By Nolan Crisp

The Trion Recreation Department was the host for the first-ever G. R. P. A. 5^th District 7&8 (Flea) boys and girls tournament held this past weekend. While the Flea girls lost out in their first game in a heartbreaking 13-9 contest to Pickens, the boys sailed through the tourney routing both their opponents. The Bulldogs will travel to Heard County (Franklin) March 5 and play the host team Heard at 5:30 p.m. The eight-team tournament will feature seven District winners from around the state, plus the host squad.

The Trion boys drew a bye in the first round and watched as Pickens and Tallapoosa played the initial game of the tourney Thursday evening. Pickens edged the Tallapoosa five 15-14 to advance. Friday, Trion faced Haralson County. This game was over quickly as the Dogs jetted out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter. By halftime, Trion was comfortably ahead 21-0 as the overmatched Haralson team had no answer to the precision like execution of the Bulldogs. Trion coasted in the second half to a 37-5 win. The balanced Bulldog scoring was led by Jake Hayes with 12, followed by Blaine Woody 10, and Brier Ingle 9. Brady Carnes, Hagen Willingham and Landon Peppers each had two points.

The win put the Dogs in the finals at 2 p.m. against the Bremen-Pickens Saturday morning victor. Bremen won the hotly contested game 27-14 and set up a Bulldog-Blue Devil final.

Bremen was ready for the Trion five as their pressure defense caused the Dogs problems early. After the first frame the Devils held a 9-7 advantage. In the second quarter the Trion defense answered the call and held Bremen to just one free throw while putting up 6. At the half Trion held a 13-10 lead.

The Dogs began to expand their lead in third quarter but Bremen fought back to trail just 23-18 going into the fourth quarter. Just like in the second quarter, the Dog defense swelled up and stifled the Devils with an 11-2 fourth quarter advantage. Willingham led the scorers with 9, followed by Woody 8, Ingle 7, Hayes 4, Peppers 3, and Kobe Nadu 2.  A. J. Van Gurp contributed great defensive play in the 34-20 championship game victory.

The Secret Ingle, Hank and Jesse Peppers led team will practice this week, preparing for the first G.R.P.A. Class C State Tournament.

Even though the Trion girls lost their first game, the team showed great determination against a more seasoned Pickens squad. Adam Lathem and John Tyson had these girls prepared with few practices under their belts. After falling behind 7-1 in the first quarter the Lady Dogs fought back to within three several times but just couldn’t get the lead. Gracie Murdock had 4 points, Alissa Brown and Madison Lathem finished with 2 and Brooke Tyson netted one. Free throw misses hurt Trion as they went 3 for 16 at the charity stripe.