McDONOUGH, Ga. -- The Spalding High Jaguars football team made a few mental errors and turned the ball over three times, but they made enough plays in the second half to eke out a 7-3 win over the Eagle’s Landing Golden Eagles Friday evening in Region 4-AAA action on the road.

The Jags (2-4 overall, 1-3 region) finally won their first region game while keeping the Golden Eagles (1-5, 0-4) winless in region play.

Spalding blew opportunities in the first half, losing a fumble on the Eagles 3-yard line and missing a 25-yard field goal that would’ve given the Jags plenty of cushion. The Jags finally took control of the game in the second half, playing excellent defense and controlling the ball on offense. The Jags drove 80 yards on 10 plays to start the third quarter, scoring the game’s only touchdown on a 19-yard run by senior Chris Dickson at the 7:28 mark. Dickson, who played most of the game in the Wildcat formation at quarterback, accounted for 56 yards on the scoring drive. He finished with 147 yards rushing on 18 carries and also nabbed an interception at safety.

The Spalding defense was stout in the second half, holding ELHS to 18 third-quarter yards and forcing turnovers. Spalding looked to put the game away in the final stanza, driving all the way to the Eagles 30 before Ronnie Owens fumbled a handoff from Dickson and ELHS got the ball again with 4:47 left in the game.

ELHS quarterback Tyler Teknipp (6-of-19, 60 yards, INT) drove the Eagles downfield, completing a 19-yard pass on fourth down to the Spalding 40. A great third-down tackle by Jags linebacker Jevaris Jones forced another fourth-down attempt, but this time Jags linebacker Jake Jeffcoat tipped Teknipp’s pass and it fell incomplete, giving the ball back to Spalding at the 1:18 mark. Dickson got a huge first down with 54 seconds left which forced ELHS to use all its timeouts, and all that was left was for Spalding to kill the clock for the win.