In the summer, high school football coaches often look for ways to provide their players with a competitive challenge.

Editor's note: Follow the Daily Citizen-News sports department for recruiting features on local high school football players each Friday this summer. Rising seniors with the potential to play at the next level will answer questions leading up to football season this fall.

In six of the past seven years, a high school from Whitfield County has claimed a state title in boys soccer.

Tyler Hunt finished his high school wrestling career with not one, not two, not three but four state championships.

Long before they ever see the field in a Major League Baseball game, baseball prospects must traverse the multi-layered world of the minor leagues. Almost all prospects spend at least some time at this level, and for the vast majority of players breaking through from the minor leagues to the…

Christian Heritage School's Joe Dixon said he loves being under pressure.

Logan Cole played many sports while growing up, but little did he know he was just waiting for the right one to come along.

Omar Hernandez was relaxing on a dock with a fishing pole in his hand a couple of weeks ago in Cape Coral, Florida, when his phone began to ring.

Several athletes have earned postseason honors for their respective spring sports, including one Dalton High School soccer player and three Christian Heritage School golfers.

Early into its first season as a franchise, the Dalton Red Wolves are experiencing the ups and downs that come with a new club and a roster full of new players. Being able to earn wins while building a culture may be a measure of where this young club stands in the USL League Two.

For the second year in a row, Dalton High School's Omar Hernandez has been named the Georgia boys soccer Gatorade Player of the Year.

Editor's note: Follow the Daily Citizen-News sports department for recruiting features on local high school football players each Friday this summer. Rising seniors with the potential to play at the next level will answer questions leading up to football season this fall.

Three area athletes were named high school players of the year for their respective sports in a recent article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Omaury Alvarez Jr. has been a competitive wrestler for nine years, and over the past year he's had a successful season.

Omar Hernandez received a number of high-profile awards during his high school soccer career, and now the former Dalton High standout is among the finalists for a national award.

It hasn't taken long for Dalton's semi-professional football team to build a winning culture.

By the time this afternoon rolls around, Pam Carter will be the only cheer coach in the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

There were 31 players at Thursday's Dalton Red Wolves practice, each with a different back story, but all with the same goal -- to one day play professional soccer.

Having already won an individual state title her junior year, and placed second in state in both her freshman and sophomore seasons, Murray County High School golfer Tori Owens said all she could do was smile when approached with expectations of another state title.

Last year, the Christian Heritage School boys golf team had a goal to merely make the state tournament. This year, the Lions wanted to win it.

Player of the year -- Hank Bearden, junior, Northwest Whitfield (pitcher, first base) -- 7-2 record; one save; 54 2/3 innings pitched; 1.66 ERA; 89 Ks; 31 hits allowed; 19 BBs; .366 BA; .485 OB%; 30 hits; five home runs; seven doubles; 26 RBIs; 23 runs scored; five stolen bases; walked 18 ti…

TUNNEL HILL -- It isn't easy to improve upon a player-of-the-year season, but that's just what Northwest Whitfield High School's Hank Bearden did this spring.

Entering his senior season, Dalton High School running back Jahmyr Gibbs will now have one less thing to worry about once the games begin this fall.

ROCKY FACE -- One of northwest Georgia's premier golf courses has a new man in charge.

With past and future Catamounts looking on, the members of the Dalton High School boys soccer team and their coaches took a celebratory victory lap through the streets of Dalton Thursday afternoon.

Area high school golfers were in full swing Tuesday during the final day of their respective state tournaments, with one team and one individual coming out on top.

The Dalton High School boys and girls lacrosse teams celebrated their season during their end-of-the-year awards banquet on May 2.

Ryan Scoggins, who was named varsity boys basketball coach for Dalton High School on Tuesday, said it's an opportunity he's been seeking for some time.

Having won race after race this season, Coahulla Creek High School's Kaylee Bandy is only a freshman but already a state champion.

Dalton resident David Noll Jr. knew he was going to have to produce something special on Sunday to win the 2019 Georgia State Golf Association Mid-Amateur Golf Championship. Whether he would execute his plan was the challenge.

The Dalton State College men's golf team will begin play today at the NAIA National Championship at Las Sendas Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. The No. 3-ranked Roadrunners finished as national runners-up last season. Coach Ben Rickett said the players will need to adjust to a new environment thi…

POWDER SPRINGS — As players rushed the field and fans stirred in celebration, the Dalton High School three-man senior midfield of Omar Hernandez, Ivan Mora and Tony Saldana formed a tight embrace around one another.

POWDER SPRINGS — There’s a certain sense of family that many say comes with playing for the Dalton High School boys soccer team, but it’s a little different when the family is actually blood-related.

POWDER SPRINGS — For the fifth time in program history, the Dalton High School boys soccer team can call themselves state champions.

The Dalton State College women's golf team ended its season Friday with a sixth-place finish at the NAIA National Championships at Lincoln Park Golf Course in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

POWDER SPRINGS -- As the clock wound down in the Class 3A boys soccer state championship game, it was the losing team whose fans seemed most vocal. Despite the result, a community still had so much to cheer for.

Two area boys soccer teams are set for state championships games this weekend.

Former Dalton High School pitcher Alli Swinford remembers her first major game as a freshman for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

CHATSWORTH -- The North Murray High School football team ended its final day of spring practice on Wednesday afternoon, and as the players left the field, seniors Landon Burrell and Ladd McConkey were talking with younger players one-on-one about the specifics of their positions.

VARNELL -- Coahulla Creek High School's do-it-all football guy has found a place to keep doing it all.

CHATSWORTH -- The last time Murray County High School football finished a season winless, a new coach took over the following season. That new coach was Chad Brewer, and since becoming the head man in 2013, Brewer has led the program to the most success since legendary coach Bill Napier roam…