With another year in the books, let’s take a quick look back at a few of the most memorable sports moments captured by our team of photographers as they documented the many outstanding performances and historic achievements that took place across the Heart of Georgia over the past 365 days…
STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONS: West Laurens’ J.T. Bowers (left) and Dublin’s Domimarkeyo Walden (right) celebrated state wrestling titles at the Macon Coliseum in February. Bowers’ victory at 165 lbs. made him the Raiders’ fourth three-time GHSA champ. Walden, clinching gold in the 285-pound weight class, became the first Irish wrestler to win it all in 11 years/SPECIAL PHOTOS, by Danyale Starley and Dublin City Schools10 WINS, AND COUNTING: West Laurens defeated Westside Augusta on Oct. 30 to not only claim its fourth all-time region championship, but to also complete a perfect 10-0 regular season for the first time ever. The Raiders’ year of milestones continued with three more wins to surpass another single-season high mark, and break a longtime playoff barrier as they advanced to the state semifinals/DANNY SCARBORO
CAPTURED THE FLAG: West Laurens head golf coach Whitney Alligood collects the flag from the 18th pin at Highland Country Club in LaGrange after the Raiders won the AAA state title in May/JANICE BALLARDHARDWOOD DREAMS: It was a storybook season for three local basketball teams. The East Laurens girls won the region 2-High A championship (above) and advanced to their first-ever Final Four. Highlight machine Rashund Washington Jr. (below, left) and the Falcon boys followed suit after his return from injury, with this spectacular dunk, vs. WACO in the region tourney. Trinity’s girls (below, right) also defeated Brentwood to reach the state finals for the first time since 2010/CLAY REYNOLDS, DANNY SCARBORO
MAKING A SPECTACLE: “You need glasses!” is a common taunt directed at officials by jeering fans. But that went literally for this MGFOA umpire who lost the eyewear as he took a nasty stiff arm from Dublin’s Trav Bostic on this run during an Irish win over Jefferson County/HORACE AUSTINDEUCES!: East Laurens’ Norrion King throws up two fingers en route to the end zone on a 70-yard punt return touchdown that sealed out a second-straight and third-overall Falcon win over Southwest Macon in early October/ZACH DAWSONA GAME FOR THE AGES: West Laurens’ Ty Cummings (3) celebrates one of the eight rushing touchdowns he scored in a 615-yard performance against Baldwin that not only broke several school records he’d been pursuing, but also shattered a state single-game mark as well/DANNY SCARBORO JUST FOR KICKS: Trinity’s Wade Register signed in December to punt at the University of Georgia, but spent his senior season doing far more for the Crusaders than just dominating special teams. The senior, shown here counting off one of his three touchdowns against Augusta Prep, also led the team in rushing and interceptions/DANNY SCARBOROSTARTING IT OUT RIGHT: A fired-up Johnson County head coach Don Norton applauds his sideline after an opening-drive score in the Trojans’ debut vs. East Laurens, and what would be the first win of 11 on their way to a perfect regular season and fourth straight region title. /CLAY REYNOLDSWINNING EDGE: As anyone whose football season is still going through Thanksgiving will tell you, reaching the state quarterfinals is about more than one player. Wheeler County certainly depended on all of the 11 it could get on the field at any time, out of about 35 on the roster who collectively made up easily the best team in the program’s history. But it also didn’t hurt that the Bulldogs had that one guy, in transcendent tailback Alvin Ricks (4), carrying the football each night. The fourth-year starter, shown here turning the corner for a go-ahead touchdown from 26 yards in the fourth quarter of their second-round playoff win over Warren County, was a linchpin of Wheeler’s historic success in 2025, which included a first-ever perfect regular season, region championship and state quarterfinals appearance/LOGAN REYNOLDSGOOD GOALKEEPING: East Laurens’ Carson Smith (above) and Deanna Lowther (below, left), and West Laurens’ Clyde Warren (below, right), made the paper with these great saves in goal over the course of the spring season/CLAY REYNOLDS, DANNY SCARBORO
THE THRILL OF VICTORY: A roar of celebration followed these winning moments on the Westside… from Judd Walker after a clinching goal against Harlem (above), Cason Pollock (below, left)following a go-ahead RBI in the playoffs vs. Jefferson and Charlie Barfield (below, right) with a winning third singles point to beat Heritage and send the Raider boys tennis team to the state quarterfinals/CLAY REYNOLDS, DANNY SCARBORO
…AND THE AGONY OF DEFEAT: Trinity football players complete up-downs in a large water puddle on Cleve Warnock Field during a summer exercise called “The Crucible.” These were the cold, wet consequences for losing teams after each activity making up the night of competitive training and team-building intended – in the words of head coach Bruce Lane – to teach players that they have to hate losing more than they enjoy winning/CLAY REYNOLDSHOME RUNS, AND HIJINKS: Some noteworthy moments from local ballfields… Above: Trinity’s Carter Lee (top) and West Laurens’ Ava Collins are received at the plate after home runs. Below: East Laurens players pretend to shoot skeet from the dugout entrance and Dublin head coach Brian Brown gets a stinging high-five from catcher Mikey Patisaul/CLAY REYNOLDSSAAAAFE!: Elijah Moorman scores for the Dudley Little League 11U all-stars during their July state tournament run/JANICE BALLARDSNOW CONE CATCH: Trinity shortstop Asher Evans makes a highlight catch with the tip of his glove for an out during the Crusaders’ playoff series against Georgia Christian/CLAY REYNOLDSTHE FALCON NATION’S FINEST HOUR: East Laurens fans flocked to Milledgeville in big numbers to see both their basketball teams play in the Final Four March 1/HORACE AUSTINA SURREAL SCENE: West Laurens’ J.D. Hogan and Braylen Robinson admire the confetti after the unbeaten Raiders defeated Jenkins Nov. 28 to advance the school’s first-ever state semifinal/DANNY SCARBOROA TOUGH ONE TO TAKE: Dublin’s boys were a few plays from making Laurens County 2-for-2 in the region 2-High A basketball finals late in February, as the Irish held several leads late in regulation and three overtimes against a top-rated Southwest Macon team (which they’d defeated earlier in the season) that ended up getting away. Fans and the home bench were left aghast after this critical turnover sealed their ultimate fate as the Patriots came away with the win and region title that would springboard their run to Macon and a finish as state runner-up/CLAY REYNOLDSGREETINGS FROM OPENING DAY: Dudley Little League president Jason Locke high-fives a young baseball player during the parade of teams leading up to 2025 opening ceremonies on a postcard-worthy morning at Scott Brown Field/JANICE BALLARDLOOK OUT!: Trinity’s Jakob Sahli was just checking to make sure his teammates and coaches on the top step were still awake as he belted this screaming line drive toward the dugout, and nearly picked off coach Shannon Canady, during a win over Windsor in March/CLAY REYNOLDSEASTSIDE RE-CREATION: Founding East Dublin recreation board member John Sheppard threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Warnock Park in early May as the city celebrated opening day of its first youth baseball and softball season in over 25 years, marking the first steps in a reboot of its long-inactive rec department/CLAY REYNOLDSHEADSY PLAY: Dublin’s Jamarcus Knight got his helmet on the football to force a fumble, then returned it for a touchdown that dramatically reversed the heading of the Irish regular-season finale. They’d recover from an early two-score deficit to win and lock up second place in the region/HORACE AUSTINSPIN BUTTON: West Laurens’ Ty Cummings took a North Clayton defender out of his shoes with this helicopter move on the way to a long touchdown to tie the game late in the third quarter of the Raiders’ come-from-behind win over the Eagles in late August/DANNY SCARBOROWHAT YOU LEAST EXPECTED: East Laurens’ J.J. Wright hauls in a touchdown pass for one of two early scores by the Falcons in the first quarter of their crosstown rivalry game against Dublin in September. They’d lead by the same score of 13-0 at the end of the surprising first half, though the Irish would get the game turned around, and going back squarely in their direction with the help of several key turnovers and touchdowns after halftime/ZACH DAWSONBATTLE ROYALE: The matchup of all-region forwards in the front court was a focal point of the battle between East Laurens and Dodge County girls basketball teams for the region 2-High A championship in February. The Squaws’ Lyric Green (25) was nearly unstoppable despite the efforts of Lady Falcon defenders Deanna Lowther and Jayla Givens shown here, but the combined offensive and defensive work of both, together with guards Brenda and McKayela Tanner, added up to offset her 30-point effort as East Laurens held on for the three-point win/CLAY REYNOLDSGET OFF ME!: Ty Cummings wasn’t the only Raider who scored in their record-breaking September track meet with the Braves. Though his eight touchdowns were an awful lot, West Laurens got two more on the ground from quarterback Cason Pollock and here from Shannon Adkins, just as beastly a rusher in the physical sense, who swatted away a Baldwin defender like a gnat on his way into the end zone for six to close out the first-half scoring/DANNY SCARBORODISPUTED CHAMPS: Strange circumstances brought an end to West Laurens’ long streak of region softball titles after a Harlem upset in early September halted its five-season win streak in league play at 55 games. The Raiders avenged the defeat with a walk-off RBI by Demmie Moss (below) as the Bulldogs returned for a back end of their home-and-home series that was predictably feisty, but they wouldn’t get to play the rubber match that the coaches (seen above concluding a heated exchange after their postgame handshakes) had supposedly agreed to play in the event of a split. Harlem, by virtue of the earlier victory, was awarded the region 4-AAA title, but wouldn’t ultimately advance to the state tournament in Columbus, where West Laurens concluded its season for a sixth-straight year and finished in the final three/CLAY REYNOLDSMAKING A SPLASH: Dublin’s Bennett Lake races into the open field on a big return of the opening kickoff in a Dublin win over Jefferson County. The senior’s 134-yard special teams effort would go on to include a second one of 81 yards for a touchdown that helped seal the game in the fourth quarter/HORACE AUSTINBIRDS, AND BEES: East Laurens was expecting one visiting team in the Swainsboro Tigers, but a second and unwelcome one also showed up as a swarm of menacing wasps congregated just outside the opposing dugout midway through game 2 of the teams’ first-round GHSA softball playoff series. Luckily, ELHS principal Keldrick Burke (right) and assistant coach Christopher Burley (left) came prepared with some cans of wasp killer that they used to take care of the uninvited guests during a short stoppage in play/CLAY REYNOLDS
Clay has headed up the Sports Desk since 2020, but his background at The Courier Herald – as a virtual jack of all trades – covers close to 15 years in a variety of full- and part-time roles since breaking in as a student intern during high school in 2010. The Dublin native, a proud alum of the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, has received numerous Georgia Press Association awards for his writing, photography and editing, including first-place honors recognizing the paper’s sports section in 2022, and its annual Heart of Georgia Football preview in 2023. In addition to reading his area sports coverage, you can also hear him on the radio as a local play-by-play voice, host of 92.7 WKKZ’s “Tailgate Party” and occasional contributor to the Georgia Southern Sports Network.
If there’s anything Janice enjoys more than photography, it’s frequenting Laurens County’s many social and sporting events. She’s been doing both for more than 10 years as a Courier Herald contributor, tasked with capturing the many moments that make life in our community special. The Dudley resident regularly documents local athletic contests and holiday festivities, while always keeping an eye out for unexpected photo opportunities along the way. During summertime, you can usually catch her near the home-plate backstops at Dudley Little League ballfields enjoying a Sno Biz or cinnamon pretzel while shooting the youth baseball and softball action.
In addition to handling the accounting and finances of The Courier Herald, and its more than 15 sister publications around the state, Danyale has recently taken on a larger administrative role with the Georgia Trust for Local News as its interim executive director. A native of East Dublin, she and husband Justin are proud wrestling parents, and reside in Dudley.
Danny captures sports action scenes at games all around Middle Georgia. A private photographer who enjoys shooting local high school athletics, his photos have illustrated many game recaps in The Courier Herald since 2021. Check out his social media pages to find more of his snapshots from recent events.
A man of many talents, Horace showcases his photographic skills on regular assignments shooting events on the local high school sports scene and at various community events. He currently works with Morris Bank, in retirement from former roles as a technology specialist with both Heart of Georgia RESA and the Wilkinson County School District. He has also served as pastor of Dudley’s New Vision Missionary Baptist Church for more than 20 years.
Logan joined the Georgia Trust for Local News in 2025 as a bureau reporter covering Montgomery, Treutlen and Wheeler counties for the Tri-County Connector. The Baxley native, a 2023 graduate of the University of Georgia’s prestigious Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, has past experience as a freelancer, and a 2022 student intern with the Darien News.
The Raiders were well-prepared for their region championship moment, which arrived Thursday after 6-1 and 2-1 wins to complete a clinching sweep of the Bulldogs.
The Falcons continued to show why they’re a team the region’s top contenders shouldn’t sleep on with their second big upset in a couple weeks’ time Tuesday night in Sandersville.
