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Grant Myers
named PHS head
football coach
New Dragons head
coach Grant Myers with
wife Jena, a teacher at
Harmony Elementary,
and daughter, Hadleigh.
They are expecting a
second child in July.
After completing the
search process, the Drag
ons have promoted Defen
sive Coordinator Grant
Myers to be the next head
football coach.
Myers has just finished
his second year with the
Dragons, where he also
served as the secondary
coach and the strength and
conditioning coordinator.
Prior to coming to Pickens,
Myers was at Spalding
High School in Griffin,
Georgia for eight years. He
is originally from Snel-
lville, where he attended
Shiloh High School.
Coach Myers played
college football at Shorter
College from 2006-2010,
where he received a Bach
elor’s degree in History Ed
ucation.
When asked about his
new role, Coach Myers
said, “I am extremely ex
cited, thankful, and hum
bled to be given the
opportunity to be the head
football coach at Pickens
High School. I am going to
continue to build on the
strong foundation and tra
dition that has been estab
lished here at Pickens. We
are going to run a program
that this community can be
proud of and that will be re
spected across the state. I
will do everything in my
power to ensure our stu
dent-athletes have the best
possible experience. It is
our responsibility as a
coaching staff to ensure
that we are building up
standing young people that
will go off and be produc
tive adults once they leave
us. We do not take this
lightly and know that run
ning out program the right
way is of the utmost impor
tance. This is a special
place and we will treat it as
such by running a first-
class operation. We are
fired up to get started.”
The Dragons are com
ing off a three and six sea
son, where they missed the
playoffs for the first time in
six years.
However, Pickens will
return eight starters on of
fense, and eight on the de
fensive side of the ball.
The first look at the
Myers version of the Drag
ons will come this spring
when they scrimmage
Dawson County.
8th Grade Nettes
fall just short in
league tournament
In the first round of the
tournament, the 8th grade
Nettes earned a two seed in
the tournament and drew the
seventh seed Lumpkin
County Lady Indians. Pick
ens started the game off
strong, scoring 13 points in
the first quarter and holding
Lumpkin to zero points.
The second quarter saw
the Nettes outscore the Lady
Indians 20-3. Pickens took a
33-3 lead into half time. The
Nettes would go on to win
the game 53-17. Leading
scorers for Pickens were
Emmie Moore with 15 points
and Ellison Steinhauer with
12 points.
The 8th grade Nettes then
advanced to the semifinals of
the league tournament and
matched up with Fannin
County. The first quarter saw
a low scoring game with both
teams scoring six points
each. The second quarter was
also very close with Pickens
out scoring Fannin 10-9. The
Nettes would take a 16-15
halftime lead.
In the third quarter, the
Nettes’ offense opened up
scoring 18 points in the quar
ter and the defense held Fan
nin to three points in the
quarter. Pickens took a 34-18
lead into the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, the Nettes
outscored Fannin 8-5 to win
the game 42-23.
Leading scores for Pick
ens were Emmie Moore with
17 points and Brylee Deering
with 10 points.
The team advanced to the
finals of the league tourna
ment and matched up with
White County. White County
had a strong start in the first
quarter scoring 15 points to
Pickens seven.
The second quarter saw
more of the same as White
Continued on Page 3B
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Nettes hit 17 three-pointers
in record-setting game
The Nettes kept rolling
last week as they secured
two more wins over Ridge-
land and Dawson County.
On Tuesday, January 19th
the Nettes rolled into Ridge-
land for a region contest.
They left with a 92-23 win
and set a new single game
record of 17 made threes in a
game.
The record was previ
ously broken last year vs
Chattooga when the Nettes
made 16 threes. Seven
Nettes would contribute to
the total and 11 Nettes would
score in the game. Ninety-
two points in regulation was
also the highest scoring mark
since 96 points were scored
against Forsyth Central in
1999.
Cassidy Richards led all
scorers with 15. She also had
seven blocks. Carmyn
Mullins added 13, Kealy
Hillhouse 11, Bella Howell
and Madison Powell with
10.
Friday’s game with NW
was postponed due to the
Lady Bruins being in quar
antine.
The Nettes capped the
week’s action with a trip to
neighbor Dawson County.
Fans enjoyed an exciting
game as the Nettes came
back from a 13 point deficit
at the half by the end of the
third quarter, only trailing
52-53.
The Nettes continued
their second half run and
edged ahead for a 69-62 win.
Cassidy Richards had a
season high 21 points to help
lead the comeback. Fresh
men Caroline Mullins and
Bello Howell added 16 and
12 in the effort. Senior
Kealy Hillhouse contributed
10.
The Nettes entire team
played strong defense in the
2nd half as they held the
Lady Tigers to just 12 points
in the 3rd and 9 in the 4th.
The Nettes have moved their
record to 14-3 and will travel
to N. Murray on Tuesday,
Jan 26th.
Reagan Harwood shoots the 17th three-point shot in the
Nettes’ game against Ridgeland. The team set a single
game record of 17 three-pointers in a game.
The Nettes scored 92 points in the game against Ridge
land, the highest scoring mark since 96 points in 1999. Cas
sidy Richards led all scorers with 15 against Ridgeland and
had a season high 21 points to help lead the comeback in
the game against Dawson County.
Dragons battling during busy week
The Dragons basketball
team had a full schedule last
week as they competed in
two region contests and a
non-region game.
In the first game of the
week the Dragons traveled to
Ridgeland to take on the Pan
thers. Pickens jumped out on
the Panthers early 27 to 12.
The Dragons expanded their
lead to 44-26 at the half. In
the third quarter Pickens
came out on fire, outscoring
the Panthers 23-11. The final
from Rossville saw the Drag
ons cruise to a 73-52 win.
The win saw Tucker
Lowe, Owen Moss, Noah
Sutton and Jaden Stewart all
score in double-digits. Nine
different Dragons found the
bottom of the net over the
Luke Rogers had a solid week for the Dragons leading
Continued on Page 3B the team with 14 against Dawsonville.
PHS wrestling in top 16 after first rounds of state
On Friday, the Pickens wrestling team traveled drew Burrell, Julian Jacobs, and Zak Price helped coached Jefferson,
to Jefferson High School to compete in the first the Dragons win the dual 72-12. In the second Pickens would regroup and defeat Fayette
and second rounds of the State Dual tournament, round of the State Duals, the Dragons drew 17x County 72-12 to become one of the top 16 teams
In the first round, Pickens matched up with State Dual champions Jefferson. in 4A and also for the opportunity to be an alter-
Miller Grove. Pins from seniors CJ Murphy, An- The Dragons lost 66-13 to a talented and well- nate at the State Dual Championship.
B
Section
January 28, 2021
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Where’s the
Movie
On March 13, 1954,
outfielder Bobby Thomp
son lay at second base in
the Florida sand writhing
with a fractured ankle. It
was his first year as a
Brave and less than three
years removed from his
legendary pennant-win
ning home run as a New
York Giant against the
crosstown rival Brooklyn
Dodgers. Now, what
would Milwaukee do?
Who would replace the
celebrated Scotsman?
The answer was clear
to manager Charley
Grimm. There was a
promising young kid on
the spring training squad
who made his Major
League Baseball debut a
month later wearing num
ber five on his jersey. That
kid became the best base
ball player of his genera
tion and an inspiration to
people far beyond profes
sional sports. That kid be
came “Hammerin’ Hank”
in baseball circles but in
1954, he was a quiet 20-
year-old named Henry
Louis Aaron.
So much of his life and
career fill the headlines
since his death last week
at age 86, but how much
of that information is new
to you? Being Georgians,
we should know more
than the rest of the world
about this man. Unfortu
nately, many of us knew
little about Aaron beyond
his 755 homers or his
iconic number 44 which
incidentally he began
wearing in 1955. Even
more sadly, the rest of the
world knew less than we
did.
With such a remark
able athletic career, his
business achievements
and civil rights efforts,
why has nobody made a
movie about him? Why?
We continually hear
about the first black
player in the Majors,
Jackie Robinson and oc
casionally, Larry Doby’s
(Cleveland Indians) name
appears as the first black
player in the American
League. Now, consider
this fact. Aside from
spring training and in
Houston, Texas (begin
ning in 1963), no MLB
games were played south
of the Ohio River until
1966.
When the Braves
moved to Atlanta, Aaron
was the first athletic star
in the Deep South, and al
though black and His
panic baseball players had
gained acceptance in their
leagues by then, the public
as a whole in southern
states still held strongly to
segregation and bigotry. I
often wonder if Aaron’s
path was not much more
difficult than even Robin
son’s because of geogra
phy. Robinson played his
home games in New York
City and Los Angles, Cal
ifornia. The cultural cli
mates between those cities
and Georgia in the 1960s
were as distant as the
mileage between them.
The greater his accom
plishments, the greater ha
tred Aaron drew, yet he
met hatred with grace and
dignity. Still the public
consciousness overlooked
him for the flashy, big
Continued on Pase 3B