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PHS baseball report; Tennis team recognizes seniors, 7B
Dragons v. Raiders: History repeats itself
Josselly Bautista on the field March 25 at Dragon Sta
dium.
Racing Across America
RECAP - EchoPark
Automotive Grand Prix
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
- This weekend,
NASCAR hit its first road
course race of the season, at
the Circuit of The Americas
in Texas. Circuit of The
Americas (COTA ) is a track
that is known for F1 and Mo-
toGP racing on it, but starting
last year it is now also a track
for NASCAR.
Road course racing is a
special kind of racing be
cause you have to turn left
and right instead of just turn
ing left and has a lot of turns
instead of just 4. Therefore,
road courses are the types of
tracks that require the maxi
mum amount of skill and re
ally show who is talented and
who is not. COTA was first
introduced in NASCAR last
year and last year was a good
race despite it pouring heav
ily there, which led to heavy
crashes and a questionable
decision at the end of the race
to declare the race official.
The weather at COTA this
year was completely sunny
and warm instead of com
pletely rainy, but was it still
Continued on Page 3B
PHS Golf teams finish
busy week
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1 i /
The Pickens golf teams
finished a busy week after
competing in three matches
and a tournament.
The Dragons went 1-2
losing close matches to Daw
son County and Calhoun,
while defeating River Ridge.
The boys’ team of Seth
Cronic, Tillman Rooker,
Jansen Abner, Jackson Moss,
Collin Kellogg, Caleb
Bryant, and Ben Brownell all
golfed well for the Dragons.
The Nettes team finished
the week 3-0 defeating Cal
houn, Dawson, and River
Ridge. Dani Zeigler, Emery
Bryant, Lauren Quarles, and
Mariah Clayton performed
Continued on Page 3B
Shirt Off My Back Fundraiser - UGA fan John Luke
Weaver and BAMA fan Dr. Carl McCurdy hold a UGA Stet
son Bennett jersey that McCurdy will wear because his team
lost the National Championship. The jersey will be auctioned
6 p.m. Thursday, March 31st at Tacos and Margaritas, Main
St. in Jasper to benefit the weekend snack program for kids.
See more info page 3B.
Photos by Janie Carlan
Sidney Shorter with a header in the loss against the Raiders.
By Melissa Lowrie
Progress Contributor
It was a busy week of region games for the
Pickens’ varsity soccer squads.
Tuesday, March 22, the Dragons traveled
to Carrollton to take on the Central High
School Lions. The boys had the early game.
The Lions struck first, then the Dragons
came back to tie with a goal from Chris
Knight. Will Finney and Juan Sanchez each
contributed goals, putting PHS up 3-1. In
spite of great defensive play by Ethan Carlan,
Gus Gibson, Sidney Shorter and Tucker Led
ford, the Lions came back to tie. The winning
goal for the Dragons was from the boot of
Juan Sanchez, leading the team to a 4-3 vic
tory.
The girls’ team made quick work of Cen
tral, with goals from Josselly Bautista and
Eleina Bryant. The Dragons came out on top
with a final score of 7-2.
Friday the 25th provided a dramatic
marathon evening of soccer when the South
east Whitfield Raiders and Lady Raiders
came to Dragon Stadium for regional
matches. Coming into the game, the Raiders’
boys’ team was ranked #2 in the state in 4A.
In spite of Pickens’ impressive defensive
play in the first half, the Raiders came up
with two goals. After halftime, the Dragons
answered with a goal from Will Finney and a
game tying strike from Juan Sanchez. The
team worked as a cohesive unit, with big
plays from everyone, including Jose Sanchez,
Fransisco Santos, Charlie Gibbons, and out
standing goalkeeping from Jack Lowrie.
With the score tied 2-2 and approximately
15 minutes left in regulation, the Dragons’
all-time leading scorer, Juan Sanchez, was
tripped at the edge of the field, tumbled, and
lay motionless for several minutes while sur
rounded by medical and coaching staff. He
was taken off the field on a backboard and
transported by ambulance to Piedmont
Mountainside Hospital. Sanchez was released
from the hospital early the next morning with
a mild concussion. The Raiders’ player who
tripped Sanchez received a yellow card.
After a lengthy game delay, the referees
asked the large crowd in attendance to leave
the stadium; the remainder of the game was
played without fans. The match was still tied
at the end of regulation. Overtime rides in re
gion games call for two, 10-minute halves.
With the benefit of a deep and talented
Southeast Whitfield bench, combined with a
stunned Pickens’ team without their leading
scorer, the Raiders managed two more goals,
ending in a final score of 4-2. In 2020 and
2021, the Dragons also tied the Raiders, los
ing in overtime on both occasions.
The girls’ squad lost to the Lady Raiders,
with a final score of 6-0.
The PHS boys’ varsity team heads into the
final week of the regular season 10-2-2; the
girls are 6-7. The last games are Tuesday,
March 29th against Ridgeland at Dragon Sta
dium. In between games, the 14 soccer sen
iors will be recognized.
Jr. High finishes undefeated;
Mountain League Champion
• Team boasts 14-0
record,
• Outscored
opponents by 149 runs
while allowing only 34
runs over 14 games
Nerves and emotions were high at Pick
ens High School Dunn Field Monday after
noon.
The championship game starts off with
White County jumping on the Dragons
early, scoring three runs in the top of the first
inning. Capitalizing on a walk and HBP, the
Warriors hit a stand up triple in the gap scor
ing two. The Warriors would add one more
run before the Dragons could slow them
down.
The White County Warriors kept the
Dragons down till the bottom of the third in
ning when #22 Christian Starks hit a two run
homer dead center. The Dragons continued
to tack on runs, plating six in the 4th and
three in the 6th to seal the 11-3 win over the
White County Warriors.
#22 Christian Starks helped lead the way
going 4-4 at the plate for Pickens Junior
High School Dragons. Starks doubled in the
first, homered in the third, doubled in the
fourth, and doubled in the sixth. Starks
racked up three runs and five RBIs on the
day. #13 Ezra Faber went for 1-3 with three
runs scored and two RBIs of his own. #8
Caden Kirchoff, #21 Luke McKenzie and
#12 Devin Mask all racked up hits for the
dragons during the contest.
Pickens Jr High School settled down
after giving up three in the top of the 1st in
ning. The White County Warriors were held
scoreless the rest of the contest. #22 Chris
tian Starks took the win for Pickens Junior
High School Dragons. The ace allowed six
hits, three runs over six innings, striking out
13. #13 Ezra Faber threw one inning in re
lief out of the bullpen securing the win for
the Dragons.
The Pickens Jr High School Dragons fin
ish the season undefeated with a 14-0
record. Out scoring their opponents 149 runs
while allowing only 34 runs over 14 games
played. Dominant pitching kept the Dragons
in control of their destiny. The Pickens
pitching staff tallied up an impressive 134
strikeouts while holding their opponents to
67 scoreless innings. The future is bright for
this talented group.
Congratulations to the 2022 Mountain
League baseball Champions The Pickens Jr
High School Dragons.
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Blue
Bloods
Have you followed the
NCAA Basketball Tour
naments? Over the past
couple of weeks, the mens
action has including some
of the most exciting and
competitive ballgames
that I’ve seen in years.
Now, the field is whit
tled down to only four
teams. The so called “Cin-
derellas” were eliminated
as were all of the number
one seeds save one. We
are left with a Final Four
of very familiar college
basketball “Blue Bloods”.
These competitors rep
resent four of the premier
college basketball pro
grams in the country. Be
tween them, this quartet
hoisted 17 national cham
pionship trophies and
made 61 appearances in
the Final Four. Inciden
tally and ironically, each
of their uniforms contain a
shade of blue.
Kansas (32-6), the only
top seed left in the tourna
ment faces Villanova (30-
7) in the first national
semifinal on Saturday at
2:20 pm. Then, Duke (32-
6) plays old nemesis and
bitter rival North Carolina
(28-9) at 5:00 pm in New
Orleans’ Caesar’s Super-
dome. It is the first NCAA
tournament meeting be
tween these ACC confer
ence members. The
tournament championship
is scheduled for Monday
at 9:20 p.m.
Coach Bill Self’s (one
national title: 2008) Jay-
hawks should be the fa
vorite to win the whole
shooting match and cer
tainly, are favored over
the Wildcats who enter the
game without one of their
best players. Junior Justin
Moore who is the second
leading scorer on the team
(14.8 points per game)
could miss up to a year of
action following a tom
Achilles tendon in the
final minute of Vil-
lanova’s 50-44 victory
over Houston in the round
of eight. However, coach
Jay Wright led this pro
gram to unlikely champi
onships in 2016 and 2018.
Adding to the other his
toric matchup between the
Blue Devils and Tar Heels
is the fact that iconic Duke
head coach Mike
Krzyzewski enters his last
ride after 42 seasons.
Yes, love or hate him,
“Coach K” announced last
year that he plans to retire.
He currently holds a
coaching record of 1,202-
367 (101-30 in NCAA
tournaments) with five na
tional titles. Duke winning
the championship would
absolutely be the Holly
wood ending to his career.
On the other bench, sits
Hubert Davis in his first
year as NC head coach.
The former NBA veteran
(14 seasons) played colle
giate basketball as a Tar
Heel and his team has
won 16 of its last 19 ball-
games including a 74-46
demolition of Duke on
February 27 in Chapel
Hill.
Regardless of which
Blue Blood program you
like, if any, this Final Four
is special and must watch
basketball.