Rivers has big week in Scotland

Former Lakeside star David Rivers is still plugging away at his dream of being an NFL quarterback.

Rivers has spent the last few months as the backup quarterback with the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe. The Thunder feature perhaps the league's premier quarterback in former LSU standout Rohan Davey. Because of Davey's solid play, Rivers has not taken many snaps this season.

That all changed on May 29.

With Davey just 3 of 9 passing, and the Thunder trailing the Scottish Claymores 13-0, Thunder Coach Rick Lantz called on Rivers to try to rally the team.

The game was extremely important, as The Thunder had a record of 7-1 and were primed to play in the World Bowl.

The former Panther responded with an amazing performance. He immediately led the team on an 8-play, 67-yard drive that saw him complete four passes for 63 yards.

He finished off the drive with a touchdown run. His stellar play continued, and when the dust had settled Rivers had led Berlin to a 27-19 victory.

For the game, Rivers was 18-24 (75 percent) for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns (including his own TD).

For his efforts, Rivers was selected as NFL Europe's Player of the Week.

At press time, Rivers and his teammates are preparing for the World Bowl vs. the Frankfurt Galaxy this weekend. Davey will start the Championship game, but hopefully Rivers' big week caught the eye of an NFL G.M.

Dobbs aides Dogs in thrilling regional title

Former Harlem Pitcher Johnny Dobbs played a key role in Georgia's run to a Regional Championship last weekend.

He pitched in two of the four games and proved to be extremely tough on opposing hitters. He opened the series by pitching three innings of shutout ball in Georgia's opening win over Middle Tennessee State.

In the win, Dobbs yielded only a single hit and did not walk a batter.

Next, in the biggest game of the year, Dobbs was huge for Georgia. The junior right-hander went 4 1/3 innings, giving up two earned runs, struck out 4 and once again did not walk a batter.

He showed his ability to slow down Clemson's bats as the Dogs advanced to the NCAA Super Regional with a thrilling 7-6, 10 inning victory over the Tigers. The Dogs square off with Georgia Tech in this weekend's Super Regionals for a chance to head to Omaha for the College World Series.

Tournament of Wishes a huge success

For the third straight year, The A.B.'s Sportsline Tournament of Wishes Golf event was quite a success. The tournament raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with the money being used in the CSRA.

The event was played on June 8 at the River Golf Club and raised about $25,000, bringing our three-year total to nearly $60,000.

I wanted to take this time to thank all of the sponsors, volunteers, board members and participants who helped to make this event so special.

Thanks to you all, and we'll see you next year.

All-County Baseball Team coming soon

The All-County Baseball Team will be in next Sunday's edition of The News-Times. All-Columbia County baseball coaches are asked to have all of their end of the year statistical information submitted by Tuesday. You can fax your info to 650-0610 or e-mail to ab@wrdwam.com.