Inside this section: Classifieds & Legals
c
Section
October 10, 2019
Dragons take down region foe Raiders
Last Friday night the
Dragons continued in their
quest for the 2019 playoffs
by defeating another region
opponent in Southeast Whit
field.
To open the game, Pick
ens kicked off to the Raiders
and then sent the defense out
on the field looking to stop a
solid Raider offense. They
did just that, forcing a punt
and putting the ball into the
hands of the high-powered
Dragon offense. The offense
moved the ball deep into
Southeast territory before
stalling out and sending the
kicking team on the field.
Juan Sanchez connected
on a 26 yard field goal and
gave the Dragons a 3-0 lead
to start the game. The
Raiders once again gained
possession, but this time they
were able to drive the ball
into scoring range. From 31
yards out the Raiders went to
the air and found a wide re
ceiver open down the hash
for their first score of the
photo/Eddie Donato
Quarterback CJ Stretcher drags a defender into the endzone. The senior Quarterback
accounted for six total touchdowns, three rushing and three through the air.
night. The first quarter would Just four plays into the the first of six touchdowns on
come to an end with the second quarter, CJ Streicher the night. The Dragons
Dragons trailing 7-3. would find the endzone for would not surrender the lead
again. On the ensuing Raider
possession, the defense
would hold strong and force
a three and out. Two plays
later, Streicher would call his
own number again this time
for a 77 yard touchdown run.
The defense took the field
and came up big for the
Dragons. On a fourth down
attempt in Pickens territory,
Dylan Arp would come up
with a big-time sack to give
the ball back to Pickens at
midfield. The offensive unit
wasted no time in taking ad
vantage of the change in pos
session.
Streicher went through the
air to find Mykel Hand for
the 37 yard touchdown. This
would prove to be the final
score of the half. Pickens
went into the locker room
with a 24- 7 lead over the
Raiders.
The Dragons received the
ball to start the second half,
but were unable to get any
thing going on their first
See Dragons on Page 2C
Chandler
Smith meets
his goals in
Indiana
Chandler Smith went to
Lucas Oil Raceway Indiana
this past weekend for his
final ARCA Menards Series
race of 2019. Heading into
the weekend the goals were
set, win the race, win the lap
led championship for his sec
ond consecutive year and win
See Smith on Page 2C
Jr. High volleyball wins championship
Pickens Jr. High School Nettes Volleyball won the school’s first Mountain Middle School Volleyball League tour
nament at the end of September.
Submitted by PJHS
Volleyball
After finishing the regu
lar season with a record of
8-2 and tied for first in the
region, the PJHS Nettes
traveled to Lumpkin County
on Saturday, Sept. 21 to
compete in the 2nd Moun
tain Middle School Volley
ball League Championship
Tournament. At the end of
the tournament, they were
the champions!
The first match was
against Clear Creek. The
team won in two straight
games, 25-12 and 25-13.
The second game was
against Fannin, a team they
had split matches with dur
ing the regular season.
See Volleyball on Page 2C
For details, please visit thejoyhouse.org, scroll to the
bottom of the page and click on "Annual Golf
Tournament" in the events section.
Primitive weapons deer
season opens October 12
The week-
long primitive
weapons deer
hunting season
opens Satur
day, Oct. 12.
Last year, al
most 30,000
hunters took to
the woods with muzzleload-
ers, bringing in more than
5,000 deer, according to the
Georgia Department of Nat
ural Resources’ Wildlife Re
sources Division (WRD).
“Dust off that smoke pole,
or your stick and string, and
hit the woods because the
primitive weapons season is
a great time to hunt, and we
are already seeing bucks ex
hibiting pre-rut patterns,”
said Charlie Killmaster, state
deer biologist with the WRD
Game Management Section.
“Share Your Passion! Re
member to find time during
the season to introduce some
one new to hunting and share
your love of the outdoors
with others.”
Over one million acres of
public hunting land is avail
able to hunters in Georgia, in
cluding more than 100
state-operated
wildlife man
agement areas.
Many areas
offer special
hunts through
out the season,
including
primitive
weapons hunts. Dates and lo
cations for hunts are avail
able in the 2019-2020
Georgia Hunting Seasons
and Regulations guide
(http://georgiawildlife.eom/h
unting/ regulations).
Youth, under 16 years of
age, may hunt deer with any
legal deer firearm during
Primitive Weapons Season,
including during any wildlife
management area primitive
weapons hunts.
“Oh, and with all the
media coverage on deer dis
eases lately, let’s cut through
the confusion and talk facts,”
says Killmaster. “To date,
neither chronic wasting dis
ease (CWD) or tuberculosis
have been detected in Geor
gia deer. However, there are
circumstances where wildlife
See Hunting on Page 2C
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Big
Trouble
With a 1-4 record to
start this NFL football
season, the Atlanta Fal
cons find themselves in
big trouble. Short of a
miracle which could only
be nine plus win finish,
the will be considered by
most fans as a total fail
ure.
The most significant
part of this poor start is
not exclusively the
losses. The team looks
bad too.
Excessive penalties in
dicate a lack of concen
tration and discipline by
the players during the
first three games killed
several promising drives.
This issue reached a
peak of 16 penalties three
weeks ago. They were re
duced to only seven in the
last two contests, but the
margins of loss increased.
During the last game
against Texas, the Fal
cons were throttled 53-
32. Their inability to
sustain offensive drives
and total lack of a reliable
running game is embar
rassing. During the off
season, the organization
spent millions of dollars
and two first round draft
selections on offensive
lineman, but the team
cannot gain a yard or two
at the goal line.
The defense which
was gutted by injuries last
season is for the most
part, healthy. Head coach
Dan Quinn who built a
reputation as a defensive
guru at Seattle now per
forms double duty as de
fensive coordinator too,
but the defense looks lost.
At the least, it is awful
and at best bad.
Fans, journalists and
radio personalities openly
and loudly ask for
Quinn’s firing and offer a
bevy of justifications for
his exit. Still, owner
Arthur Blank insists that
he still believes in his
coaching staff.
"Obviously, the coach
ing is not where it needs
to be. They're challenging
themselves, questioning
themselves, examining
everything they know
how to examine. That's
all they can do is work re
ally hard at it, take this as
seriously as they can, and
feel the pain,” said Blank
on Sunday afternoon.
In public, the owner
must support his people,
but in private, I wonder.
I can only guess that
Blank will hold his public
position until the last
Monday morning of the
year. In the past, this
owner has repeatedly ex
pressed his reluctance to
fire a coach during the
season.
However, unless the
team improves dramati
cally, I just do not see
more than three or four
possible victories among
the remaining schedule.
Inevitably, there will
be a coaching change
whether sooner or later
because this team and the
organization as a whole is
in big trouble.
