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281 Tift College Drive • Forsyth, GA 31029
478-992-9945
Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5:30 pm
MOLLY POLAND . GOLF TOMMY JOHNSTON, STATE FARM INSURANCE
MARY PERSONS BULLDOGS
©IF I uE53
A State Farm
CGTC
to host
boys
b-ball
camp
in June
The Central Geor
gia Technical Col
lege mens basketball
program will host a
boys basketball camp
June 11-14 from 9
a.m.-2 p.m. at Walker
Arena, located on
the Warner Robins
campus at 80 Cohen
Walker Drive. The
camp is open to boys
of all skill levels, ages
6-14. The cost to
participate is $80 per
camper.
The basketball
camp is designed
to teach the funda
mentals of basketball
to players through
station work and
competition. Areas of
focus include shoot
ing, ball handling,
individual offense,
and individual de
fense. Campers will
be divided by age and
skill level to ensure
the best experience
for each participant.
Reco Dawson,
CGTC head mens
basketball coach, will
lead the camp along
with Byron Mincey,
assistant mens
basketball coach,
and current CGTC
players.
Lunch will be avail
able daily for camp
ers for an additional
$5. All participants
are encouraged to
dress appropriately in
shorts, t-shirts, socks,
and basketball shoes.
To register for the
camp, interested
persons should visit
www.cgtctitans.com/
information/Sum-
mer_Camps. For
more information,
contact Reco Dawson
at (478) 757-4360 or
rdawson@centralgat-
ech.edu.
Mary Persons midfielder Annie Giles shields a Woodward defender from the ball during
the Lady Dogs 2-1 heartbreaking Sweet 16 road loss on Tuesday. MP finished the season
with a 12-6-1 record. (Photo/Will Davis)
Lady Dogs’ ’Sweet’
road trip turns sour
Season concludes with 2-1 loss
By Will Davis
publisher@mymcr.net
The Mary Persons girls soccer team’s
season came to an end Tuesday with a 2-1
loss to Woodward Academy in Round 2
of the state playoffs, finishing the girls’
season with a 12-6-1 record.
Playing at Woodward on a turf field for
the first time this year, the Lady Dogs
nevertheless took the lead late in the first
half after 30 scoreless minutes.
The War Eagles held possession for
much of the half but then sophomore
striker Abbie Davis streaked past three
defenders and bounced a shot off the fake
grass and over the keeper’s head to give
MP a 1-0 lead with 10 minutes to go.
But two minutes later Woodward re
sponded with a shot from the left side to
make it 1-1.
In the second half, the War Eagles
scored their second goal just four minutes
into the half to make it 2-1. MP didn’t
quit though and had several shots on goal
in the second half but could not tie it up.
It’s the second year in a row the MP girls
have advanced to the Sweet 16. Wood
ward went on to lose to St. Pius 6-0 on
Friday.
FROM THE PRESS BOX
NHL's Capitals bring joy to
long-suffering D.C.fans
I n one his most memorable lyrics, the late Tom Petty
once sung: “You take it on faith. You take it to the
heart. The waiting is the hardest part.”
That song might not have been written about
sports, but few lyrics have ever been more apt in describ
ing what it’s like to be a part of a long-suffering sports
fanbase. And the latest fanbase to see its dreams realized
after an interminable wait was that of Washington D.C.,
whose National Hockey League (NHL) Capitals broke
through to the NHL Eastern Conference Finals with a
2-1 overtime win in Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Those same Capitals had fallen a single game shy of
reaching the NHL equivalent of the Final Four on four
previous occasions in the past
decade. This includes: a pair of
Game 7 losses to the Pittsburgh
Penguins, the two-time reigning
Stanley Cup champions. And the
Caps are not the only Washing-
ton-based professional sports
franchise to fall painfully short
of relevance. The NFL Redskins
haven’t so much as reached the
NFC Championship Game since
winning their most recent Super
Bowl in January 1992, and, along
with Detroit and Minnesota, are
one of just three NFC franchises
not to reach the Super Bowl in
that timespan. The NBA Wizards last played for a cham
pionship in 1979 when they were still called the Bullets,
and the Wizards haven’t advanced past the second round
in five tries since. Last but not least, D.C. regained an
MLB squad in 2005, but the Nationals have flamed out in
the postseason in the divisional round in four of the past
six years.
All this futility meant that Washington D.C. had gone
20 years without reaching at least the semifinal round
of a major professional sports playoff with the Caps last
achieving the feat in 1998 when they lost in the Stanley
Cup Finals.
You’d have to ask a D.C. sports fan, but I would imagine
the waiting really was the hardest part. That’s why Mon
day night, May 7, could wind up being a seminal day in
NHL and D.C. sports history. The Capitals, led by the in
domitable Alex Ovechkin, mostly outplayed the vaunted
Pengins throughout their second round series, but in the
past, it was always the Pens who came up biggest in the
most momentous occasions. In a sport in which luck fac
tors in more than most, last night could have been more
of the same. But this time Lady Luck shined her fortune
upon the Capitals. Pittsburgh’s Tom Kunhacki came
millimeters away in overtime of Game 6 from forcing a
decisive Game 7 when his rocket shot fired hard off the
left post as Caps’ goalie Braden Holtby barely moved. In
previous seasons, Kunhacki’s bullet would have resulted
in a puck in the back of the net, but this time, for what
ever reason, was the Caps’ time. Moments after Kun
hacki’s miss, Pittsburgh’s noted Caps’ killer Sidney Crosby
turned the puck over, leading to a breakaway. Ovechkin
connected with Evgeny Kuznetsov, and the 25-year-old
star faked out Pens’ goalie Matt Murray before wristing it
See DUMAS • Page 4B
Ticket's on sale for Sports Hall induction gala
By Richard Dumas
forsyth@mymcrnet
Tickets remain available to the
public for a June 16 ceremony to
honor the second-ever induc
tion class of the Forsyth-Monroe
County Sports Hall of Fame.
The 2018 class will officially
be enshrined at a gala at the
Monroe County Convention
Center at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday,
June 16.
Eight new members were
chosen last month by the Hall
of Fame’s 11-member commit
tee. The eight members selected
include in alphabetical order:
LaToya Davis, Charles Dumas,
Rhonda Griffin Hardy, Thomas
“Sonny” Marsh, Steve Melton,
Annie Ree Brantley Summers,
Rodney Walker and Peppi
Zellner.
Tickets for the June 16 induc
tion ceremony are currently
on sale to the public at Persons
Bank, United Bank, the Reporter
and Alderman Hall. The cost of
a ticket is $35 per person, which
will include a seated dinner.
Team members, coaches, cheer
leaders and managers of Mary
Persons football teams that pre
date 1960 will also be recognized
at the banquet. An annual Hall
of Fame banquet tradition also
includes the honoring of one
male and one female Mary
Persons senior scholar-athlete.
This year’s honorees include:
MP football/soccer star Dawson
Daniel and MP softball/soccer
star Lori Smith, who are also
among the top scholastic per
formers in the 2018 MP senior
class.
Davis, a former Mary Persons
girls basketball standout, is
the program’s all-time leading
scorer, having led the Lady Dogs
to the state playoffs three straight
years from 1998-2000. Davis
went on to play for legendary
head coach Pat Summitt at the
University of Tennessee, where
Davis played on three Final Four
teams, including two national
runner-up squads in 2003 and
2004, respectively.
Dumas, a former Mary
Persons football star, was one
of the first backfield standouts
under head coach Dan Pitts,
being recognized as an all-state
selection by the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution in 1959 and 1960.
Dumas went on to play col
lege football at Clemson before
coming back to Forsyth and
eventually serving more than 20
years as Monroe County Schools
superintendent.
Hardy, a former Monroe Acad
emy all-sports star, was perhaps
Monroe’s finest ever female
athlete, having excelled at nu
merous sports, including as the
star of Monroe’s back-to-back
girls basketball titles in 1984
and 1985, respectively. Hardy
went on to Mercer University,
where she lettered in four differ
ent sports: softball, basketball,
soccer and cross country, before
embarking on a distinguished
teaching career at Tattnall
Square.
Marsh, a former Mary Persons
football star, was arguably the
greatest football player of the
pre-Dan Pitts era of MP foot
ball. Marsh, an all-state running
back, was the centerpiece of a
9-2 season under former coach
Bill Meeks in 1955, being rec
ognized as the Middle Georgia
Player of the Year by the Macon
Telegraph.
Melton, a former Mary Per
sons basketball standout, was
one of the top hardwood talents
in program history. Melton was
a leader of some of the top boys
squads in MP history in the late
See HALL OF FAME • Page3B
Former Mary Persons standout Peppi Zellner was a star at Fort Val
ley State University before being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the
fourth round of the 1999 NFL Draft. Zellner, who will be inducted into the
Forsyth-Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame on June 16, eventually spent
six years in the NFL, including four with the Cowboys. (Photo/Dan Pitts)