Madalyn Walters had big year
Dawson County senior Madalyn Walters closed her career finishing fourth in the state AA cross country meet in Carrollton in October.
Walters won the Region 8-AA championship at Oglethorpe County. She also won the 3,200-meter championship and finished second in the 1,600-meter championship at the state AA track meet in the spring.
Walters will attend the University of Georgia on an athletic scholarship in the fall.
Seventh-grade Tigers capture championship
A perfect season and a championship. That's what the Dawson County Middle School seventh grade girls basketball team received in January 2011. The team finished the season with a 14-0 record and a 40-35 championship win over Clear Creek in the Mountain League tournament.
Members of the team included: Karlie Bearden, Ansley Costley, Haley Burgess, Brittany Griggs, Summer Vaughn, Peytan Porter, Emerald Moorer, Taylor Hammond, Haelye Lewis, Lauren Burgess. Head coach of the team was Tina Brown.
Football team finished season with a 5-5 record
Coach Jeff Lee's Tigers football team posted a 5-5 record in 2011. The record is the best regular season record that the Tigers have posted since 2005 when the team finished 7-3. The Tigers lost to Jefferson, 21-10, in week 10 to spoil their chances for a state playoff berth.
Riverview teams win championships
The Riverview Middle School girls' soccer team capped off an undefeated season with a 3-0 win over cross-county rival Dawson County Middle School on March 31 at Riverview Stadium.
With the win, the Lady Eagles finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record and a Mountain League Championship trophy.
Members of the championship team were: McKenzie Rhodes, Isabella Elliot, Summer Sanders, Rachel Starling, Eliza Sillesky, Samantha Keeny, Mikayla Perez, Taylor Grindstaff, McKay Shively, Tina Libao, Madison Callas, Taylor Bennett, Anna Hawkins, Emily Queen, Kelly Morris, Rosalee Gaddis, Laura Anne Branson and Reagan Millholland.
Team members of runner-up Dawson County Middle were: Meghan Picklesimer, Brittany Griggs, Lindsey Knotts, Sara Bywaletz, Dana Little, Summer Armstrong, Taylor Jones, Anela Melton, Jordan Moore, Maddie Contreras, Jordan Seppenfield, Sadie Hardesty, Emily Stapler, Ansley Costley, Katelyn Hardegree, Madison Adams, Tristan Melton, Jordan Thompson and Brittany Wadsworth.
The Riverview Middle School boy's soccer team captured a first place trophy with a win over Clear Creek Middle School, 5-2, March 31 during the Mountain League Championship game at Riverview Middle.
The Eagles finished the season with an 11-1 record.
The team's only loss came at the hands of a very tough South Habersham team earlier in the season.
The Riverview Middle School boys' team has a 28-3-1 record over the past three years. The team has recorded two championships and a runner-up finish.
Last year, the team lost the championship game to Clear Creek in a shootout.
Two wrestlers qualify for state
James Evans (112 pounds) and Preston Adams (152 pounds) qualified for the state traditional wrestling tournament last February. Both participated in the state traditional tournament at the Gwinnett Arena.
Evans and Adams qualified in the State Sectional Traditional Tournament in Dublin.
Evans, a junior, finished in second place after being defeated by Quintri Noel from Spencer High School in the finals.
Adams sustained an injury during the state meet and couldn't continue.
Boys soccer team makes state
Coach Jed Lacey's boys soccer team at Dawson County High School qualified for state competition by defeating Jackson County, 2-0, in April.
The team finished with an overall record of 10-7. It was the fourth year in a row that Dawson County posted 10 or more wins.
The Tigers were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by Westminster, 4-0.
Jacob Evans scores 1,000 career points
Jacob Evans finished his basketball career for Head Coach Thad Burgess' 2011 team with more than 1,000 points and more than 500 rebounds.
For his efforts Evans was named to the Region 8-AA first team All-Area basketball team by the Gainesville Times.
"Jacob had a great career for us. He was a 4-year letterman and a 3-year starter. Jacob connected on 165 three-point shots over the last two years. He will be difficult to replace, not to mention the fact that he led us to three straight state playoffs," Burgess said at the time.
Softball team makes state playoffs
Dawson County High School's varsity softball team made an appearance in the state playoffs after finishing in second place at the Region 8-AA tournament in Fannin County.
The Lady Tigers were eliminated in the first round by Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe.
Coach Jimmy Pruett said goodbye to seniors: Kristi Hyams, Anna Torres, Kimberly Wallace and Morgan Huber.
The team finished the season with a 21-11 record.
Cross Country teams place in top 10 at state meet
Chris Bywaletz led the Dawson County Tigers boys' cross country team to an eighth place finish at the State Cross Country meet at Carrollton High School in 2011.
Bywaletz finished the tough, 3.1-mile course with a time of 18:07.39 for a 33rd-place overall finish.
The Tigers have competed in the state meet in three of the last five years under DeRose.
The girls' team also finished in the top 10, coming in eighth place.
The finishes marked the fifth straight year that the Dawson County girls' team has qualified for the state event.
Park and rec football teams win championships
For the first time ever Dawson County's youth football program was well represented in the association's Super Bowl.
Four teams from Dawson County earned spots in the event. Of those four teams, three walked away from their games as Super Bowl winners.
Winning championships were the 5 & 6 year old team, who defeated Rabun County 33-25. The 2011 season marked the second in a row that the team has won the Super Bowl.
The second team to win a championship was the 7-year olds as they defeated Jefferson, 19-6.
The 10-year-olds remained undefeated with a 13-0 win over another undefeated team in Rabun County.
The 8-year-old team was defeated by Rabun County in the championship game, 20-6, to finish in second place.