Newspaper Page Text
SPORTS
DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
facebook.com/dawsonnews
twitter.com/dawsonnews
Dawson football schedule finalized
Zach Holtzclaw
holds the all-time
passing yards and
touchdown
records for the
DCHS football
team.
Jacob Smith
Dawson County News
Tigers continue rivalry with N. Hall
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
The northeast Georgia high
school sports outlet Blitz Sports
recently announced its latest Hall
of Fame class, with five Dawson
County athletes making the list.
Included in this year’s class
were two recent graduates and
three Tigers from previous gradu
ating classes.
The most recent DCHS athletes
enshrined into the Blitz HOF
were former quarterback Zach
Holtzclaw and track and field star
Ethan Smith.
Two other football players were
on the list, including class of 2019
safety Logan Barnes and class of
2013 wide receiver Bruce Clark.
Rounding out the recognized
Tigers was class of 2019 soccer
standout Rachel Rajczak.
Holtzclaw finished his career
with the all-time passing yards
and passing touchdown records
for DCHS, amassing 7,299 pass
ing yards and 76 passing touch
downs. He was also the 2021
Region 7-3A Player of the Year.
“It means a lot continuing the
tradition of Dawson players in the
Blitz Hall of Fame,” Holtzclaw
said. “I’m honored and blessed to
continue that tradition.”
Smith was one of the most suc
cessful track and field athletes on
a team with historic success. He
holds the school record for the
800-meter and was the anchor leg
of the record-setting 4x400 and
4x800 teams. He won a total five
region titles in his career and had
three top-5 finishes at the state
competition.
Barnes holds the school record
for most tackles with 304. A two-
time All-Region and All-State
selection, he went on to play for
Wofford for his collegiate career.
Clark was instrumental in the
Tigers’ success in the early part
of the 2010s, becoming the star
target of quarterback Tyler
Dominy. Clark finished his
DCHS career with 2,200 receiv
ing yards and 30 touchdowns
before playing college football at
Shorter.
Rajczak totaled over 100 goal
involvements in her four years
with the Tigers, racking up 67
goals and 46 assists. A four-time
All-Region and two-time All-
State selection, she set a school
record with 15 assists her sopho
more season.
Hitting the links with a spin
Photos by Erica Jones
Disc golfers enjoy the new "Shiners 9" course at Main Street Park in Dawsonville.
Disc golf comes to Dawsonville this summer
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
This summer, the City
of Dawsonville is adding
yet another exciting new
activity to Main Street
Park: a nine-hole disc
golf course.
The course, dubbed
the “Shiners 9”, winds
through Main Street
Park, beginning and end-
ing near the park
entrance behind City
Hall. Currently, the
course consists of bas
kets and tee pads marked
off with flags, and the
city will soon be pouring
concrete tee pads and
adding signs for each
hole.
Disc golf is a sport in
which plastic discs are
thrown into a series of
metal baskets, and much
like traditional golf the
goal is to complete each
hole with the fewest
number of throws possi
ble. The sport has gained
popularity over the past
several years, and while
there are disc golf cours
es in neighboring coun
ties like Lumpkin and
Lorsyth the “Shiners 9”
is the first course to be
installed in Dawson
County.
“Lor anybody who
plays disc golf, it’s like
any course that you hear
about that’s close by —
everybody goes to play
it,” City Clerk Beverly
Banister said.
Banister, who disc
golfs with her husband,
was instrumental in the
installation of the course
at Main Street Park.
Together with other vol
unteers, the pair have put
time and effort into help
ing design and fine-tune
the new course.
“One of the teachers
over at the junior high is
really passionate as well
and he was the one who
actually laid out his ideas
of where the baskets
could go and then we
just walked it and fine-
tuned it and everything,”
Banister said. “It’s so
much fun; it’s something
I’ve done for a while so I
was kind of advocating
for it here.”
While the installation
of the concrete tee pads
and signs is still in prog
ress, that hasn’t hindered
disc golfers from enjoy
ing the new course, City
Manager Bob Bolz said.
“We’ve had a ton of
people playing; it is tre
mendously popular and
it’s something else to do
at the city,” Bolz said.
“It’s really just getting
started but we’ve already
got a whole lot of people
playing it. We’ve had
people come in and play
from all over the county
and other counties.”
The signs that will be
installed at each tee pad
will include the hole
See Disc |3B
Former Tigers
standout Sapp
part of Ole Miss
CWS title team
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
On Sunday, June 26, former Dawson County
baseball standout Hudson Sapp got to be a part of
history, as the Ole Miss baseball team won its first
national championship in program history after win
ning the College World Series.
The son of recently-retired Tigers head coach
Dwayne Sapp, Hudson is currently a redshirt fresh
man on the Rebels and plays in the outfield.
With the high-caliber roster around him, Sapp has
seen limited playing time but has been able to learn
from his teammates who helped build the team’s
success.
His offensive highlight of the season was a two-
run double he hit against Auburn earlier this season,
while his defensive highlight was a diving catch in
the outfield against Memphis.
Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics
DCHS alum Hudson Sapp was a member of the
College World Series-winning Ole Miss base
ball team.
Lake dweller, diver talk about
importance of dock clearing
By Ashlyn Yule
DCN Regional Staff
As the summer sun
begins to rise over Lake
Lanier, folks who live on
the lake, often called
‘dwellers,’ start to take to
the water to boat, swim
and float.
While boat safety is
important for everyone on
the lake, there are certain
risks that dwellers are
privy to: What’s under
your dock?
Lake Lanier Recovery
Divers, a group of divers
that recover lost items in
Lake Lanier, has been
diving around and below
dwellers’ docks, clearing
them of any debris, furni
ture or trash that could
harm someone jumping
off the dock.
Allison Zafft, a resident
of Gwinnett County in
the Buford Dam area, has
been getting her dock
cleared by Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers for
“probably about five or
six years.”
Zafft said she and her
husband have two chil
dren that like to swim;
they took lessons when
they were younger, and
they are now competitive
swimmers.
“Water safety was
always important to us,”
Zafft said. “And now,
after living on the lake,
we just thought [getting
our dock cleared] was
necessary as the kids got
older and wanted to jump
off the dock and go
swimming in the lake.”
Richard Pickering, a
diver with Lake Lanier
Recovery Divers, said he
has been helping the Zafft
family maintain good
“dock integrity” by
inspecting below the dock
and retrieving any haz
ards, some more danger
ous than others.
One evening, Zafft said
she and her family were
out for dinner when a
storm hit. They watched
through the dock cameras
as they lost furniture to
the wind and waves on
Lake Lanier.
Zafft said she and her
family were out for din
ner when a storm hit.
They watched through
their dock cameras as
they lost furniture to the
See Dock|3B
Player Of The Week!
Hudson Sapp
The player of the week is
DCHS alum
Hudson Sapp, who was
part of the Ole Miss
baseball teams national
championship squad.
DUNKIN
DONUTS
DAHLONEGA
Industrial Park Rd.
We’ve Gone Green! M-F: 8:00 - 5:00
“We will be here when you need us. ” 130 Industrial Park Rd, Dawsonville
Dawsonville’s Premier Collision Center
