About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2023)
B Section December 21, 2023 See Youth Paintball and more sports on Page 12B Dragons continue win streak Team heads to Panama City after Christmas The Dragons continue to improve, thus having a posi tive impact on their record. The Dragons are currently at 6-4 (2-1) and are enjoying a 3-game win streak after expe riencing two consecutive losses in early December. We caught up with Senior Guard, Nathan Wallace, “ I think we have really bought into the system of our offense and have been moving to gether on the defensive side of the ball as well. When we trust the next guy up we re ally play to our true poten tial.” Unselfish play and team defense has been the trend over the past three games. The Dragons have aver aged 75 ppg while holding their opponents to an average of 52 ppg. The Dragons have shot an impressive 39% from deep over the past three photo/Robin Dunn Caleb Lanford gets inside for two points. games. Caleb Lanford, Mc-i Cord Purdy, Nathan Wallace and Parker Davis have ac counted for a combined total of 25 made threes over the three-game win streak. Coach Martin had this tc say about his team, “It is evi dent that when we move the ball we present more offen sive opportunities for our selves. Our defense is getting better every game. However, we still have room for im provement.” The Dragons will be on the road as they travel to Fan nin for three games (12/19 - Fannin, 12/21 - Adairsville. 12/22 - Cherokee Bluff). The Dragons will finish up in Panama City, Florida for an additional three games aftei Christmas. Pickens will be back in action at home tc open up the New Year as the) face White County (Jan. 9th) and Wesleyan (Jan. 12th). McCord Purdy lets the ball roll off of his fingers for a soft floater and two points. -^illpiWY “yfkg GARAGE December 23rd 11 AM - 2 PM. Pickens County Airport. 193 Pickens Airport Rd All toys will be donated to families and children in need this Holiday season A photographer will be present at the event This is a parked car event only - unnecessary conduct will not be tolerated Free entry for everyone and all vehicles 737 Garage presents Christmas on The Runway We are super excited to announce that we are officially hosting our 2nd an nual Christmas toy drive on the runway. The car show is free of charge, we highly encourage all who are attending to bring a toy for children and families in need! Location: 193 Pickens Airport Rd, Jasper, GA 30143 Date/Time: December 23rd, from 11am-2pm Note: Please respect the area! There will be no donuts, burn outs, and no revving. Any type of misconduct will not be tolerated! Nettes defeat region foe Dawson Nettes undefeated on season It was a fantastic week for the varsity Dragonettes bas ketball team as they closed out the last two home games of 2023 in fine fashion. On Tuesday, Dec 12th, the Nettes handled region foe Dawson 68-41. There was a bit extra incentive for this one after the Lady Tigers ended the Nettes post season hopes last year in the region tournament. Pickens Hoops also honored fall sport ath letes, highlighting team and individual accomplishments for football, softball, comp cheer, cross country, and vol leyball. On Friday, Dec 15th, the Lumpkin Lady Indians came to town. Pregame, the Nettes took a picture with Santa in the lobby and wished for a victory. Santa delivered an early Christmas present as the Nettes rocked Lumpkin 63-38. The PHS girls con tinue to play stellar defense, currently giving up 38.5 ppg, while averaging 60.4 points on offense. Opponents have explored a variety of ways to limit Pickens on offense, but have yet to find something that works. A key component of the current succes of the Nettes is good ball move ment and shot selection to go along with their stingy de fense. Next up is a “pre-Christ mas” version of the ETC tournament being hosted by Fannin. The Nettes will have a rematch with the Lady Rebels who have won six of their last seven. Pickens will also play North Cobb Chris tian and North Cobb before traveling to Panama City for a post Christmas Tourna ment. The Nettes are currently 9-0 and looking to get better during the break. Bella Hopkins shows a soft touch inside as she lays up two points on the glass. Ellison Steinhaurer has a bead on the rim as she launches a three pointer. Sports Fanatic By Tommy Gartrell Columnist Anemic With their 9-7 loss to the Carolina Panthers (2- 12), the Atlanta Falcons’ (6-8) playoff hopes be come very slim, and once again, their anemic offense and turnovers cost them. Currently, the Bucca neers (7-7) and Saints (7-7) lead the NFC South. Leap ing both of those divisional rivals seems unlikely at this point yet not impossible. Atlanta’s problems con tinue at quarterback. Starter Desmond Ridder once again threw a fourth quarter interception which led to Carolina’s game winning field goal as time expired. A third quarter fumble by much hyped rookie running back Bijan Robinson (11 yards on seven carries) set up an other Panther field goal. The Falcons best two offensive lineman missed this ballgame with injuries, but head coach Arthur Smith’s play calls remain ultra conservative. Is it a sign of mistrust or lack of confidence in his quarterback? I will say both! Obviously, Ridder is not performing as anybody hoped. At this point, the re tired, 71-year-old Steve Bartkowski looks like a more appealing option at quarterback. Calling the offense ane mic sounds more kind than a brutally honest assess ment. It is completely atro cious actually. The quarterback issues have festered from fan and local media discontent into full-blown cries for the head coach’s firing after this latest loss. Broad and severe criti cism is now hitting nearly every part this often ma ligned franchise. When you lose to the worst team in the league, be prepared for negativity. The 2023 ex pectation of a playoff team has again fallen to a below .500 team. Face it though; owner Arthur Blank generally prefers off-season changes and traditionally gives his people ample opportuni ties. I do not expect a coach ing change. It is however unimaginable not to see coach Smith on the hot seat next season. For my part, I do not care either way. Judging by the possible record low attendance at Sunday’s football game, nobody else gives a flip ei ther. Racing Across America Top 5 Worst Races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Season By Alex Korowotny Racing Sports Correspondent 5. Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol - The reason why the Gen 7 car has disap pointed at short tracks and road courses is because the car races are too good at both kinds of tracks. Having bigger brakes, less horsepower, and wider tires leads to less ex citing racing than we would normally ex pect. The Bristol Night Race was very underwhelming due to this. Stage 1 was un eventful with little passing due to about everyone running very close lap times to each other. Stage 2 had more exciting racing even though Bell and Larson were able to stay up front the whole Stage despite having way fewer fresh tires than almost everyone. Stage 3 was about the same as Stage 1, making the race have an uneventful ending. Overall, since NASCAR will go back to 2 concrete Bristol races in 2024, their short- track program still needs work. 4. NOCO 400 at Martinsville - We orig inally thought this race was mediocre, but after rewatching it recently, we realized we gave it too much credit initially. Just like Bristol, it would be very hard to pass for most of the race. Tire-fall off did exist, but it took 60-70 laps for tire-fall off to take place, and since Stage 1 was 80 laps and Stage 2 was 100 laps, we didn’t get to see much racing in the first 2 Stages. Same with Stage 3, even though the race did have a Continued on Page 3B
