Newspaper Page Text
Section
August 10,
2023
mi. LAW
Ol TICK OF
NICOLE L.
McArthur
CRIMINAL DEFENSE • DUI
ACCIDENTS‘INJURY
Check out the Fall Sports Guide on Page 12B
Meet the
The annual “Meet the Dragons” event took place last Friday night under
sunny skies. A solid community turnout saw the Varsity Dragons Football
team get some live reps in an intersquad scrimmage. There was a lot of en
thusiasm in the air. People seemed glad to have the Dragon Nation back to
gether for sports. New PFIS Principal Matt Combs stood sideline to see the
2023 version of the Dragons get some work in. Senior Quarterback Sam Stre-
icher led the Dragons on a couple of touchdown drives as the team moved
the ball primarily on the ground with a few scripted pass plays included. The
defense was not to be outdone as they stuffed a few runs and rallied to the
ball on some perimeter passes.
The PFIS Marching Band lined up to welcome the Dragons as they ran
through the Dragon Nation sign for the first time this season and later per-
Dragons
formed for the local crowd.
The 2023 cheer squad worked on their routines on the sidelines to round
out the run through of a standard Friday night lights experience. The Meet
the Dragons event is highlighted by the announcement of all football players
in the county at the recreation and high school level, as well as all cheerlead
ers, and girls flag football players. The announcer gets short winded after
calling out a hundred or two names. It’s worth it to see the young Dragons
race across the field to line up when called. The event is rounded out by ac
cess to the concession stand, BBQ food truck, Kona Ice truck, and a bounce
house. This year’s event was a success. People seemed to have fun while
they got a lot of sun.
See more photos from Meet the Dragons on Page 2B.
Griffin takes Bronze in Jr. World Championships
Jessi Griffin won the Bronze Medal for Team USA in the
Women’s Team High Score Sheet Competition.
The International Shoot
ing Sport Federation (ISSF)
Junior World Cup Junior
World Championships were
recently held in Changwon,
South Korea. The ISSF is the
governing body of the
Olympic shooting events.
The Junior World Champi
onship is for both male and
female shooters under the age
of 21. Over 30 nations com
peted this year with Team
USA picking up 13 Medals,
including 4 Gold.
Jessi Griffin of Jasper
competed for Team USA in
the Skeet competition this
year. Griffin medaled with
Benjamin Keller as part of
the Skeet Mixed Team Junior
where they defeated a mixed
team from Germany to take
the Bronze Medal. The
women’s team consisting of
Alisha Fayth Layne, Jessi
Griffin, and Madeline Corbin
also won the Bronze Medal
for Team USA in the
Women’s Team High Score
Skeet Competition. They
were barely edged out for the
Silver by India after a pro
longed shoot out.
Griffin expressed her
pride in being part of Team
USA, “Being on Team USA
has been such an amazing
journey so far. Feeling the
rush after you know you’ve
won for your country is
something I will never for
get.”
The Pickens County
Sportsman’s Club serves as
Ms. Griffin’s home training
facility. She is aided in her
training by NRA grants to the
club that provide for the pur
chase of skeet clays and am
munition for use by youth
shooters. Jessi is the daughter
of Steve and April Griffin of
Jasper.
Griffin competing in the International Shooting Sport
Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup Junior World Cham
pionships recently held in Changwon, South Korea.
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Racing Across America
Race Recap - 2023 Firekeepers
Casino 400
By Alex Korowotny
Racing Sports
Correspondent
We’re back racing in the
Irish Hills of Michigan. The
race started at 4:13 p.m. with
Bell on pole. The race saw
some passes for the lead with
Chastain passing Bell on the
first lap, and then Truex
passing Chastain for the lead
on lap 13 before Chastain
passed him back in turn 4.
The first caution for incident
flew on lap 14 for Busch
spinning out, and during this
caution, drivers like Truex
and Buescher stayed out.
This strategy worked out
well for Truex as he would
win Stage 1.
Stage 2 officially started
on lap 50. Bell spun out on
lap 64 while battling side-by-
side with Bowman for the
lead. On lap 73, it started
raining, causing postpone
ment until Monday.
The race resumed again
on lap 82. Wallace passed
Truex for the lead on the
restart, but Truex passed him
back on lap 99. During the
caution period for Preece’s
right-rear tire going down,
many drivers like Truex pit
ted while some like Suarez
and Keselowski stayed out.
Truex came back to the
front on fresh tires, and
edged out Suarez to win
Stage 2. After the start of
Stage 3, Buescher and Red
dick pulled away from the
field before green-flag pit
stops took place. Reddick
had a flat right-rear, taking
him out of contention for the
win. Truex started to catch
up to Buescher and got side-
by-side with him for the lead
with 13 to go, but got side
ways underneath him. Truex
made another charge to get
by Buescher, but couldn’t get
by him, allowing Buescher
to win again.
Both this year and last
year’s races had a lot of bat
tles for position all through
out the pack and passing was
very prevalent. In this year’s
race, drivers were on differ
ent pit strategies almost the
whole race and that’s why
we saw a lot of good racing.
Even though good racing
happening due to pit strate
gies isn’t necessarily true
racing, it was still good rac-
Continued on Page 3B
Sports
Fanatic
By
Tommy
Gartrell
Columnist
“Rank ‘Em!”
At noon on Monday,
August 14th, the official
Associated Press top 25
college football rankings
will be released. These
much anticipated rankings
remain a big deal to fans
everywhere.
Also, the whole land
scape of college football
changes in 2024 with the
expanded playoffs and
perpetual conference re
alignment. At least for this
final season, everything
looks familiar.
Do the preseason polls
really mean much though?
That question remains
difficult to answer deci
sively.
Certainly, the various
fan bases feed their egos
via these releases. The ac
tual substance of the top
25 is deceptively impor
tant though. As far as
playoff predictors and
playoff seeding, they
mean absolutely nothing,
yet upon close inspection
of past history, the presea
son poll contains frighten
ing accuracy.
Safely, you could bet
the farm that Georgia
should be in the top spot
after consecutive national
championships and a bevy
of returning players as
well as elite talent in every
position. Since 2000, only
two teams who debuted as
number one actually won
the national championship
(Southern California in
2004 and Alabama in
2017).
Contemporary history
suggests that ranking any
where in the top five is in
a team’s best interest. All
but one team in the CFP
era that won the national
title started at number five
or better in the preseason
poll. The only exception is
LSU in 2019. The Tigers
were ranked sixth in the
initial poll then.
Basically, only six of
maybe 10-15 programs at
best have any legitimate
chance of reaching the
final four let alone the
championship game. I sin
cerely hope to never see
another “Cinderella” like
Notre Dame or Cincinnati
or TCU embarrassed
again.
We all know the best
teams in each conference,
but three of the current
Power Five face grave
danger. The PAC-12 lies
in intensive care, the ACC
shows symptoms of the
same affliction, and minus
a pair of truly relevant na
tional powers re-emerg
ing, the Big 12 faces a
similar fate eventually.
Take the teams in each
conference who have the
funding, name recogni
tion, recent recruiting
classes, quality coaches
and program momentum
and list your top 10.
Here is mine:
Georgia
Ohio State
Alabama
Clemson
Michigan
Texas
use
LSU
Penn State
Ole Miss