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February 16,
2023
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Nettes season ends with 19-7 record
Caroline Mullins selected 1st team All-Region
The Nettes wrapped up
the regular season last week
with a 19-6 record and a 4
seed going into the region
tournament.
On Tuesday, the Lady
Wolves of Wesleyan came to
Jasper with their #3 state
ranking and proved to be
every bit of that. Wesleyan
controlled the first half, going
to the locker room with a 33-
20 lead. The Nettes dug deep
and battled back in the third,
outscoring Wesleyan 16-10
in the third quarter until Eva
Garabadian connected on a
last second 3 to end the third
and to keep the lead at 10 for
Wesleyan. The Dragonettes
did not give up. They cut the
lead to seven and had several
possessions to get even closer
before Wesleyan closed the
door on the comeback.
The Nettes then traveled
to Hall County to take on
West Hall for their final reg
ular season contest. West
Hall celebrated Senior Night,
but didn’t have much else to
cheer as they fell 61-8 to the
Dragonettes. The Nettes had
26 steals in the game and
held the Lady Spartans score
less in the first half.
All region selections were
revealed after the end of the
regular season and the Nettes
had four players honored.
Caroline Mullins was se
lected 1st team All-Region.
Bella Hopkins and Ellison
Steinhauer were both 2nd
team All-Region selections
and Senior Emma Gleason
was Honorable Mention All-
Region.
On Monday, the season
ended for the Nettes in the
quarterfinals of region tour
nament play. A physical
Dawson County Lady Tigers
team matched up with the
Nettes in the first round of re
gion play and clawed their
way to a 53-50 win. Pickens
led throughout the game, by
as much as 10 points in both
the first and second half but
could not put away Dawson.
The Lady Tigers made sev
eral runs in the game with the
last one giving them a two
point lead. The Dragonettes
cut the lead to one and then
were forced to either foul or
get a turnover with under 28
seconds in the game. The
turnover came first and Pick
ens was able to score on a
baseline out of bounds play
to retake the lead 50-49.
Unfortunately, Dawson
went the length of the floor
and hit a game winner with
five seconds left. The loss
eliminated the Nettes from
further postseason play and
wrapped up their season with
a 19-7 record.
Ashaela Buchanan con
necting on one of her made
3s vs West Hall. The Nettes
would have 26 steals in the
game.
Ellison Steinhauer scores
two against West Hall.
More school swim records broken
PHS Girls bring home 3rd place from regionals
PHS Swim Seniors
On Saturday, Jan 21, PHS
Swim Team competed in the
North Georgia Regionals
Swim Meet at Dalton High
School. This meet begins in
the morning with preliminary
competition with the top 12
swimmers moving on to fi
nals to compete in the after
noon. Out of 14 teams, the
PHS girls brought home 3rd
place in a very strong show
ing while the boys were able
to finish in 7th place.
Morning preliminaries
proved to be good for Pick
ens as every swimmer quali
fied for finals in at least one
race. With Dalton High
School pool having only six
lanes, this means that only
the top 12 move on to finals
with the top 6 going to A fi
nals and 7-12 going to B fi
nals.
After preliminaries, we
had the following moving on
to finals: Girls A (Arie
Stevens, Mae Stevens, An-
abelle Jordan, Savannah Ret
ford) and B (Angelina Matos,
Nicole Chuong, Heather Fer
nandez, Kilie Gravley) Med
ley relay teams, Boys Medley
Relay team (Nate Townsend,
Brody Leake, Jack Resetar,
Liam Kimbrell), Anabelle
Jordan in 200 Freestyle and
100 Freestyle, Savannah Ret
ford in the 200 Freestyle and
100 Backstroke, Arie Stevens
in 200 IM and 100 Butterfly,
Mae Stevens in 500 yard
Freestyle and 50 Freestyle,
Brody Leake in 100 Breast
stroke Ryan Johnson in 200
Freestyle, Nate Townsend in
100 Backstroke, Liam Kim
brell in 100 Backstroke, Jack
Resetar in 50 Freestyle and
100 Breastroke, Heather Fer
nandez in 100 Breaststroke,
Boys 200 Freestyle Relay
team (Jack Resetar, Brody
Leake, Read Fernandez,
Ryan Johnson), Girls 200
yard Freestyle Relay team
(Angelina Matos, Nicole
Chuong, Heather Fernandez,
Mae Stevens) Boys 400 yard
Freestyle Relay (Ryan John
son, Read Fernandez, Liam
Kimbrell, Nate Townsend)
and Girls 400 yard Freestyle
Relay (Savannah Retford,
Anabelle Jordan, Arie
Stevens, Mae Stevens).
Returning in the afternoon
for finals, PHS swimmers
racked up in placements and
many more personal best
times. The girls’ team collec
tively pulled in enough points
to take a 3rd place in region
while also crushing the 400
yard freestyle school record
by more than 21 seconds in
the process.
Heat winners on the
evening were the girls’ 200
yard freestyle relay as well as
Arie Stevens in 100 yard
Butterfly, Anabelle Jordan in
100 Freestyle and Ryan John
son in the 500 yard Freestyle.
Other notable finishes in
cluded Savannah Retford and
the girls’ 400 yard Freestyle
relay team taking 3rd places
overall, Arie Stevens in the
IM and Brody Leake in the
100 yard Breaststroke took
4th place, the girls’ A Medley
relay, Mae Stevens in the 500
freestyle, Savannah Retford
in 100 Backstroke all with
5th place finishes, the boys’
medley finished 6th to round
out the A finals and top six on
the evening.
On January 26, the team
swam its final meet of the
season at Calhoun High
School to celebrate our Sen
iors: Brody Leake, Nicole
Chuong, Kilie Gravleyand
Ellie Boswell. On this night
of competition, both the girls’
and boys’ teams pulled in at
2nd place for an overall 2nd
place finish. It was a great
way to cap off the season for
this group.
Get your tickets now. March 3 is right
around the comer
Call 706-889-6368.
Or contat local DU chapter on Facebook @ Pickens County Ga
Ducks Unlimited Chapter
DUCKS
UNLIMITED
- r ~'—U-
NEW LOCATION
Chattahoochee Technical College
100 Campus Drive
Jasper, GA 30143
Friday - March 3, 2023
Doors Open - 6pm • Dinner Served
Sponsorship Options
Gun Table - Starts at $2000
Private table with 8 seats
Swag
Gun of Buyer's Choice
Basic Table - $700
Private table with 8 seats
Swag
Advertising Sponsor - $100
Your company logo / info on
large projector screens 1
7pm
Gun Raffles
Live & Silent Auctions
Collector's Items
Shotgun & Pistol of the Year
DU Artwork
Dinner (Included with Ticket Purchase)
Raffle Prizes
Free Gifts at the Door
Tickets
Individual—$65
Couples—$110
Greenwing—$45
PHS Tennis teams vs.
North Forsyth
L-R #3 Singles Ella Johnson, #2 Singles Brandy
Overton, #2 Doubles Courtney Crowe & Jaiden Stan
field, #1 Singles Isabella Lowe.
Last week the PHS
girls tennis team secured
an early season win in a
match against North
Forsyth. The girls won 4-
1 with wins by #1 singles
Isabella Lowe, #3 singles
Ella Johnson, # 1 doubles
Logan Berryman & Ans-
ley Berryman, and #2
doubles Courtney Crowe
and Jaiden Stanfield.
The boys lost a nail-
biter 2-3. The freshmen
had a great day with wins
by #2 singles Joseph
Saltino and #3 singles
Will Leathers. Next up for
PHS tennis is a trip to
Forsyth Central. The girls
are currently 1-1 and the
boys 0-2.
#2 Singles winner
Joseph Saltino.
Four Dragons named
to All Region team
The Dragons split their
last two regular season
games.
On February 7th, the
Wesleyan Wolves came to
Jasper. The contest was
tight throughout the night
with Wesleyan taking a 28-
26 halftime lead. The third
quarter was the downfall for
the Dragons scoring only
five points while giving up
18. The wolves went on to
win 62-48. Caleb Lanford
was the only Dragon in dou
ble figures with 14 points.
The Dragons then trav
eled to West Hall to take on
the athletic Spartans.
In another tight contest
the Dragons turned a two
point halftime lead into a
62-58 victory. The Dragons
were led by Caleb Lanford
with 15 points, James Tilley
and Isaiah Williams with 12
points and Jaden Stewart
with 11 points.
Four Dragons were
named to the 7-AAA all re
gion team. Caleb Lanford
was placed on the 2nd team
and Camden Dunn was
placed on the 3rd team.
Jaden Stewart and Kadyn
Hampton were named hon
orable mention.
Nine wrestlers qualify
for state competition
Over the weekend, the
wrestling team competed in
the sectional tournament at
Upson-Lee High School.
Wrestlers had to place in the
top six to qualify for state.
The Dragons exceeded all
expectations by placing nine
individuals. Each of the fol
lowing wrestlers represents
one of the top 12 at their
weight class in 3A. They will
compete in Macon this Fri
day and Saturday at the state
tournament.
Sectional Placers:
1st - Dylan Gonzalez &
Kaleb Nicholson
2nd - Philip Jax
3rd - Cason Cannon & Max
Marshall
4th - William Godfrey
5th - Chris Knight, RJ
Mullins, <6 Mason Powell.
PHS Wrestlers
pictured on page 5B
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
The Big Slip
Around
Football season is fi
nally over. Kansas City
defeated Philadelphia 38-
35 in Super Bowl LVII on
Sunday evening in the
NFL season finale - the
star studded, overhyped
piece de resistance to end
all piece de resistances.
While this football
game itself lived up to the
billing, the field itself
proved dreadful.
We could easily re
name this game “the big
slip around” because play
ers could not get any foot
traction on the natural
grass playing surface.
They changed cleats again
and again but to no avail.
This game might as well
have been played on Jello
covered porcelain.
By halftime, the field
looked as if I had played
72 holes of golf on it as a
crew of several dozen
workers scrambled to re
pair innumerable divots
and scars.
Was Carl Spackler in
charge of this field?
If that name seems fa
miliar, Spackler (played
by actor Bill Murray) was
a young greenskeeper at
iconic Bushwood Country
Club over four decades
ago. You would think that
he is retired by now
though.
In reality, reports say
the the NFL spent
$800,000 and nearly two
years working on this nat
ural grass turf especially
for this game at State
Farm Stadium in Glen
dale, Arizona. Even the
league’s “Sodfather”
George Toma oversaw the
project, and in pregame
interviews, he declared it
the second best Super
Bowl grass of all time.
Well...
Mr. Toma is 94 years
old though and may have
believed the Houston Oil
ers were playing in the
game. If you watched the
Super Bowl even for noise
during your party, it was
completely obvious that
the turf was inadequate at
best. Surprisingly though,
there were no significant
player injuries.
My advice to the
league on how to address
this field is simple. Con
tact Caddyshack’s Carl
Spackler (retired or not)
and inform him of a go
pher infestation in Glen
dale.
Racing Across America
Looking Forward in 2023
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
Sunday is the Daytona
500, the true beginning of the
2023 NASCAR Cup season.
One big thing we can look
forward to this season is im
provement of racing at short
tracks and road courses. Last
season, short tracks and road
course were the worst race
tracks in terms of racing.
While intermediates and
superspeedways were really
good, short tracks and road
courses were mostly under
whelming. There were some
good short track and road
course races last season like
Circuit of the Americas and
the summer Richmond race,
but there were also really
boring races like the spring
Martinsville race and the
Charlotte ROVAL. In the
Gen 6 era, short tracks and
road courses were normally
where the most exciting rac
ing happened.
The NextGen cars were
also expected to perform well
at these tracks since they are
a lot harder to drive than the
Gen 6 cars, and shorts and
road courses require a lot of
talent to race on.
The harder it is to drive
the cars, the more exciting
the racing can be due to the
wide variety of talent in the
drivers, but unfortunately, we
didn’t get that last season.
The good thing, however, is
that was the first season with
the NextGen cars. NASCAR
has seen the issue with racing
at these types of racetracks
and have tried to fix the cars
during the offseason, so that
they will race better.
Let’s just hope the
changes that NASCAR has
made to the cars makes it so
that the short tracks and road
course races will be fun to
watch again.
The other thing that we
can look forward to this sea
son is good parity throughout
the NASCAR Cup series
field. Last year, the Cup se
ries had up to 19 different
winners, which is the most
Continued on Page 5B