Newspaper Page Text
March 29,2023
®l|e Aiuianre
MCHS vs. McIntosh Co. Aca.
Fri. 4:00 p.m. (A, DH)
RTCA vs. Brentwood, Twiggs
Wed. 4:00 p.m. (H); Thur. 4:00 p.m. (H)
TCHS vs. ECI
Wed. 5:30 p.m. (A)
VHS vs. Pierce Co.
Thur. 6:00 p.m. (A)
Wheeler Co. vs. Telfair Co.
Thur. 6:00 p.m. (A); Fri. 6:00 p.m. (H)
Treutlen vs. Dooly Co.
Thur. 4:00 p.m. (A); Fri. 6:00 p.m. (H)
Heritage vs. David Emanuel Aca.
Thur. 4:00 p.m. (A)
BASEBALL
Section B
By Loran Smith
Loran
Smith
Kim
Braswell
MADISON - Kim Braswell, the
left footed placement practitioner for
the Georgia Bulldogs in 1970-72—one
of the last of the
“toe” kickers—
has written a
book.
It won’t make
the best seller
list, but it is an
enlightening
treatise about a
young man who
succeeded de
spite deafness
and diabetes.
Few athletes
have persevered against the odds that
he faced growing up without giving in
to adversity.
His view of life, his goals and his
mission all were connected with a com
mitment to positive thinking. Non
athletes would benefit from Kim’s dis
sertation on how the mind can be just
as important, perhaps more so, than
the physical. He has always been in
step with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s,
“Power of Positive Thinking.”
The title of Kim’s book could not
be more appropriate for his well-chron
icled biography. “Kicking Adversity
Aside” is not about negatives or regrets
although many with his challenges
might well have given up along the way.
Kim certainly had those opportunities.
However, there never was any self
doubt. His story is about faith and
perseverance. He became the ant who
moved the rubber tree plant, the little
train that thought it could. With every
good turn, he was overwhelmed with
humility and gratefulness. He was a
competitor to the core, but arrogance
never entered his sphere. Modesty and
humility were constant companions.
In addition to football, Kim played
baseball at UGA. In high school, he
also played basketball. “More than
once,” Kim recalls, “I stole the ball from
my opponent and didn’t hear the refer
ee’s whistle and dribbled the stolen ball
the length of the court for a layup only
to find out I had fouled him.”
With 20/20 vision, Kim could read
lips almost a hundred yards away. His
brother Gary was an excellent defensive
player and was the best at lip reading.
The coach at Avondale, Calvin Ramsey,
realized Gary was a unique asset for the
team—reading the lips of the opposing
offensive coaches and then informing
his teammates the offensive play being
called.
“Ifyou see offensive coaches on TV
covering their mouths with their hands
or play sheet, you know why,” Kim says,
“ft was an advantage reading the op
ponents’ lips while playing defense in
football until they figured out and heard
from other teams that you better turn
your head away from the Braswell’s or
they will read your lips.” Gary became
proficient at lip reading, dating back to
the sixties.
You could make a case that the art
of lip reading in football began with
Gary and Kim before television caused
all those offensive coaches to cover
their mouths when calling plays. “I
think Gary deserves a spot in the lip-
reading hall of fame,” Kim says.
If you are a television sports junkie,
can you imagine what it is like to watch
great athletes perform and not be able
to hear them being interviewed and
hear what they have to say. Kim was a
Please see Loran page 3B
Indians Sweep Warriors
By David Moncus
Photo by Pop-Pop’s Photos
Carson Ricks fires over to first for an out as the Indians hosted the Warriors of Tattnall.
The Vidalia High School Indians base
ball team took on the Warriors of Tattnall
County last week in the three-game Region
series. VHS got the sweep to improve to 11-
7-1 on the season, and they are now 5-1 in
Region 3AA, in second place behind Ap
pling County.
Game 1
The Vidalia Indians beat the Tattnall
County Warriors on Tuesday night, March
21, by a score of 12-2 in six innings at Greg
James Field. The Indians improved to 9-7-1
season record and 3-1 region record. This
was game one of the three game series with
game two scheduled for Thursday night at
Tattnall County and game three back in Vi
dalia on Friday night.
Dawson Stewart started on the mound
and went all six innings for the win. Stewart
gave up two runs while scattering four hits,
hitting two batters but walking none and
striking out four batters. The Indian offense
was led by Veer Patel who was 3-3 with a
double, scoring one run and driving in four
runs. Walker Moncus was 2-2, including a
two run bomb and scoring three runs. Law-
son Lowe was 2-4 with a double, scored a
run and drove in two runs with a run rule
walk-off single in the bottom of the 6th in
ning.
Neither team was able to score in the
1st inning. However, in the top of the 2nd
inning the Warriors used an error and hit to
score one run to take a 1-0 lead. The Indians
quickly answered with two runs in the bot
tom half. Conner Whited led off with a sin
gle to center and scored on Patel's double.
After two strikeouts Stewart helped himself
with the two out single driving in Patel to
put the Indians up 2-1 after two complete.
In the top of the 3rd the Warriors fought
back as they picked up another run on two
hits and a hit batter to tie the game at 2-2. In
the bottom half Cason Banks was hit by a
pitch to lead off the inning, and Moncus fol
lowed with a two run bomb to left to put the
Indians on top for good by a 4-2 score. Stew
art shut out the Warriors the rest of the way.
In the bottom of the 5 th inning Moncus
was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and
Bennett laid down a sacrifice bunt which
was then mishandled by the infield, allowing
the runners to move up to 2nd and 3rd.
Conner Whited drew a walk to load the
bases with no outs. Patel followed with a
single driving in two runs. Ty Carter drove
in Whited with a ground ball out and Lowe
scored the fourth run of the inning on an
error to give the Indians an 8-2 lead after five
complete innings.
In the bottom of the 6 th inning Moncus
led off with a walk and move to third as Ben
nett doubled off the top of the right field
fence. Whited drew a walk to again load the
bases with no outs. Patel drove in Moncus
with a sacrifice fly, Moye drove in Bennett
with a single and Lowe singled in Whited
Please see VHS page 3B
Crusaders Baseball Keeping Busy
Photo by Mike Branch
Hayden Kight makes a good play for an out for the Crusaders.
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail. com
The Robert Toombs Christian Acad
emy Crusaders baseball team took on
Citizens Christian and Edmund Burke 2
weeks ago, splitting those games, and last
week defeated Twiggs Academy but fell
to Bulloch Academy and FPCA.
vs. Citizens
It was a close game early before
RTCA broke it open with two big innings
late in the game. In Douglas RTCA took
the lead in the top of the first inning with
a pair of runs. CCA answered back in the
bottom of the frame with three to jump
on top. The Crusaders came back in the
top of the second inning with two more
runs to take a 4-3 lead over the Patriots.
But in the bottom of the second inning
CCA added two more as they pulled back
ahead, 5-4.
Neither team scored over the next
three innings, but in the top of the sixth
RTCA took control with four more runs.
That gave them an 8-5 lead. CCA scored
one in the bottom of the frame, but RTCA
plated five more in the seventh inning on
the way to a 13-6 win.
vs. EBA
RTCA was in Waynesboro on Tues
day and lost a close game to the Spartans.
RTCA took the early lead with a run in
the top of the first inning, but EBA plated
two in the bottom half to go on top 2-1.
RTCA tied the game at 2-2 in the top
of the third inning, but two more from
the Spartans in the bottom of the third
gave them a 4-2 lead. RTCA jumped
ahead 5-4 in the top of the fourth inning,
but in the bottom of the sixth inning EBA
scored six runs as they took a 10-5 lead.
RTCA made a run in the top of the
seventh inning, but could only plate three
as they fell to the Spartans 10-8.
Please see RTCA page 9B
Toombs Soccer Sweeps Brantley
By Mike Branch
Sports Editor
sports 7 advance@gmail.com
The Toombs County High School
Bulldogs soccer team faced off with Brant
ley County and Savannah Arts last week.
The boys won both games, while the girls
split their contests.
vs. Brantley
On Tuesday, March 21, the Soccer
Dogs played host to Brantley County in a
Region matchup. The girls started the night
off with an 8-0 win. Anyadi Colmenares
scored 7 goals, and Estrella Barbosa added
the other.
Please see TCHS page 9B