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SPORTS
DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, September 11,2019
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Harvick dominates Brickyard 400
By Bob Christian
bchristian@dawsonnews.com
Kevin Harvick seemed to cruise to the
front of the pack at will as he took the
lead five times for a total of 119 laps of
the 160 lap Big Machine Vodka 400 in
Indianapolis on Sept. 8. The win was
Harvick’s second career win at the
Brickyard and his third this season as
the regular season came to a close with
a chaotic, collision filled race.
“I don’t know if we had the best car,
but we had the fastest car,” Harvick said.
“It gave us control of the race and we
kept control of the race and we didn’t
make any mistakes and here we are in
victory lane at one of the greatest places
on Earth to race.”
Jimmie Johnson, one of four drivers
vying for the final post-season slots, saw
his chances come to an end in an eight-
car pile-up late in the race, and Daniel
Suarez sabotaged his own chance at the
playoffs when he smacked the wall on
lap 12. In the end, Clint Bowyer and
Randy Newman, finishing fifth and
eight, respectively, clinched the final
two spots in the field of 16 drivers.
For Newman it will be his first
appearance in the Monster Energy
NASCAR Cup Series post season, while
for Johnson it marks the end of a
16-year streak of appearances that
included seven championships. Bowyer
will be appearing in the playoffs for the
seventh time in his career.
In a race that featured tight traffic,
both on the track and in pit-row,
Newman was quick to credit the strategy
of his crew chief, Scott Graves, with the
victory.
“Excellent strategy by Scott Graves,
everybody at Roush Fenway,” Neman
said. “It’s been a year of progress, learn
ing and a lot of things I feel like a rook
ie more than I’ve ever been. ... We did
everything we could, and it was good
enough, but we have a lot of work ahead
of us.”
Starting from fifth, Johnson, in a must
win situation, showed signs of early life
as he stayed within the top-10 early on
and earned a sixth-place finish under
caution in stage one to move him briefly
upwards in the playoff polls. He
remained in the top-ten, with an eighth-
place finish in stage two, also ending
under caution. Disaster struck on the
restart when he got tangled with Kurt
Busch in turn one, hitting the wall hard
and ending his racing day with a 35th
place finish and eliminating him from
the post-season for the first time in 17
years.
“It’s pretty impressive, the run we’ve
See NASCAR 12B
Photos by Bob Christian Dawson County News
Junior Haley Selzer drives the ball past White County defenders on Sep. 5 as the Lady Tigers rally to win in three
sets.
Lady Tigers defeat White County
By Bob Christian
bchristian@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County
Lady Tigers volleyball
team overcame a major
obstacle of the 2019 sea
son as they recorded their
first three-set match vic
tory of the season against
the White County
Warriors on Sept. 5 in the
second game of a double-
header in Ford Phillips
Arena.
After a long break for
the Labor Day holiday,
the Lady Tigers returned
to face number one
ranked and undefeated
Habersham Central in the
first match of the evening.
Led by Alexandra
Shalikashvili, the Lady
Raiders are playing on a
different level, entering
the match undefeated,
sporting a 14 - 0 overall
record and a 2 - 0 region
al record, and they quick
ly overwhelmed Dawson
County in the first set by
a score of 25 - 11.
The second set featured
a resurgent Lady Tigers
team that went shot-for-
shot with Shalikashvili
and the Raiders, but, in
the end, Habersham cap
tured the win by a final
score of 25 - 20. The
Lady Raiders went on to
extend their record to 16
- 0 by pummeling White
County in the middle
game of the evening, just
prior to the match
between the Warriors and
Tigers.
“After such a close set
with Habersham I know
See Vollyball 14B
Senior Chloe Bennett and junior Makale Everett react to the
ball on Sept. 5 in a game with the White County Lady
Warriors.
Lady Tigers raise
cancer awareness
in pair of games
By Bob Christian
bchristian@dawsonnews.com
The Lady Tigers softball team returned
to the diamond after a long Labor Day
weekend for a pair of home games
against two of their toughest opponents to
date, starting with the region 8-AA Rabun
Wildcats on Sept. 3 and finishing the
week on Sept. 5 against the region
7-AAA East Hall Vikings.
Dawson County opened the game
against the Wildcats with a pair of errors
that allowed Rabun to score two runs in
the top of the first inning, but the Lady
Tigers quickly responded as senior
Kaselyn Martin and junior Bella Henson
combined to drive three runs across the
plate and take the lead heading into the
second inning.
Freshman Reese Moore battled through
early control issues to throw a 56 percent
strike ratio, but Rabun County continued
to capitalize on the errors that plagued the
Lady Tigers throughout the game and
opened up a daunting six run lead, scor
ing four in the second inning and two
more in the third.
The Lady Tigers made excellent con
tact with the ball throughout the game,
but Rabun’s defense remained solid and
limited Dawson County to only a handful
of base runners and eliminated any fur
ther scoring opportunities for the Lady
Tigers.
Sophomore Olivia Martinez took over
the mound in the top of the fourth inning,
throwing well over 50% strikes as well,
but the Wildcats still managed to double
the lead over the final two innings of
the game.
See Softball 12B
Bob Christian Dawson County News
Sophomore Olivia Martinez gathers in
a ground ball on Sept. 3 against the
Rabun Wildcats.
Player of the Week!
Chloe Bennett
Dawson County High School senior Chloe Bennett
wracked up 13 kills on Sep. 5 as she rallied the Lady
Tigers volleyball team to a come from behind win
over the White County Warriors. Bennett’s solid
defensive performance was bolstered by an equally
solid performance from the service line where she
tallied several aces to lead her team to their first
three set match victory of the 2019 season.
Certified
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706-216-0992
We’ve Gone Green!
“We will be here when you need us. ”
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130 Industrial Park Rd, Dawsonville
M-F: 8:00 - 5:00
Dawsonville's Premier Collision Center
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Caleb Bonesteel
In the first two games of the 2019 season
junior kicker Caleb Bonesteel has been a
kicking machine for the Dawson County
Tigers football team. Opening the season
with a school record 52-yard kick against
the Habersham Raiders, Bonesteel
followed that up with a pair of field goals
against the Chestatee War Eagles to
include a 23-yard game winning overtime
kick to move the Tigers to 2-0 on the
season.
Sponsored by:
A State Farm
Ryan Scott Ins Agency Inc
Ryan Scott, Agent
1000 Old Dawson Village Road E Suite 210
Dawsonville, GA 30534 • Bus: 678-456-4785
