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October 10, 2013
PHS Football
Dragons handle Cass
Photos/Damon Howell
#3 Zack Hermann and #30 Thomas Howard upend a Cass receiver.
Marcus Byrd catches a touchdown pass from Tanner Brumby.
Every game cannot go the
way the Dragons want it, and Fri
day night was a good example of
just that. Pickens would eventu
ally win the contest 43-27 but
sloppy play hampered the Drag
ons all evening long.
Cass would find the end zone
on their opening possession of
the evening to take a 7-0 lead,
driving the ball 44 yards in eight
plays. The Dragons would an
swer on their next possession,
moving the ball 70 yards; capped
off by a 35-yard sprint by QB
Tanner Brumby to give Pickens
their first touchdown of the con
test. A missed extra point kept
Cass in the lead 7-6. The Dragon
defense would begin to stiffen
and force Cass to a 3-and-out on
their next possession.
The offense would go back to
work in great field position after
a 35-yard punt return by Zack
Hermann. Four plays later, Tan
ner Brumby would connect with
Jake Dean to give the Dragons
their first lead of the night 13-7.
A 3 3-yard run by Jake Coleman
in the second quarter would in
crease the Dragon’s lead to 20-7.
Cass would not go away how
ever, continuing to move the ball
down the field on long, method
ical drives chewing up the major
ity of the clock during the first
half. One possession would re
sult in a fumble, picked up by
Dragon nose guard Matt Devroy.
The other would result in a
fourth down touchdown, putting
the half-time score at 20-14 in
favor of Pickens.
The second half would not
start off very good for the Drag
ons as Cass would begin the third
quarter exactly where they left
off before halftime; moving the
ball downfield on the Dragon de
fense. Instead of the long, time-
consuming drives of the first
half, this one only took three
plays for Cass to find the end
zone and re-take the lead 21-20.
Tanner Brumby and Shannon
Brooks would lead the Pickens
offense back down the field on
an 11-play drive, capped off with
a 5-yard scamper by Brooks to
put the score at 27-21.
After their first possession of
the half, the Cass offense would
begin to make mistakes, and the
Dragon defense would not miss
the opportunity to capitalize on
each one. Linebacker Kalyn
Brooks would intercept a screen
pass on the next defensive series,
giving the Dragons an opportu
nity to separate themselves from
their opponent. A 20-yard touch
down pass to Shannon Brooks
and a two-point conversion
would increase the lead to 35-21.
Sophomore comer Caleb Brooks
would intercept a pass on Cass’s
next series. Dragon safety Zack
Hermann would tackle the Cass
running-back 3 yards deep in the
end zone for the first safety of the
year for the Pickens defense.
Hermann would also have an in
terception of his own and outside
linebacker Jake Dean would
record a fumble recovery for
Pickens.
Cass would rally one more
time to get their point total up to
27, but it was not enough. After
the game Coach Parker talked
about the difficulty of the victory.
“Our kids played hard, and so did
the guys from Cass. Cass hit us
in the mouth tonight on offense
and defense. We made a lot of
silly mistakes. The best thing for
us is that even with the mistakes
we won the ball game. That puts
us 1-0 in our sub-region.”
Tanner Brumby was 6 for 12
and 53 yards passing. He would
rush for 99 yards on the night.
Shannon Brooks would rack up
169 yards on the ground and 43
receiving yards. On defense,
Jake Dean would record 13 tack
les; two of them were for a loss.
He would also force a fumble
and recover one.
This Friday night the Dragons
will play host to the Cedartown
Bulldogs. Both teams are 1-0 in
the sub-region and the winner of
this contest will control their own
destiny as both teams are looking
to play for the Region 7-AAAA
championship. When asked
about the upcoming game,
Coach Parker stated, “The
Cedartown game is going to be a
big one. It will go a long way in
determining who will get a
chance to play in the champi
onship game and host a play-off
game. It is also another great test
for our players, and I am looking
forward to it.”
The game will kick off at 7:30
at Dragon Field.
Pickens 43 Cass 27
October 4, 2013
1
2
3
4
TOTAL
Pickens 13
7
15
8
43
Cass 7
7
7
6
27
Team Stats
Pickens
Cass
First Downs
15
10
3rd Down Attempts
15
8
3rd Down Conversions
8
3
Total Yards
375
301
Total Plays
68
54
Rushing Yards
322
157
Rushes
56
38
Passing Yards
53
144
Pass Attempts
12
16
Interceptions Taken
3
0
Fumbles Taken
2
0
Total Takeaways
5
0
Region 7-4A Football Scores
Oct. 4
RidgelandO Heritage 0 LaFayette 17 River Ridge 25
Dalton 28 N.W. Whitfield 49 S.E. Whitfield 31 Cedartown 41
Sports Fanatic
Black Monday
By Tommy Gartrell
Atlanta’s professional base
ball and football seasons ended
on Monday night. The Dodgers
beat the Braves 4-3 to win the
National League Division Se
ries three
games to
one, and the
New York
Jets de
feated the
Falcons 30-
28 dropping
the “Birds”
record to 1-4. Actually, the Fal
cons’ still have 11 games re
maining on their schedule but
all realistic hopes of a playoff
berth is gone.
Bad decisions which defied
all conventional wisdom led to
“Black Monday.” In short, the
manager and head coach made
inexcusable calls which led di
rectly to defeat. Both Fredi
Gonzalez of the Braves and
certainly Mike Smith of the
Falcons would have been dis
missed directly after their
games if I were the man in
charge. Call me George Stein-
brenner or king of the knee jerk
reaction. I have to disagree.
Clear patterns are well estab
lished here. “Almost” and
“close” remain poor substitutes
for championships when the
teams are built for winning and
expected to win it all.
Gonzalez led Atlanta to a di
vision title with a 96-66 record,
but a losing record (13-14) in
September set the tone for play
off disappointment. One writer
said that the Braves “moon-
walked” their way through
September. Need I remind you
of past September stinkers
under this man? He has all the
fire of a sweet potato and a sim
ilar IQ. The teams with a wave
of momentum late in the season
perform best in the playoffs,
and Atlanta had none!
The Braves seem on autopi
lot most of the time. Is he man
aging or just watching? Does
he draw his starting lineup out
of a hat? Is he afraid to pull a
pitcher who is having a bad
outing? Los Angeles had
scored six times in game three
before the pitching coach vis
ited the mound. LA’s Don Mat
tingly knew that his starting
pitcher was struggling and
made a change. Gonzales
should’ve seen the same thing
and acted similarly. Any fan
could see that Julio Tehran was
not pitching well.
The unwritten book of base
ball strategy says that comer in
fielders guard the foul lines in
the late innings to prevent extra
base hits. Why was first base-
man Freddie Freeman posi
tioned so far off the line in the
eighth inning of game four?
Yasiel Puig’s double went pre
cisely where Freeman should
have been standing. It was a
sharply hit yet routine ground
ball. Freeman knows better, but
obviously Gonzalez does not.
Former manager and future
hall of famer Tony LaRussa
formerly of the Cardinals was
frequently criticized for over
managing games, but he has
multiple World Series Champi
onships in his defense. Gonza
lez has nothing to defend his
under-managing.
General Manager Frank
Wren handed Gonzalez the best
collection of ball players which
the Braves have fielded in
years; they should have won
105 games and made a deep
playoff run terrorizing the NL.
Wren got an uninspired team
which was dominated in the
first round of the playoffs. It is
time for change!
As for the Falcons’ Mike
Smith, his previous successes
mean little. He has no revered
Super Bowl rings to flaunt and
say “I know what I am doing.”
Most recently, he has two dis
heartening losses because of his
fetish for fourth down stupidity.
He has repeatedly passed on
first half field goals and failed
to score at all. Isn’t three points
better than none?
Before a national audience
on Monday night, Smith opted
to go for a touchdown trailing
17-7 in the final minutes of the
second quarter versus the Jets
rather than take the nearly cer
tain 20 yard field goal. In the
end, those three points
would’ve sealed victory in a
two point game.
Smith made a similar deci
sion a week earlier against New
England and the Falcons lost
30-23. All conventional wis
dom says to take the points.
Conventional wisdom also says
that someone must be the fall
guy for such decisions!
Fans cling to next year. After
“Black Monday” I cannot get
excited about either team under
the same leadership for another
year! Future attendance will in
dicate if I am the only fan feel
ing the same way.
Jasper Drug Store
The local team wear headquarters
Everything a Dragon fan will need:
Plus wide collection of collegiate items
from the Dawgs, Tech, Bama, Florida
and all your favorite sports teams,
including a large selection of Falcon items.
Jasper Drugs & Gifts
1 North Main Street • Jasper, (3A
706-692-6427