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BASEBALL
PLAYOFFS
VHS vs. TBD
If VHS won on Tuesday over Lovett
VHS will play Saturday in the Final 4
Opponent and times TBD
Heritage vs. Habersham School
State Championship
Fri. 3:30 p.m. (H, DH); If Necessary, Sat. TBD
May 12,2021
31je Aiuance
Section B
the
SCOUTING
REPORT
The GHSA And
Re clas sification
So, which way are we headed. Are
we going to reclassify or not going to
reclassify?
According to what I’ve heard, the
main association that governs every
thing that most
of Georgia’s high
schools can and
can’t do is now
leaning toward
reclassiification.
It won’t affect
us until the 2023
and 2024 sea
son; so there’s
still plenty of
time to change
Football Schedules Released
There are some interesting names
that dot the schedules of the local
schools in 2022.
For instance, this season Vidalia
will visit the Academy of Richmond
County Musketeers’ campus stadium
in Augusta for a return game, and will
also welcome the Class AAAAA Stock-
bridge Tigers to Buck Cravey Stadium
on September 17.
The Indians will also have a return
engagement with Bleckley County in
Cochran on September 10. We all re
member what happened the last time
we saw the Royals.
Meanwhile, Toombs County will
make the long ride to Nashville to take
on Berrien County on September 10, a
week after opening in Eastman against
Dodge County.
After hosting Pelham on Septem
ber 17, the Bulldogs will host Riverside
Military School on September 24.
The Eagles from Gainesville, Geor
gia, will make that long ride from
North Georgia to take on the Bulldogs
in Booster Stadium.
Most of these games just make high
school football that much more inter
esting, sort of like college teams from
the SEC taking on the Big 10 or the Big
12.
Publics And Privates
Vidalia’s three-game series against
The Lovett School from Atlanta started
me thinking about the mixed results
most public schools in Georgia have
had against private schools.
Of course, who wouldn’t like an
education at a Lovett, a Westminster,
or a Greater Atlanta Christian. These
schools always seem to have an unlim
ited supply of resources that the smaller
publics do not have.
The Indians have had some success
against the Atlanta privates. Of course,
when Vidalia fans think about the At
lanta privates, they recall the great bat
tles against Greater Atlanta Christian
in both baseball and football.
The first time the Indians faced
GACS in a major team sport was a con
troversial baseball playoff series against
the Spartans in 2001. The controversy
was sparked after the Indians had taken
game 1 in Atlanta.
The Spartans won game 2 on a
controversy. Both teams were wearing
maroon jerseys, almost dressed alike.
The Spartans scored the winning
runs by impeding a play at the plate
when several players ran out of the
dugout and congregated around home
plate while the team scored the tying
and winning runs in Game 2.
Vidalia got their revenge in 2003,
by winning the GHSA AA Baseball
State Championship series against
GACS in three games; and then beat-
Please see Scouting page 2B
By John Conner
their minds again.
Indians Over Berrien;
Split With Lovett
Photo by Mike Branch
Walker Moncus tried to get an out at first after making a diving stop down the third
base line as VHS battled Berrien County last week.
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail. com
The Vidalia High School Indians
baseball team took out the Rebels of
Berrien County last Tuesday as they
swept the best-of-three series. That
moved VHS into the Elite 8, which be
gan on Monday of this week against The
Lovett School Lions out of Atlanta. VHS
and Lovett split their games on Monday,
which forced a Game 3 that was played
on Tuesday of this week after presstime.
If the Indians won Game 3 over
Lovett they would then play on Saturday
of this week in the Final 4.
vs. Berrien
Game 1
Landry Mead was on the mound in
the first game of the series for the Indi
ans and threw a shutout, allowing just
two hits while striking out nine. In the
top of the first inning Mead got the Reb
els three up, three down in the top of the
first inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, the
Indians put the first runs on the board.
Bryson Whited picked up a hit and then
took second on a wild pitch. Hughes
Graham was hit by a pitch to put two
runners on base. Walker Moncus walked
to load the bases, and then a walk to Mi
chael Blount to bring in the first run of
the game. Jordan Walden hit a single up
the middle for a 2-0 VHS lead.
In the bottom of the second inning,
Cason Banks led off with a single and
then a great bunt by Mead put runners
on first and second. Whited then sacri
ficed them over to second and third, be
fore an intentional walk to Ty Dailey
loaded the bases. Graham followed with
a sacrifice fly to the fence in left to put
VHS up 3-0.
The Indians added two more in the
third inning. Blount got an infield hit
and and was moved to second on a sacri
fice by Walden. Banks hit a shot to the
right-field fence for an RBI double and
then a single by Mead scored Banks for a
5-0 lead.
Please see VHS page 11B
Ribeye Roundup Held In Lyons
It was a stacked field of World
Champions this weekend in Lyons!
Grillers from Texas, North Carolina,
Florida, Alabama and Georgia showed
up and showed out this weekend in Ly
ons! Lyons Main Street hosted a quad
SCA steak cookoff better known as the
Lyons Ribeye Roundup.
Mike McElwaney, “Big Mike”, from
McDonough, GA, stated, “To give you a
caliber of the people that have come.
This is Sunday, the second day of our
event, we had 22 competitors. Of those
22, 21 were at the 2020 World Champi
onships for the SCA in Fort Worth
Texas. I don't know the exact number,
but I would have to say 20 of them have
been at the last 2 years of the SCA World
Championships in Fort Worth. The
2018 World Champion cook is out there
cooking, the 2018 5th place Champion
is cooking. The 2019 3rd place and 6th
place cooks are out there. For 2020, this
year’s champions, 2nd place and 7th
place is out there. And we have a two
time World Champion ancillary cook
out there. It’s a stacked field.
All steaks for the event were provided
by Thriftway Galaxy Food Center in Ly
ons and were said to have been some
of the best the competitors have ever
been provided.
“It’s amazing that this small town in
south Georgia has pulled in people as far
as Texas. We have a lot of Florida and
Alabama and Georgia, of course, which
I’m the most proud of because I’m one
Clarke gets his Golden Ticket to the
World Championships.
of those. They pulled off attracting some
of the biggest names in our sport.
“Our scores were some of the high
est we’ve seen in a long time. Typically
these cooks that are out here can make a
Please see Steak page 2B
VHA Eagles Win In Final 4
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmaii. com
The Vidalia Heritage Academy
Eagles baseball team are into the
GAPPS State A Championship with
their sweep of Horizon Christian
Academy on Friday of last week at the
Ed Smith Complex. Heritage had some
first game heroics to take the win, and
then came back with a run rule victory
in the second game.
Game 1
Mason Beacham was on the
mound for the Eagles and got the win
in Game 1 as he threw a complete
game, and allowed just four hits, with
eight strikeouts.
The game was scoreless through
Please see VHA page 2B
Photo by Mike Branch
Heritage sidearmer, JT Cofield, pitched Game 2 of the Final 4 series against Horizon
Christian last week as VHA swept to move to the State Championship,