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December 31,2020
Dragon wrestlers find success over the break
Sports
This week in
Sports History
by Ethan Swiech
December 27 - January 2
December 27th:
On this day in 1959, the Baltimore Colts
repeated as NFL champions following their
second straight title game victory over the
New York Giants. One year earlier, the Colts
defeated the Giants in the very first game,
regular season or playoffs, to go into over
time. One year later, Baltimore hosted New
York in a rematch at Memorial Stadium and
won convincingly, 31-16. The Colts scored
24 unanswered fourth quarter points and
Johnny Unitas overcame seven sacks to
throw for 264 yards and two touchdowns.
One of those scores was a 60-yarder to half
back, Lenny Moore, who racked up 126 re
ceiving yards on only three catches. Unitas
also added another score on the ground while
Baltimore's defense recorded five sacks
while intercepting three passes. One of those
picks was taken into the end zone for a 42-
yard touchdown by safety, Johnny Sample.
The Giants managed a single touchdown,
which came when the outcome was already
decided.
December 28th:
On this day in 1975, Roger Staubach and
Drew Pearson introduced the entire world to
the "Hail Mary", which came in an NFC Di
visional Playoff Game between the Dallas
Cowboys and two-time defending confer
ence champion Minnesota Vikings. The
Cowboys trailed by four with 32 seconds re
maining and had the ball at midfield after
starting at their
Continued on Page 5B
The PHS wrestling team
has had a December to re
member. After a last-minute
cancellation of a tournament
the weekend before Christ
mas, the seniors were given
the option to take the week
end off.
However, they stated that
they wanted to wrestle.
Thankfully, Strong Rock
Christian had an opening at
the Rock Invitational. The
team responded well to the
adversity as every wrestler
that participated placed. Indi
vidual placers were: 2nd-C.
Cannon, D. Gonzalez, & M.
Powell 3rd- B. Brownell, C.
Nelson, J. Jacobs, W. Sultan,
E. Grizzle, & R. Holland 4th-
C. Knight.
The following Tuesday,
the JV team travelled to
Gainesville to compete in the
Big Red JV Duals. The Drag
ons won their first two duals
against Fannin (42-36) and
Heritage (39-23) to make it
to the championship pool.
After a close 42-31 loss to
Oglethorpe, the team wres
tled host Gainesville for sec
ond place. Down 36-12 to
Gainesville, the team started
to rally after a huge victory
by Maggie Bautista at the
106 pound weight class.
The Dragons went on to
win five consecutive
matches. The dual victory
was secured with a pin by
Jonah Keener in the last
match of the day.
The Dragons finished the
dual with a 39-36 victory
over Gainesville for a 2nd
place finish at the Big Red JV
Duals. The most dominant
Dragons were Cason Cannon
and Dylan Gonzalez who
went a combined 6-0 on the
day.
PHS Boys basketball
The PHS boys basketball team played Frederick Douglass
High School out of Atlanta on Monday, December 28 th but
stats for the game were not available by press time. The boys
played in the Big Blue Classic at Model Tuesday, December
29th and Wednesday, December 30th. Game highlights will
appear in next week’s edition.
Sports betting
front and center in
renewed legalized
gambling debate
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Advocates
for bringing legalized gam
bling to Georgia will be back
under the Gold Dome next
month, pitching the financial
benefits of casinos, horse
racing and sports betting to
gether and separately.
But a betting man might
give legislation authorizing
online sports betting in the
Peach State the best odds to
advance.
“It’s the easiest one to
pass,” said Georgia Rep. Ron
Stephens, R-Savannah,
chairman of the House Eco
nomic Development &
Tourism Committee. “It
clearly does not require a
constitutional amendment.
... It’s just a matter of us giv
ing the [Georgia] Lottery
Commission direction and
authority they already have.”
Efforts going back the
better part of a decade to le
galize casino gambling and
pari-mutuel betting on horse
racing in Georgia have been
unable to muster the two-
thirds majorities in the state
House and Senate required to
approve constitutional
amendments and put them on
the statewide ballot.
Supporters say sports bet
ting, on the other hand,
would only require simple
majorities to get through the
two legislative chambers be
cause it could be accom
plished simply by amending
the law that created the Geor
gia Lottery during the 1990s.
Sports betting also enjoys
the advantages of being a rel
ative newcomer to the de
bate, having been taken up in
the General Assembly for the
first time during this year’s
session. Lawmakers haven’t
had time to grow tired of
talking about it.
Sports betting has the
backing of Atlanta’s four pro
fessional sports teams - the
Braves, Falcons, Hawks and
Atlanta United - which
formed a coalition last winter
to lobby on the legislation’s
behalf.
The teams are counting on
sports betting as a way to
generate more fan interest,
particularly at a time when
they have had to shorten sea
sons and limit attendance be
cause of the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Increasingly, the cell
phone is the primary means
of entertainment for younger
fans,” said Billy Linville,
spokesman for the Georgia
Continued on Page 5B
As we come to the fi
nale of 2020, can we all
agree to simply say
“good riddance” to the
tumultuous year that
was and hope that 2021
brings better luck to us
all?
The past year in
sports brought two
championships back to
Los Angeles, some col
lege football, an at
tempt at professional
soccer, an unlikely NFL
season and a playoff se
ries win for the Atlanta
Braves, but we could
only participate from
our living rooms. Fred
die Freeman won the
National League MVP
award too. Does any of
it really even seem
worth remembering
now though?
The calendar change
cannot arrive fast
enough for many of us.
We lost celebrities
and iconic sports fig
ures like Whitey Ford,
Bob Gibson and most
recently Phil Neikro. So
many of us lost dear
friends and family and
exhausted every emo
tion as people close to
us battled COVID-19.
Through lockdowns,
elections, game cance
lations, ugly politics,
draft choices (good and
bad), blown calls, video
reviews, protests, no
contests, and strife we
survived. Now, we hope
(and pray) for better in
the coming year.
“It is really wonder
ful how much resilience
there is in human na
ture. Let any obstruct
ing cause, no matter
what, be removed in
any way, even by death,
and we fly back to first
principles of hope and
enjoyment,” wrote
Bram Stoker.
I wish all of you a
very Happy New Year!
Above, the varsity wrestling squad was in action at the Rock Invitational with all team
members who participated placing.
Below, the JV wrestling team travelled to Gainesville to compete in the Big Red JV
Duals over the break.
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Good
Riddance
Boys and Girls Club name
Youth of the Month
Hayliee M., a 6th grader at Jasper Middle School, is the
Youth of the Month for the Pickens Teen Club.
In Pickens County, the
Boys & Girls Club is blessed
to have members such as
Hayliee M. and Jayden L. at
tend their Club. Each of these
ladies has shown time and
time again what great young
role models they are, and
therefore have been chosen
as the Youth of the Month for
November 2020.
Hayliee is a 6th grader at
Jayden, a 2nd grader at
Hill City Elementary
School, was named the
Youth of the Month for the
local Boys and Girls Club.
Jasper Middle School and is
the Youth of the Month for
Continued on Page 5B
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