DALTON, Ga. — After doing all of the work to put themselves in position to win a championship, the Thomasville High School football team was waiting for one final challenge that never arrived.

Thomasville rolled through the gold championship bracket at the Southeastern 7-on-7 Championship and clinched a berth in the championship round. But as Hickory Ridge (N.C.) and Greenville (S.C.) were playing to see which team would face the Bulldogs for the title, harsh weather arrived and forced a cancellation of the remaining games. Since Thomasville was the only team which hadn’t suffered a loss, the Bulldogs were crowned champions of the event. Hickory Ridge was leading Greenville 15-3 at the time the game was stopped, so the Ragin’ Bulls took second while Greenville was third.

North Murray lost its first game to Dalton on Friday then rallied to place fourth, while North Forsyth and Pepperell rounded out the top six.

Though they didn’t get to play in the championship round, Thomasville earned their title by the way they played throughout the day. The Bulldogs advanced to the 12-team gold bracket by finishing third in Pool C at Lakeshore Park on Friday. Thomasville had a 3-2 record in pool play and the top four teams from each of the three pools advanced to the gold bracket Saturday.

After falling to Bowling Green and Pepperell on Friday, Thomasville coach Zach Grage said he challenged his team and their four wins on Saturday was proof that they answered the call.

“I was really proud of them and how they responded after I had to get on to them yesterday,” Grage said. “I challenged their intestinal fortitude, I guess is the best way to put it. We played our last game (on Friday) against Pepperell and really got embarrassed. But coming out today, I’m so proud of the kids and how they responded to adversity.”

Thomasville quarterback and tournament MVP J.T. Rice said the team wasn’t pleased with the results from pool play and came into the gold bracket with the mindset they were supposed to win.

“The first two games yesterday we started off slow, but later on we started getting hot and just stayed hot,” Rice said. “We all knew we were going to win and had a mindset we would win. We knew we should have been the top seed, so we just tried to play like it.”

That’s an important step for a program that just two years ago was 1-9.

“That’s what I mean when I talk about changing a culture,” Grage said. “Last year something would go wrong and we’d hang our heads and say ‘oh here we go again’. We’ve got the talent. Our expectations are high this year, but we have to hate losing. That’s number one. This is great to win, but you have to hate losing with a passion. That’s what I told them yesterday, and if you do that and expect to win then you will.”

Winning is all the Bulldogs did on Saturday. They opened with a 34-14 win over Southeast Whitfield, then faced Sacred Heart-Griffin (Ill.), which had been 5-0 on Friday and won Pool A. The Bulldogs squeaked by with a 17-15 win as a key defensive stop late gave them the edge. Thomasville then beat Greenville 35-26 with some clutch passes from Rice, setting up the winner’s bracket final against Hickory Ridge.

Thomasville took a 21-16 lead in the final 10 seconds of the game. Hickory Ridge ran a play toward the sideline and got out with .5 seconds remaining, setting up one final play from the 25-yard line. But the Ragin’ Bulls final pass was broken up by Thomasville’s Devon Samuel, securing the win and the title as the rain and lightning began shortly after.

With four wins on the day, two over teams which were pool champions on Friday, Thomasville did enough to leave as champions. Now as the Bulldogs look forward to preparing for the fall, their expectations will be to do the same with pads on.

“Expectations are really high,” Grage said. “We’re getting turf put in and everyone’s really excited about that. We’ve got $2 Million going into facilities down in Thomasville, so we are getting the support and they will expect something back. We have a lot going for us. You don’t get to see the (offensive and defensive lines) here, but we’re pretty high on those guys as well. We’ve got a bunch of guys coming back from last year that are turning the page and we’re starting to do all the little things right. We have one expectation — win.”

The loss to Thomasville was Hickory Ridge’s first of the tournament as the Ragin’ Bulls were 4-0-1 in pool play on Friday with a tie to Greenville. As a pool champion, the Ragin’ Bulls received a bye in the first round of the gold bracket, but faced Dalton in the second round. After the Cats took an early 12-7 lead, Hickory Ridge scored to jump ahead 14-12, then intercepted a JP Tighe pass to lead 17-12. A touchdown and another interception sealed a 26-12 win over the Cats.

Hickory Ridge moved on to defeat North Forsyth 22-13 before falling to Thomasville on the last second play. The Ragin’ Bulls responded well, however, and led Greenville 15-3 midway through the loser’s bracket final before the weather halted the tournament.

Overall, Hickory Ridge coach Jason Seidel was very pleased with how well his team played throughout the weekend.

“They were amazing,” he said. “It starts with our defense, they really set the tone. Offensively, our quarterback led the way again. We didn’t have many drops or missed assignments and we were competitive. There is an idea that with North Carolina football, coming down to Georgia and winning games is tough. And our kids did that. I think they earned some respect this week. We’re excited. It’s a great tournament and it’s well run. We’re disappointed the weather came in because our kids were itching to get back into it, but it is what it is. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Greenville, led by former Southeast Whitfield coach David Crane, finished second in pool play to Hickory Ridge with a record of 3-1-1, with its only loss coming to Northwest Whitfield. Greenville, which is also the Bulldogs, opened Day 2 with a pair of close wins. First they beat East Hall 32-28, then topped Pepperell 24-21 with a late interception being the deciding factor. After falling to Thomasville, Greenville beat Pepperell again in the loser’s bracket 27-19.

In the loser’s bracket semifinal, Greenville met North Murray. The Mountaineers scored with a minute left to take a 20-15 lead, but Greenville came back with a game-winning drive and scored with 8 seconds left to lead 23-20 after converting the two-point conversion from the 15-yard line. North Murray had one final shot on a pass to the corner of the end zone, but it was broken up to seal the Greenville victory.

While Greenville got off to a slow start in the loser’s bracket final against Hickory Ridge and placed third, Crane said he couldn’t have been happier with their performance, headlined by a tremendous showing by junior quarterback Davis Beville.

“I’m tickled to death, I though out kids competed hard and played 11 games in 24 hours and had to overcome some adversity,” Crane said. “We had to fight some injuries and came back in some games, so I’m proud of how we handled adversity… Davis made some tremendous throws, but not a single one surprised me, so that should tell you how highly I think of him. He understands exactly what we’re trying to do and played great the whole tournament.”

North Murray was fourth with a solid performance from quarterback Preston Poag Jr. The Mountaineers dropped their first game of the day to Dalton with the Cats scoring on a touchdown on the last play of the game. But they came back to win three games in the loser’s bracket. The first was a 21-19 win over Northwest Whitfield with a crucial fourth-down conversion in the final seconds on a catch by Preston Buck. The Mountaineers then beat East Hall 21-8 and dominated North Forsyth 31-14, but came up just short against Greenville.

After failing to make the gold bracket a year ago the Mountaineers went on to win the silver championship. But advancing all the way to the final four just a year later shows the strides the program is making.

“It’s a big difference, these kids have been in the system for a year and know what to do, but we still had a lot of young guys that stepped up and played good,” coach Preston Poag said. “We lost the first game which was a heartbreaker, but I thought we played hard. I think we just ran out of gas this last game.”

Pepperell earned a bye in the first round of the gold bracket because they were the second place team which allowed the fewest points in pool play. But the Dragons opened the tournament with a loss to Greenville and from there had to slog through the loser’s bracket. It began with the Dragons defeating Sacred Heart-Griffin, the Pool A champion, 34-33. Then Pepperell got revenge on Bowling Green, the Pool C champion which was the Dragon’s only loss on Friday, with a 23-6 win. But the Dragon’s momentum was halted with a second loss to Greenville, this time 27-19.

“I was really proud of these guys. We had an interception that cost us the first game against Greenville which put us in the loser’s bracket and any time you get down there it’s tough to come back,” Pepperell coach Rick Hurst said. “We beat two pool winners but I think we just ran out of gas. We play a lot of guys two ways and it starts to hit midway through the second day. But we played well and I was pleased with the effort and we didn’t quit, which is what we pride ourselves on.”

North Forsyth was second in its pool on Friday with a record of 4-1. The Raiders were in a similar position in last year’s tournament, but then they lost their first two games in the gold bracket to make an early exit. After coach Robert Craft challenged them not to repeat that performance, the Raiders roaring out the gates on Saturday with two decisive victories. First they beat Northwest Whitfield 38-6, then defeated Bowling Green 35-15.

But when North Forsyth fell behind Hickory Ridge early following an interception, the Raiders failed to recover. And that downward momentum carried over in the loss to North Murray. Despite coming up short, Craft thought his team played well, but wished it had responded better to adversity.

“I was really pleased, especially with being able to start fast because it’s tough to do that on the second day,” Craft said. “We got things going really well but then ran up against a really good Hickory Ridge team. We had some bad things happen early and I was a little frustrated we couldn’t overcome that. All this 7-on-7 stuff the goal is the hopefully learn some valuable lessons and that is one. But I am pleased with how we competed and put ourselves in position.”