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FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
MCHS VS. Dublin 7:30 in Dublin
RTCA VS. Memorial Day 7:30 in Lyons
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TCHS vs. E. Laurens i :30 in Lyons
Listen to on 100.9 FM WLYU
VHS VS. Swainsboro 7:30 in Swainsboro
Listen to on 97.7 FM WTCQ
Treutlen vs. Wilcox Co. 7 30 in Soperton
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Wheeler Season Over
All game broadcasts streamed live at
www.southeastgeorgiatoday.com
November 3,2021
®1|E Aiuance
Section B
Loran
Smith
Greatest
Defense
By Loran Smith
Forty-one years ago, in early No
vember, Bulldog partisans were tipping
their Red & Black caps to Georgia
Tech, an expres
sion of thanks to
the Jackets for
tying Notre
Dame, 3-3,
which shook up
the college foot
ball polls.
Tech’s tie
knocked the
Irish out of the
No. 1 ranking
and allowed
Georgia to become the top ranked team
in the country. The Bulldogs would not
lose their grip on that exalted status as
they remained undefeated and won the
National Championship. To win it all,
Georgia had to slug it out in the Sugar
Bowl with a physical and determined
team which entered the season with a
championship on its mind.
After the tie with Tech, the Irish
later lost to USC in the Coliseum and
then in the finale with Georgia in New
Orleans, 17-10. Notre Dame wound up
ranked No. 10, following its 7-2-1 sea
son, a much better team than its rank
ing.
The ’80 Bulldogs were, perhaps,
the Georgia team which represented
the meaning of the word “team” bet
ter than any in school history. A squad
would be the listing of everybody who
dressed out, including walk-ons and
those who were in the bowl photo
graph at the end of the season. That ’80
outfit was a T E A M in every respect.
Lately, there has been considerable
conversation about the current Georgia
defense being the best in school histo
ry. Based on the results to date, there is
good reason to make that claim. How
ever, making comparisons can bring
about skewed judgment—some of that
having to do with the evaluation of dif
ferent eras, rules and the evolution of
the game.
I can think of four teams which
might be in the mix when you rate the
best UGA defenses of all time: ’42,
’46, ’68 and ’80. There is nobody liv
ing today who could provide first hand
insight except Charley Trippi, who
will turn 100 in December and is not
in condition to speak definitively any
Please see Loran page 3B
Coastal Carolina
Statesboro 6:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Miami
Miami, FL 12:30 p.m.
RSN
Missouri
Athens 12:00 p.m.
ESPN
Photo by Carroll Williams
Shayla Bennett flips the ball over to Emma Humphrey for an ouf as the Indians battle the Heard County Braves in the GHSA
State AA Championship Game.
Indians Are State Runners-up
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail. com
The Vidalia High
School Indians softball team
came home from Columbus
as the State Runners-up af
ter the Championship Tour
nament last week. The Indi
ans dropped their first
round game but fought back
through the losers' bracket
to face off with the defend
ing State Champion Braves
of Heard County. Vidalia
gave them a run but fell in
the Championship.
Vs. Breman
Vidalia took on the Blue
Devils of Bremen in the first
round of the double elimi
nation tournament. In the
top of the first inning Bre
men took the early lead as
Bailey Holland didn’t quite
have her A game in the cir
cle. A walk, wild pitch, and
passed ball moved a runner
over the third and then a
soft line drive put the Devils
on top 1-0. That was fol
lowed by a two-run home
run to give Bremen a 3-0
lead. Holland settled down
Photo by Carroll Williams
Rileigh Robinson hit a 3-run home run to put VHS in the lead in
the third inning of the Indians rematch with Bremen,
and recorded a couple of
strikeouts to help get out of
the inning.
In the bottom of the
first inning Tori Wright
stepped up and hit a leadoff
homerun to dead center to
close the lead to 3-1. A walk
and hit by Alii Taufmann
put two runners on for the
Indians, but a strikeout
ended the VHS threat.
Bremen added a run on
a triple and a shot to the
fence to put them on top 4-1
heading to the bottom of
the frame. VHS loaded the
bases in the bottom of the
second inning, and then
Emma Humphrey came
through with a two-out,
three-run double to tie the
game at 4-4.
Bremen went back on
top in the fourth inning as
they plated two runs. Bre
men had runners on second
and third, and a line drive
down the right-field line put
them on top 6-4 over the
Indians.
VHS had runners on in
the fourth, sixth and sev
enth innings, but they could
not get the big hits when
they needed them as they
fell 6-4 to Bremen.
Between Holland and
Tymber Harris, who pitched
the final three innings, the
Indian pitchers recorded 14
strikeouts in the game
With the loss the Indi
ans moved into the losers’
bracket and had to fight
their way back to the Cham
pionship Game.
Vs. Union Co.
Up next for Vidalia in
the losers’ bracket was
Union County. VHS wasted
no time in this game as
Wright led off with a single
and Holland came through
with a two-run home run,
and she was followed by
Humphrey with a solo shot
to give the Indians and early
3-0 lead.
Please see VHS page 4B
Heritage Are Region Champions
The Vidalia Heritage Academy Eagles claimed the Region Championship with a win last Fri
day night over Grace Christian.
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail. com
The Vidalia Heritage
Academy Eagles football
team claimed the Region
Championship after rolling
over Grace Christian Acad
emy at home last Friday night.
The Eagles put up an incred
ible 545 yards of offense in
the game on their way to the
victory
The Eagles got some big
runs early from Ethan Sikes as
they worked the ball down
the field and found the end
zone for the first time in the
game on a 1-yard pass play
VHA tacked on the two-point
conversion to take an 8-0
lead.
Heritage added to that
lead later in the first quarter
on a 23-yard run for a touch
down. The two point try was
no good, but VHA was on top
14-0.
Sikes and James
Hutcheson both added big
runs that set up another VHA
touchdown late in the first
quarter. They added the two
point try to give Heritage 22
points.
Heritage scored two
more touchdowns in the sec
ond quarter of the game, the
first on a 3-yard run, and the
second on a 1-yard run. That
gave Heritage 38 points at
halftime. Heritage was on top
38-28 over Grace at the half.
Early in the third quarter
the Cougars of Grace quickly
Please see VHA page 9B
VHS
11/5 - Varsity Football @ Swainsboro
11/6 - Competition Cheer Region Championship @
Parsons-Reid Gymnasium
8-SGA Meeting (1:30)
eta Club Induction in Auditorium
i- Student Holiday; Staff
essional Learning Day
TY
BE A PART OF SOMETHING GREAT
JRTrippe SD Meadows
11/4- Soccer @ Jeff Davis
11/9-Soccer vs. Dodge
11/10- FBLA Leadership
Conference
11/11- Soccer @ West Laurens
11/13-Girls Engineering Day
11/15- Soccer @
East Laurens
11/16- Soccer vs Bleckley
11/18-Soccervs Dublin
11/19- Student Holiday; Staff
Professional Learning Day
11/4- United Way Character Day
11/19- Student Holiday; Staff
Professional Learning Day
mm
JD Dickerson
11/19- Student Holiday;
Staff Professional Learning
Day