Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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)