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DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
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Boys improvements more than just record
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
Just over a month ago, when
the DCN sat down with the
Dawson County High School
boys varsity basketball team dur
ing Winter Media Day, the three
players present for the event
looked focused and collected.
Coming off a challenging tran
sition season that yielded just six
wins, the junior trio — Trey
Harvey, Ethan Parker and Caden
Reed — could have made excus
es about being tasked with lead
ing a young roster.
Instead, those players
embraced their role as leaders
and talked about building
accountability within the entire
team.
As a result, the Tigers have
already matched the previous sea
son’s win total, accumulating a
6-6 record roughly halfway into
the 2022-23 regular season.
By the end of Winter Media
Day, head coach Todd Cottrell
could hardly hold back a smile in
admiration of the trio’s maturity.
“We take a big role in being
leaders for our team,” Harvey
said. “But everybody is a leader
on our team. Everybody’s talking,
doing the right thing, being
accountable and holding others
accountable. It’s a good group
this year. We’re excited.”
While the win total may be
nice to look at, the real improve
ment within the team this season
reaches deeper than that.
One important element of
growth has been the team’s abili
ty to hold leads.
Last season, the team faced
several single-digit losses that
were a few small outcomes away
from victory. While the Tigers
have had a couple leads slip away
this season, the team’s resilience
revealed itself in close wins
against Model and East Jackson.
Another area of improvement
has been the efforts off the bench.
The aforementioned trio, along
with sharpshooter Joshua Priest,
have scored the bulk of the team’s
See Boys 13B
Rio White Dawson County News
Head coach Todd Cottrell and the Tigers bench watch the
action on the court during the game against East Jackson
on Friday, Dec. 2.
Photo courtesy of James Gilbert/Getty Images
Chase Elliott celebrates after winning the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday,
July 10.
Elliott’s Atlanta win among top sports events of 2022
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
Dawsonville native
Chase Elliott continued his
run as one of NASCAR’s
best drivers during the
2022 season, winning a
series-best five races and
finishing fourth overall in
the final playoff standings.
During the season,
Elliott achieved another
career milestone by win
ning at Atlanta Motor
Speedway for the first
time in the Cup Series.
“I’m just proud to be
from here, still live here
and grateful that the fans
from this state have always
kept me as part of the fam
ily,” Elliott said after the
Atlanta race.
Elliott also continued his
reign as the sport’s Most
Popular Driver, winning
the award for the fifth year
running.
He finished the 2022
season with his five wins,
12 top-5 finishes, 20 top-
10 finishes and 857 laps
led.
Dawson County
varsity football
wins region title
For just the second time
in school history, the
Dawson County varsity
football team won a region
title, this time securing it
with a triumphant win
over rivals Lumpkin
County.
The Tigers posted an 8-3
overall record during the
2022 season but went
undefeated in region 7-3A,
posting two shutouts along
the way.
In the team’s eighth sea
son under head coach Sid
Maxwell, the Tigers used a
stout defense and a strong
core of running backs to
find success.
The season culminated
in the last regular-season
game, where Dawson and
Lumpkin faced off for the
biggest matchup in the
rivalry’s history. The
Tigers prevailed 38-10 and
would earn a state playoff
spot, falling to Monroe
Area in the first round.
Cross Country
teams both finish
top 6 at state
The DCHS boys and
girls cross country teams
both made major improve
ments from the previous
season, with the girls fin
ishing fifth at the Class 3A
state championship and
the boys finishing sixth.
Despite bringing a rela
tively young group of run
ners, the girls team had
three top 20 state finishers,
including a ninth-place
overall finish by freshman
Hayden Hand.
Just a couple weeks ear
lier, the girls team had fin
ished as runner-up in the
region championship, just
a year after not qualifying
for state.
The boys moved up to a
sixth-place finish a year
after finishing 11th. This
time around, junior Tyler
Tangel led the way for a
team that had finished
third at the region champi
onship.
Track and field
continues with
sustained success
In fresh examples of the
storied history of DCHS
track and field, the 2022
season saw school records
broken, two region cham
pions and four top-6 fin
ishes at the State Finals.
Early in the season,
junior Emily Kurtz broke
the school’s pole vault
record with a height of 8
feet 7 inches.
At the Region 7-3A
championship, both the
boys and girls 4x400 relay
teams won their region
championships.
School records were
broken by both 4x200
relay teams and individu
ally by 800-meter runners
See Events 13B
Rio White Dawson County News
Lady Tigers head coach Will Anglin speaks to
his team during a timeout earlier this season.
Player Of The Week!
Trey Harvey
The Player of the Week
is Trey Harvey who has
completed 5 double -
doubles so far this season.
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A year of excellence
Lady Tigers are
using depth to
fuel momentum
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
The holiday season typically signals the halfway
mark of most high school basketball schedules, with
the Dawson County varsity girls team posting a 9-4
record so far.
For first-year head coach Will Anglin, he has been
able to witness a roster that has shown strength
through its depth — with the team looking stronger
by the week.
The team’s journey this season truly began at the
tail end of last season, when the Lady Tigers fin
ished with three straight losses to mark a disappoint
ing end to an otherwise good season.
After beating rival North Hall early in the Region
7-3A tournament, Dawson’s relative youth began to
show.
While the loss to eventual state champions
See Lady Tigers 13B
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