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Youth wrestler
wins tournament
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Section
January 8, 2015
PHS Basketball
Teams compete in Holiday Classic
Photo/Laiken Owens
Ashley Nelson scores against Kennesaw Mountain in last
week ’s Holiday Classic hosted by PHS.
Photo/Laiken Owens
Clay Wigington led the Dragons with 16 points in the one
point (48-47) win over the Fellowship Christian Paladins.
Both the ’Nettes and Dragons
played host in their annual Holi
day Classic at PHS this past
week gearing up for region play.
The tournament showcased
teams from across North Georgia
and represented all six classifica
tions.
The ’Nettes would start off
the Classic with a solid perform
ance over AAAAA Riverwood.
Pickens would take a 7 point lead
in the first quarter and expand on
it to take a 36-11 lead in at the
half. The ’Nettes would continue
their good play in the second half
to win 61-39. Kaitlin Redman
would put up 13 points in the
victory followed by Haley Kason
and Mackenzie Hampton with 10
each.
Next up for the ’Nettes would
be 6A Kennesaw Mountain.
Pickens would find themselves
in a struggle the entire first half
with Kennesaw Mountain taking
a 2 point lead after one, 14-12.
Defense was the name of the
game for the second quarter, but
the ’Nettes would manage to stay
within 1 point, 20-21, heading
into the locker room.
The third quarter would be the
turning point as Kennesaw
Mountain would outscore Pick
ens 16-9. They would push that
lead further in the final quarter to
defeat Pickens 52-41. Haley
Kalson would give the ’Nettes 15
points in the game.
The final game of the tourna
ment would put Pickens against
Collins Hill. Both teams would
start off slow in the first with
Collins Hill holding a 9-4 advan
tage. The ’Nettes could not hold
on in the second quarter how
ever, allowing 16 points to give
Collins Hill a 25-13 lead at the
break. Collins Hill would con
tinue to add points to their total
in the third, pushing their advan
tage to 42-19. Pickens would
eventually lose 58-36. Again
Haley Kalson led the way with
13 points for the ’Nettes.
For the Dragons, they would
open the tournament with an ex
citing victory over Woodstock.
That game would end with Jun
ior Clay Wigington making two
free throws to give the Dragons
the win 62-59.
Up next for the Dragons
would be the Fellowship Chris
tian Paladins. Neither team
would show an advantage over
the other as the game began.
Pickens held a slim 2-point lead
after one, 10-8. The Paladins
would not go away in the second
even though the Dragons im
proved their offensive produc
tion. The halftime score would
show Pickens with a one-shot
lead 26-25.
Halftime adjustments would
prove to be huge in the third
quarter, as the Dragons added 11
points while holding Fellowship
Christian to just 3. The Paladins
would come roaring back in the
final quarter to put the score at
46-44 with just seconds to go be
fore Shannon Brooks made two
free throws to increase the Drag
ons lead to 4 points. Fellowship
Christian would make a 3-
pointer at the buzzer, but it was
not enough as the Dragons hold
on to win 48-47. Clay Wigington
would have 16 points in the
game followed by Shannon
Brooks with 14.
Pickens would finish the tour
nament against the Model Blue
Devils. The Dragons, coming off
two very emotional wins, would
not be as lucky with their final
game of the tournament. The
Blue Devils jumped out to a 14-
8 lead in the first and extended it
by 10 more points in the second
to go in 32-16 at the break.
Model would continue to add to
their lead after halftime; working
their advantage up to 18 points
over the Dragons. In the end,
Pickens would lose 40-58.
Travis Huffman would put up 10
points for the Dragons followed
by Trent Rizoti with 9.
Both teams will take on
Southeast Whitfield, Ridgeland
and Fannin this week.
No School
Baseball/Softball Camp
Monday, January 19, 2015
9am - 1pm for ages 7-13
Cost: $30
Includes: professional hitting, pitching, fielding instruction and lunch.
To sign up or for more information, call John Garner at 404-384-9101
or visit our website at universalsportsacademyinc.com.
U*S*A
Universal Sports Academy
101 Mountain Park Road, Jasper, GA 30143
Home of Challengers Softball and Nationals Baseball
“Changing athletics in North Georgia one sport at a time”
Sports Fanatic
Eleven Minutes!
By Tommy Gartrell
How much time did you
spend watching football over the
holiday bowl season? If you are
a dedicated
sports nut
like me, then
you planned
your daily ac-
t i v i t i e s
around the
college and
professional
football games, and as badly as I
hate to break this news to you,
94 percent of your time was
wasted on the game because the
average NFL game only contains
11 minutes of action.
Less than a year ago. The
Wall Street Journal conducted a
study of National Football
League games and discovered
that the average duration of a
game was 185 minutes which is
20-30 minutes longer than a
game lasted 30 years ago. Dur
ing this three plus hours of tele
vision, a mere 11 minutes of that
time is spent when the ball is in
play on the field. Although no
such studies have been released
on NCAA games, I suspect that
no more than 15 or 20 minutes of
those games contain real action
either.
In other words, if you count
everything that happens on the
field from the time that the ball
is snapped and the time that the
play is whistled dead by the offi
cials, that time averages a mere
11 minutes. It takes longer than
that to find an open register at
the world’s largest retailer. In
less time than it takes me to se
lect and purchase two gallons of
milk, I could have watched an
entire football game.
How do we spend the remain
ing 174 minutes of a football
broadcast? According to the
study, 56 percent of each broad
cast is spent on replays. An hour
of each broadcast is devoted to
commercials. As much as 75
minutes of the total air time is
spent on players huddling, stand
ing at the line of scrimmage or
just standing on the field be
tween snaps. Views of coaches
and officials took 7 percent of
the time while network announc
ers appeared on screen for only
30 seconds of each game.
The study information is a
revelation to me. I had noticed
during the past few years that the
games seemed to lag and I began
to get bored watching most of
them. Armed with this informa
tion, I am investigating the pur
chase of a DVR and rethinking
my habit of watching live tele
casts altogether. I can record en
tire weekends of football and
watch all of it before bed on Sun
day night and not miss a play.
Wrestling team shows commitment,
working hard during vacation
Dragon wrestlers with their Coal Mountain Classic trophy.
The two week break from
school often brings many chal
lenges for winter sports pro
grams, like wrestling. Athletes
are often traveling with their
families, making practice atten
dance an issue, not to mention
creating an issue with wrestling
in a tournament. Despite these
common issues, the Pickens
High School Wrestling team
pressed on through the break.
“We had about a 90% atten
dance rate on our practices dur
ing the break,” said head coach
Grady Flanagan. “We only had
two varsity wrestlers not make
our pre-tournament practice on
Monday; one of those was a
freshman, who we knew might
not be able to make it because of
a family trip and we are fine with
that. Having so many kids show
up is evidence that our kids are
buying in and their parents are
realizing that high school
wrestling takes a certain level of
commitment.”
The Dragons began the holi
day break at North Forsyth High
School in the Coal Mountain
Classic. In a tough tournament
featuring several 6A teams, the
Dragons managed only two plac
ers. Koby Milner continued to
amaze coaches and other
wrestlers as he easily won the
106 lb. weight class. Elliot Gal
lagher completed the day with a
4th place finish at 285 lbs.
Following a week of practice
with breaks for Christmas, the
Dragons returned to the mat for
a tournament at Sequoyah High
School. The Dragons put two
groups into the tournament in
hopes of getting several young
wrestlers some mat time. The
holiday break forced several
teams to drop out and others to
scratch some wrestlers, making
for interesting brackets. Koby
Milner won a 5th title at 106 lbs.
However, since there was only
one other wrestler in his bracket,
the tournament organizers al
lowed him to wrestle in the 113
lb. division as well. Once again,
he showed why he is one of the
best in the state as he won the
weight class. He became the only
wrestler in school history to win
two weight classes in one event.
En route to the title, Milner
had to wrestle teammate Michael
Hernandez. Hernandez lost to
Milner but the tournament was
set up in such a way that a losing
wrestler could wrestle all the
way back to 2nd place. Hernan
dez did so and finished 2nd,
making it a one-two finish for
Pickens at 113.
Sophomore Kyle Tidwell fi
nally saw his good work pay off
as he worked three pins at 138 to
finish 1st. Michael Casey wres
tled at 145 in a weight class fea
turing one of the better wrestlers
in the tournament. Despite losing
in the championship round,
Casey wrestled back to take 2nd.
Teammate Jared Edwards lost his
first match but picked up his first
win of the season via a first pe
riod pin. Edwards was Pickens’
second entry in the 145 lb. divi
sion.
160 lbs. brought one of the
more interesting match-ups of
the day for the Dragons. After
winning their first matches and
losing their second, teammates
Jake Coleman and Chase Millsap
found themselves wrestling each
other. The winner would take no
worse than 3rd. Coleman earned
a win over his teammate and ul
timately finished 3rd in the tour
nament. Josh Massey also found
himself wrestling for 2nd after
losing in the championship final.
Massey, however, pulled himself
together and took 2nd at 170 lbs.
At 182 lbs., freshman Zack
Swaim earned a 4th place finish
in his first varsity action of the
year. At 195 lbs., senior John
Holbert defeated teammate Matt
Bradley en route to a 1 st place
finish. Elliot Gallagher rounded
out an interesting day for the
Dragons as he won in the finals
against a Sequoyah wrestler
when the Sequoyah wrestler’s
headgear was found to be illegal.
In total, the Dragons had five
1 st place finishes, three 2nd and
one 3rd. This was good enough
to earn the Dragons a 2nd place
finish as a team, their first team
title in quite some time.
The Dragons will rest and
practice in preparation for the
Area Duals on Saturday, January
10, at Gilmer High.
JYSA Baseball registration
Jasper Youth Sports Association Baseball registration will be
held the following Saturdays in January for the 2015 JYSA
spring baseball season:
10th- 10-1; 17th- 1-4; 24th & 31st - 10-1
Registration will be held each Saturday at the JYSA Gym on
Stegall Drive (old Jasper Elementary Gym).
Please contact baseball director Mike Edgington at M_edg
ington@yahoo.com with any questions.
SIB
U . ' a O' *, v ;
JASPER
YOUTH SPORTS ASSOCIATION