About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2019)
SPORTS DawsonNewscom Wednesday, September 11,2019 facebook.com/dawsonnews twitter.com/dawsonnews 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 Collision Center Il-C« 706-216-0992 We’ve Gone Green! “We will be here when you need us. ” DAHLONEGA 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
