DALTON, Ga. -- On a night when Dalton High School celebrated its rich football tradition, it was a progam with basically none that stole the show.

Well, the Danica Patrick experiment is about to come to fruition with word she is close to completing a Nationwide Series deal with JR Motorsports.

Year two of the region playoff round in Georgia is here, and though some confusion still exists with fans, the coaches involved believe it's the best way to settle a sub-divided region's playoff field.

RINGGOLD, Ga. -- Martez Eastland doesn't mean to be rude, and the soft-spoken Ringgold High School football star would never want people to think he goes around angry all the time.

TUNNEL HILL, Ga. -- Stryker Brown could sense a giant shift in momentum, so the Dalton senior quarterback went to work. Two plays later the Catamounts scored a touchdown that helped seal a 35-11 sub-region win on the road Friday night at Northwest Whitfield.

Talladega and Halloween. It’s such a perfect match that it makes you wonder why the two haven’t been paired before now.

If only it were this simple, not to mention dramatic, all the time.

Michelle Spangler was all smiles, the little kid in the Notre Dame High School soccer player out there for all to see. She had just joined a few teammates in using the mudpit that was the Camp Jordan soccer field as a slip-'n'-slide moments after the Lady Irish completed an 8-1 rout of visiting DeKalb County in the Region 4-A/AA playoffs.

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- As Dana Mull searched for answers, the look on the Gordon Lee High School softball coach's face said plenty.

NASCAR is different from every other professional sport in that it's both an individual and a team sport. A great driver won't be very good with a mediocre team, and vice versa.

You can tell it’s a slow news time in NASCAR when it makes headlines that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is frustrated. I mean, really, what’s he supposed to be late in a winless season as his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates duke it out for a title?

New Catoosa County school Heritage's softball rivalry with Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe played out yet again Thursday, this time in Columbus, where the upstart Generals used a strong start for a 4-2 victory in the Class AAA Elite Eight.

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Mike Trapani has been coaching too long not to notice a milestone when he sees one.

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- It was Black Friday for a quartet of northwest Georgia softball teams at the GHSA State Championships.

In the end, Martez Eastland lost the battle but won the war.

TUNNEL HILL, Ga. -- Football coaches often will say there comes a point in every season when a team must decide what it wants to become. It was a little over a month ago when that moment arrived for Northwest Whitfield.

TUNNEL HILL, Ga. -- Shane Ramsey knows freshmen aren't supposed to be this good. The Northwest Whitfield softball coach also knows his team wouldn't be playing today in Columbus as part of the GHSA Class AAAA Elite Eight without them.

Given all his young team had accomplished during this surprising softball season, Shane Ramsey should have known better.

It might not be the normal reaction for most 13-year-old girls, but when K.P. Ronda sees a ball rolling toward her, she kicks it.

RINGGOLD, Ga. -- Considering the conditions that greeted the two football teams on Don Patterson Field on Friday, the Ringgold Tigers had a big advantage coming in.

The Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe softball team used a time-proven method to earn another trip to Columbus, Ga.

OK, so the Chase is over, right? I mean, Jimmie Johnson already is past his worst Chase tracks, won at California and now has slam dunks ahead of him at Charlotte and at Martinsville.

DeVaughn Buchanan deals with a personality disorder every day during football season, and he gets therapy five days a week for it.

CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. -- Gordon Lee softball coach Dana Mull has gone on record as saying she doesn't like Georgia's new playoff format for her sport.

RINGGOLD, Ga. -- Some might say the Heritage Generals are too young to know any better. How better to explain Tuesday's GHSA Class AAA first-round softball playoff sweep of visiting White County?

Fans may not like it, but expect this Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship to be decided by pit strategy more than anything else. At least that is the opinion of Tony Stewart, who won last week after he took two tires to gain track position late when several other contenders took four.

It may be too late to recover much of the media coverage lost in the last two years, but NASCAR made a wise move this week by working with its many television partners to put a little consistency in race start times.

SUMMERVILLE, Ga. -- On a night when electricity was hard to find in Chattooga County, the Calhoun Yellow Jackets had a surplus of power.

SUMMERVILLE, Ga. -- Senorise Perry insists he's just one of the guys. The Chattooga High School senior's numbers suggest otherwise.

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- If momentum means anything in high school softball, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe will be one dangerous team in the upcoming GHSA playoffs.

The Brainerd Panthers lit up the scoreboard from nearly every direction Saturday night to end five years of football frustration against Howard. The Panthers won 42-12 in the Heritage Bowl at Brainerd.

In an event that brought out the national news, only one football team on the field at Tommy Cash Stadium night was ready for prime time Friday.

Are Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin cheating their way to the top of the Sprint Cup standings?

TRENTON, Ga. -- Bradley Warren's story is a familiar one: Football star returns home to lead his old program to new heights.

With one swing of her softball bat, Kara Goins lifted a mountain of pressure off the Ridgeland Lady Panthers.

Monica Vickery has had her share of poor luck this year. When a softball pitcher has an earned run average of 0.64 but a losing record, things haven't been going her way.

Q: Discuss the level of parity that exists in Region 6-AAA.

After sampling a few online articles following Sunday’s Chase opener at Loudon, I find it interesting that most members of the NASCAR media (i.e., anyone with access to a blog) still find the Chase boring.

RINGGOLD, Ga. -- It isn't unusual for Martez Eastland to change a game, but when the Ringgold senior does it on the defensive end, it's usually a double dose of trouble for the opposition.

Considering the way it unfolded, many people think LaGreg Burns would like to forget about the 2008 high school football season. Those people don't know the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe senior running back.

For a program in just its second year of existance, there are still a lot of firsts for the Heritage High School softball program. Thursday night's 2-1 win at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe was the Generals' initial win over their Catoosa County rival, a Region 6-AAA victory that further signaled Heritage's arrival as a playoff threat.

Anyone who's familiar with this column knows predictions aren't my strong suit (you should see my fantasy team), but we all have to do it at this time of year. And, hey, they can be fun at times, like the year I picked Elliott Sadler, or was it Jeremy Mayfield? I forget.

LaFAYETTE, Ga. -- Give Derrick Laney credit for being a good student, and because he's a quick learner the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Warriors escaped LaFayette with a 28-26 Region 6-AAA football win Friday night.

Saw a story the other day titled, “Should Talladega be in the Chase?” Being from the South, of course, I thought why not?

RINGGOLD, Ga. -- Thomas Guinn could hardly catch his breath, but that didn't stop the Ringgold High School defensive lineman from heaping praise on his team after Friday night's defensive-oriented 13-7 win over Adairsville.

If it’s drama you want, then Saturday night’s Sprint Cup regular-season finale at Richmond should provide plenty. Only the top four spots heading into the race are locked into the Chase for the championship.

The numbers tell a simple yet painful story of high school football in Georgia Region 7-AA:

LaFAYETTE, Ga. -- Glen Woodard knew his softball team belonged at the party, but he was tired of waiting on the invitation. The LaFayette High School coach saw his team crash the event Thursday.

If Ridgeland High School's softball Lady Panthers are to achieve their ultimate goal, several hurdles must be cleared.

Hal Lamb had a decision to make. Take the easy three points and break a 7-7 tie late in the first half of his Calhoun Yellow Jackets' game at Ridgeland or go for it on fourth-and-2 from the 15.