The long trip to Rabbittown showed on the faces of the Dawson County High School Varsity Tiger boys’ soccer team Friday night, especially in the first half.

Head Coach Jed Lacey’s Tigers faced a talented East Hall team and finished on the wrong side of a 1-0 score.

It was Dawson’s first region loss, but it is a big one.

The team stands at 3-1 in Region 8-AA play, but they had to play undefeated Union County, who is 11-0, on Tuesday.

Union defeated East Hall earlier in the year, so it was a must win for Lacey’s team.

Scores for the Union game were unavailable at press time.

Dawson will also be missing one of its star players, who received two yellow cards in the game against East Hall. According to Georgia High School Associaton rules, a player must sit out one game before returning to play.

“Well this hurt. We played our worst half of the year in the first half. I do not know if it was a hang over from the South Georgia trip, but all I can say is I will take responsibility for this loss,” Lacey said.

The Tigers played better in the second half. The Tigers out shot the Vikings, 11-4. Dawson blasted two shots past the Viking goalie only to see both of them disallowed by the referee.

East Hall scored the lone goal of the game at the 12:05 mark of the first half.

Viking Jorge Mesa scored from 20-yards out to put East Hall up 1-0. It was all the offense East Hall needed as the team withstood a frantic second half to get the huge region win.

“We just have to step up and fill the void. We have depth and we will be fine. We just have to change the style we play on the offensive side. It should not hurt us on defense,” Lacey said of missing a player.

Dawson is 8-4 overall on the season following the loss to East Hall.

The game with Union determined whether Dawson would host a first round region game.

A loss and the Tigers are on the road for the first round of region play.