Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

The Braselton News Contact the sports department: Phone: 706-367-5233 Fax: 706-367-9355 brandon@mainstreetnews.com IB Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Football Mill Creek dream season comes to an end Hoyas beat Hawks 30-10 Friday in playoff competition BY BRANDON REED It was a cold night in Kennesaw, and it didn’t help the Mill Creek Hawks warm up to a big challenge against the Harrison Hoyas, as the Hoyas defeated the Hawks in round one of playoff action 30-10. BACK AND FORTH The first half saw momentum swing back and forth between the two teams, but Mill Creek struggled to find their way into the end zone. The Hoyas drew first blood, getting on the board with 6:38 remaining in the first quarter to go up 7-0. The Hawks would work hard to keep Harrison within striking distance, but still couldn’t make their way deep enough into the Hoyas territory to score. Meanwhile, Harrison’s offense against pushed down the field, and scored again early in the second quarter to go up 14-0. The Hawks then began showing the heart and drive that got them into the playoffs in the first place. With just under nine minutes left in the half, the Hawks made a big stop on Harrison to take over the possession near mid-field. When they were unable to make headway and looked like they were going to punt on fourth down, Mill Creek pulled a sneak pass out of their bag of tricks, getting a badly needed first down to keep their drive alive. But Mill Creek still found themselves short of the end zone, and at the half, trailed 14-0. FIGHTING BACK The Hawks came out swinging to start out the second half. Chris Boggs recovered a fumble, and ran it deep into Harrison territory early in the third quarter. Mill Creek again couldn’t make a hole in the Hoyas’ defense, but managed to get on the board with a Baxter Smith field goal with just over 10 minutes left. Mill Creek was able to keep the Harrison offense at bay, but then a Hoya punt late in the quarter started a chain of events that would hurt the Hawks’ momentum. The punt landed deep in Mill Creek territory, and Harrison prevented it from rolling into the end zone, putting the Hawks on their own one-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Zach Landis lost his footing, falling to the ground in the end zone for a safety, giving Harrison a 16-3 lead with 1:31 left in the third quarter. BAD MOON RISING In the fourth quarter, despite fighting hard, the wheels came off for the Mill Creek Hawks. A controversial punt return by Harrison senior Jamal Austin returned a Mill Creek punt from the Mill Creek 43 yard line all the way in for a touchdown to put the Hoyas up 23-3. The controversy stemmed from Austin starting to raise his arm to call a fair catch, but officials said he never raised it fully. See FOOTBALL on page 2B COLLISION COURSE A host of Hawks, including Adam Stone (43), James Powell (30) and Ryan Robinson (90) close in on Hillsboro quarterback Christian Burnett during Friday night’s playoff game in Kennesaw. Photo by Brandon Reed Girls' Basketball Swimming Lady Hawks start season with wins LEADER OF THE PACK Porsha Porter led the Lady Hawks in scoring in the first two games of the Parkview Tip-Off Classic, scoring 17 points against Brookwood, and 18 againt St. Pius X. Photo by Brandon Reed BY BRANDON REED It’s a good start to the basket ball season for Mill Creek’s Lady Hawks, as they started Saturday afternoon with play in the Parkview Tip-Off Classic. Their first match up was with Brookwood, and they came away with a 62-43 victory. Senior guard Porsha Porter, despite being a little under the weather, led the team with 17 points scored, had three assists, two rebounds, and six steals. Monique Weathers also had a good game, scoring 11 points, and three rebounds. The Lady Hawks came back from a deficit in the first quarter to outscore the Broncos in the second, and take a 31-16 lead into the half. Then Mill Creek returned with more of the same to put away the victory. The good start continued into Monday afternoon, day two of the tournament. The Lady Hawks recorded their second win of the event, defeating St. Pius X by a score of 70-4. Porter again was the leading scorer with 18 points. Head girls’ basketball coach Ashley Phillips said Porter was feeling better than she had been during Saturday’s game. “She was feeling much better by Sunday,” she said. “She had a lot of energy today, that was good.” Moneshia Simmons scored 13 points during the game, while sev eral other players scored en route to the victory. Simmons says this is the kind of start that you want to have to the season. “We’ve gotten off to a good start,” he said. “We beat a really good team today. We shot the ball well, and forced a few turnovers early. We built a little bit of a lead, and we were able to hold on to it through the rest of the game. We’ll have a real challenge tomorrow.” The Lady Hawks was scheduled to face Wesleyan in the final round of the tournament Tuesday night. Results were not available at press time. See LADY HAWKS on page 2B GETTING READY Members of the Mill Creek Hawks swim team gets warmed up prior to Saturday night’s match up with the Parkview Panthers at the Mountain Park Aquatic Center. Photo by Brandon Reed Hawks swim team wins opener BY BRANDON REED The Mill Creek Hawks swim and dive team started their season out on a high note this weekend, and they came out on top of their meet with the Parkview Panthers on Saturday, with a combined team score of 327 to Parkview’s 294. That broke down to a boys’ score of 162 to 150, and a girl’s score of 177 to 132. Mill Creek took first in the Boys 200 yard medley relay, with the team of David Dudley, Matt Turnblom, Tom White, and John Petronaci winning. Mill Creek also took first in the Girls 200 yard medley relay, courtesy of Stephanie Doran, Jordan Evans, Caitlin Munro and Sommers Creed. Mill Creek’s Zach Tillman came out on top in the boys’ 200-yard freestyle, while Kevin Doran was the quickest through the pool in the boys 200 yard IM. Sommers Creed took the top spot in the girls 200 yard IM, while Stephanie Doran was quickest in the girls 50-yard freestyle. Cameron Cowgill was tops for the diving Hawks in the boys’ one meter diving, with Meghan Gordon winning the same event for the girls. Evans took top honors for Mill Creek in the girls’ 100-yard butterfly, while Marlie Creek was quick est in the girls’ 100-yard freestyle. Sommers Creed again was the winner in the girls’ 500-yard freestyle competition. Mill Creek was tops in the girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay, with Stephanie Doran, Marlie Creed, Sommers Creed and Evans getting top honors. Evans also won in the girls’ 100-yard breaststroke. Mill Creek topped off their night with a victory in the girls 400-yard free style relay, with Munro, Caroline Roloff, Samantha Akoubian, and Evans taking the top spot. See SWIMMING on page 2B