Newspaper Page Text
Pickens County
Sports
Jr. wrestlers
in top 10
Page 2B
Inside this section • Classifieds • Legals • Real Estate
PHS Basketball
’Nettes go 2-0, Dragons 0-2 on week
Photo/Laiken Owens
Shannon Brooks led the Dragons in scoring with 19 in the loss
to Lafayette. Brooks also put up 13 in the Catersville game last
week.
The boys and girls basketball
teams had two home games last
week. On Tuesday, both teams
hosted Lafayette, followed by
Cartersville on Friday evening.
The ’Nettes would play two very
solid games and finish the week
2-0, while the boys had a rough
time losing two.
The ’Nettes would start their
game Tuesday against the Lady
Ramblers in a back and forth bat
tle, going down by 2 points at the
end of the first quarter and work
ing to a tie in the second. The
’Nettes would trail at the half 23-
21. The fireworks would begin as
soon as Pickens came out of the
locker room. The ’Nettes would
put up 19 points in the third to
Lafayette’s 5 and add 23 more in
the forth to the Lady Ramblers 8.
In the end, Pickens would take
away the victory 63-36.
Haley Kalson would put up an
amazing 25 points in the win,
followed by MaKayla Payne
with 14.
The boys would also start off
in a back and forth game with
Lafayette trailing 16-18 at the
end of the first quarter, but the
Ramblers would work in the sec
ond quarter to begin pulling
away. The halftime score had
Pickens down 32-37. Pickens
would have a solid second half
but could not muster a come
back as Lafayette would keep
their distance on the scoreboard.
Pickens would lose 59-63.
Shannon Brooks led the way
with 19 points. Trent Rizoti gave
the team 16, while Holden Roop
put up 15 points.
The ’Nettes would pick up
where they left off on Friday
when Cartersville came to PHS.
They would put up a 4 point ad
vantage in the first quarter and
expand it to 9 points by half;
leading 28-19. Their solid play
continued after the break as they
put up an additional 23 points to
the Lady Hurricane’s 15. In the
end, the ’Nettes would have their
second convincing win of the
week; 51-34.
This game’s leading scorer
was Taylor Wigington with 10
points, followed by Shelby Cook
with 8 and Haley Kalson with 7
points.
The boy’s game would be
tough going from the beginning
for the Dragons. Cartersville
jumped out to a 5 point lead at
the end of the first quarter, 11-7.
Pickens would play more solidly
in the second but still find them
selves down 25-19 at the break.
In the third quarter,
Cartersville would extend their
lead by 2 more points. The Drag
ons would mount a charge in the
final period and tie the game at
47 each. In overtime, both teams’
defense took on a major role, but
in the end the Hurricanes would
put in three more points than the
Dragons. The final score was 53-
56 in favor of Cartersville.
Holden Roop would put up 18
points for Pickens, followed by
Shannon Brooks with 13 and
Trent Rizoti with 10.
Photo/Laiken Owens
The ’Nettes won both games last week against Lafayette and
Catersville. Haley; Kalson put up a game high 25 points
against Lafayette.
Toughness showing for Pickens wrestling
The Pickens Wrestling team
traveled to Lambert High School
on Wednesday Night for a set of
matches with Lambert and Du
luth High School. This set of
duals were the last road matches
for the Dragons and would see
them face two 6A schools for the
first time this year.
“We have traveled and faced
some big schools and wrestled
against kids from other classifi
cations all year,” said Coach
Grady Flanagan, “so I expect
nothing new. Every dual is a test
for our young kids and Lambert
is no exception. Coach Contardi
has a really good program that
features several highly ranked
wrestlers and Duluth is a 6A
school. 6A kids, even in
wrestling, are a different kid al
together.”
The night started with Lam
bert and Pickens facing each
other in a dual. The first match
was the premier match of the
night as Pickens’ star wrestler
Koby Milner was matched
against Lambert’s Payton
Mitchell. In a rare occurrence,
Milner was pinned by Mitchell
in the third period. Mitchell is
thought by many to have a good
shot at winning the 6A title at
106 if his own teammates don’t
push him out of the lineup at the
end of the month when wrestlers
get an extra pound, enabling
some to drop weight classes.
That loss marked Milner’s sec
ond loss of the season, both of
which have been to projected
state placers from higher classi
fications.
Much of the rest of the dual
continued in the same fashion as
Lambert continued to pin Pick
ens wrestlers. From 106-170, the
Dragons lost every match, in
cluding giving up three forfeits.
Lambert however, lacked
wrestlers at the next two weight
classes, enabling Pickens to pick
up to forfeits and also allowing
Coach Flanagan to send senior
John Holbert out at 220 lbs. De
spite giving up 20 lbs. to his op
ponent, Holbert showed why he
is one of the best in 7-AAAAby
pinning the Lambert wrestler in
under a minute. Another forfeit
win for the Dragons at 285
pushed the final score to 60-24 in
favor of Lambert.
The Dragons would turn right
back around to wrestle Duluth in
a very fun dual. Starting at 113
lbs., freshman Michael Hernan
dez wrestled a back and forth
match that eventually went into
overtime. Under overtime rules
in wrestling, it is basically the
first to score. The Duluth
wrestler shot in on Hernandez,
who sprawled out, and after a
scramble ended up stacking the
Duluth wrestler for a pin. “That
was big, both for our kids and for
Michael,” said Coach Flanagan.
“He had the match won but he
finished him with a pin instead of
just taking the points. That's a
three point difference right
there.”
Again the Dragons would for
feit at 120, 126 and 132 lbs. and
find themselves in an 18-6 hole.
After sophomore Kyle Tidwell
was pinned at 138, the deficit
grew to 24-6. Michael Casey
picked up a forfeit at 145 to
shrink the deficit but Will Logan
was defeated at 152 lbs. How
ever, Will managed to fight for
the entire three periods, saving
the Dragons two points. “Will
understands wrestling in a dual.
He knows how costly a pin is
and he does everything he can to
keep from getting pinned.”
Another loss at 160 put the
Dragons in a deep hole, trailing
Duluth 34-12. Pickens caught a
break at 170 as Duluth’s best
wrestler, Rodney Jones, was out
with an injury. Josh Massey
made quick work of his replace
ment and earned another 6 points
for the Dragons. His brother, Joe,
wrestled at 182 lbs., and after
some early match mistakes,
fought for a well earned 3 period
decision to shrink the score to
34-21. John Holbert picked up
another win, this time at his nor
mal weight of 195 and further
shrank the deficit. A forfeit win
for Trey Lunn at 220 put the
Dragons 1 point behind with two
matches to go. Knowing that one
of those matches would be Mil
ner, an almost guaranteed 6
points, the coaches told senior
heavyweight Elliot Gallagher
that all he had to do was not get
pinned. Gallagher rose to the oc
casion and even went above it to
Continued on 2B
Sports Fanatic
Moves, Moves, Moves
By Tommy Gartrell
As I predicted a few weeks
ago, the Seattle Seahawks and
the New England Patriots are
conference
champions
and move
ahead to meet
in the Super
Bowl, but all
three of At
lanta’s pro-
f e s s i o n a 1
sports teams are making moves
of their own.
The Hawks boast a 33-8
record, a five-game lead in the
east and the most victories in the
entire NBA at the beginning of
this week and ride a 12-game
winning streak which is the sec
ond longest in franchise history.
They are moving toward the top
seed in the eastern division play
offs. In fact, the team is on the
verge of distancing themselves
from the rest of the division be
fore the NBA All-Star Break.
It is only now that the major
sports media outlets are reluc
tantly taking notice of this bas
ketball team because it has been
nearly two decades since the At
lanta Hawks were relevant in the
NBA. They are not a team of
super stars or slam dunk champi
ons or high profile first round
picks. Can you name their start
ing five players? I would strug
gle to answer the question
myself but as the season stretch
and playoffs come closer, names
coach Mike Budenholzer, Jeff
Teague, A1 Horford, Kyle Ko-
rver, Paul Millsap and Thabo Se-
folosha are destined to be
household names among NBA
fans.
The Falcons’ search for a new
coaching staff nears a conclu
sion. In the tornado that is the
NFL coaching carousel 2015, At
lanta appears to be targeting
Seattle’s defensive coordinator
Dan Quinn for its head coaching
vacancy and reports indicate that
Kyle Shanahan is the top choice
as offensive coordinator for the
birds. They are also interested in
Detroit Lions defensive coordi
nator Teryl Austin. They must
wait until after the Super Bowl
for Quinn who cannot vacate his
position in Seattle until the Sea-
hawks’ season ends.
Obviously, the Falcons want
a defensive minded head coach
from a team with one of the pre
eminent defenses in the league,
but Seattle and Detroit have
some of the elite defensive play
ers in football. Atlanta simply
does not have those kinds of
players on the current roster.
Even the great magician Harry
Houdini could not make a gallon
of vanilla ice cream from a pint
of crap. Need I remind you that
former Falcon head coach Mike
Smith was a very good defensive
coordinator before he came to
Atlanta. The key issue is person
nel, and it may take several years
or a Georgia Dome full of free
agent cash to change Atlanta’s
defensive fortunes. That burden
lies on the front office rather than
the coaching staff.
For the Braves, the off-season
has been full of personnel
moves. So many players have
come and gone that it will be a
challenge to recognize Atlanta
players in 2015 except for short
stop Andrelton Simmons, first
baseman Freddie Freeman and
closer Craig Kimbrel. All of
these moves are designed to re
stock the team for its 2017 move
into a new stadium, but in the
short term, they will move into
the basement of the National
League East.
Washington solidified the
best pitching rotation in baseball
with the signing of free agent
starter Max Scherzer on Mon
day. The Nationals should walk
away with this division again.
The Marlins and Mets rosters
look much more capable of win
ning records than the Braves.
Only the aging and overpaid
Phillies have a chance to be
worse than Atlanta.
Braves’ president of baseball
operations John Hart says that he
believes that the club will be
competitive in 2015; I believe
that he is putting lipstick on a
pig. I see the rebuilding plan, but
why can’t Hart and the rest of the
Braves’ brain trust just openly
admit that the expectations have
moved downward for the next
couple of years?
PHS honors the 2014-2015 class of the
PHS Athletics Hall of Fame
ll
Hfit*1
Linda McAfee Hunter, Alonzo Hampton and Cay Roland Reece.
On January 15th, 2015, The PHS Athletic De
partment and the PHS Athletics Hall of Fame Com
mittee inducted the 2014-2015 Class of the Hall of
Fame. After a meal, provided by FATZ Restaurant
of Jasper, Pickens High School Athletic Director
Kyle Rasco gave a brief history of the PHS Athlet
ics Hall of Fame. Several members of the Hall of
Fame were present, including Fred Anderson,
Charlie Chastain and Coach Roy Cowart. Mr. Jack
Dunn spent a few minutes sharing some memories
as he introduced the first inductee; Mr. Alonzo
Hampton. Current Head Girls Basketball Coach
Donna Enis also spoke about her recollections of
inductees Cay Roland Reece & Linda McAfee
Hunter. The audience was treated to a presentation
of pictures and stats of the honorees before each
was inducted into the PHS Athletics Hall of Fame
by Coach Rasco. Dr. Chris LeMieux, Principal at
PHS, congratulated each of the new members as
the night ended.
On Friday, January 16th, 2015, Cay, Alonzo and
Linda were recognized at halftime of the Drag-
onette’s basketball game in front of the community
that has sung their praises for years. Once again,
we congratulate Cay Roland Reece, Linda McAfee
Hunter & Alonzo Hampton for being inducted into
the 2014-2015 Class of the PHS Athletics Hall of
Fame.
Office space for rent in downtown Jasper
Two offices have become available in the Edge Building upstairs from
the Pickens County Progress. There is one smaller office for $200 per
month and a larger one for $300 (includes power and water.)
706-253-2457