CALHOUN — The Sonoraville Phoenix football team was hurt by costly penalties and interceptions in its scrimmage game loss Thursday night to Dawson County 7-0.

“There was some bright moments for us tonight but there was obviously a little rust out there tonight,” said Sonoraville head coach Chuck King. “There are a lot of things we can work on and hopefully we will start seeing a turnaround.”

The Phoenix got off to a shaky start in the game when quarterback Y.J. Glover saw his first pass attempt fall into the hands of Tigers safety Ethan Brown. Brown carried it all the way to the end zone for a touchdown and Dawson County took a 7-0 lead.

Sonoraville put a few good plays together as the first quarter neared an end. Robby McAfee knocked off a 20-yard run and would have had another 50-yarder if it wasn’t for a holding call back near the line of scrimmage. Glover then connected with Tevarious Washington for a 32-yard pass.

However, the start of the second quarter began just like the first as Glover’s pass sailed into the hands of another Dawson County player, Chandler LeCave. LeCave returned the ball to midfield, stopping the Phoenix drive.

Later in the second half McAfee again saw another big gain called back do to a penalty. Glover would throw another interception in the red zone and the Tigers carried their 7-0 lead into halftime.

Dawson County came out hot in the second half with a 15-yard run by quarterback Chase Gilreath. Gilreath then hit T.J. Byrd with a 16-yard pass. After a couple of running plays, the Tigers found themselves in the red zone.

Sonoraville’s defense, led by Isaiah Hatch, would not let Dawson County reach the promise land as they pushed the Tigers out of scoring position. Hatch recorded two sacks in the process.

With less than two minutes to go in the third quarter, the Phoenix offense managed to push the ball up field, but time ran out before they could score, ending the regulation game.

The Phoenix will open their season next Friday night against Heritage-Catoosa High.

“The effort was definitely there for us tonight,” said King “By no means am I happy where we are at right now. We are a long way from where we want to be.”