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BASKETBALL
MCHS Region Tournament
TBA
RTCA Region Tournament
Thur. TBA (H, Boys & Girls)
TCHS Region Tournament
Wed. 6:00 p.m. (A, Boys); (Girls if won Tues., will play Thur;
VHS Region Tournament
Wed. 6:00 p.m. (H, Boys); (Girls if won Tues., will play Thur
Wheeler Region Tournament
TBA
Treutlen Region Tournament
TBA
February 17,2021
®l|e Aiuance
Section B
3 Indians Earn Titles
(L to R): VHS Wrestling State Champions - Tom Godbee, Hunter Manning, and Jaylin
Burns with his family.
the
SCOUTING
REPORT
Planning
These last two weeks have been diffi
cult. Southern Nuclear’s outage at Plant
Hatch started and
I transitioned to
night shift, where
I’m spending 12
hours of six of
seven days a week
at work.
Some things in
life, you just can’t
plan for, though.
By John Conner One of those oc
curred late two
weeks ago when we learned that Barbara’s
cancer numbers had more than sky-rock
eted.
On Friday of last week, I sort of felt like
the Kansas City Chiefs and Tyrann “Honey
Badger” Mathieu, the Chief’s All-Pro safety
who was throwing temper fits on the side
lines of the Super Bowl. At least he was
emotional.
As hard as he tried, he still couldn’t
stop Tom Brady. Sometimes you just have
to ask yourself, why me, Lord?
Occasionally this medium allows me
to get some of our news out there. So, I’ll
try to explain how my wife is doing.
We’ve fought this battle with Multiple
Myeloma for almost 8 years now. There
have been several different drug cocktails
and some medications that only help battle
the side effect of those drugs.
Multiple Myeloma is a plasma cancer.
It has really bad effects on bone marrow,
and hence white blood cells and red blood
cells. Since the cancer forms in the marrow,
it can cause fractures, anemia, and low
platelet counts. Barbara has had all of these
symptoms.
There is constant blood testing to look
at hemoglobin, platelet levels, and some
thing called a Kappa light chain protein,
which is how they diagnose and measure
the level of cancer in her body.
We’ve been both very blessed and
lucky with the medical doctors who have
treated this cancer, both locally at the
Strickland Cancer Center, and at Emory
University’s Winship Cancer Center. We’ve
had great doctors in both places.
But when we have really bad turns, as
in high Kappa light chain protein counts,
we’ve had to go to Emory. This time, we
had to contend with the virus.
That meant that I could not go and be
at her side. The whole of Emory Healthcare
was under Covid-19 protocols. Of course,
and outbreak of a virus in a hospital the size
of Emory would be catastrophic.
Barbara’s brother, Jimmy Thompson,
was more than happy to take Barbara to
Atlanta, where she would undergo four
straight 24-hour infusions of high-level che
motherapy.
Each bag of each infusion consisted of
at least three very potent drugs. Twice, she
took an injection of another chemo to go
along with her cocktail of infusions.
She had to take massive amounts of
fluids with those drugs, and thankfully, sev
eral drugs to help reduce the massive
amount of side effects.
The nurses on Dr. Sagar Lonial’s team
at Emory also constantly monitored her
hemoglobin and platelet counts to provide
her with blood and platelets as necessary.
What actually went on was a very
quick and very powerful chemical attack on
my wife’s cancer. And as of right now, it ap
pears to be heading in the right direction.
We’ll find out early in March, when
we’re due back to Atlanta for a pet scan to
find what the results are.
So thanks to The Advance for letting
me let people know what we’re going
through. Barbara and I both appreciate the
cards of inspiration sent our way and please
continue to remember our situation in your
prayers.
Three Vidalia High School Indian
wrestlers were crowned State Champi
ons at the GHSA State Wrestling
Championships Wednesday night in
Macon. Hunter Manning (I45lbs),
Tom Godbee (I951bs), and Jaylin
Burns (285lbs) all won their respec
tive weight classes, bringing home
three State Championships for the
first time since 1999.
The Indians, who set a school re
cord by placing four in the Champion
ship round, finished the Traditional
Championship with a 6th place team
finish. Dawson Campbell (I82lbs),
who also wrestled for a Champion
ship, placed 2nd, while Damien Town-
sel (I60lbs) took 5th place, and Javar-
ius Worthen (I261bs) was also 5th. All
received medals and points for their
finish. Chandler Corbett (I521bs) fin
ished the tournament in the Top 8.
“We set a school record with four
finalists and tied a school record with
three champions. A great way to finish
off a great season!” said longtime As
sistant Coach Steve Fullam.
The night of Champions for the
Indians began with junior Manning,
who won a decision over Dawson
Heath of Berrien County, 8-4 to cap
ture his first State Championship.
Manning, who’s close 7-6 decision
over Lamar County’s Levi Banks in the
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail.com
The Toombs County High School
Bulldogs basketball teams closed out
the regular season last Friday night in
Savannah with a pair of losses to
Woodville-Tompkins. The boys then
picked up a win in the first game of the
Region Tournament on Monday of
this week over East Laurens.
vs. Woodville
Against the Lady Wolverines,
Toombs had a tough time as the girls
lost their game 55-38. In the boys
game the Bulldogs had a similar game
as they fell 54-32.
Boys vs. E. Laurens
Toombs was trailing the Falcons
17-12 with 6:30 left in the first half of
the game. The Falcons pushed that
lead to 21-12 before Drew Vaughn
added a basket for Toombs. With just
under five minutes to play DJ Mckin-
ney hit a shot from the corner and a
shot from Dominic Eason made it 23-
158 with 3:25 left in the half.
TCHS got another shot by Mckin-
ney and Jamie Wardlaw got one to fall
in the paint as the Bulldogs trailed 25-
22 with 1:45 to go in the half. Eason
tipped one in and was fouled, putting
him at the line with a chance to tie. He
got the free throw to fall as Toombs
tied the game at 25-25. TCHS took the
Indians
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail. com
The Indians of Vidalia high school
picked up a pair of wins over Jeff Davis
to close out the regular season last Fri
day night in Hazlehurst. The Lady In
dians ran away with a win while the
boys held off a tough Yellow Jacket
team to get their win.
Girls vs. JD
The Lady Indians led 5-4 halfway
through the first period. Jeff Davis
came back and went up 8-5 on the In
dians, but Cristal Franklin and Kyleigh
Johnson got baskets to fall as VHS
went ahead 11-8 by the end of the first
semifinals got him into the finals, fin
ished the year at 44-4.
The hope of a clean sweep of the
finals by the Indians hit a snag at
1821bs when Campbell lost by Fall to
Dade County’s Cody Williams, a min
ute in the 2nd period. Campbell, who
pinned all of his opponents on the way
to the Championship Match, finished
the year at 37-9.
Godbee then took the mat against
Haralson County’s Clay Hyatt and,
lead 27-25 on a basket by Eason with
just 5 seconds to go in the half, and
they carried that lead into the locker
room.
In the second half of the game the
Bulldogs continued to fight, and they
held on to get the close win, 63-57
over the Falcons. The win keeps the
period.
Early in the second Franklin added
another shot, and it was 21-12 later in
the second. It was 21-17 after a three
by JD, and by the end of the half it was
26-17 with VHS out in front.
With 3:38 left in the third period
the score was 34-28. VHS kept fight
ing and at the end of the third period
the Lady Indians were up 38-24.
VHS had a big fourth period as
they pulled away from the Yellow Jack
ets. They pushed the lead to 50-28
with Treyunna Roundtree finding her
shot and De'asia Thomas getting sev
eral baskets. VHS went on to win the
game 56-31.
The Lady Indians were led by
from the beginning, was in control of
the match. Following a near pin at the
end of the 1st period, Godbee wasted
little time securing the title, pinning
Hyat just 39 seconds into the 2nd pe
riod.
For Godbee, it was his 2nd straight
Championship and caps a career of
220 wins and only 24 losses, with 21 of
those coming in his Freshman and
Sophomore years, as he battled inju-
Please see VHS page 3B
Bulldogs' season alive.
On Tuesday of this week the Lady
Bulldogs hosted Bacon County after
presstime. If they won that game, they
will play again on Thursday at 6:00
against Woodville-Tompkins in Savan
nah. The boys will next play on
Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. at Vidalia.
Thomas and Franklin each with 13
points.
Boys vs. JD
In the first period Ty Dailey found
his shot early as he had 9 points in the
first period of the game. VHS was up
16-7 late in the first period, and at the
buzzer they led 18-9 with Konner Ow
ens getting a basket to fall at the end of
the period.
Early in the second Owens came
up with a steal and another basket, but
JD closed the lead to 2-20 with 3:30
left in the half. Matt Hill got a shot to
fall, and then Dailey hit a three-pointer
as VHS led 29-22 at the end of the first
Please see Bball page 3B
Bulldogs Over Falcons
Photo by Mike Branch
Julian Mann drives into the lane for a basket as the Bulldogs try to get back into the
game early against the Falcons in the Region Tournament,
Over Jeff Davis