Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
MCHS VS. Portal 7:30in Mt. Vernon All game broadcasts streamed live at
www.southeastgeorgiatoday.com
RTCA VS. Thomas Jefferson 7:30 in Louisville
Listen to on NewsTalk 970 AM 105.3 FM - WVOP
TCHS Cancelled
VHS OFF
Treutlen OFF
Listen to on 101.7 FMWYUM
VHA vs. WK Academy Noon Saturday in Vidalia
Wheeler vs. Glascock Co. 7:30 in Alamo
August 25, 2021
®lft Aiuante
Section B
Loran
Smith
Brad
Johnson
In Tampa, BTB (Before Tom
Brady), the most popular guy in
town—even on intermittent visits—
was Brad Johnson, the Oconee County
based former Florida State quarterback
who led his Buc
caneer team to
victory in Super
Bowl 37.
Perhaps, he is
better known in
many places for
his TicTok ac
count, “Big Bad
Brad, No. 14.”
His standard
video opens on
the basketball
court. He is spinning a basketball on
his finger and then arches a shot from
the corner, with dead-eye aim, the toss
strips the net. Then, grinning expan
sively, he reaches down for a football
and fires to the goal at the other end of
the court. That toss strips the net, too.
Amazing, simply amazing.
Entering a game in Baton Rouge
last fall, where his son Max, plays quar
terback for LSU, a gate attendant shouts
to him not as the father of the young
Tiger quarterback and not as the win
ning quarterback in the Super Bowl—
but “look a heah, it’s the TikTok man.”
When he was growing up in Black
Mountain, North Carolina, Johnson
was a kid who was enraptured with bas
ketball. He became a big man (6-5, 238
pounds), but the NBA was not in his
future. There was more to basketball
than shooting the ball. “I couldn’t de
fend anybody, couldn’t guard anybody
and couldn’t jump,” he laughs.
Early on, he, and those around
him, realized that he was a thrower. He
could throw rocks, a frisbee—anything
that was not nailed down. Throw
ing just came natural to him, but he
became most efficient at throwing a
football and a baseball. Everyday of his
life, he spent time shooting baskets and
throwing something or other.
Although he played two seasons
of basketball at FSU, and still loves the
game, he realized his future was in foot
ball.
It didn’t come easy, however, mak
ing the starting lineup was a challenge,
but once he made it, after a while, he
was sacked by the offensive coordina
tor, Mark Richt, his future brother-in-
law.
He and Richt have something in
common in that they enjoyed the many
games they played: table tennis, pickup
basketball, touch football and shuffle-
board. Both were devout competitors,
pushing, shoving and knocking one
another into the walls. He remembers
a game in which brother-in-law Richt
lost a point and in a fit of anger kicked a
nearby table and breaking a toe.
“We soon were in the Georgia
training room with Ron Courson, Mark
with a busted toe and me with skinned
elbows from being pushed into the
walls,” Brad remembers. Fortunately,
they don’t pull clubs out of the bag in
anger on the golf course.
From Florida State where Johnson
won a couple of bowl games for the
Seminoles, his odyssey took him to the
Minnesota Vikings, London Monarchs,
Washington Redskins and then to Tam
pa Bay where he would win a ring with
John Gruden. “I was a late bloomer,
but I enjoyed the journey. After Tam
pa, there were four more years, two
Please see Loran page 3B
By Loran Smith
More Upgrades At The Pit
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmaii. com
The improvements at the Toombs
County High School athletic facilities
continue as The Pit has gotten a few
more upgrades. They are finishing this
week with the next phase of the addi
tions, and have added a new lighting
system and greatly improved the park
ing.
Both of these projects were
wrapped together with money that
had been set aside from the SPLOST
funds that the school system had re
ceived.
The parking situation at The Pit
has always been an interesting one
with cars parked up and down the
streets and wrapped around the ceme
tery. But that has changed drastically
now that they have added 400 parking
spaces where Jackie Jones Baseball
field used to stand. With the construc
tion of the new baseball and softball
complex behind the high school that
allowed them to remove the old base
ball field and turn that area into much
needed parking. They have also added
a new entrance on that side of the field
to make it easier for people to get in
and out of Booster Stadium.
This is a huge improvement for
the facility and will provide a much
easier and safer environment for fans.
The other improvements are the
Musco lights. This was another much
needed addition to the field as last
year there were times they were not
sure if the lights were even going to
come on, and during one game had
one of the poles went out completely.
The new LED lighting system is a
programmable system that can be used
for light shows as well. This is going to
add a new element to games, not only
for the football team but for all activi
ties at the field. There are also lights
that run up each pole that can change
in color, and will be utilized for the
light shows as well as for themed
games such as for Breast Cancer
Awareness Month.
The new lights will provide the
teams with light shows upon their en
trance to the fields, for touchdowns in
football, goals in soccer, and they will
also allow the band to put together
shows for halftime that go with their
music.
TCHS Athletic Director Bill Ben
ton said, “We are excited to be able to
get this next phase at The Pit done.
The new parking and light system will
make a lot of difference. We won't be
parking on the street anymore. We
have redone the north parking lot, and
then added the new lot where the old
baseball field was, and this is going to
be great for this facility.
“The lights are just incredible. We
are just blessed to be able to add all of
this to The Pit. It is going to give a
great fan experience, but for us really
what is on our minds is to provide for
these kids. Those are memories that
are going to last a lifetime.
“When you get the Board of Edu
cation, the Superintendent, and every
one in the community on the same
page, it is just incredible what can be
done. I couldn't be more proud for this
community and our students, and we
are just so excited to see how every
thing comes together this Friday night
in The Pit.”
Photo by Mike Branch
Meredith Durden threw a one-hitter against Twiggs last week at home,
Lady Crusaders Are 6-0
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail.
com
The Robert Toombs
Christian Academy Lady
Crusaders softball team
added to their totals as
they improved their re
cord to 6-0 on the sea
son with two wins last
week and one more on
Monday of this week.
RTCA picked up wins
over Citizens Christian,
Twiggs Academy, and
Windsor Academy.
vs. CCA
The game was close
early as RTCA picked up
one run in the bottom of
the first inning and nei
ther team scored in the
second. But in the bot
tom of the third inning
the Crusaders pushed
their lead to 4-0 with
three more runs.
CCA closed the lead
to 4-3 in the top of the
fourth inning, but seven
runs by RTCA in the
bottom of the frame gave
them an 11-3 lead.
Please see RTCA page 3B
The Indians softball team of
Vidalia High School opened up
their Region schedule last week
with a game at Jeff Davis. The Indi
ans had a bit of a hiccup as they
committed too many errors, and
the Yellow Jackets took the win and
gave VHS their first loss of the sea
son.
In the bottom of the first in
ning, the first error of the game for
the Indians led to a run for JD as
they took the early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second in
ning, Jeff Davis had two runners on
base, and another error let a run
come in to score. Another error
scored two more runs for the Yel
low Jackets as they pushed their
Please see VHS page 3B
Indians Drop
Region Opener
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmaii.com
SOFTBALL
MCHS vs. Treutlen
Thur. 5:30 p.m. (H)
RTCA vs. OFF
TCHS vs. Jeff Davis
Thur. 5:30 p.m. (H)
VHS vs. Bacon Co., Lambert, Ola, Dacula,
Thur. 5:30 p.m. (A), Fri. 4 p.m. (A), 6 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m., 11 a.m.
Treutlen vs. Montgomery Co.
Thur. 5:00 p.m. (A)
Wheeler vs. Wilcox Co.
Thur. 5:00 p.m. (A)
