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April 22,
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PHS soccer heads to state
Juan Sanchez was named United
Soccer Coaches/MaxPreps State
Player of the Week. Juan has scored
44 goals this season, ranking him #2
in the nation, and #1 in the state of
Georgia.
By Melissa Lowrie
The Pickens Boys’ Varsity Soccer
Team is heading to the Georgia State
Soccer Tournament for the second
time in its short history. The team has
come a long way since it played its
first game in 1999, with losing
records for years before turning the
tables.
The first appearance in the tour
nament was 2019, when they were
defeated in the first round against a
strong Blessed Trinity squad. When
the 2020 season was abruptly can
celled, the team was well on the way
to another tournament berth, ending
with a final win on March 13. The
short season was promising, with a
record of 9-1-1. In 2020, the team
lost nine team members to gradua
tion.
The 2021 Pickens Dragons Soc
cer Team has finished the season 12-
4, dropping games to Southeast
Whitfield and Northwest Whitfield,
number one and two in 4A, respec
tively, taking Southeast to overtime
two years in a row. The other two
losses were to North Forsyth, a much
larger, 7A program. With both Whit
field teams in the Dragons’ Region 7,
this makes them a three seed in the
tournament.
Striker Juan Sanchez—a Max-
Preps State Player of the Week—has
44 goals this season. This ranks him
second in the nation for goals scored
in spring ’21. The Dragons’ back line
is anchored by goalkeeper Jack
Lowrie and center back Jose
Sanchez, Juan’s twin brother. Max-
Preps reports Lowrie has 44 saves in
the six games GK stats were kept.
Jose Sanchez has 18 goals; Will
Finney has contributed 17 goals. The
team will only lose one senior player
to graduation this year, Peyton John
son, who plays left back. The win
ning season has truly been a team
effort.
The first round of the single-game
elimination tournament will be an
away match at Druid Hills High
School in Atlanta, April 23 at 8 p.m.
Should the team advance, the sec
ond-round game will be April 29.
Coaches Charlotte Haughwout
and Jimmy Gibson have been dedi
cated leaders for this young team,
pro- See Soccer on Page 5B
Dragons win 2 of 4, recognize seniors
Pictured from left with their parents and coaches are PHS Baseball seniors Drake Sutton, Jarod Whitmore, Seth Densmore and Hunter White.
SAVE THE DATE
GOOD SAMARITAN
ED DELANEY GOLF
TOURNAMENT
MAY 12 | 11 AM
BIG CANOE GOLF CLUB
For questions Contact:
Brad Herren (610) 909-6200
Leslie Long (706) 253-4673 ext. 292
See Article on Page 3A for more details.
The Dragons had a busy
week of competition last
week, despite it being their
bye week from region com
petition.
On Tuesday, April 13th
the Dragons began a two-
game series with the Fannin
Rebels. Pickens jumped out
of the gate in the first inning
as Jarod Whitmore landed an
RBI single. In the fourth in
ning, the Dragons added one
run, followed by two more
runs in the fifth. Fannin
woidd make the scoreboard
in the bottom of the fifth by
scoring their first run of the
game. They woidd add an
other run in the bottom of the
sixth. Headed into the final
inning, the Dragons were
leading 4-2. Pickens added
another insurance run to start
the 7th and then hold the
rebels in the bottom half.
JP Nunn got the win for
the Dragons. The hurler
lasted five innings, allowing
six hits and one run while
striking out four and walking
one. Seth Densmore and
photos/ Damon Howell
The Dragons record an out against Fannin County.
Jackson Moore entered the
game out of the bullpen and
helped to close out the game
in relief. Whitmore led the
Dragons at the plate with a 2
for 4 performance.
In the second game of the
week against Fannin, the
Rebels traveled to Jasper for
the Dragons’ senior night.
The 2021 seniors would
show out as they navigated
Pickens to a 9-0 victory. The
Dragons did most of their
damage in the second inning
by scoring five runs, thanks
See Baseball on Page 5B
Girls Tennis finds tough going
against top ranked opponent at state
The Dragonettes tennis team made a lot of improvement
this year, reaching the state tournament.
The Dragonettes Tennis
team traveled to Marist High
School to compete in the first
round of the state playoffs.
Up against a tough opponent
the girls lost the match 0-4.
The girls played their hearts
out and represented PHS
well. We are super proud of
them.
This group of girls have
improved so much since the
beginning of the season and
we are proud of their accom
plishments.
We will say goodbye to
seniors Sarah Parks, Chloe
Imbriano and Tempe
Solomon. The boys tennis
team will also lose some piv
otal players this year. We bid
farewell to Pete Bryant,
Chase Nelson, Sam Stout and
Josh Murphy.
All of these young men
and women will be missed
and we wish them all well in
their future endeavors.
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Surprising
Leaders
At three weeks into the
Major League Baseball
season, would you have
picked any of the divi
sion leading clubs save
maybe the Dodgers? It
is very early and decid
edly too early to really
determine much about
the quality of all the
teams, but some of the
leaders surprise if not
shock me.
In the American
League, would you
have picked Boston
(11-6) Kansas City (9-
6) and Seattle (10-6) as
division leaders?
No way...
I would have failed
to correctly name even
the last place teams for
that matter.
The Rangers (7-9) in
the West and perhaps
Detroit (6-10) in the
Central fail to shock
most people, but the
Yankees (5-10) find
themselves mired in
their worst start to a
season on 25 years.
The National League
has few surprises but
nonetheless, some un
expected showings.
Everyone expected the
defending champion
Los Angeles (13-3) to
rule the West and the
Dodgers are taking care
of business thus far.
The upstart Padres (10-
7) give chase, however
the Giants (10-6) were
not expected to be com
petitive at all.
What do we make of
the Central Division?
The Reds (9-6) un
expectedly lead the
way. It seems to be any
one’s division at this
point with only two
games separating the
other four division ri
vals. The Brewers (8-7)
and Cardinals (8-8)
were expected to be in
a close race all season
but Cincinnati makes a
strong case for a three
team battle through
September.
The NL East boggles
my mind!
Atlanta (7-9) has
hardly hit a lick and
when the Braves have
scored, their bullpen is
unreliable. Now, con
tinued problems with
injuries hamper the
Bravos. Meanwhile,
New York (7-4) leads
the division, but the
Mets missed almost a
week’s worth of con
tests due to weather and
Covid postponements.
Philadelphia (8-8)
and Miami (7-8) stand
ahead of Atlanta, but
neither of those teams
look unbeatable by any
means. Washington (5-
9) rounds out the divi
sion standings in fifth
place.