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August 11,
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CRIMINAL DEFENSE «DUI
ACCIDENTS 'INJURY
This week in Sports History Page 3B
706-253-9000
Pickens Football season outlook
Scrimmage game against Rockmart this Friday
The 2022 Pickens Foot
ball season is quickly ap
proaching. The Dragons have
been working hard all spring
and summer to prepare them
selves for the upcoming sea
son.
They participated in sev
eral 7v7 competitions and
two contact camps over the
course of June and July to get
ready for the challenges that
they will face this fall. Play
ers and coaches have been
committed to all of the de
tails that are required in the
process of having a success
ful season.
The Dragons will host the
Rockmart Yellowjackets for
their fall scrimmage this Fri
day, August 12th. This will
serve as the final tune up be
fore they begin their non-re
gion schedule the following
week against Sonoraville Au
gust 19th. After the Dragons
play Sonoraville they will
travel to North Murray on
August 26th for their second
non-region game. The fol
lowing week they will be on
the road again and head to
Fannin County to rekindle a
longtime rivalry with the
rebels on September 2nd.
The next week will serve as
a bye week for the Dragons
before they return home on
September 16th to play
Christian Heritage out of
Dalton for their final non-re
gion game.
The region schedule for
the Dragons begins on Sep
tember 23rd when Pickens
heads to Lumpkin to face the
Indians. The following week
the Dragons will have their
second bye week on Septem
ber 30th. After the bye they
will head to Dawson County
to face the Tigers on October
7th. Pickens will return home
photos/Robin Dunn
The Dragons have participated in several intra-squad competitions, including action
last Friday at PHS stadium. They face Rockmart at home Friday in a pre-season game.
The future is bright for the Dragons with enthusiastic young players like this at the
Meet the Dragons day last week.
PHS Baseball coach gains valuable
insight with USA Baseball
PHS Head coach Adam Williams had the
opportunity to participate with USA Baseball
for the first time.
He was asked to help form the 12U Na
tional Team that would compete in the U12
Baseball World Cup in Japan.
Williams traveled to Cary, North Carolina,
and over a period of 10 days evaluated tal
ented young players from around the coun
try. He and other USA Baseball coaches
selected a final roster that would compete in
Taiwan for the World Championship.
Apparently, they chose well as the 12U
team from the USA won gold in Taiwan.
The boys from the U.S. went undefeated in
pool play as well as bracket play. On August
7th, they won gold with a 10-2 win over
Venezuela.
This was Coach Williams first opportu
nity to work with USA Baseball and has
commented that it is a world class organiza
tion.
He returned from Cary, NC with in-
PHS Baseball Head Coach Adam
Williams with some of the young players he
worked with over the summer as part of USA
Baseball’s 12UNational Team.
creased experience in all things baseball and
we are happy to have him leading the Drag
ons.
Saturday, Aug 13
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on October 14th to face their
arch-rival Gilmer.
Following the Gilmer
game the Dragons will have
their last regular season road
game of the year on October
21st when they head to West
Hall High School and take on
the Spartans.
They return home the fol
lowing week and will play
White County on October
28th. Following the White
County game the Dragons
will face their final region
opponent, Wesleyan School
at home on November 4th.
The schedule sets up to be
challenging and exciting.
Players, coaches, and fans
will have a loot to look for
ward to this season with the
new region schedule and
some new non-region oppo
nents. Be sure to come out
and support your Dragons
this fall.
The Pride of Pickens tunes up for the 2022 season.
Racing across America
Race Recap -
FireKeepers Casino 400
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
This weekend, NASCAR
was in the Irish Hills of
Michigan at the 2-mile
Michigan International
Speedway. Michigan is a
track that ever since it’s last
repave in 2012 has been for
the most part average or even
bad. However, since the
NextGen car has been a
much better car than the Gen
6 cars by providing more ex
citing races, there was a
chance this race could be
good. The other 2-mile race
track this season, Auto Club,
was probably the best race of
the season. So, did this race
provide the same excitement
as Auto Club or was it an
other boring Michigan race?
Well, it was definitely good
for one driver who hadn’t
won in a long time.
The race started at 4:33
p.m. due to rain causing the
race to be delayed in hour
and a half with Wallace on
pole. He would lead the first
20 laps before the 1st caution
came for a competition cau
tion due to the rain. Several
drivers like Bubba, Bell,
Truex, and Kyle Busch de
cided to pit. On the next
restart, JJ Yeley checked up
in the middle of turn 1 and it
caused a 9-car pileup in
volving drivers like Kyle
Busch, Cindric, Almirola,
and Stenhouse. The race
restarted on lap 33 with Bell
in the lead due to staying out
and that paid off for him as
he won Stage 1. Almost
everyone on the lead lap pit
ted with only Gibbs and La-
joie staying out. Stage 2
officially started on lap 52
and Chastain took the lead
on the restart and would
continue to lead. Bell and
Hamlin would eventually
catch up to Chastain and
Hamlin would take the lead
from Chastain on lap 80 by
getting a push from Bell. Pit
stops started on lap 81 and
drivers continued to make
their green flag pit stop be
fore the 4th caution of the
race flew on lap 98 for
See Racing on 3B
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
Championship
Camp
The reigning Na
tional Champion Geor
gia Bulldogs began
training camp last week
in Athens in preparation
to defend that title be
ginning against Oregon
in the Chick-fil-A Kick
off on Sept. 3 in Atlanta.
Head coach Kirby
Smart continues the
building of this success
ful program, vowing it
is for more than just one
championship. Remem
ber; Georgia lost a
record 15 players from
last season to the NFL.
"We got a lot of good
players to replace,"
Smart said, "and we got
a lot of good players to
replace them with."
The Bulldogs have
talent via four consecu
tive top three recruiting
classes to refill every
opening.
Everyone expects the
latest version of this
team to contend, and it’s
widely favored to win
the SEC East yet again.
Who in the eastern
conference could beat
this team?
Kentucky keeps pro
ducing quality competi
tion but lacks roster
depth. Tennessee’s of
fensive should be formi
dable, but that defense
cannot match the speed
of a Georgia or Ala
bama. South Carolina
looks improved, but
still, the depth and
speed are lacking.
Florida has a new
coach and much de
pleted roster, so the
Gators still have a few
years of work to even
begin to match up with
the elite programs. Mis
souri also lacks size and
speed compared to other
teams, and Vanderbilt is
Vanderbilt.
In the Dawgs’
crossover games with
the western division,
they host Auburn and
Mississippi State. The
Tiger program remains
a mess as boosters
clammer for a new head
coach, and in only his
second year at the helm,
Mike Leach’s “air raid”
offense can score but
the defense though.
The West appears
loaded with Bama fa
vored as usual.
Polls do not mean
much to me. Game re
sults matter.
The first preseason
poll appeared on Mon
day. The USA Today
Coaches’ Poll listed the
top teams (in order) as
Alabama, Ohio State,
Georgia, Clemson,
Notre Dame, Michigan,
Texas A&M, Utah,
Oklahoma and Baylor.
Incidentally, the Bull
dogs’ first opponent
Oregon is ranked 12th.