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This week in Sports History, Page 7B
Pickens
Tennis
heads to
state
It’s state week for the
PHS girls’ tennis team.
After finishing the region
tournament as the 4th
seed, they will travel to
the Clayton County Ten
nis Center for the a first
round match up against
Region 5-AAAA winner
Fayette County.
The Fayette County
Lady Tigers were unde
feated in region play.
However, Region 5-
AAAA is not a power
house in tennis and
Coach Carnes feels like
her team from Pickens
has an opportunity to ad
vance in the match up.
Diamond
Dragons
second
in Region
The Dragons baseball
team has some big games
this week in Region play.
They are currently tied
for 2nd place in the re
gion with several other
teams. Pickens, Central,
NW, and Heritage are all
9-6 in region play. Some
good news is that Pickens
has the tie breaker over
the other three teams,
having won the three
game series vs each of
them. The Dragons play
their final series of region
play vs. Ridgeland this
week. Coach Williams’
crew has been battling
some nicks and bruises
throughout the roster as
well as the hiccups that
come with a fairly young
team.
They need to get one
win in the three game se
ries with Ridgeland to
qualify for the state play
offs. That opportunity
will be on Tuesday, April
19th on the road. The
Dragons will host their
final regular season home
games when the host a
double header vs. Ridge
land on Friday at 5 &
7:30.
Dragon soccer revises record book
All-Region teams announced
Photo/Janie Carlan
PHS Boys Varsity: The Pickens High School boys’ varsity soccer team has advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time
in school history.
By Melissa Lowrie
The first round of the GHSA State Soccer Tournament
began the week of April 11. Both the Pickens girls’ and boys’
teams qualified—a first for the girls in the history of the pro
gram. This is the third trip to the tournament for the boys’
team. In an unusual twist of scheduling, both squads were
slated to play Luella High School in first round matches.
Both the Lions and Lady Lions were higher seeds than the
Dragon teams, so the Pickens’ soccer players, coaches and
fans traveled to Locust Grove on April 14.
In the early game, the girls’ teams were extremely well-
matched. After regulation time, the score was tied at 3-3, with
Eleina Bryant supplying the goals for Pickens and goalkeeper
Lauren Gregory providing strong defense. During overtime’s
two 10-minute halves, the Lady Lions scored and Josselly
Bautista answered with a goal for the Dragons. The game
was tied at four goals apiece. As the minutes dwindled, the
Lady Lions came up with a critical goal in the final seconds.
The game ended 5-4 in favor of Luella, ending a great season
for the Dragons.
The boys game was a mismatch from kickoff; the Lions
were outplayed at every turn. The Dragons’ high-octane of
fense scored 11, while the Lions managed a single goal. The
mercy rule ended the game with eight minutes remaining.
For the first time in Pickens High School history, the boys
varsity soccer team has advanced to the second round—the
“Sweet 16,” in the tournament. The goal scorers for the Drag
ons were Will Finney (4), Juan Sanchez (3), Jose Sanchez
(2), Jack Flatt (1), and an own goal by a player on the oppos
ing team.
Head Coach Charlotte Haughwout said, “Coach Jimmy
(Gibson) and I are so proud of
Continued on Page 5B
Dragons
Scramble
report
Last week the Pickens
Golf teams competed in an
other busy week.
On Monday, both teams
traveled to White Path Golf
Course to go against Gilmer
County. The Dragons, led by
Seth Cronic’s 40 and Tillman
Rooker’s 43, defeated the
Bobcats 176-193. TheNettes
led by Dani Zeigler’s 46 were
also victorious against the
Bobcats. The Nettes final
score was 137-155.
On Tuesday the Pickens
golf program hosted the
Dragon Scramble. The
Scramble was a tournament
involving the golf teams and
staff from Pickens County
School District. The team of
Continued on Page 5B
Little Shop of Horrors
opens Thursday at PHS
Leads DJ Waina and Macey Thomas prepare for this
weekend’s performances of Little Shop of Horrors.
Shows continue Friday
A Saturday
Don’t Miss Out. The
Pickens High School The
atre department will be
presenting “Little Shop of
Horrors.” Opening night is
Thursday, April 21 at 7
p.m. Other show times in
clude Friday, April 22 at 7
p.m., and Saturday, April
23 at 2 and 7 p.m.
Stellar performances by
seniors DJ Waina, Macey
Thomas, Alex Nix, Brooke
Browder, Owen Galligan
and Warren Posey. Tickets
can be purchased through
the PHS Theatre facebook
page or at the door. Adults
$12, students $10.
PHS Performing Arts
Center, 500 Dragon Drive,
Jasper.
Coach Jordan Shaw, Emery Bryant, Coach Brandon Thomas - Winners of the Dragon
Scramble last week with golf team members and school staff competing.
Racing Across America
Race Recap: Food City Dirt Race
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
It’s Bristol Dirt baby. While
it may sound weird to you,
this was a Bristol race with
the normal concrete surface
covered in dirt. NASCAR
started doing this last year
with the spring Bristol race
by making it a dirt race. So
was the Bristol dirt race an
entertaining race?
And did it make up for the
dull Martinsville last week
and be a fitting end to short
track swing of races? You’ll
find out at the end of this col
umn. Let’s first go over what
happened in the race last
Sunday night.
The green flag waved at
7:05 p.m. with Cole Custer
on pole. Briscoe would pass
him for the lead on the first
lap. Custer would come into
pit road on lap 12 to clean the
mud off the grill off his car to
prevent it from blowing up.
All of the drivers ended up
having too much mud on the
grill of their cars, which led
to NASCAR bringing out the
first caution of the race to
allow the drivers to come
into the pits to clean the mud
off their grilles.
The restart would happen
on lap 26 with Briscoe still in
the lead. Kyle Larson would
take the lead on lap 49 when
Chase Briscoe blew a tire
from the lead and spun out
the following lap, bringing
out the second caution. The
next restart happened on lap
56. Kyle Larson would hold
onto the lead to win stage
one.
The restart to begin stage
two occurred on lap 77 with
Suarez in the lead after de
ciding to stay out during pit
stops. The 4th caution of the
race flew on lap 92 for Bow
man spinning around off turn
4. A lap after the next restart,
the 5th caution would come
out a lap later for a muti-car
accident involving Bowman,
Gragson, Harvick, and La-
joie.
The restart would happen
on lap 106 with Suarez con
tinuing to lead. The 6th cau
tion would fly on lap 114 for
Keselowski spinning out
while racing Austin Dillon.
The next restart would hap
pen on lap 119. The 7th cau
tion of the race would fly at
the halfway mark of the race
on lap 126 for a piece of de
bris on the track. The next
restart would happen on lap
132 and the 8th caution
would fly on the same lap for
Lajoie spinning out on the
backs tretch.
The restart would happen
on lap 140 and Briscoe
would take the lead from
Suarez. Briscoe would go on
to win stage two.
Half of the field came in
to pit to clean their cars off
from the mud while the other
half stayed out. It started
raining hard and NASCAR
brought everyone down pit
road because it was too wet
to race. The race was delayed
Continued on Page 7B
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Draft
Time
The NFL draft begins
next Thursday, April 28
and lasts through the
30th. More than ever, the
Falcons need a solid
group of rookies in this
draft class.
Getting solid players
via the draft remains a
feat which has repeat
edly eluded Atlanta. Per
haps, it is too early to
judge the current leader
ship team, but the previ
ous group which was led
by Thomas Dimitroff
stank in quality draft
picks. In fact, among
players who are beyond
their original rookie
deals (three years), the
organization has only
one player remaining on
the roster of the last
twelve drafted under
Dimitroff.
When it comes to
draft picks, the Falcons
brass has swung and
missed more times than
Dansby Swanson during
a long weekend series.
In this upcoming draft,
Atlanta has nine picks
and five of them come in
the first 85 selections.
Needless to say that this
rebuilding franchise re
ally needs four to six of
the players taken in 2022
to contribute and con
tinue to do so for several
years as well.
Most of the so called
draft experts expect At
lanta’s selections to be
defensive players. I
would expect a top shelf
wide receiver as the first
pick (8th overall).
Sports Illustrated’s
mock draft projects At
lanta’s second pick (43rd
overall) as a quarterback.
For goodness sake,
why?
With the quarterback
class of 2023 loaded
with talent, selecting a
second rounder now
seems like a reach and
likely a wasted pick
which this franchise can
not afford.
With the team needing
depth on both the offen
sive and defensive lines,
at linebacker and at
safety, picking for any
other positions should
come only in a situation
of “best player avail
able” by a huge margin.
Ultimately, Atlanta is
a .500 team at best as
currently constructed.
Any hope of a winning
record this fall and in
coming seasons hinges
on this draft.
For more information www.caresforpickens.com
n starting May 2pending May 9.
See Silent Auction information at the website.