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4B I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, September 12,2018
Tigers on top at Cheer Classic
By Bob Christian
bchristian@dawsonnews.com
Cheerleaders from 24
schools across northeast
Georgia gathered on the cam
pus of Dawson County High
School on Saturday, Sept. 8 for
the 23rd annual Tiger Cheer
Classic.
Featuring teams competing
at all levels and in all regions,
the all-day affair was a whirl
wind of activity from the per
formances on the mat to the
raucous enthusiasm of the large
crowd gathered for the event.
Despite a brief scare when a
section of the team’s pyramid
collapsed, sending girls tum
bling to the floor, the Dawson
County Tigers varsity cheer
leaders opened their season
with a monumental first place
finish, winning the classic with
an overall score of 89.17, a full
28 points ahead of their nearest
competitor.
“Overall it was a fantastic
performance,” Head Coach
Kim Fleming said. “We missed
some elements on one pyra
mid, but the girls never let it
show on their faces.”
Outside of the one error, the
routine moved flawlessly
through an intricate series of
tumbles, flips and dance
maneuvers mixed with a com
bination of lifts and throws that
demonstrated the athleticism
and fitness of this year’s team.
“This is a very athletic team
that works extremely hard,”
Fleming said. “We know we
have room for improvement
and I sure we will get better as
the season progresses.”
Fleming was not the only
one excited about the team’s
prospects for the season. As
one of five returning seniors to
this year’s team, Kiara
Marshall also felt like the day
set a good standard for the rest
of the season.
“I felt like today was a pivot
al moment for our team,”
Marshall said. “Seeing how we
perform together really makes
me optimistic for the future
competitions and I have no
doubt that we will be super
successful.”
The team will be in action
again on Sept. 14 when they
head to North Gwinnet High
School for their second tourna
ment of the season.
Bob Christian Dawson County News
The Dawson
County
Junior
Varsity
Competitive
Cheer team
performs an
aerial
maneuver at
the 23rd
annualTiger
Cheer
Classic.
FROM 1B
Volleyball
Bob Christian Dawson County News
Junior Chloe Bennett spikes the ball in the Tigers
match versus Stephens County.
Tigers allowed them to
maintain the edge and pull
out the first set win by a
score of 25-20.
The second set proved to
be an equally tough fight
for the Lady Tigers, but
once again a unified team
effort won the day and the
girls took the set 25-21
and the first match of the
week by a final score of
2-0.
“After our issues from
last week, communication
was the focus in practice,”
said Head Coach Tanya
Porter. “We are going to
need just a little bit more
energy to take on a good
Chestatee team.”
After wrapping up the
two matches at home, the
Dawson County Tigers
traveled to Pickens County
High School for two more
matches on Sept. 6.
Matching up against the
home town Dragons in the
late game, the Lady Tigers
faced off against the East
Hall Vikings in the 5 p.m.
match-up.
Tip off versus Chestatee
came at 7 p.m. and it was
immediately apparent that
the War Eagles were eager
to make up for losing their
first match of the night.
Much like their first match
the Lady Tigers played
hard against a tough oppo
nent, but the first set went
in Chestatee’s favor. With
the momentum swinging to
their side of the net the War
Eagles made quick work of
the Tigers in the second set
to take the match victory
by a final score of 2-0.
The opening set of the
game set the tone for what
would be a tough night for
the Tigers. With a solid
defense and a withering
service the Dawson
County team threw every
thing they had at the
Vikings and the girls from
East Hall met them point
for point.
After a tough fight the
Tigers managed to eke out
the first set victory by a
final of 27-25.
From there the East Hall
team proved to be too
much and overpowered the
ladies in two consecutive
sets with scores of 25-19
and 25-11 to win the
match by a final tally of
2-1.
Having re-grouped for
the second match of the
evening, the Lady Tigers
took to the court behind the
determined defense of
Fricton. With kill after kill
she thwarted the efforts of
the Pickens County
Dragons and led the Tigers
to a straight set match vic
tory by the scores of 25-8
and 25-14 to give the
Tigers a well-earned win to
end their night.
“Roxie had very good
placement on the ball
tonight,” Porter said. “She
was making good deci
sions and putting the ball in
some really good spots.”
Saturday morning
dawned to find the Lady
Tigers headed to the cam
pus of the East Jackson
Eagles in Commerce for a
four-game tournament that
marked the end of non-
regional play.
With match-ups through
out the day against the
Eagles, the Forsyth Central
Bulldogs, the Decatur
Bulldogs, and the Falcons
of Flowery Branch, it was
going to be a demanding
and challenging day on the
courts for the Dawson
County Tigers.
Unfortunately, the com
bination of a long week
and a tough travel schedule
took its toll on the Lady
Tigers and they were
plagued by the passing
errors and communication
issues that have cropped up
now and again for the
entire season.
Facing the Eagles in
their first match of the day,
the team got off to a slow
start and didn’t manage to
recover in time to have an
impact in the first set and
the Lady Tigers opened the
day with a 25-15 loss.
Fighting hard through the
second set Dawson County
battled out a tough win by
the score of 27-25, but the
effort took what remained
of the team’s energy and
the final set went to the
Eagles giving them the
three-set victory in the
match.
The troubles continued
to mount for the Tigers as
they were never able to
bring themselves back
together over the course of
the day, and as Saturday’s
games came to a close they
found themselves on the
losing side of all three of
the remaining matches of
the day to head back to
Dawsonville having gone 0
and 4 for the tournament.
“Overall, it was a good
day against good competi
tion,” Porter said. “I’m
hoping that the games on
Saturday helped to prepare
the team for region play
which will begin on
Tuesday in Fannin.”
The team played match
es in Fannin County on
Sept. 11 against the Fannin
County Rebels and the
East Hall Vikings. Results
were not available as of
press time.
FROM 1B
Dip
“Traveling to Marist
gave us an opportunity to
see some of the best com
petition from all classifica
tions in the state,” Head
Coach Charles Beusse said.
“Anytime you can beat
teams ranked in the top 10
for 6A and 7A, you know
you have a pretty decent
team.”
Leading the way for the
boys was senior Ben
McGinnis. His time of
17:42:20 placed him third
individually and was only 9
seconds off the pace set by
the day’s winner, Lief
Andersen of Marist.
“McGinnis had a career
breakout day. He came out
of nowhere and placed
third overall in the race out
of 169 runners in the race,”
Beusse said. “I was very
proud to see him compete
so well. He has improved
tremendously over the past
year and is a huge part of
the boy’s team success over
the past two seasons.”
Finishing just outside of
the top 10 in the 11th spot,
senior Cody Wood turned
in another solid time for the
Tigers and an improved
performance from last
week’s race at Chestatee by
the three through seven
positions of the team
wrapped up a strong race
for the unit.
Identified prior to the
race as one of five girls
who could win, Tigers
senior Frankie Muldoon
almost pulled it off by stay
ing hot on the heels of the
eventual winner,
Madelynne Cadeau of
South Forsyth, and posting
a blistering second place
time of 19:52.49.
“Frankie Muldoon had a
tremendous race for us and
placed second overall out
of 155 runners,” Beusse
said. “Frankie is one of the
strongest runners in all of
AAA and yesterday she
proved that her dominance
isn’t just limited to AAA.
She raced some of the best
from all classifications and
proved that she can hang
with anyone.”
Despite finishing the race
with an overall team aver
age time of 22:55.55, the
stiff competition across the
field of runners kept the
remaining Dawson runners
from breaking away from
the pack and the team’s
overall score dropped them
into eighth place for the
day.
“I saw positive improve
ment from our girls’ team
as a whole,” Beusse said.
“While gaps do exist that
we need to close, we are
improving. I thought we
looked much stronger than
Chestatee and are making
gains.”
The teams will travel to
Riverside Military
Academy in Gainesville for
the Riverside XC
Invitational on Sept. 18.
King Crossword
ACROSS
38
Mex. neighbor
9
Author Hunter
1 Sandwich
39
Big fish story?
10
Catchy tune
shop
42
Anvil location
11
Narc's mea
5 Glazier's sheet
44
Wading bird
sure
9 Wapiti
48
Vessel from
20
Heavy metal
12 Culture medi
way off
band
um
49
Data
22
Provide
13 Winged
50
Prescribed
24
Satan's doings
14 Evening hour,
amount
25
Discoverer's
in a way
51
Exist
cry
15 Folded entree
52
Celebrity
26
Package
16 Thy
53
One of
adornment
17 Every iota
HOMES
27
PC linking sys
18 Paradise
54
Ph. bk. data
tem
19 "Monty
55
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29
Bachelor's last
Python" intro
Breckinridge"
words
20 Grooving on
56
Monstrous
30
Insult (SI.)
21 Biddy
loch?
31
Prepared
23 Always, in
35
Ample
verse
DOWN
36
Dawn
25 Watermelon
1
Appointment
39
Senor Peron
shaped
2
"Zounds!"
40
Frizzy 'do
28 Dodges
3
Chantilly, e.g.
41
Troubles
32 Stash exces
4
Old locomo
43
Somewhere
sively
tives
out there
33 Privately fund
5
Footing the bill
45
Drill
ed film
6
Oodles
46
Mrs. Osiris
34 Confesses
7
Seasickness
47
Spots
36 Not quite
symptom
49
Doctrine
37 Conger, e.g.
8
Blunder
© 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.
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