with Washington-Wilkes up 19 - 0.

Jefferson Freshman Rod Johnson had brought the Jefferson crowd to its feet on the ensuing kickoff with a 49-yard return to the Tiger 32.

Duke threw incomplete as the half ended.

In the third quarter Thornton would block a Jack Wilson punt attempt that set up another score with Chuck Vinson picking up the loose ball and scoring untouched.

With the score 26 - 0, Cloer ran 35 yards for another score to make it 33 - 0.

Wilson threw to Duke and then Jimmy Benson before another Wilson punt was blocked to set up another Cloer touchdown from the 20-yard line.

Wilson was punting for the first time this season after an injury to regular punter Tompkins put him on the sideline.

Washington-Wilkes reserves finished out the game against a beat up bunch of Dragons.

Damon Gause played his usual outstanding game with 14 individual tackles. Earl Tompkins, Roger Jackson and the rest of the Dragon defense fought hard the entire game, but the huge Tiger line pushed them back with regularity throughout the game.

There was not any way Jefferson could have won this game with Benton and Tompkins out, Duke also injured, and a beat up interior line that had played long, hard minutes during the season.

Jefferson closed out a 5 - 5 season. The worst record during the Davis regime.

The future looked bright with a huge sophomore class moving in as juniors next season.

Add Rod Johnson and Eddie Watson to the mix and Coach Davis and the Jefferson faithful had every reason to expect better performance in the coming years.

The 1961 Jefferson Dragon Squad:

Terry Marlow, Roger Stover, Harold Bone, Billy Curruth, Jerry Fletcher, Jerry Waddell, Don Tompkins, Damon Gause, Damon West, John Parks, Roger Jackson, Thomas Bond, Jack Wilson, Jerry Sailors, Larry Cooper, Rod Johnson, Kesler Perry, Buck Tolbert, Richard Gehrin, Terry Cotton, Buddy Gibson, Jerry Gehrin, John Davis, Larry Benton, Tommy Riddle, Brian Duke and Jimmy Benson.

Award winners were;

Most Valuable - Don Tompkins, Best Lineman - Damon Gause, Best Back - Larry Benton and Most Improved - Damon West.

Cheerleaders for the Dragons in 1961 were; Posey Storey, Rita Archer, Jeanette Nalley, Lollie Ann Huff, Ellen Hall, Brenda Samples and Susan Ethridge.

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1947

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1948 

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1949

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1950

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1951

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1952  

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1953

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1954

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1955

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1956  

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1957

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1958

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1959

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1960

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1961

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1962

Jefferson Dragons Football ~ 1963