SPORTS

By Russ Ragan
The Dodge High School Lady Indians wrapped up regular season play last Wednesday night in Bleckley County. Dodge played one of their most complete games of the season in a 14-2 blowout win over the Lady Royals.
Brooke Perdue got the start on the mound for the Lady Indians. She could have fewer strikeouts though through two innings but Dodge trailed 2-0. They wouldn’t trail very long.
Dodge got an infield hit from Bailey Harvey and a hit from Dylana Barton to lead off the third. Ava Maxwell would get a bunt down and a bad through would score Harvey for a 2-1 game. One out later, Logan White would single to center scoring Barton for a 2-2 game. Mikayla Roberson would hit a sacrifice fly to score Maxwell but the ball would be dropped and Dodge took a 3-2 lead.
The Lady Indians would increase the lead as Gracie Lewis singles to center scoring White and Carson Ethridge who ran for catcher Ava Roland for a 5-2 lead. Roberson would score to wrap up the six run inning for a 6-2 Dodge lead.
Perdue had a way easy three innings that included her fifth strikeout of the game. Dodge kept the bats going in the fourth. Maxwell would walk to lead off the fourth and she stole second and went to third on a wild pitch.
One out later, White singled her home for a 7-2 game. Gracie Lewis singled home White for an 8-2 lead. Perdue would follow by being hit with the bases loaded and Ethridge scored as she ran for Roland who singled for a 9-2 lead.
Barton would single and that would score Patillo who ran for Lewis and Perdue for an 11-2 lead. Dodge would take a 13-2 lead going to the fifth.
Dodge wrapped up the scoring in the fifth. Ava Roland would double with one out. Gracie Lewis would score her on a ground and the Dodge lead would be 14-2. Linzy Bowen would wrap things up with an easy fifth including a strikeout.





By Joey Marchant
The Dodge County Indians will host the Monticello Purple Hurricanes this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in a Region 3AA matchup. Dodge had an off week last week, and several starters will be coming off another two week quarantine the day of the game after a single Dodge player tested positive for COVID-19.
It is anyone’s guess what kind of game we will see out of Dodge. The Indians are 1-3 on the season with the three losses all coming by less than a touchdown and all following quarantines or short weeks.
Monticello has been playing football since 1926. Confusion arose when a new school was built and given the name Jasper County High while the sports teams continued to play under the name Monticello.
To make things more confusing, during the most recent reclassification, Monticello’s enrollment numbers were reported under the name Jasper County High. In December, the school board voted to ask the Georgia High School Association to refer to its teams in the future as “Jasper County, Monticello”.
This will be the first game between Dodge County High and Monticello. However, Monticello won five out of six games against the Eastman High Wildcats from 1950 to 1955.
The lone Eastman High victory came in 1950 under the leadership of head coach Arthur “Scooter” Yancey.
Monticello is 2-4 on the season with a record of 1-1 in Region 3AA. Both teams are coming off losses to Bleckley County. Please come out and support the Indians.




BY RUSS RAGAN
This week has had it all. Unfortunately, most of it hasn’t been so good but it hopefully will improve drastically as the column continues. This column is being done during game seven of the Dodgers-Braves. Atlanta had a 3-2 lead going to the Dodgers fourth.
Okay, it was hyped as the biggest college football game of the year as the Dogs headed to Alabama. For a half it was a great game. Bennett hit Cook for an 82-yard touchdown pass and Georgia took a 24-20 lead at the half.
Most really good teams make adjustments at the half and Alabama is a really good team. They picked off Bennett twice in the second half and the game was gone in a 41-24 loss. Bane scored three touchdowns on three drives right after the three interceptions. The Tide seem to make adjustments both on offense and defense, well for Georgia not so much. Then great defense was broken in the second half.
The Braves got out of a bases loaded jam and still led 3-2 going into the fifth. Okay, back to the Dogs, what is next for them? Well, this week is a good off week. It came about in complicated changes that called off the Florida-LSU game.
The biggest problem for Georgia is the offense. The Stetson Bennett IV story is really a great one. He went from walk on to eventually Bulldog starter but it’s time for a change. J.T. Daniels is ready to go and the time is now. He was seen on the sideline Saturday night without his knee brace. I think Bennett could lead the dogs to an 8-2 record as they probably lose to Florida. It’s time to start Daniels. He was the third ranked quarterback out of a high school behind Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. The good news for Georgia is they only dropped to fourth in the new polls. They have to win out to stay in the national picture. It won’t be easy but I think very doable.
The Falcons’ offense is a very good one, but they have struggled recently but Sunday they were back. In Raheem Morris’ debut as interim head coach they were really good in a 40-23 win over Minnesota. Matt Ryan came back after a pair of real stinkers with a really good game. He was 30 for 40 for 371 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions. Update; Braves just lost the lead, it’s now 3-3 in the sixth. They should have scored at least three in the third. Anyway, I knew the Falcons weren’t as bad as they have been playing. Julio Jones came back from a hamstring injury and had eight catches for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Birds have Detroit and Carolina the next two weeks and they are both really winnable so we will see.
Okay, I will stay somewhat from the Braves for now. I didn’t expect them to beat the Dodgers but I do have a big issue. The game five issue is totally inexcusable. You can’t run out of pitchers. To start in game five of the NCCS. There was no secret run out of pitchers to start in game five of the NCCS. There was no secret they needed another starting pitcher at the trade deadline. The lack of off days in the series really hurt this team. Anthropolis really has to take a big chunk of the loss of the series. Anyway, this team over achieved until clutch time in the final two games. This series should have been one. The bullpen was give out in the end. I am sure I will have plenty more to say on another Braves meltdown series.