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BASKETBALL
MCHS vs. Dublin, Jenkins Co.
Thur. 6:00 p.m. (FI); Sat. 6:00 p.m. (H)
RTCA vs. Twiggs, Memorial Day
Fri. 6:00 p.m. (H); Sat. 3:00 p.m. (H, Girls)
TCHS vs. Bacon Co.
Sat. 4:00 p.m. (H)
VHS vs. Jeff Davis
Fri. 6:00 p.m. (H)
Wheeler vs. E. Laurens, Telfair Co.
Fri. 6:00 p.m. (H); Sat. 4:00 p.m. (H)
Treutlen vs. Telfair Co.
Fri. 6:00 p.m. (A)
January 19, 2022
®lft Aiuanre
Section B
By Loran Smith
Loran
Smith
National
Champions
During practice for the playoffs, all
the Georgia players heard was that they
could not beat Alabama, which was
good and bad.
Good in that a
deep gash was
ingrained in the
psyche of the
Bulldog play-
ers — which
brought about
potent incentive.
They knew
they were better
than they played
at the Mercedes
Dome, the first
Saturday in De
cember, but had
to wait to re
deem them
selves. First
the Dawgs
f had to worry
about Michi
gan. It would
have been bad if they
had stewed about a championship game
rematch to the extent that it cost them
victory in the first round of the playoffs.
They prepared to win the first
round with visible resolve. The coach
es had a plan, and the players eagerly
bought into it. The team believed it
was better than Alabama, and one of the
objectives was that it was going to be in
better shape physically.
During playoff practices, you ob
served workouts in the Payne Indoor
center with a different routine. At the
conclusion of certain drills, a group of
players, such as linemen, jogged out
onto the grass practice field where they
ran sprints with dogged determination.
Accompanying their reps for game
planning were those everyday sprints.
They wanted to gain the advantage in
the fourth quarter. We now know they
accomplished their mission. With the
game on the line, both lines of scrim
mage were dominant.
The Alabama defense, as is the case
with all good teams, is built to stop the
run. However, with an encroaching
surge by Georgia in the second half, the
Bulldogs gained 140 yards net rushing.
Alabama’s total was 30, which the Daw
gs “Smart” coach, smilingly pointed out
post game.
By patiently committing to the run
ning game, Georgia became dominant
when it needed it the most. There were
struggles early on, a lot of “three and
outs,” but the defense was keeping Ala
bama from scoring a touchdown. The
Tide only had to go 16 yards for its only
touchdown. Yet, they were in it to the
last which is where that conditioning
routine in the practices by Georgia paid
off.
The Bulldogs harassed the Heis-
man trophy quarterback whom they un
wittingly accommodated a month ear-
Please see Loran page 2B
Crusaders Move To 11-1
Photo by Mike Branch
Drew Vaughn drives in for a basket as the Crusaders pull away from the Memorial
Day Matadors during the first half of their contest last week.
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail.com
The Robert Toombs Christian
Academy basketball teams both took
on Twiggs Academy and Pinewood
Christian Academy last week, and the
boys added a game against Memorial
Day. The Crusader teams won all five of
the games as they continued to improve
their records.
vs. Twiggs
Neither of the RTCA teams had any
problems with the Trojans of Twiggs on
Tuesday night in Jeffersonville. The
Lady Crusaders got things going, and
their defense gave them control of the
game. RTCA jumped out to a big lead
and never looked back as they put 54
points on the board while holding the
Lady Trojans to just 18, for the 54-18
victory.
In the boy’s game RTCA was also
dominant as they ran away with a win.
RTCA rolled to a 72-48 win over the
Trojans.
vs. Pinewood
The games with the Patriots of
Pinewood were closer, especially the
boys game, but RTCA pulled out the
wins. RTCA hosted Pinewood on
Thursday night.
In the girls contest the Lady Cru
saders took the win, 42-34. That im
proved their record to 3-10 on the year,
and they are 1-0 in Region play.
The RTCA boys also got a win over
Pinewood, but this was a battle through
out. RTCA pulled out the two-point
victory, 63-61, over the Patriots.
Boys vs. Memorial
The boys hosted Memorial Day on
Friday night. The girls game was post
poned and will be made up this Satur-
Please see RTCA page 3B
Wheeler Over Montgomery
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail. com
The Bulldog basketball teams of
Wheeler County High School faced off
with Wilcox County and Montgomery
County last week. The Lady Bulldogs
dropped both of their games, and the
boys split as they got a win over MCHS.
Girls vs. Wilcox
The Lady Bulldogs got another big
game out of freshman Mahogany King
as she scored 26 points on the night
and kept the girls in the game.
Wheeler was down by just two
points at the end of the first quarter,
11-9. In the second the Lady Bulldogs
outscored Wilcox 11-10 to make it a
one-point game at halftime, 21-20, with
the Lady Patriots on top.
In the third quarter, though, Wilcox
came out and extended their lead to 38-
Please see Wheeler page 11B
Photo by Mike Branch
Wheeler's Jeremiah Kincy cuts through two MCHS defenders for a basket as the first
half was winding down.
VHS Sweeps Bacon; Splits With Tigers
By Mike Branch & John Koon VHS Comm Dir.
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail. com
The Vidalia High School Indians
basketball teams took on Bacon County
and Swainsboro last week on the hard-
court. The Indians took care of busi
ness against the Red Raiders as they
swept them on the road in Alma on
Tuesday. On Saturday Vidalia was at
Swainsboro to face the Tigers and split
with them with the VHS boys getting a
win.
Girls vs. Bacon
The Lady Indians moved their re
cord to 8-9 with a tough 45-36 win over
the Lady Raiders.
The Lady Indians fell behind early
in the girl’s game, trailing by as many as
7 points in the first quarter. But a solid
second quarter got them back into the
contest, where they eventually grabbed
their 3rd Region 2AA win, moving
them into 3rd place in the standings.
Vidalia trailed 12-5 after a quarter
but outscored Bacon County 14-5 in
the second quarter, taking their first
lead with 3:42 to go in the half and led
19-17 at the break. The third quarter
saw Bacon County reclaim the lead
with 1:04 to go in the quarter, but the
Lady Indians outscored the Lady Raid
ers 17-6 down the stretch to secure the
victory.
“I thought we played well at times,”
said Head Coach Sissy Anderson. “We
just have to learn to put all four quar
ters together.”
Freshman Kaliya Walker led the
way with 16 points, while Corianna
Warren and Cristal Franklin finished
with 9 and 8 points respectfully. The
Please see VHS page 11B
VH
VIDALIA CITY SCHOOLS
1/20 - Honors Night 6:00 - 9th and 10th Grade
7:15-11th and 12th Grade
1/21 - BB vs Jeff Davis, Soccer vs Bryan County
1/22 - State Duals @ Breman, Rec. Department Day in Gym, Swim
Team @ Ware
reative Workshop in Theater 3:30 to 5:30, CFA
Leader Academy 6:00
ade Creative Workshop in Theater
0-5:30, BB vs Toombs
TAR Reception 5:30 @ RTCA
^^/20-E
BE A PART OF SOMETHING GREAT
JRTrippe
1/20 - Basketball (girls and boys) @ East Laurens,
Wrestling Region Championship
1/24- Basketball (boys and girls) vs. Dublin @ home
1/25-Fall Sports Awards
1/27 - JRT Athletic Awards in VHS Theater 6:00 - 8:00
SD Meadows
1/20 - Virtual Curriculum Night
1/25 - Reading Recess
After School Begins
\
JD Dickerson