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H Sports
H n IV A
February 10,
2022
&More
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More Sports: PHS Tennis report & Jr. High Nettes big win, 3B
PHS Tennis teams
split with E. Forsyth
The varsity girls tennis
team got a win last week
against East Forsyth, the
most recent school added in
Forsyth County.
Winning matches were:
#1 singles Isabella Lowe
#2 singles Macayla Kirchoff
#2 doubles Heidi Ayers and
Jadien Stanfield.
The varsity boys lost 1-4
with #3 singles David Sater-
field as the sole winner of his
match.
They are home against
Cherokee later in the week.
Dragons fall to Bruins
PHS basketball still has shot at making state tourney
The Dragons traveled to
Northwest Whitfield for a re
gion game last Tuesday,
falling 81-57 to the Bruins.
Northwest jumped to a
30-11 first quarter lead and
never looked back. The
Dragons cut the lead in the
second half but the hot shoot
ing Bruins maintained the
lead for the win. Northwest
made 13 three-point shots on
the night and beat the Drag
ons on the boards. The Drag
ons were led by Luke Rogers
16 points and nine rebounds
followed by Jaden Stewart
with 11 points.
The Dragons remain in
decent shape for the region
tournament going into this
week. Two key match-ups vs.
SE Whitfield and Cedartown
will solidify their seed for the
tournament. The middle of
the region is very balanced
and the Dragons have an op
portunity to make state again
if they are hot at the right
time.
Racing Across America
First Race Recap - The
Busch Clash
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
We are officially here. The
2022 NASCAR cup series
season is here, (yes the real
first race of the regular sea
son is the Daytona 500 in 2
weeks, but this is the first ex
hibition race run before the
regular season), and the first
season with the NextGen cars
are here. After coming off
last season where Kyle Lar
son won the NASCAR cup
series championship in his
first year with Flendrick Mo-
torsports and his first year in
a top tier race team by win
ning 10 races, running in the
top 5 almost every week and
just overall being the best
driver in the cup series last
season, we have officially
reached a new NASCAR sea
son. Sunday was the Busch
Clash, an exhibition race run
before the Daytona 500, and
it was held at the famous LA
Coliseum, which is the first
time a NASCAR race has
ever been run at a Coliseum.
As you may know, the LA
coliseum is “The Greatest
Stadium in the World” and
it’s held some very big events
like the Summer Olympics in
1932 and 1984. Considering
this is the first race with the
NextGen cars, this race un
derstandably had a ton of
hype behind it, but did it live
up to that hype?
I’ll say what I think at the
end, but for right now, I’ll
recap what happened in the
race Sunday evening. The
race started at 6:34 PM, and
Continued on Page 9B
Pickens Swim completes
successful season
PHS Seniors - This year's senior swimmers - Braeden
Kimbrell, Angelina Casey, Ishan Iqbal.
While the PITS and
PJF1S/JMS swim seasons are
over for the school year, the
team had an incredible sea
son.
Statistics/finishes from the
season:
Campbell Kickoff, Nov. 6
The team competed against
teams from Cobb and other
metro counties. Girls finished
7th out of 10 teams. Boys fin
ished 8th of 11 teams.
Calhoun Nov. 18 -Team fin
ished 3rd overall.
Adairsville - Thankful to
Compete Meet Boys finished
4th out of 9, girls finished 6th
out of 9.
Eagle Tri-Meet at Cherokee
Aquatics Dec. 3 - Team
placed 2nd overall out of 5
teams from Cherokee and
other metro counties.
Adairsville HS - Whoville
Meet - Dec. 18 Girls 7th out
of 12, Boys 8th out of 11.
Dalton HS Jan 8 - for the
Coahulla Creek Senior Night
Girls placed 1st, Boys 2nd
for overall 2nd place.
Northwest Georgia Swim and
Dive Championships - Jan
14/15 - The weather forced
many swimmers to scratch
their events in finals, but
Pickens finished with three
swimmers and finished 14th
out of 22 teams.
Regional Championships in
Dalton Jan 21/22 - Girls
finished 2nd, Boys finished
6th for overall 3rd place. The
best finish at regionals in
PHS history.
Continued on Page 11B
Three PHS wrestlers head to state
The Pickens Wrestling The PHS team qualified eight boys and two girl wrestlers
competed in the Sectional the previous week at the region tournament.
Tournament held at Troup
County High school over the
weekend.
The team had qualified
eight boys and two girl
wrestlers the previous week
at the region tournament.
After two long days of
wrestling with 16-man brack
ets, the Dragons have three
wrestlers headed to the state
championship and one alter
nate. Placers: 1st- Kaleb
Nicholson 3rd- Philip Jax &
Dylan Gonzalez 7th Cason
Cannon.
At Right, Placers (l-r)-
Kaleb Nicholson, Philip Jax,
Cason Cannon, & Dylan
Gonzalez.
Nettes get sixth straight appearance
in state playoffs with road win
Varsity Nettes log 18th straight win
photo/ Robin Dunn
The PHS Dance Squad put on a high-flying show during a break at the Nettes game
last week.
It was another solid week for the PHS
Dragonettes Basketball team. Both the JV &
varsity Nettes secured two wins each.
On Tuesday, February 1st, the Nettes trav
eled to Tunnell Hill for their second match up
with the #2 team in the region NW Whitfield.
The JV Nettes got the day started right with
a blistering 46-6 win over the JV Lady Bra
ins. The varsity Nettes would not have such
a margin, but the 39-31 road win guaranteed
a sixth straight appearance in the state play
offs.
On Saturday, the Dragonettes hosted #10
ranked Darlington that competes in the Sin
gle A Private School league. The JV Nettes
set the table again with an exciting 1 point
win over the Darlington JV.
The varsity Lady Tigers brought an 18-4
record to Roy Cowart Court along with three
Continued on Page 3B
PHS boys soccer “on a mission”
for record season, says coach
By Melissa Lowrie
The second full week of
high school soccer saw the
Dragons playing one game at
home and a Friday night
away match in Cumming.
On the blustery first night
of February, the Dragons
mercy-nded their oppo
nent—again. This time it was
the Fannin Rebels who went
home early, defeated by an
unyielding offense led by the
Sanchez brothers.
Jose Sanchez led the team
with four goals, Juan
Sanchez added three to his
career total and Will Finney
contributed two. Goalkeeper
Jack Lowrie also joined the
party, scoring his first-ever
goal on a penalty kick. The
game was called with eight
minutes left in the second
half.
Continued on Page 9B
I'— 1 '". - Mi.
Robin Dunn/photo
Jose Sanchez was part of the PHS scoring action with
four goals.
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Georgia
Connections
As fans prepare for
Super Bowl LVI which is
scheduled for Sunday at
6:30 p.m., most of my
local friends plan to root
for the Los Angeles Rams
who are favored in bet
ting lines by 4.5 points. In
these parts though, most
folks prefer the Rams due
to the Georgia connection
of several key figures
within that organization.
Their quarterback is
Matthew Stafford. Do
you remember this guy?
He was the starting
quarterback at UGA from
2006-2008 and the first
overall pick by the De
troit Lions in the 2009
NFL Draft. During his ca
reer in Athens, the Bull
dogs went 30-9, and he
threw for 7,731 yard and
51 touchdowns en route
to first team All-America
honors. Many followers
thought that Georgia
would have seriously
contended for a BCS
berth if Stafford had re
turned for his senior sea
son as well.
Behind Stafford in the
offensive backfield stands
running back Sony
Michel who is another
UGA alum. He played for
the Bulldogs from 2014-
2017 and rushed for
3,613 yards and 33 touch
downs. His three rushing
touchdowns and one re
ceiving touchdown in the
Rose Bowl lifted Georgia
past Oklahoma into the
national championship
game against Alabama.
Michel and Nick
Chubb hold the NCAA
record for most career
rushing yards by team
mates at 8,259.
Finally, head coach
Sean McVay is the lesser
known of the men with a
connection to the great
state of Georgia. He actu
ally attended college at
Miami of Ohio, but
played high school foot
ball at Marist in
Brookhaven, Georgia.
McVay was the quarter
back and led the War Ea
gles to a state title (14-1)
in 2003. He was and per
haps still remains as the
star pupil of legendary
prep football coach Alan
Chadwick (over 400
wins, 36 consecutive
playoff appearances, and
three state champi
onships).
McVay makes his sec
ond appearance as a head
coach in the Super Bowl.
Cincinnati could upset
the Rams and win. The
game result does not im
pact my life one way or
another, but I would
enjoy seeing those guys
with connections to Geor
gia hoist the trophy.