2021 Dawson County Fall Sports Preview
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Table of Contents
On the cover:
Cheerleading ...........................................5 Cross Country..........................................6 Football.....................................................8 Softball......................................................9 Volleyball................................................10 Feature....................................................12
Photo by Paige Sweany of Sole Photography
Zach Holtzclaw winds up for a pass during his best statistical performance of the season victory over White County on Oct. 9, 2020.
4 | Fall Sports Preview | 2021
Photo submitted to the Dawson County News
Cheerleaders ready to finish what they started By Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
With a historic third place finish last year, the team and head coach Kimberly Fleming are excited to get back onto the mat and finish what they started last year. “We are excited about the upcoming season,” Fleming said. “We are working great as a team and the skill level is about the same. This team has the potential to go all the way at the state level.” The Lady Tigers graduated four seniors last year, keeping the team virtually the same for the upcoming season. Fleming said she will rely hard on her core seniors in Caroline Cranford, Jaida Everett and Abbie Tanner, all leading the team together as cocaptains. After the regular season lasted from August to February last year, Fleming shortened summer practices this year in hopes of giving her team additional rest time. However, once the season kicks off in full
Dawson County Lady Tigers cheerleading Head coach: Kim Fleming, 26th season Last year’s results: Area Champions, third place finish at GHSA 3A state meet Key returners: Caroline Cranford (Sr.), Jaida Everett (Sr.) and Abbie
swing, she expects a high level of performance from her squad once again. “We are hoping to out execute our competition with a clean routine,” Fleming said. “We feel like with hard work, we can do great things at the state level. Our stunting sequence is very difficult and we are already starting to execute the elements in our stunts. We are really going to have to push our team on tumbling to get where we need to be by the end of the season.”
Tanner (Sr.) Key newcomers: Braelynn Negley (So.), Chloe Buice (Fr.) and Summer Motte (Fr.) Season outlook: The Lady Tigers were just a few points away from bringing back the first state title in any sport since 2004 and the first state title in any girls sport in the school’s history.
Fleming added that the biggest change for the Lady Tigers this season is they are only going to use 14 girls on their floor routine to start the season, compared to the normal amount of 16. “They are going to have to work hard and execute better than others because we are not putting 16 on the floor,” Fleming said. The Lady Tigers season does not hit full swing until their opening meet Saturday, Sept. 11 at North Forsyth High School.
2021 | Fall Sports Preview | 5
Photo submitted to the Dawson County News
The 2020 Tigers cross country team finished 2nd at the GHSA state championship race in Carrollton, Ga.
Cross country team ‘not rebuilding, but reloading’ By Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
All five of the Tigers runners who were scored finished in the top 31 runners at the meet. The Tigers graduate four of those five runners, with only rising senior Ethan Smith returning. The girls’ team was composed of mainly freshmen, but still qualified for the state meet. The girls return everyone except for Annie Gloeckner. Now, the Tigers will have to start the transition away from their longtime head coach Charles Beusse onto the longtime middle school head coach Jonathan Tinsley after Beusse decided to step away from the sport. Tinsley said he does not expect anything but a role reversal, wanting to keep Beusse around as a “director of operations,” whether he wants to or not.
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Jacob Smith Dawson County News
Celine Sapp (left) and Anna LeCave (right) run alongside one another at the Tiger’s first cross country race of the 2020 season at Roper Park in Jasper, Ga. on Aug. 15.
Dawson County Tigers cross country Head coach: Jonathan Tinsley, first season Boys finish last year: First place finish in Region 7-3A, Second place finish in state Girls finish last year: Fourth place finish in Region 7-3A Key returners: Izzy Knight (So.), Anna
“He’s a fantastic coach and we’re going to continue to pick his brain,” Tinsley said. “We’ve got a great program that he’s built here and we’re going to keep going on from that.” Tinsley has worked with the varsity program as an assistant for the last several years and plans on continuing what Beusse and the rest of the coaching staff has built Tigers cross country into.
LeCave (So.), Jules Phillips (So.) and Ethan Smith (Sr.) Key newcomers: Bella Hunt (Fr.), Bailey Swafford (Fr.) Tyler Tangel (So.) and Owen Walls (So.) Season outlook: Last season, the Dawson County Tigers boys cross country team tied their best finish of all-time with a second place finish at the GHSA 3A state meet, finishing behind only the Westminsters School in Atlanta.
The boys team will experience a big turnover, but Tinsley said that he thinks the roster “is not rebuilding, but reloading.” Tinsley expected Devin Knight, Ryan McGinnis, Tyler Tangel, Chase Cofield, Bailey Swafford and Owen Walls to be key contributors and fill the roles of those who have graduated. On the girls side, they have an excited runner in Bella Hunt joining the team in her fresh-
man season this year. “She’s a strong runner,” Tinsley said. “She comes and works really hard and I think she meshes really well with this group. I don’t want to jinx her or anything, but she’ll get out in front and do her thing.” The Tigers will look to get both teams back into the state championship meet when the season kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 21 in Pickens.
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2021 | Fall Sports Preview | 7
Jacob Smith Dawson County News
Conley Dyer rushes past the Adairsville defenders for one of his two touchdowns during the 45-34 victory against Adairsville High School in the first round of the 2020 GHSA 3-A state tournament.
Tigers loaded to make 7th straight state playoff By Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
The Tigers finished 6-6 and made it to the Sweet 16 of the GHSA 3A state tournament, continuing head coach Sid Maxwell’s streak of six playoff appearances since moving to Dawson County. Zach Holtzclaw returns for his third season as the starting quarterback of the Tigers. With just 1,834 passing yards this season, Holtzclaw will pass Dawson County legends Tyler Dominy and Coey Watson for the most passing yards in school history. Holtzclaw is going to have to set the record books with a completely new group of wide receivers after losing his top four targets from last season. Senior defensive back Braedon Hubbard saw a lot of snaps at receivers during summer workouts, along with Bailey Dameron and Doug Pagel. “Most of the guys are in my grade so it was more about getting our timing and routes down,” Holtzclaw said. “That’s what the passing game is. You find those windows and find the open grass. The more experience they get, the more they’ll understand to go with their
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Dawson County Tigers football Head coach: Sid Maxwell, seventh season Last year’s record: 6-6, Sweet 16 appearance Key returners: Cade Adams (Jr. OL/ DL), Logan Berry (Sr. DE), Conley Dyer (Sr. RB), Kevin Haymond (Jr. OL/ DL), Zach Holtzclaw (Sr. QB), Braedon Hubbard (Sr. WR/DB), Kade Moledor
landmarks.” Hubbard and Pagel, who are both listed as 5’8”, will be getting a lot of playing time in the defensive secondary, a position where the Tigers struggled last season, only picking off two passes. “We have guys who aren’t the biggest on our secondary but they fly around like missiles,” Maxwell said. “If you look at them, I always joke they couldn’t ride the six flags ride if they wanted. We’re gonna need to play our hands well this year because we won’t
(Jr. LB) Key newcomers: Bailey Dameron (Sr. WR), Jackson Grindle (Sr. RB), Doug Pagel (Jr. WR/DB), Dylan Thompson (Sr. K) and Briggs Weaver (So. OL) Season outlook: The Tigers finished 6-6 and qualified for the GHSA 3A Football State Tournament for the sixth year in a row behind a dominant year from quarterback Zach Holtzclaw, throwing over 2,000 yards.
win too many jump balls.” The defense is loaded with studs who received All-Region recognitions last season in Cade Adams, Logan Berry, Kevin Haymond and Kade Moledor. The offensive line will be young, but have Adams and Haymond returning to anchor the offensive line, but a few new faces, Like Jimmy Fallstrom and Briggs Weaver, will need to stop up for the Tigers. Overall, Dawson County should be locked and loaded to make their seventh state playoff appearance in a row.
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Jacob Smith Dawson County News
Lady Tigers Pitcher Reese Moore pitches in a region game against West Hall on Aug. 20, 2020. The Tigers won the game 12-4 and Moore struck out 7 through 5 innings pitched.
Softball eager to start fresh with new head coach By Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
This upcoming season, everything has changed for the Lady Tigers. Longtime head coach Jimmy Pruett retired from coaching and former West Forsyth head coach Justin Rickett was hired to replace him. Assistant coach Savannah Huffstetler took a job as head coach at Denmark High School. Rickett gains seven seniors who he has leaned on significantly to help the team buy into what he is trying to sell. “I tell them all the time how proud I am of them because of how much they care about each other,” Rickett said. “For a coach to get their kids to care about one another is when you have a chance for something to be successful and special.” The Lady Tigers will keep all three of their pitchers this season, senior Olivia Martinez, junior Reese Moore and sophomore Layne Bailey, who led the staff with a 3.86 earned run average and 39 strikeouts. Bailey and Martinez will also be key
Dawson County Lady Tigers softball Head coach: Justin Rickett, first season Last year’s record: 7-14, fifth in Region 7-3A Key returners: Rylie Erickson (Sr. INF), Annslee Kirby (Sr. C), Olivia Martinez (Sr. P/INF), Reese Moore (Jr. P), Emily Kurtz (Jr. OF), Lauren Kurtz (Jr. INF) and Layne Bailey (So. P/UTL) Key newcomers: Anna Glover (Sr.),
bats for the Lady Tigers this season. The duo was second and third on the team in runs batted and Martinez was behind only Henson in runs, hits and batting average. Anslee Kirby, Lauren Kurtz, Emily Kurtz and Moore all return to the starting lineup from last season with valuable experience. They should all provide a strong presence in the lineup. Rylie Erickson, fellow returning varsity
CeCe Gonzalez (Jr.), Micah Burruss (Fr.) and Ace Cochran (Fr.) Season outlook: Last season, the Lady Tigers barely missed out on sneaking into the GHSA 3A state playoffs with a fifth-place finish in the region. Only two games back from North Hall, the Lady Tigers excelled defensively, allowing only the third most runs in their region throughout the season. However, a bad taste was left in their mouth after losing the final four games of the season.
starter, has already gotten an offer from Piedmont College this summer and will look to make some noise in her senior season. As changes will continue to happen throughout the season, the Lady Tigers will hope to play spoiler and make their way back into the state tournament when the season starts at home on Aug. 5 against Sonoraville.
2021 | Fall Sports Preview | 9
Jacob Smith Dawson County News
Dawson County player Emma Pelfrey gets ready for a serve on Aug. 20, in a game against the Lanier Longhorns.
Volleyball ready to take region by storm By Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
After dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and your star senior player getting injured and then re-injured, there was no team of destiny vibes coming from the Lady Tigers. However, an entire normal off-season, plus only needing to replace four starting rotation players give the Lady Tigers an added boost going into this season. Haylie Selzer, Olivia Walls and Makale Everett all graduated last season with junior Kirklyn Porter leaving the team to focus on basketball. “Last year was a learning year for us, but sometimes those are equally important as the success you would experience,” Porter said during Media Day. “I’ve definitely seen growth in our skills. Off the court, our flexibility and ability to adapt has shown grown maturity. That will show us good on the court but also good in our everyday lives.” The Lady Tigers will have two seniors heading the team this year, with everyday starter last season Emma Pelfrey leading
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Dawson County Lady Tigers volleyball Head coach: Tanya Porter, sixth season Last year’s record: 5-14, sixth in Region 7-3A Key returners: Avery Herring (Sr.), Emma Pelfrey (Sr.), Abby Clouser (Jr.), Jessie Mann (Jr.), Emerald
the way. Last year, Pelfrey had 106 kills as a hitter. Avery Herring, the other senior for the Lady Tigers, injured her ACL and was sidelined all last season. Team Defensive Player of the Year Emerald Sallee will return as starting libero, with Abby Clouser, Jessie Mann and Meghan Roche all starting varsity games last year with chances for increased roles this year. Despite a down season last year, the Lady Tigers were still only one game away from qualifying for the GHSA 3A state tournament. “I know there’s a lot of room for growth,
Sallee (Jr.) and Meghan Roche (So.) Key newcomers: Abby Felkai (Jr. transferred from Canada), Maggie Allen (So.) and Cameron Hipps (Fr.) Season outlook: At Fall Sports Media Day, Lady Tigers head coach Tanya Porter joked that she did not need to reminisce on a crazy COVID season, but the Lady Tigers strung together eight wins, including a region tournament win.
but I just want us to compete,” Porter said. “I want them to support each other and provide a good representation of our school and Dawson County. You can expect a lot more attacks from our offensive end than last year. I think we have some girls in positions that offer great opportunities for us to be more on the attack.” Overall, the Lady Tigers return several talented players and a junior varsity team that was met with great overall success last year. Combined with a season that should have more consistency than last year, Dawson has a great opportunity to make their third state tournament in four years.
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‘All I want to do is win’ Tigers’ QB Holtzclaw set to shatter record books in 2021 By Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
Jacob Smith Dawson County News
Dawson County’s Zach Holtzclaw will start his third and final season as the Tigers’ varsity quarterback in the upcoming 2021 season.
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Coey Watson and Tyler Dominy — These two former Dawson County quarterbacks can still be found in the Georgia high school football record books. But a new name could be added in the coming season. Current Tigers’ quarterback Zach Holtzclaw has a chance to shatter all Tigers’ quarterback records in the 2021 season. For the last two years, Zach Holtzclaw has been the team’s starting quarterback. If he throws for 2,000 yards this season, 800 less than he did in 2020, he will become Dawson County High School’s all-time leader in passing yards. “In reality, all I want to do is win football games,” Holtzclaw said. “It’s just me playing football with my buddies. I don’t really pay attention to it, but my mom and dad do. They’re proud of me. It’s nice to see your name for All-Region and stuff but that’s just ‘let’s go be better next year.’” Holtzclaw is the son of Harmony Baptist Church preacher and Tigers assistant coach Tony Holtzclaw. Growing up as the pastor’s son, Holtzclaw said he learned how to translate his faith into success on the football field, right next to his dad, waiting on the sidelines. “That’s his thing,” Holtzclaw said. “Whatever side of the ball I was on growing up, my dad wouldn’t coach that side. He’ll talk to me about it after the game, but the most my dad talks to me on the sidelines is just a good job or a good pass. Usually just high-fives.” Being a quarterback was not always written in the stars for Holtzclaw. In fact, it wasn’t until his freshman year that Tigers’ offensive coordinator Andy LeBlanc pulled Holtzclaw
Photo by Paige Sweany of Sole Photography
Tigers quarterback Zach Holtzclaw gears up to throw a pass during the 2021 Spring game against the Pickens County Dragons held on May 14, 2021.
out of class into the hallway to ask him if he’d be interested in changing positions within the offense. “LeBlanc said ‘Hey, I want you to come play quarterback,’” Holtzclaw said. “When I moved up to varsity, I had only been playing quarterback for two weeks but I kind of got the sense that [LeBlanc] believed in me. That’s when I had an idea that I could be pretty good.” That season, the Tigers coaching staff decided to go with Sevaughn Clark at quarterback, who now plays running back at the University of Georgia. Holtzclaw became the ninth grade starting quarterback and got valuable snaps before becoming the starter his sophomore season. “When you’re younger, all you want is to play under the Friday night lights,” Holtzclaw
said. “Once you get used to it, you have a calm demeanor. After the first play, you really can’t hear anything. The only time you hear anything is when you’re on the sidelines but when you’re on the field, you hear nothing. Just get the play call and get ready to go.” Before the start of every home game, Holtzclaw kisses his mom, Elisha, and prays next to the goal post. This pregame routine has been a constant in Holtzclaw’s 14 career wins, two of those in the state playoffs. Last year, Holtzclaw threw for over 2,800 passing yards and was named onto the Region 7-3A All-Region team. Holtzclaw said he and his team are hungry for more in 2021. “I think this team is really going to show people what heart in Dawson County is all about,” he said. “In the spring
game, nobody expected us to put up 30 points and the starters only played the first half. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people during region and preseason this year.” Though he still has one more high school season left to play, the thought of continuing his football career collegiately hasn’t slipped Holtzclaw’s mind. He thinks he’s great at reading defenses prior to the start of each offensive snap, but acknowledges he might try to make too flashy plays throughout a game, which can often lead to turnovers. “You can’t play football forever,” Holtzclaw said. “But if football pays for college, I’m gonna go play football. I wanna major in sports medicine or be a physical therapist. I don’t have to play right away, but I want a strong coach that has faith and believes in me as
a football player.” Holtzclaw could very well end his tenure at DCHS as the most decorated football player of all time. His end goal on the football field is to add a second region championship to the Tigers’ name, but it’s not all about football for Holtzclaw in his final season. “Obviously, I’d like to be remembered as a football legend, but I just want to be remembered as a good young man,” Holtzclaw said. “I don’t want it to be that I was good at football but then I was a crappy person off the field and an airhead. I want to be remembered as the guy that was nice to all of my teachers and did what he was told to and always tried to do the right thing.” Holtzclaw and the Tigers begin the 2021 season at home against Cass High School on Aug. 20, 2021.
2021 | Fall Sports Preview | 13
Jacob Smith Dawson County News
Jonathan Tinsley, Dawson County Junior High physical education teacher, will take over the high school cross country program for the upcoming 2021 season. Photo by Jack Norman for the DCN
Photo submitted to the Dawson County News
Photo by Jack Norman for the DCN
14 | Fall Sports Preview | 2021
Photo by Jack Norman for the Dawson County News
Jacob Smith Dawson County News
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