The look in North Augusta coach Dan Pippin's eyes after a victory is one of the more genuine sights in the area this season.

He turns to the stands when a victory is in hand to find his family. It's the first thing he does after he sheds the headset.

Pippin shed tears during a few touching embraces with his family Friday after a 23-22 comeback win at South Aiken. It was easy to see how much five victories in nine games mean to the entire North Augusta football family.

"I'm just happy to be at North Augusta High School," Pippin said in the aftermath of group hug with everyone who cared enough about his team to make the trip.

Pippin credited North Augusta principal Kyle Smith, former athletic director Joe Long and current athletic director Mike Sndyer for their support with some of the first words out of his mouth after the game.

"We're just happy to be there," he said. "My family. I can't thank them enough. My daughter right here. My son. My wife. My other daughter back there. It was a long 1-10 year last year and this win here means a lot to everybody."

SLIDE: The Thoroughbreds (3-6, 0-3 in Region 4-AAAA) likely lost a playoff spot. They have games with White Knoll and an Aiken team they are 0-14 against since 1993 still to play.

South Aiken lost leads of 14-3 and 22-16 to the Yellow Jackets.

"Another tough one," South Aiken standout Jamal Davis said. "This was a heartbreaker."

The one-point loss was the ninth time in two years South Aiken lost by eight points or less. That's out of 13 total losses over the past two seasons.

It was South Aiken's second-consecutive one-point loss and fourth loss in a row. The four defeats were by a total of 17 points.

"We didn't finish," Davis said. "Sounds like a rerun. If there's a reason why we keep getting beat like this it's youth. We have a lot of young players. That's a big reason why we seem to struggle."

APPLY INSIDE: Josey dressed 34 players in a 28-12 loss to Screven County. That number is about half the size of the school's band, The Sonic Boom of the South.

Eagles coach Barney Chavous looked across the field at about "70 to 80" Gamecocks. That translates into a depth disadvantage. Chavous said four to five guys play both ways on a team that trailed by nine points at the half.

The Gamecocks' Wing-T offense battered Josey for 476 rushing yards on 66 carries.

"In a game like this, you've got to have fresh people to match up with people to play four quarters," Chavous said. "In the second half, I thought our guys got a little winded."

CROW ABOUT: Screven County used the win and help from Swainsboro to get back in the mix for its first region title since 2002.

Screven County (5-2, 3-1) is tied atop the Region 3-AA standings with Jefferson County, Laney and Swainsboro.

The Gamecocks face Metter (0-7, 0-4) this week and close with Southeast Bulloch (1-6, 0-4). In between, Screven County plays host to Swainsboro, Nov. 2.

"The only thing I can say is we play Metter next," Screven County coach Pat Collins said. "The other speculation is for reporters and boosters and others. For us, we've got enough to work on that we've got to go to work at practice."

TURNAROUND: Washington County went back to its roots by pounding the football for 346 rushing yards in a 33-7 win at Harlem.

That's pretty much the norm. The team's 2-5 record this year is what's unusual.

"We've faced an overwhelming amount of adversity this year," Washington County coach Joel Ingram said. "More than any other time that I've been at Washington County. We're young. On our 60-man roster about 50 of them are underclassmen, and we were coming off an emotional loss to Cross Creek last week."

The Golden Hawks moved their region mark to 1-1. They are just one game out of first place with three region games left to play.

"To be honest, with the team we've got this year and the adversity we've faced we don't even think playoffs," Ingram said. "We're just trying to get better week to week. We knew it was a must win, but we just looked at is as a chance to improve. Fortunately we improved pretty well."

Staff writers Billy Byler and Chris Gay contributed to this report.

Reach Jeff Sentell at (706) 823-3425 or jeff.sentell@augustachronicle.com.