About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2023)
SPORTS DawsonNewscom Wednesday, March 15, 2023 facebook.com/dawsonnews twitter.com/dawsonnews Relay teams lead Tigers Rio White Dawson County News Will Kurtz runs the third leg of the 4x400 relay during the team's championship run at the 2022 Region 7-3A Championships. Kurtz helped the relay team get off to a strong start to the 2023 season with a win. By Rio White riowhite@dawsonnews.com Dawson County High School’s track and field program began their season at the North Hall Tri- Meet on Tuesday, March 7, with multiple relay teams earning first- place finishes. Going up against talented teams in North Hall and Rabun County, the Tigers gave themselves a chal lenging test to begin the season. Dawson’s defending Region 7-3A champion 4x400 relay teams got out to strong starts again, with both the boys and girls sides win ning their races on Tuesday. For the boys, senior Will Kurtz — who is replacing Ethan Smith as the anchor leg — put up the fastest split at 54 seconds to put in opening meet the Tigers ahead to win by under a half second. On the girls team, Emily Kurtz put up a 63-second leg to lead the experienced group to a victory by six seconds. In the shorter-length relays, the boys won both the 4x100 and 4x200 races while the girls scorched past North Hall with a 16-second win in the 4x200 race. The Lady Tigers also showed their strength again in the relative ly new girls 4x800 relay, where Dawson won by seven seconds. Last season, the 4x800 group fin- ished sixth in the State Championships. Individually, freshman Zamar Everett made a statement in his young career by winning the 300- meter hurdles with a time of 47.9. Several others on the boys team would earn runner-up fin ishes, including Troupe Ford in the 100-meter dash, Will Kurtz in the 200-meter dash, Aaric Muilenburg in the 400-meter dash, Colton Land in the discus and Collin Robinson in the shot put. Katie Gloeckner forged a posi tive start to her junior season with a four-second win in the 400- meter dash, while Elizabeth Knight won the high jump. Runner-up finishes on the girls team included Lauren Kurtz in the 200-meter dash and Anna LeCave in the 800-meter race. Dawson County traveled to Lumpkin County, Tuesday, March 14, for a tri-match with the hosts and East Hall. SOCCER Lady Tigers win in region opener Elena Nelson dribbles down the pitch dur ing Dawson County's game against West Hall on Tuesday, March 7. She scored the open ing goal of the game. Rio White Dawson County News Boys fall to West Hall after missed chances By Rio White riowhite@dawsonnews.com Dawson County’s varsity soccer teams began their Region 7-3A schedules by visiting West Hall on Tuesday, March 7, with the girls team winning 3-0 and the boys losing by the same score. For the Lady Tigers, the victory extended their undefeated season, with the team posting eight wins and one draw so far. Coming off an 8-0 win against Gordon Central and a 9-1 win over Lakeview Academy, Dawson once again controlled possession throughout the game against West Hall. Head coach Chess Hamby believed Tuesday’s performance was not quite at the same intensity as those previous two games, speaking with the team at halftime about maintaining a high level of play regard less of the opponent. “We kind of let [West Hall] dictate what we were doing, and we shouldn’t have been doing that,” Hamby said. “We let them wad us up early.. .we were trying to drive [the ball] through small openings, so we had to back up to go forward.” While West Hall rarely posed an offensive threat, their defensive rigidity would occasionally inter rupt the usual flow of the Lady Tigers offense. Despite that, Elena Nelson opened the scoring early by flicking a volley into the net from a Harper Dussouy corner kick just eight minutes into the match. After a few more scoring chances went by, Dawson doubled their advantage at the 23rd minute through Melodie Martin, whose 20-yard belter proved too strong for the opposing goalkeeper to handle. In addition to Hamby’s talk with the team at half time, new assistant coach Abbie Crane also encour aged the team to make adjustments for the second half. According to fellow assistant coach George Graves, Crane has been important to the team’s success by helping instill confidence into the young players. And as soon as the sec ond half began, the Lady Tigers took an aggressive approach, scoring within the first two minutes. Senior Daisy Vargas Sanchez threaded a long through ball to Dussouy, who charged toward the goal and scored to give Dawson instant momen tum. The Lady Tigers held onto that lead for the rest of the game, giving them selves a strong start to a region slate that does not get any easier. “I told the girls that we play in a very good region in our state,” Hamby said. “We can’t have a down moment. We can’t have a down half. Having an off half or off 10 minutes could be the difference between a region champi onship or not.” The boys team came into the game against West Hall having won against Lakeview Academy despite dealing with a lita ny of injuries, including to key offensive players Sheppard Kohler and Alessandro Franco. While midfielder lunior Sanchez was back in the lineup after his own injury, he was often brought in and out of the game as a precaution. In the face of those issues, the Tigers played a strong opening 20 minutes against the Spartans by creating several positive offensive possessions. But a defensive error by Dawson allowed West Hall to get on the board with around 26 minutes played in the game. The second half saw even more offensive oppor tunities for the Tigers, with Hector Tenorio, lacob Felkai and Saul Ruiz all making positive contribu tions. But those missed chanc es would eventually come back to hurt the Tigers, as See Soccer 13B Pitching prowess fuels Dawson to opening region wins By Rio White riowhite@dawsonnews.com If there were any questions about how long the start ing pitchers for Dawson County’s varsity baseball team could last in the first region series of the season, those were quickly answered by juniors Trey Harvey and loshua Priest, who helped anchor the Tigers in a pair of wins over West Hall last week. Dawson won their Region 7-3A home opener 13-1 on Tuesday, March 7, before falling on the road 10-6 on Wednesday. The Tigers rebounded with a 9-2 win back at home Friday night. “I like where we’re at. I think we’re in a good spot,” head coach Logan Burt said. “Going back to Tuesday’s game I thought we played well. Wednesday we went out, we’re not focused...but what I’m proud of is the way the guys bounced back.” With the baseball season beginning just as the bas ketball season ended, Harvey and Priest pitched in two to three-inning sets for the first couple of weeks until their arms were fully warmed up to withstand a higher pitch count. And by the time the Region 7-3A opener rolled around, Harvey already looked in mid-season form. After splitting their early non-region games with a 4-4 record, the Tigers hit the ground running in region play with a 13-1 rout of West Hall at home last Tuesday. Harvey only needed five innings to show his formi dable form, racking up 13 strikeouts before the offense triggered the mercy rule. At the plate, senior Colton Rucker led by example in all three games against West Hall, showing all sides of his versatility. See Baseball 13B Player Of The Week! Trey Harvey The Player of the Week is Trey Harvey, who threw 13 strikeouts in 5 innings during the baseball team’s 13-1 win over West Hall. Sponsored by: S Certified Collision Center 706-216-0992 We’ve Gone Green! “We will be here when you need us. ” ^!sT 01 DUNKIN DONUTS DAHLONEGA Industrial Park Rd. M-F: 8:00 - 5:00 130 Industrial Park Rd, Dawsonville Dawsonville’s Premier Collision Center *A COMMUNITY OF HEART EXPERTS CLOSE TO HOME N0RTHSIDE.COM/EXCELLENCE LOOK TO NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL HEART INSTITUTE * EXCELLENCE AT HEART
