Football: Dragons' late roar highlights impressive Week 3 in area

Jefferson mounted an impressive late comeback at North Hall, while Flowery Branch broke into the win column and Gainesville and Buford dominated in Week 3 of the high school football season on Friday night.

White County, Union County, Commerce and Stephens County also each moved to 3-0 on the season, while East Hall moved to 2-1 with a big win at home. Jackson County also moved to 2-1, and West Hall picked up its first win of the campaign and first under new head coach Tony Lotti.

Yet perhaps no game featured the thrilling finale that took place at The Brickyard, as North Hall came up just inches shy of a game-winning touchdown in a 27-21 victory for Jefferson. The Dragons recovered an onside kick and scored to pull ahead with just 3:31 remaining and then watched the Trojans drive downfield before coming up just short.

There wasn't near the same amount of drama in Athens, as Flowery Branch pulled away from an up-and-down first half to run away with a 45-27 victory over Cedar Shoals. The outcome gave the Falcons their first win of the season and first under head coach Chris Griffin, as they moved to 1-0 in Region 8-AAAAA, handing the Jaguars their first loss of 2012.

Gainesville also got a region victory in 8-AAAAA, throttling Winder-Barrow 69-0 on the road. The Red Elephants led 62-0 at the half and allowed just 12 yards for the game.

Buford also got back on its winning ways after dropping last week's battle with Gainesville, pounding Hancock Central 43-0. The Wolves pulled ahead 2-0 after securing a safety on the opening kickoff and it was all Buford from there.

White County, meanwhile, held grimly to a 35-28 win at Fannin County, grabbing an onside kick attempt from the Rebels with 1:39 remaining and running out the clock to move to 3-0 for the first time since 1975.

Commerce is also 3-0 for the first time since 2006 after scoring two unanswered touchdowns to push past Banks County 28-14. Union County also owns a three-game win streak to start the season for the first time since 2008 after crushing Andrews, N.C.

Be sure to check our Sports and High School Sports pages for in-depth stories on these contests and scroll down for a list of area scores from Week 3.

AREA PREP FOOTBALL SCORES, Sept. 14

Buford 43, Hancock Central 0

Collins Hill 52, Habersham Central 0

Commerce 28, Banks County 14

Dawson County 48, Forsyth Central 29

East Hall 50, East Jackson 20

Flowery Branch 45, Cedar Shoals 27

Gainesville 69, Winder-Barrow 0

Georgia Military 24, Riverside Military 0

Jackson County 39, Athens Christian 21

Jefferson 27, North Hall 21

Mill Creek 49, Mountain View 0

Norcross 24, North Gwinnett 14

North Forsyth 28, Cherokee 12

North Murray 27, Johnson 13

Rabun County 45, Towns County 7

Stephens County 49, Hart County 39

Union County 40, Andrews, N.C. 14

West Hall 27, Lumpkin County 11

White County 35, Fannin County 28