The LMS Tigers (4-1) took on the Dickson County Middle School Dragons (3-2) for Homecoming Thursday night at Preston Hopkins Field in Lewisburg.

On a sun-splashed early evening, LMS Homecoming Queen Mallory Hardison and her Court preceded a hard-fought game that the saw the Tigers fall behind early before playing catch-up, but in the end they could not overcome and fell to the Dragons 34-20.

Fumbles and big plays by the Dragons proved to be the undoing of the Tigers.

The Dragons won the opening coin toss and elected to receive with the Tigers’ kickoff team stopping Demarcus Springer at the 25-yard line.

The LMS defense gave up an eight-yard gain to Springer on first down, but held the Dragons for little or no gain on the next two plays that brought up fourth-and-one for Dickson County.

Dragon QB Ray Dotson found Chaston Dixon open over the left side for a first down to the LMS 47-yard line.

Springer took a handoff and he burst off the left side, found room and scampered to the end zone.

The two-point conversion attempt failed, putting DCMS up 6-0.

LMS took the kickoff but an off sides call against DCMS made the Dragons kick again.

This time LMS’ Antomme Cowthorne couldn’t find the handle and was tackled at the Tiger 9-yard line.

Bad turned to worse when on first down, the Tigers coughed up the ball and the Dragons took over on the LMS 16-yard line.

The Dragons could not connect on three successive passes, but on fourth down they handed off to running back Nick Street who turned the corner on the right side and out ran the LMS defense to the end zone.

This time the two-point conversion was good, and the Dragons led 14-0 with 5:10 left in the first quarter.

The kickoff to LMS went to Cowthorne, who again had trouble picking up the ball, but eventually did and preceded to find the sideline on the LMS side and streaked down the field for a Tiger touchdown.

Wyatt Joyce kicked the PAT though the goalposts and the Tigers cut the Dragon lead to 14-7 with 4:53 left in the first quarter.

The Dragons took over after the kick on their own 41-yard line and on second down, promptly fumbled the ball back to LMS on the DCMS 44-yard line.

LMS drove the ball down to the Dragons’ 21-yard line where a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 31.

Cahlin Henry’s pass was then intercepted by Dixon, who was tackled on the Dragons’ 4-yard line.

On a first-and-10, a hand off to Street turned in to a 96-yard touchdown as the Dragon runner made the corner and raced for the score.

The two-point conversion failed and the Dragons led 20-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The kickoff to start the second quarter went to Jayden Randolph, who brought the ball back to the Dickson County 46-yard line.

The Tigers drove to the 18-yard line, but on third down the fumble-bug struck again with Dickson County recovering.

The fumble bug was catching as Springer dropped the ball, picked it up and ran for a first down.

The Dragons used their running game as they moved down the field, but the drive stalled at the LMS 29 with the Tigers stopping the visitors on fourth down.

LMS took over on their own 21-yard line with three seconds left and a short gain on a running play ended the first half with the Dragons leading 20-7.

The third quarter saw both teams struggle to complete drives and at the end of the quarter the score remained unchanged.

The fourth quarter opened with an impressive nine-play drive by LMS featuring the running of Cowthorne, Jakavan Curry, and a pass completion to Malachi Trapp to boost the Tigers as they marched down the field and from the 13-yard line, Curry, carried the rock in for the TD.

Joyce’s PAT was good and the Tigers trailed by six at 20-14.

A short kick was fielded by Street, who once again found a seam and out raced the Tiger defense to the end zone for a 28-14 lead with 3:45 left in the game as the two-point conversion was good.

The Tigers took the kickoff and again with Cowthorne, Curry, and Henry leading the way, moved the ball to the Dragon 11-yard line, but on third down they fumbled as Springer recovered and returned the fumble for a touchdown.

The two-point conversion was stopped by the LMS defense and the Dragons led 34-14 with 2:12 left in the game.

LMS was not giving up as they took the kickoff and battled the clock as they moved downfield to the DCMS 35-yard line.

Cowthorne ran it end from there, but Joyce’s kick was blocked and the Tigers now trailed 34-20 with 1:17 left in the contest.

An on-side kick by LMS went out of bounds and DCMS ran the clock out preserving the 34-20 victory.