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4B I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, October 23,2019
Fields of Faith brings
community together
By Bob Christian
bchristian@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County chapter of the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted
the annual Fields of Faith gathering on
Oct. 16 on the high school football field.
Under the supervision of Area
Representative Same Reed, the event
was organized, promoted and run at the
student level.
“The program is student-leader driven,”
Reed said. “It is all based on what they do,
and what they want to do. As the leader
ship grows the group itself has and will
continue to grow.”
Despite the cold, windy weather this
year’s event brought together over 200
students, parents, coaches and other mem
bers of the community for an evening of
food, fun and worship under the banner of
“One message, one field, one stand, one
word.”
“Fields of Faith is designed for students
to come together and stand for what they
believe in,” Reed said. “The high school
football field is an important place in most
communities. Friday nights are all about
“Friday night lights,” and it is just special
to be under the lights in a place that is so
much a part of the community.”
The highlight of the evening was the
message of the guest speaker Clint Fair,
FCA’s Greater Hall County Metro
Director. Fair’s message centered on the
topic of making the right choices as he
shared his personal story about the nega
tive impact of his early life decisions con
cerning drugs and alcohol.
“I wanted to emphasize to the kids to do
what is right, not what is wrong,” Fair
said. “I used my experience with drugs
and alcohol and how my decisions with
both cost me the opportunity at a career
playing ball.”
Mr. Fair’s message hit home with the
athlete-centered crowd as several mem
bers of the audience approached him after
wards to share their stories or thank him
for sharing his.
“It was a great example of the power of
a story and how God has worked in a per
son’s life,” Fair said. “It gives people an
example, gives them hope.”
Focused on the ideas character devel
opment and spiritual growth the Fields
of Faith concept originated in 2002 in
the Oklahoma chapter of the Fellowship
of Christian Athletes and has spread
across the nation over the ensuing years.
“Our athletes all get coached on the
x’s and o’s of their specific sport all the
time,” Reed said. “We just want to make
sure their hearts are coached as well.
That they have the support structure
they need at this time in their lives.”
FROM 1B
Winter
Let’s get after it!”
Both teams made school history last
season with deep runs into the state
playoffs as the Lady Tigers reached the
Elite Eight while the Tigers made it all
the way to the Final Four. Despite the
loss of the top scorer from each squad,
with Luke Chism and Kaylie Sticker
moving on the next level, both units
return a core group of athletes that are
capable of building on last year’s suc
cess.
Returning for his twenty-third season
as the head coach of the Lady Tigers,
Steve Sweat will be building his pro
gram around returning seniors Sophia
D’Oliveira, Marlie Townley and Rachel
Swafford.
Making his debut with the Tigers,
Head Coach Eric Herrick will be relying
on his all-state athletes, senior Jasper
Gibson and junior Mason Barnes.
The first chance to see the teams in
action comes in a scrimmage match
Nov. 5 against the South Forsyth War
Eagles. The first official regular season
game will be the following Saturday,
Nov. 9 as the teams take to the road for
a match-up with Buford County.
Dawson County Wrestling also
marked the official start of their season
on Monday although head coach Arron
Haynes prefers more of a trial by fire
method of team recruitment, skipping
try-outs and heading straight to the
mats.
“Basically, if they survive, they make
the team,” Haynes said. “We should be
able to fill all of the weight classes if we
can just keep away from the injury bug
this year.”
No matter the process that each team
uses to fill their roster, all student-ath
letes wishing to participate must have a
valid physical on file with the front
office. Dawson County High School has
transitioned to an electronic format for
all forms this school year. The necessary
forms can be found on the school’s web
site https://dchs.dawsoncountyschools.
org/extracurricular/athletics/athletic_
forms.
FROM 1B
Vollyball
echoed her coach’s sentiments about
both the team and the tournament in
pre-game comments.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better
group of girls or coaching staff to play
with and under for my last year of high
school volleyball,” Bennett said. “We’ve
had our ups and downs in the season but
at the end of the day this team plays like
a family.”
“We’ve had a very successful season,”
Bennett continued. “Making history
doesn’t stop here for us. We plan to
make more as we head into State.”
From the opening serve Saturday eve
ning, it was clear that the Lady Tigers
had hit the road with the determination
to win as senior Marlie Townley quickly
established her presence at the net.
Bennet looked strong from the service
line and juniors Olivia Walls and Hayley
Selzer combined to overwhelm the
Rebels by a score of 25 - 12.
After a tight exchange of points
between the teams to open the second
set, Dawson County opened up another
large lead on Haralson County and
closed out the set with a 25 - 17 victory
to set themselves up for the sweep head
ing into set three.
The third set belonged to the Lady
Tigers from start to finish as the team
dominated in all levels of the game to
quickly win the match with a final score
of 25 - 8. The victory eliminated
Haralson County from the tournament
and advanced the Lady Tigers to the
Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.
“The girls played very well tonight,”
Porter said. “They are all super excited
about a Sweet 16 repeat.”
Based on the results of the remaining
games, Dawson County headed to
Savannah for the second round on
Tuesday, Oct. 22 to face off against
another pack of Rebels, these from the
top-seeded Groves High School out of
Garden City. Results were unavailable
as of press time.
The City of Dawsonville would like to thank the following
sponsors for their generous donations for our
Customer Appreciation Week.
We appreciate your support!
******************************
*Kroger *Dunkin’ Donuts *Food Lion
*DaVinci’s Donuts *Because Coffee
*Fajita Grill *E1 Rio *Purple Corn Boutique
* Atlanta Motorsports Park * Miles Hansford & Tallant
*TP Nails *United Community Bank
Photo courtesy of Sam Reed
FCA's Greater Hall County Metro Director Clint Fair addresses the crowd at
the annual Fields of Faith event on Oct. 16 at Dawson County High School.
His message focused on the topic of "Making the Right Choices."
King Crossword
ACROSS
42
Falling-blocks
suffix
1 Lily variety
game
19
1927 Lind
5 Homer's out
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cry
related
21
Rowing need
8 Wax-coated
49
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24
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cheese
Brockovich
25
Khan title
12 Bivouac
50
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26
Period of inac
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52
— colada
tivity
14 Field mouse
53
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28
Gun lobby org.
15 Memo acro
act?
29
Pessimistic
nym
54
Shell game
30
Noise
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item
31
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tles
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Support
36
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56
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38
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58
Longings
what
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41
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DOWN
hand
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42
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27 Human-like
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44
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33 "No seats" sign
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46
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34 Pizzazz
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35 Detective
8
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38 Say it isn't so
9
Fire some folks 48
NASCAR cir
39 Actor Beatty
10
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cuits
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11
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51
Teensy
©2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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