Wolverines Begin State Tournament Play Today Against Pace Academy

BY EDDY GIFFORD

Sports Writer

The Dade County High School Wolverine basketball team traveled to Chattooga High School last Thursday for the semi-final game of the Region 7-AA Tournament. A win would put DCHS in the championship game while a loss would put them in the consolation game, either way they were State Tournament bound.

The Wolverines, who had dropped a pair of game to the Model Blue Devils during the regular season, got off to a good start, building a seven-point lead by the end of the first quarter, 17-10.

The Blue Devils, the second seed coming in, would get their game together in the second quarter, erase the seven-point Dade lead and take a one-point lead at the end of the first half, 28-27.

Model came out in the third quarter and dominated play and by the end of the quarter held a commanding 53-37 lead.

The Wolverines struggled to close the gap in the fourth quarter with the Blue Devils picking up the win going away by the final score of 70-52.

DCHS was led by senior Gabe Costley with 14-points. Brett Kay followed his fellow senior with eight-points.

The Wolverines suffered 15 turnovers during the game while Model hit five of six three-point shots.

Dade     17   10    11   14   52

Model   10    18    25   17    70

David Cole 2, Makinley Everett 3, Brodie Swader 4, Dylan Dwyer, Noah Martin, Brody Cooper 3, Chandler Bailey, Max Howard 5, Brett Kay 10, Levi Moreland, Colton Emmett 3,Everett Christiansen 8, Gabe Costley 14.

The Wolverines closed out tournament play on Thursday night when they faced the Coosa Eagles in the consolation game. The winner would be the three seed and the loser the fourth seed in the first round of the State Tournament.

Dade faced the Coosa Eagles for the second time in just over a week, a game they won in overtime at Coosa.

The Wolverines took an early lead and while the lead changed hands several times in the first quarter, they maintained a three-point lead and at the end of the first quarter led 11-8.

Dade would build on that lead in the second quarter, as both teams picked up the pace, and at the end of the first half were up 29-22.

The Wolverines built what seemed to be a comfortable lead of 14 points by the end of the third quarter, 43-29 but Coosa had a different idea.

With DCHS still leading by 14 early in the fourth quarter the Wolverines started to struggle to score while the Eagles were heating up.

With seconds remaining in the game the Wolverines missed three big free throws opening the door for the Eagles and they took advantage and tied the score at the end of the fourth quarter sending the game to overtime.

Both teams struggled to score in the overtime, but Coosa came away with a 58-54 win. The difference in the game was the Wolverines hitting just 27.2 percent of their free throws while the Eagles hit 66.7 percent.

It was a tough loss, but Dade put together its best season in several years under new head coach Mark Whitt.

Costley again led the Wolverines with 22-points followed by Brett Kay with 10.

Dade    11   18   14   09   02   54

Coosa   08   14   07   23   06   58

David Cole 4, Makinley Everett 2, Brodie Swader 7, Noah Martin 2, Brody Cooper 4, Max Howard 3, Brett Kay 10, Everett Christiansen, Gabe Costley 22.

Today, the Wolverines will travel to Atlanta for the first round of the State Tournament when they face Pace Academy (23-1) at 5:30 p.m. Pace Academy was the Region 5-AA Champion.

Important information about the game includes: Per GHSA admission is $7 and maximum capacity of 160 (80 tickets for each team) inside the gymnasium. This does not include the teams/coaches and/or any GHSA pass-eligible spectators. Any spectators attempting to gain paid admission into the gymnasium after their school’s ticket allocation will be denied admission.

The game will be live–streamed by Pace Academy for those of you with an account on the NFHS Network. If you do not have an account, you can sign up for a $10 monthly fee, which can be canceled at any time.

DCHS is working on permission to bring you the radio broadcast live by one of our DCHS administrators, even if he/she has to sit in the stands with a headset and mask. If allowed, the game will be broadcasted live on WKWN 1420 AM, 101.3 FM, or by downloading the APP on your phone.