Newspaper Page Text
Barrow Journal
Chris Bridges, Sports Editor
770-867-6397, phone
678-425-1435, FAX
cbridges @barrowjoumal.com
Asking Santa
for some sports-
related presents
ach year it seems there
are many people in
need of many gifts.
In the sports world that’s certainly
always the case. Professional ath
letes need a case of reality as most
have long ago lost their grasp on
reality and no have any idea what
it is like to be the average working
man or woman who sacrifices to
buy a ticket to a game these days.
That's why when the calendar
reaches this point
I always turn to
Santa who no
doubt is busy,
but perhaps has
a trick or two
remaining up his
sleeve — or is
that in his bag?
With that
in mind, I ask
the jolly man
in the red suit
if he could
deliver the fol
lowing as we look to close the
door on another sports year:
•For the Atlanta Falcons: an
award for NFL Story of the Year.
Who would have thought the Birds
would even be in the position to
be talking about the postseason,
let alone punching their ticket with
Sunday's win against the Vikings.
First-year mentor Mike Smith
should win Coach of the Year
honors hand down for what he has
done with the franchise. It’s amaz
ing how he saved this train wreck.
•For Georgia Tech and
Atlanta Falcons announcer Wes
Durham: the ability to con
tinue being the best play-by-play
man in the business today.
•For the Atlanta Falcon team
of Durham and Dave Archer:
many more seasons of air
ing Falcon games on the radio.
These two make a great duo.
•For the powers-that-be at our
state’s largest newspaper: the real
ization that many readers, myself
included, like to see high school
football results in the Saturday
morning print version rather than
looking at them online. Of course,
at the rate this paper has been going,
I’m not sure it can be called “our
state’s largest newspaper’’ any more.
•For the Atlanta Flawks: continued
success in the 2008-09 season.
•For all Coaches in Stands
at area high schools who think
they know more than the actual
head coach: a clue and a life.
•For the two Atlanta-based
sports talk radio stations: more
power so I can hear them
once the sun goes down.
•For all coaches in the Barrow
County School System: a big
thank you for the countless hours
you give to the student-athletes.
•For WIMO general manager
Scott Pinner: a new pair of com
fortable shoes. This man is on
the go so much he needs them.
•For Monday Night Football:
a return to the glory days
of Floward Cosell, Frank
Gifford and Don Meredith.
•For Division I-A col
lege football: a playoff, a
long overdue needed item.
•For Jerry Glanville: a trip to
the playoffs next fall with his
Portland State football team,
•For Apalachee principal
David McGee and Winder-
Barrow principal A1 Darby: a
one-on-one game of basketball
for these two former coaches.
•For Apalachee football coach
Shane Davis: a return trip to
the state playoffs in 2009.
•For Florida quarterback
Tim Tebow: a return to the
Gators for his senior season.
•For readers of the Barrow
Journal sports section: a Merry
Christmas and Happy New
Year for you and your family.
chris
bridges
First & Ten
Chris Bridges is sports editor
of the Barrow Journal. E-mail
comments about this column to
cbridges @ barrowjournal. com.
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
AHS grapplers continue to show improvement
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
First-year Apalachee High School wres
tling coach Jim Stoudenmire knew it would
take a little time for his squad to get things
on track this season.
Once his team got a solid footing, how
ever, the coach felt there was a chance to do
some successful things. It appears the Mat
Wildcats are beginning to reach that stage.
Apalachee finished sixth overall at the
Morgan County Christmas Classic this past
weekend with two team members winning
their respective weight classes.
“We are coming along,” Stoudenmire said.
“Several of our weight classes are filled by
younger wrestlers. When that is the case you
are going to win some and lose some. We
are trying to pick up all the mat experience
we can. We are certainly making strides. We
are just young. It will be a little while before
we are where we want to be.”
Austin Shepard (125) and Zak Moore
(130) both won their weight classes at
Morgan County this weekend.
See AHS wrestling on page 3B
ON THE
MAT
Chris Newman
and the AHS
wrestling
squad will
continue
working dur
ing the holi
days.
Photo by
Lyn Sengupta
BASKETBALL SPOTLIGHT:
APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL LADY WILDCATS
SUCCESSFUL WEEK
Kelsey Montgomery and the Apalachee High School Lady Wildcats earned wins in two of three games
last week for coach Michael Parks. Photo by Jessica Brown
Workpatience begin to pay
dividends for Lady Wildcats
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
ichael Parks certainly
earns credit for think
ing outside the box.
The Apalachee High School Lady
Wildcats basketball coach has had
to deal with both the ups and downs
to this point in the 2008-09 season.
However, he hasn’t given up and
hasn’t stopped thinking up creative
ways to help his team improve.
Whether it’s scrimmaging against
the junior varsity boys or making
his offense better against a pres
sure defense by making the odds
eight against five. Parks is constantly
looking for ways to help his team
improve. For the young coach,
it’s all about getting better with
each game and taking steps toward
improving the program overall.
Last week the Lady Wildcats got a
taste of success as they defeated region
foe Monroe Area and then defeated
Commerce in a span of five days. For
the Apalachee team, the wins were
much enjoyed degrees of success.
“It feels good to see some results,”
Parks said. “The Commerce game
was easily our best of the year. We
were putting a lot of pressure on
the basketball. Everyone played and
everyone did well. They went to a
2-3 zone eventually and we just ran
our offense. It was only when we got
out of sync that we looked sloppy.”
Freshman Lacresha Mayweather
scored 14 points against Commerce
while Kelsey Montgomery added 10.
Kaitlyn Medlem added eight rebounds.
The Lady Wildcats raced out to
a 15-0 lead against the host Lady
Tigers on their way to the win.
See Success on page 3B
BASKETBALL
Doggs suffer
close losses
last week
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
A week of close losses con
tinued Saturday for the Winder-
Barrow High School boys bas
ketball team.
The Bulldoggs dropped a
67-64 contest to Griffin in an
opening-round game of the
DeKalb County holiday tour
nament played at Southwest
DeKalb High School. In a back-
and-forth contest which saw
both teams lead by as many as
seven points, WBHS could not
get over the hump and would
eventually fall by three points.
Jodd Maxey and Shun
Thurmond both scored 19 for
coach Eli Connell’s team but the
points were not quite enough.
See Doggs on page 3B
MIDDLE SCHOOL
WBMS boys
begin season
with 7-0 mark
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Winder-Barrow Middle
School Bullpups basketball
team has already made an
impression during the 2008-09
season.
Coach Corey Sims' team is
7-0, including two preseason
wins and defeated Russell
Middle School and Westside
Middle School for the Best of
Barrow championship.
“Overall, things are going
well and we look forward to
getting better,” Sims said. “We
have a lot of athletic ability, but
most importantly I have a great
group of young men.”
Already this year the WBMS
boys have posted wins against
East Jackson, West Jackson,
Russell, Oglethorpe and
Westside in regular season
contests along with wins over
Russell and Westside in the
Battle of Barrow tournament.
Team members include Ron
Pettis, Malik Evans, Toddric
Barnes, Hunter Lynn, Colton
Wheler, Andre Cain, Tyree
Tanner, Dre’ King, Jacob
Maddox, Travis Demeritte, EJ.
Henry, Markesio Anderson,
Kaih Clson, Chad Platt and
Skier Low.
Alana Farmer, Deon
Sturdivant and Brent Murphy
assist Sims with the team.
HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING
Apalachee swimmers lower times during recent meet
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Apalachee High School varsity
swim teams posted top 10 finishes at
a recent meet held at the University
of Georgia.
For the AHS boys, the 400 freestyle
relay team finished fifth in 4:20.0
Team members included Patrick
McConnell, Aaron Paridise, Donte
Williams and Sam Allen.
The 200 freestyle relay team of
Williams, McConnell, Paridise and
Timur Centindag was seventh in
1:49.2
The 200 yard medley relay team
of Williams, Paridise, Felipe Vanegas
and McConnell was 10th in 2:13.6.
Individually, McConnell was fourth
in the 50-yard free in 24.88.
For the Lady Wildcats, the 200
medley team of Amanda Laufer,
Brittany Laufer, Kristin Baldridge
and Shannon McConnell was 12th
in 2:22.7 while the 200 free relay
team of McConnell, Brittany Laufer,
Amanda Laufer and Baldrige was
eighth in 2:06.5.
Overall the boys were ninth with
96 points while the girls were 10th
with 36.
“All of swimmers lowered their
times,” AHS coach John Slater said.