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B
Section
February 2, 2012
Girls Basketball
’Nettes beat Murray and Cedartown
Coming off a tough week of
road tips and three losses, the
’Nettes came home to their own
court to face another tough chal
lenger in the Lady Indians of
Murray County on Tuesday
evening. We had played well
against Murray at their house
earlier in the season in a give and
take ball game that saw the teams
all tied up at the half, but would
eventually give way to a ’Nettes
10-point victory.
The ’Nettes would control the
tip but were initially unable to
put points on the board, but they
didn’t give any up either. The
’Nettes would get their first
points on a steal by Gamer who
would be fouled on the fast break
attempt. She makes her shot as
well as the foul shot for a three-
point play to put our ladies on the
score board. Murray would run a
full press while the ’Nettes
would play man coverage inside
the three point line and our de
fense would be the key for the
evening. Although they would
stay close in the first quarter, the
Lady Indians were earning their
points and very little was being
given up by the ’Nettes. Angel
would follow the steal by Gamer
with one of her own and put up
another two points for the
’Nettes and we would end the
first quarter with a 14-11 advan
tage.
Murray would have posses
sion to start the second quarter
and both teams would continue
their first quarter strategies.
Early in the quarter Goss would
haul in a full court line drive pass
and handle it with ease as she
laid in two points for the ’Nettes,
but the game would remain far
too close for comfort. We would
get a burst of offense when
Angel would connect for three
points and follow that up imme
diately with a toss to Mullinax
for three and we would go to the
half with a lead of 32-26, ex
tending our lead to six points.
The ’Nettes would emerge
from their halftime visit with
Coach Jacobs inspired to play
defense. Evidently, after two
quarters of watching their ball
movement the coaches were able
to identify some weak spots and
our players would respond well,
New era begins: Chris Parker
named head coach of PHS Football
on your last day you’re leaving
the place better than you found
it. I feel like we did that here and
I am very proud of that.” The
Parker Family consists of his
wife of four years, Kimberly and
their two-and-a-half-year-old
daughter Elbe. “Jasper is a won
derful town to raise a family in.
There are great schools and a real
strong sense of community, and
that is very important to Kim
berly and I.”
What is also attractive to
Coach Parker is that there is a
very active and healthy recre
ation department, two feeder
football programs at JMS and
PCMS and it all spills into one
high school in the county. “That
is a dream scenario for any coach
and getting everybody on board
to support each other can only
help every program.”
When the BOE made their de
cision on Wednesday night,
Coach Parker adopted a football
program that is similar to the one
he received at Chapel Hill. PHS
has gone 10-40 in the past five
years, and although they have
made it to the playoffs eight
times in school history, they have
never won a playoff game. So
what are his expectations for
Pickens High School’s Football
Program? “I am going to do what
I have always done and that is to
instill discipline, order, have fun
and build young men. If we do
that and we have support, then I
am certain that we can win some
ball games and be successful.
My overall goal is to build a
football program in Pickens
County, from the recreation
league to the high school. As
long as you have “hope” you can
do great things.”
And so as Coach Parker’s
tenure begins at PHS, there is a
sense of hope for the school and
the community: hope for the fu
ture of our football programs and
hope that the town of Jasper once
again shuts down on Friday
nights when the Dragons play
ball.
Damon Howell / Photo
Taylor Howell plays some tough “D ” on a Murray County
player.
just taking apart the Lady Indian
offense. Our guards would cover
up their opponents in what would
be the ’Nettes best defensive
quarter of the season. Angel
would pick three steals, Kalson
would get a take away and a
blocked shot, Goss would jump
in for two steals and Mullinax
would add another. Meanwhile,
under the goal Smith would take
complete control over her oppo
nents and would pull in four re
bounds and put up eight points to
lead the ’Nettes offensive effort.
The Lady Indians would only
manage two points in the quarter,
which would end with the
’Nettes on top 49-28.
The fourth quarter would pick
up where the third quarter left
off, and it wasn’t long before we
were able to start involving the
entire team in good solid play.
Over the course of the season our
bench has continued to look
good and demonstrate just how
vital they are to the success of
this team. What was a 10-point
victory just one month ago
would give way this evening to a
61-38 win. Although earlier
losses are still tough to take, it
does continue to show that our
level of play is improving and
benefitting from playing the
larger and tougher opponents.
Leading the offense charge
for the ’Nettes would be Goss
with 14, Smith 13, Garner 11,
Mullinax 9, Angel 8, Kalson,
Continued on 2B
Following a unanimous vote
by the Pickens County Board of
Education approving Principal
Eddie McDonald’s recommenda
tion, a new era in Dragon Foot
ball began. Coach Chris Parker
officially took the reins as the
head football coach at PHS on
Wednesday night, and if history
does repeat itself, it marks the
beginning of a winning tradition.
Coach Parker grew up and was a
football letterman in Foley, AL,
which has a rich tradition of foot
ball greats like Kenny Stabler
and Julio Jones. After gradua
tion, Coach Parker attended The
University of Alabama and grad
uated in 2001 with a BS in Sec
ondary Education.
Following graduation. Coach
Parker got a job teaching History
at Sequoyah High School in
Cherokee County. “The funny
thing is, I took the job as a
teacher and did not get ap
proached about coaching football
until after I had gotten the teach
ing position,” he says laughing.
It was fate that had a different
life plan for Coach Parker. While
at Sequoyah, Coach Parker
served as the offensive coordina
tor, worked with the defensive
backs, special teams and strength
& conditioning program. During
his tenure at Sequoyah, the team
won their first Region Champi
onship in 2003 and advanced to
the state quarterfinals in 2004,
finishing 5th in the state in
AAAAA. In six seasons at Se
quoyah, Coach Parker was a vital
part of 44 wins and 4 playoff ap
pearances. Coach Parker says of
his time at Sequoyah, “I learned
a great deal from Coach
Maxwell about how to build a
program and how to expect great
things from your players.”
After the 2007 season at Se
quoyah, Coach Parker was given
another opportunity to advance
his career when he took the head
football coach position at Chapel
Hill High School in Douglas
County. In the eight seasons prior
to his arrival, Chapel Hill had a
record of 15-65, so the expecta-
Chris Parker will lead the
Dragons next football sea
son.
tions were relatively low for
Coach Parker and his staff.
Mostly he wanted to take a strug
gling program and instill disci
pline and order and hopefully
win some football games. What
he did instead was a record-
breaking season for Chapel Hill,
going 9-3 and winning the
school’s first ever play-off game.
“I didn’t know we would be that
good right out of the gate, but I
was fortunate to have some good
players, great administrative sup
port and we had the ball bounce
our way a few times,” said
Parker of his time at Chapel Hill.
That year earned Chapel Hill the
AJC Top Turnaround Program
and Coach Parker the #1 New
Coach in the state. Parker took
Chapel Hill back to the post sea
son in 2009, going 7-4, and win
ning a 5AAAA-South sub-region
championship in 2011, going 6-
4, but falling just short of the
state playoffs in a double over
time loss to Sprayberry in a re
gion play-in game.
Over the past four years,
Chapel Hill went 26-17 under
Coach Parker, but when an op
portunity arose in Jasper, Ga., he
felt like he needed to investigate
further. “It wasn’t something I’d
say I was looking to do, but the
opportunity came up and it is
what is best for my family at this
point,” said Parker. “As a coach
you’re going to have a lot of jobs
and I think you always hope that
PHS Basketball
Dragons finish the week 2-0
Sports Fanatic
Changing of the Guard
Damon Howell / Photo
David Culbreth sets a screen for Spencer Jones.
The Pickens High School
boys basketball team hosted two
sub-region opponents this past
week and soundly defeated both.
Last Tuesday, the Dragons
hosted the Murray County Indi
ans. Murray has been on a down
hill slide, losing 5 out of their last
6 games, while Pickens was
coming off a win against North
Forsyth.
The game started off well for
the Dragons as they would put
up 18 points in the first quarter
and hold Murray to only 3. The
Indians would come back in the
second to add 21 points to their
total, but the Dragons stayed
with them shot-for-shot with 21
of their own. The halftime score
would be 39-24 in favor of the
Dragons. The third quarter
would almost be a repeat of the
first, with Pickens putting up 17
to Murray’s 7. Eighteen more
points added by the Dragons
would seal the fate of Murray in
the fourth and give the fans a
final score of Pickens 74 to Mur
rays 44.
Coach Steinhauer commented
that he was very proud of the
way the boys played. They shot
the ball well and hopefully this
win will give the team some mo
mentum heading towards the lat
ter half of sub-region play.
Leading the way for the Dragons
was Spencer Jones with 21
points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists.
Sam Crawford would add 15
points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and
3 blocked shots. Wesley Easter-
wood gave Pickens 12 points and
5 rebounds.
Last Friday the Dragons
would host the Cedartown Bull
dogs. The last time these two
teams met, Cedartown would
walk away winners 66-60 over
the Dragons. The Dragons would
be ready this time, even if the
game didn’t start off that way. In
the first quarter, Cedartown
would have the hot hand and
outscore the Dragons 19-7.
Coach Steinhauer would later
say, “We started the game slow
and it looked like we were not
ready to play.” At one point dur
ing the first half, the Dragons
were down as much as 18 points
to the Bulldogs. With a good sec
ond quarter however, Pickens
would cut the lead to 5 points
and go in trailing 31-26. The
Dragons would continue their
come-back in the third quarter
putting up 13 more points to
Cedartown’s 9. Going into the
fourth quarter the Dragons would
trail by only 1 point. The fourth
would prove to be a good quarter
for the Dragons as they began to
pull away. Cedartown did not
want to go quietly however, as
they would make a couple of
runs during the fourth with the
Continued on 2B
By Tommy Gartrell
Over the last couple of weeks,
local sports fans have anxiously
awaited se
lection of a
new head
fo o tb a 11
coach at
Pickens
High
School.
Since the
official
word came
last
Wednesday night that Chris
Parker was hired for the position,
folks rushed to learn about this
man. It seems that every conver
sation turns toward this subject.
The questions abound. Is he any
good? Will the Dragons be more
successful under his leadership?
Well, I can not predict the future,
but let me share some facts
which I do know.
Pickens High School fielded
its first football team in 1957
and, through 55 football seasons,
the Dragons posted a record of
213 wins, 333 losses and 3 ties.
Eight victories in a single season
remains the high water mark for
any team. The feat was accom
plished by the 1971, 1986, 1990,
1999 and 2004 squads. The
Dragons mustered only 14 win
ning seasons in 55 years. In the
last 30 years, five men held the
head coaching position. None
these men had prior experience
as a head coach before he took
the job in Pickens County.
Prior to Chris Parker’s arrival
at Chapel Hill High School in
Douglasville, Ga., the football
team’s total record stood at 15-
65. In his first season, the Pan
thers posted at 9-3 record
reached the playoffs for the first
time in history. Parker was
named “Top New Coach in the
State” for the 2008 season. The
team reached the state playoffs in
three of the four years during
Parker’s tenure. His record is 26-
17. Parker was the offensive co
ordinator at Sequoyah High
School in Cherokee County be
fore moving to Douglas County.
The Chiefs enjoyed some of their
greatest success while he
coached there including a State
Quarter Final game in 2004.
Parker’s credentials are im
pressive which brings hope to the
Pickens program. I believe,
based solely on the number of
talented athletes in the current
junior and sophomore classes
and a more favorable region re
structuring for the next two years
that the Dragons will post a bet
ter record in 2012. However, ex
pecting miracles is fool-hearty.
Strong football programs are
built. They simply do not just
happen. Board of Education
member Byron Long told me that
Danielle is a junior at Pickens
High School. She has played
three years of ’Nettes basketball
as a guard and post player. She
has also played three years of
’Nettes softball at the short stop
position, she was named to the
All Region 7AAA Team and was
awarded the Best Offensive
Player Award.
Danielle is the daughter of
Zach and Stephanie Goss and the
sister of Jazmine and Zachary
Goss and the auntie to Peyton
McCowan. She is the grand
daughter of Arnold and Gayle
Payne and Barbara Goss and the
late Kenny Goss, the great-
granddaughter of Alice and
Willis Payne and William
Childers and the late Betty
Childers.
After graduation, Danielle
plans to follow her dreams, at
tend college and major in Sports
Medicine.
Coach Parker is already planning
to work closely with the players
and coaches at Jasper and Pick
ens Middle schools to build the
feeder programs for PHS. I ap
plaud the commitment! Obvi
ously, he wants to build a
program not simply field a foot
ball team.
Parker met with a large and
enthusiastic group of returning
and new football players at Pick
ens High School on Monday. For
them, he brings a fresh voice and
renewed enthusiasm. This com
munity is hungry for a strong
football team. For some of us, the
hunger is deeper though. We
want sustained success and
maintain a closely guarded hope
that Chris Parker will lead the
Dragons in that direction.
Danielle Goss
Student Spotlight
Danielle Goss