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DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
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Volleyball team rebounds against Lumpkin
Felkai led team in kills, blocks during matches
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
Head coach Tanya Porter has
made it a point to give her
Dawson County volleyball
team a challenging schedule
this season, which was reflect
ed in their opening trio of
matches hosted by North
Forsyth on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
With the hosts coming off a
Final Four appearance in last
season’s 7A state tournament,
the Lady Tigers also had tough
opponents in 7A team Forsyth
Central and region 7-3A rivals
Lumpkin County.
Senior setter Abby Felkai
was all over the floor Tuesday
night, leading the offense with
28 kills while playing out of
position for the night, accord
ing to Porter.
“I was proud of her for mak
ing the most of it,” Porter said.
“She’s used to being on the
setting side of things and mak
ing everybody else look good.
But she can do both, which is
really a great attribute for her.”
In addition to Felkai, players
such as Megan Roche and
Maggie Allen helped out offen-
sively while Eva Bishop
showed strength at the net with
her defensive skills.
Across all three matches,
Felkai led the team in both
kills and blocks on the night.
Offensively, Abby Clouser led
the team with 24 assists while
Kirklyn Porter had 23 assists
and five service aces in her
return to the sport after a year
off. Defensively, Hope Selzer
led the team with 16 digs.
Dawson began the night fac
ing Central, with the classifica
tion gap making little differ
ence in a tight first set.
Leading 14-11 at the first
timeout of the match, the Lady
Tigers lost momentum and
allowed Central to go on an
See Volleyball 13B
Rio White Dawson County News
Sophomore Eva Bishop celebrates with her teammates after
making a crucial block in the team's win against Lumpkin County.
‘The bond is truly important’
NBHA
Youth&Teen
NBHA
Youth&Teen
WORLD
AM p io NS/y//> v
Photo courtesy of Rodeobum Photography
LilyVerhoven and Digarun compete at the NBHA Youth andTeen World Championships in Perry, Ga.,
on Friday, July 29.
Verhoven earns fastest time at barrel racing world championship
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
Late last month, Dawson
County High School senior
Lily Verhoven and her
trusty horse Woodrow —
with Digarun as his show
name — traveled to Perry
and accomplished the fast
est time at the National
Barrel Horse Association
Youth and Teen World
Championships with a time
of 14.592.
While Verhoven has been
a part of many barrel racing
competitions, this one was
particularly special due to
the bond she has with
Woodrow and the journey
they have had together.
“It felt good, he definite
ly came in there and
worked,” Verhoven said in
an interview with NBHA
after the event. “The first
go he wasn’t feeling his
best so we got him looked
at. Once we got that fixed
he went to work. I kind of
just had to sit there and not
get in his way at all.”
Taking an interest in
horses at a young age,
Verhoven has been a full
time caretaker for a stable
of horses for several years.
For the past year, she and
Woodrow have been work
ing together and becoming
a dynamic duo at many
events.
The importance of both
their relationship and the
level of competition they
are in is reflected in the ini
tiative she has taken in
ensuring Woodrow’s health
and happiness.
From driving several
hours to see her trusted vet
to spending hours on the
phone asking horse experts
what she could be doing
better, Verhoven wanted to
be as prepared as possible
going into the world cham
pionships.
“You want your horse to
feel a hundred percent into
it,” Verhoven said. “It
helped that our vet took his
time with us and said, ‘This
is what’s wrong, let’s fix
it.’”
The culmination of their
teamwork was on display
at the world championships
in Perry, where people
from all across the country
and globe came to com
pete.
Verhoven’s work over
the course of the week-long
event had just as much to
do with keeping her horse
calm as it did navigating
their routine.
She calmly worked
through Woodrow’s anxi
ety, which at one point
See Horse 13B
FOOTBALL
Tigers ramp up
intensity before
season begins
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
All through the past week, practice has been increas
ingly intense for the Dawson County football team as
they prepare for the sea
son opener at home
against Jackson County
on Friday, Aug. 19.
As has been the case in
previous seasons, head
coach Sid Maxwell put
together a challenging
non-region schedule to get
his team playing at its
best.
By facing teams from
higher classifications, the
3A Tigers will seek to get
the most of a roster that
has had major changes in
the past year.
The Tigers are looking
to be ready for the 6A
Panthers by learning from a scrimmage defeat to fellow
6A team North Forsyth.
During the most recent practices, each area of the
team focused on areas of needed improvement with a
heightened sense of urgency.
A relatively young offense had quarterbacks Davis
Glass and Walker Massey take plenty of reps with a
variety of alignments, giving them as many perspec
tives as possible.
With a new set of running backs on the team and the
receivers needing to adjust to a new quarterback, offen
sive coordinator Andy LeBlanc had his eye on every
See Football 13B
Rio White Dawson County News
An offensive and a defensive lineman square
off during a drill.
Dawson County
Tigers Football
Next game: Season
opener vs. Jackson
County (home) Friday,
8/19
What to expect:
Jackson County is
coming off its first
state playoff appear
ance under head
coach Rich
McWhorter. Both
teams will have new-
look offenses with
plenty to prove.
Top-5 finish at Richmond brings
Elliott closer to regular-season title
Photo courtesy of Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Chase Elliott drives the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet
Camaro in a 2018 race at Richmond Raceway.
Elliott finished fifth at this year's Federated Auto
Parts 400.
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
Coming off two finish
es outside the top-10,
Chase Elliott had his
work cut out for him with
a starting position of 23rd
at the Federated Auto
Parts 400 at Richmond
Raceway on Sunday, Aug.
14.
In a race that eventually
resulted in a second con
secutive victory for Kevin
Harvick, Elliott maneu
vered up the track and
secured a fifth position
finish.
While Elliott has been
squarely focused on
improving his finishes in
recent weeks, one of the
storylines coming into the
second race at Richmond
this season was his
chance to mathematically
secure the regular season
points championship.
Elliott needed to clear
Ryan Blaney by at least
120 points by the end of
the Richmond race to
clinch that title.
With Blaney fighting
hard for a playoff spot,
his 14 combined stage
points and 10th position
See Elliott 13B
Player Of
The Week!
Abby Clouser
The player of the week is
Abby Clouser, whose assists
helped get the volleyball
team to a 3-2 record to start
the season.
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