About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2019)
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." 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