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PHS Volleyball hosts first home games
The high school hosted
Murray and Cass this past
Thursday for their first
home game. The varsity
defeated Murray in three
sets but fell short to Cass.
Sydney Wolfe, Madi
son Powell, and Lilly
Wendt lead the varsity in
kills.
The JV won both
matches against Murray
and Cass. Mckayla Coul
ter served her team the
win against Murray and
Aspen Darby made big
plays against both teams.
The varsity travels to
Woodstock this weekend
for a tournament.
Dragons fall in season opener 27-15
The Dragons opened their
season this past Friday at
Sonoraville High School in a
wet and soggy game that had
an hour and a half start time
delay due to lightning in the
area. Kickoff originally
scheduled for 7:30 p.m. did
not happen until right at 9
p.m.
Once play began the
Dragons received the open
ing kickoff and stalled offen
sively on their first drive. The
Sonoraville offense took the
field and was able to convert
some key 3rd downs and go
down to score and kick the
PAT to make it 7-0 Phoenix.
Pickens responded with a
long drive of their own inside
the 5 yard line before failing
to convert the drive into
points and turning the ball
over on downs at the Sono
raville 3 yard line. From here
Sonoraville was able to drive
the ball down the field in part
to some defensive miscues,
and costly penalties by the
Dragons.
After scoring their second
TD, Sonoraville was up 14-0
going into the 2nd quarter.
After receiving the following
kickoff, the Dragons fumbled
the ball back to Sonoraville
giving them a short field to
go up 20-0 after the PAT at
tempt was blocked by Kaleb
Nicholson. This would be the
halftime score for the Drag
ons.
Pickens found a way to
come out with some fire in
the second half, getting sev
eral key defensive stops in a
row and finally finding a way
to get into the endzone by a
52 yard jet sweep touchdown
run by senior Colby Brooks
with 3:20 to go in the 3rd
quarter. The score was then
20-7.
The Dragon defense rose
up to make a big stop on
Sonoraville at the start of the
4th quarter, however a very
Fighting in the trenches, the Dragons’ Charlie Gibbons.
5 ™
ru
photo/Robin Dunn
Colby Brooks, #1, and the Dragons squad on the tackle in the season opener.
costly penalty on a fake punt
attempt by Sonoraville at
their own 25 on 4th and 18
gave the Phoenix a 1st down.
This was an extremely costly
penalty because it would’ve
given the Dragons a first
down at the Sonoraville 27
with over 10 minutes to play.
The Dragons were able to
stop Sonoraville from scor
ing and get the ball back, but
on a spread punt formation
that the Dragons put QB Sam
Streicher back to kick, Stre-
icher was hit and punted the
ball only 10 yards. No rough
ing the punter call was made.
From here Sonoraville
was able to hit a fade ball in
the comer of the endzone to
go up 27-7 with five minutes
and some change to play. The
Dragons received the kickoff
and marched down the field
aided by a long reception to
Kadyn Hampton from Stre
icher, and capped off by a
short TD ran by Miguel
Salto. The two point conver
sion attempt was good mak
ing the score 27-15.
The Dragons attempted an
onside kick with just over
two minutes to play and al
most recovered it, but after
bouncing off one Sonoraville
player it fell into the hands of
another one. The defense was
able to get a kick stop and
allow the offense to try and
work a two minute drill. Un
fortunately, the Dragons were
unable to come away with
any points and the final score
was 27-15 in favor of Sono
raville.
Other standouts from the
game included- Marcus Pike,
Isaiah Williams, Bryson
Callahan and Aiden Baum on
offense. On defense Trevor
Morgan and Mason Powell
had solid performances.
The Dragons look to
bounce back this week with
another non-region game at
North Murray High School
scheduled for a 7:30 kickoff.
Go Dragons.
See more game
photos on page 7B
Will Hall runs through the rain and gloom for the Drag
ons cross-country team.
Racing Across America
Race Recap -
Go Bowling at The Glen
Cross Country
season outlook
with Head
Coach Donny
White
How do you think the move
to Region 7-AAA will im
pact the potential success
of your team?
Cross Country doesn't fol
low a traditional regular sea
son region schedule like the
other fall sports. Our season
consists of several invita
tional meets (races) where as
many as 40-50 high school
teams from all classifications
compete. We will see most of
our region teams at some of
these large invitational races,
but it won't be until the re
gion meet at the end of the
season that we'll compete
solely against region teams.
Having said all of that, I
think we're going to be very
competitive against the
teams in our new region.
Which teams in Region 7-
AAA are on your radar as
solid programs to compete
against in region? What is
it about them that gets
your attention?
I would say Wesleyan is
certainly a team we'll be
watching throughout the sea
son. They have a solid girls'
and boys' team, and we will
get a chance to compete
against them in September at
a large meet hosted by Ken-
nesaw Mountain High
School down in Acworth. It'll
be fun to see how we match
up.
See XC Report on 7B
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
Watkins Glen has been an
awesome track in last the 10
years with great racing and
very memorable finishes.
Like the fantastic 2012 finish
between Kyle Busch, Ke-
selowski, and Marcos Am
brose or 2018 with Elliott
barely holding off Truex,
who eventually ran out of
fuel on the final lap, and
scoring his first ever Cup se
ries win. So did this race de
liver and provide another
great Watkins Glen race that
we will remember for years
to come?
The race started at 5:01
p.m. with Elliott on pole after
being delayed for 2 hours due
to lightning and rain making
the track too wet for the driv
ers to race on. Elliott led the
first three laps before Mc
Dowell overtook him on lap
four to take the lead. Drivers
started to pit on lap seven to
put on dry tires since the
track was now starting to
dry due to the rain stopping
and the drivers racing on the
track. Briscoe ended up
being in the lead at the end
of stage and would win
Stage 1 because he was one
of the first ones to pit and
had a fast car in this race.
Stage 2 started on lap 24
with Gilliland in the lead
after Briscoe and other driv
ers up front decided to pit.
Logano passed him for the
lead four laps later when
Gilliland had a broken axle
which effectively ended his
See Racing on SB
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
The Newest
Kid
Despite various in
jured players, the Braves
keep winning due in large
part to talented rookies.
The newest addition to
the roster, could be the
best one yet.
Surely, you noticed the
mustache mania sur
rounding 22 year old fire
balling starting pitcher
Spencer Strider. The dis
tinctive mustachioed
right hander is 7-4 with a
2.95 era and 151 strike
outs in only 100 innings.
Then, there’s 21-year-
old center fielder Michael
Harris II. The Georgia na
tive dazzles defensively
and his performance at
the plate gives every indi
cation that he is indeed a
legitimate “five
tool”player. That over
used term refers to a
baseball player who can
play great defense, has a
strong throwing arm, ex
traordinary speed afoot,
hits for a high batting av
erage and hits for power.
With 13 homers, 43 RBI,
15 stolen bases, a .286
batting average and a
.505 slugging percentage
through only 77 ball-
games, he looks like a
budding superstar.
Either Strider or Har
ris will absolutely win the
National League Rookie
of the Year Award. No
body else is even in that
conversation actually.
What about the tall kid
at second base with the
infectious smile?
His name is Vaughn
Grissom and ordinarily,
he plays shortstop. Due to
Ozzie Albies’ foot injury
and a hamstring injury
Orlando Arcia, the At
lanta organization ele
vated Grissom directly
from AA ball to the Big
Leagues. His impact was
immediate too.
On August 10, at
iconic Fenway Park in
Boston, he became the
first player in history to
belt a homerun and steal
a base in his MLB debut.
Since that night, Grissom
shows every indication
that he too is a “five tool”
player.
Many fans asked if he
was the son of form
Brave Marquis Grissom,
but this young man from
Orlando, Florida is no re
lation to the man who
squeezed the final out of
the 1995 World Series.
He could perhaps be
more dynamic and a big
ger fan favorite already.
Through only 13
games, the six foot, three
inch Grissom totals 18
hits, 13 runs, three
homers, nine RBI, a cou
ple stolen bases with an
astronomical OPS of
1.092. Unless his num
bers fall off a cliff, expect
him as a fixture in Atlanta
for years to come.
Once Albies returns,
we could see Grissom
play some left field in the
short term. Shortstop re
mains his primary posi
tion though.
Would the long-term
spot for him be in left
field?
Ever position is filled
See Gartrell on 5B