About The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 2008)
The Braselton News Contact the sports department: Phone: 706-387-5408 Fax: 706-367-9355 kristireed@mindspring.com IB Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Gojf Panther golfers looking for win BY JUSTIN POOLE Jackson County Comprehensive High School’s golf team has been busy on the greens. The Panthers played four rounds since last Wednesday. The Panthers have three upcoming rounds scheduled against Gainesville, Apalachee and Winder. MADISON COUNTY Jackson County faced off against Madison at Double Oaks March 12. Madison beat out the Panthers by five strokes. The final score was 173-178. Despite the loss to Madison, coach Warren Standridge said he was pleased with the performance that the players gave. The Panthers’ low est score was 40 shot by Jamie Kull. STEPHENS COUNTY On Thursday the Panthers met Stephens County at Traditions. Shooting 15 strokes higher than the previous day Jackson County fell to Stephens County 187-194. “We played like we were tired,’’ said Standridge. “It was our third match in three days and we just didn’t perform well.’’ Blake Brumbelow shot the lowest score with 44. DAWSON COUNTY The Panthers traveled to Gold Creek, Monday, March 17 to com pete against Dawson County. The final score was Dawson County 187 to Jackson County 188. “We are trying to be more consis tent,’’ Standridge said. “I am working the line-up to try and find our best six golfers. Putting seems to be a team problem right now. We are hit ting the ball well, but we just can’t seem to buy a putt.’’ The lowest scores were Jamie Kull and Blake Brumbelow with 46 each. BANKS COUNTY On Tuesday, the Panthers were at Hammers Glen in Banks County. JCCHS won that match 180-220. The next round for Jackson County will be at against Gainesville Wednesday, March 19. On Thursday, the Panthers will play Apalachee at The Georgia Club. Mill Creek girls battle Bulldogs BY KRISTI REED Mill Creek and North Gwinnett continued their battle for front runner position in region 7-AAAA varisty girls’ golf this past week. The series remains tied at two all after the Lady Bulldogs managed a one stroke victory over the Lady Hawks. After beating Peachtree Ridge 82-101 on Tuesday, the Lady Hawks began preparations for their next match against Greater Atlanta Christian. Mill Creek will host GAC See GOLF on page 4B Hockey LOOKING FOR A WIN Mill Creek’s Sean Lautzenhsier and Eric Cubbage race to the puck during Saturday’s game against Walton. Lautzenhsier was one of three players who scored twice for the Hawks as they beat the Raiders 8-0. Mill Creek’s Ice Hawks fighting for state title BY KRISTI REED Mill Creek’s Ice Hockey team advanced to round four of the state championship this past weekend. The Ice Hawks are hoping to end their inaugural season with a title, but have a tough road ahead of them as playoff competition inten sifies. The Ice Hawks, ranked number two in division 1A, played four games in five days as they fin ished the regular season last week and immedi ately began playoff competition on Saturday. Mill Creek will get a much-deserved break this week before heading into round four of tournament play next Tuesday, March 25 at the Duluth Ice Forum. Game time is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. RAMS GET THREE-PEAT The Ice Hawks finished the regular season last week with games against Grayson and Pope. Heading into last week’s game, the top ranked Rams were the only team in division 1A that had beaten Mill Creek. Wednesday night marked the third time Grayson has emerged victorious as the Rams won 7-0. “We had a couple of players that were there physically, but not mentally,” said Ice Hawks head coach Ray Nowakowski. “It’s one of those things that I think, as a coach, it’s not that the boys aren’t able to take the wins, I think it’s a mental block.” Nowakowski said it is very difficult to recover from such a large point deficit. “When you get down that far, if you have even the slightest loss of confidence, you pretty much call it quits and I think that’s what some of the boys did,” he said. Despite the loss, Nowakowski said he did see some good things come out of the game. “We saw a lot of passing and opening up the ice. We did see our forwards covering the point man when they were in their defensive zone,” he said. Nowakowski said his players were disappoint ed, but remained upbeat as they prepared to face Pope and head into the championships. POPE PREVAILS Mill Creek traveled to Marietta on Friday to face Pope High School for the final game of the regular season. Pope became the second team this season to defeat the Ice Hawks as they skated to a 3-1 vic tory. Mill Creek’s only score came from Jordan Senecal with an assist from Avery Barrett. PLAYOFFS BEGIN As the Ice Hawks ended their regular season, Nowakowski said he thought the playoffs would be interesting for his team. “We’ve taken them as far as we could on the training side, now they’ve got to have it in their hearts to be able to do it,” he said. Mill Creek played Walton Saturday in the first round of the Georgia High School League (GHSL) state championship tournament. The Ice Hawks had faced the Raiders twice in the regular season, winning once and tying once. General Manager Rick Cubbage felt the Ice Hawks had a good chance of doing well in their championship debut. “Anything can happen in the tournament,” he said. “These teams are closely matched - more so than when we first started the season. It makes it interesting, makes it a lot of fun.” Saturday’s game proved much more fun for Mill Creek than Walton as the Ice Hawks blanked the Raiders 8-0. Mill Creek scored early and often in the rout of fifth ranked Walton. Jordan Senecal scored first for Mill Creek less than a minute into the game. Mario Guttuso was credited with the assist. Later in the period, Sean Lautzenhsier picked up an unassisted goal to make the score 2-0. A little over a minute later, Greg LaChance scored with an assist from George Bryant to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead after the first period of play. Walton played better defensively during the first part of the second period, but quickly fell apart as the Ice Hawks went on another three goal scoring run. Chase Little scored first with an assist from Nathan Norowski. Lautzenhsier scored his sec ond goal of the night six minutes later with an assist from Jordan Caton. With less than a min ute remaining in the second period, Senecal also scored his second goal of the night, once again assisted by Guttuso. In the third period, the Ice Hawks added insult to injury as they scored twice more. Little became the third Ice Hawk to score twice during the game as his goal gave Mill Creek a 7-0 lead. Lautzenhsier made the assist. With just over a minute left in the game, Caleb Rainey scored Mill Creek’s last goal of the night with an assist from LaChance for a final score of 8 "°- See HOCKEY on page 3B Baseball JCCHS baseball down, not out BY JUSTIN POOLE Jackson Co. Comprehensive High School has not had a stroke of luck on the diamond. The past three games have all been losses for the entrenched team, but the Panthers are looking to the upcoming games for wins. On Wednesday, March 19, they face Heritage, then on Friday the team plays Eastside. The next home game is March 24 against Winder-Barrow. “It’s been a tough stretch of games. Rockdale and Habersham were beat able and we just didn’t execute in certain phases of the game,” said coach Tommy Fountain. “Against Habersham, we didn’t hit the ball as well as we should have against the quality of pitching we were fac ing. On Friday, against Rockdale, our defense failed us early and then we forgot how to hit after the third inning. On Monday, we played great for three and a half innings against a very good ball club, but then fell apart.” Currently Jackson County is 1-6 in the region and 2-7 overall. HABERSHAM The Panthers faced Habersham, March 12 in Mt. Airy. This was the team’s third game in as many days. Habersham was able to edge out Jackson County with a 7-4 win. Matt Bolt pitched for the Panthers in his first career start and only gave up two runs in the first three innings. While the Raiders were first on the board in the second inning, and scor ing another run in the third, Jackson County responded with a run in the fourth. According to Fountain, Bolt hit some trouble in the bottom of the fourth, allowing five hits. Habersham scored five runs in the fourth and that was the last time they scored during the game. In the top of the fifth the Panthers were looking for a comeback after scoring three runs, and in the sev enth had loaded the bases. Jackson County just could not bring the run ners in despite a great attempt. ROCKDALE Last Friday’s game against Rockdale County had the Panthers suffering another costly five-run inning. Rockdale took advantage of a couple of errors to get ahead early then clinched the game after Jackson County tied the score in the third. Rockdale beat JCCHS 9-4. Trevor Booth pitched the game for the Panthers and had 13 strikeouts, but also four errors. The Panthers scored their four runs in the first three innings on four hits. Bolt made his first home run of the season, but according to Fountain, the Panthers were struggling when it came time to put the ball in play when they needed it. See JCCHS on page 2B TOP HAWK Mill Creek’s Bailey Dodge prepares for a previous match. Dodge won the number one singles matches for Mill Creek against North Gwinnett and Collins Hill this past week. Girls'Tennis Lady Hawks top ranked team in region 7-AAAAA BY KRISTI REED With wins this past week against region opponents North Gwinnett, Collins Hill and North Forsyth, Mill Creek (12-1,6-0) has shown why it is currently the top ranked team in region 7-AAAAA. Mill Creek head coach Tim Schroer said his team’s goal is to finish as one of the top teams in the region. “This is the best girls’ program we have put together,” he said. “This year we have taken a giant step for ward. It’s been good.” The Lady Hawks hope to con tinue their region winning streak on Thursday as they travel to Norcross. Matches begin at 3:30 p.m. GOOD WEEK After beginning the week with a shutout of region opponent Peachtree Ridge, the Lady Hawks continued to dominate in 7-AAAAA play with a 3-2 victory against North Gwinnett. The Lady Hawks swept the sin gles matches, but gave up two points to the Lady Bulldogs in doubles competition. Bailey Dodge led the Lady Hawks with a win in the No. 1 singles match. Kristy Yau won the No. 2 singles win with Nela Handac claiming victory in the No. 3 slot. Mill Creek picked up another region win on Thursday against Collins Hill. The Lady Hawks out- scored the Eagles 4-1, sweeping the singles matches and winning the No. 1 doubles match. Dodge, Kristy Yau and Handac won in singles with Stacy Mottesheard and Michelle Yau combining for the doubles win. On Monday, the Lady Hawks shut out North Forsyth, winning 5-0. Mottesheard led Mill Creek with a win in the No. 1 singles slot. Kristy Yau and Michelle Yau picked up wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. Anna Clayton and Nela Handac were the winning team in the No. 1 doubles match with Becky Pavlichek and Taylor Dodge winning the No. 2 doubles. BRIGHT FUTURE Schroer said the Lady Hawks are getting a lot of leadership from the younger players in the program. “They’re providing a really solid foundation for what we hope will be a good little run over the next few years,” he said. “They work their tails off every day in practice, they do everything we ask them to do.” Schroer said his players are tough, smart and fun to coach. “All up and down the lineup, they’ve been very solid this year,” he said. “We’re getting some pretty good leadership out of our number one singles player (Bailey Dodge),” he added. “She’s been very solid in the lineup.” Schroer also praised Stacy Mottesheard and Michelle Yau for their efforts this season as the fre quent number two and three singles players. “Those two also combine to make a pretty good doubles tandem.” He said. Schroer said the chemistry between Mottesheard and Yau is very good as is the chemis try between Kristy Yau and Nela Handac, who also play two and three singles or number one doubles. “We’re getting closer to solidify ing that number two doubles spot,” Schroer said. “We’ve got some good performances out of one of our freshman and sophomores. We’re also trying to get one of our seniors in there and get some leadership from her.” We’re just trying to take it one day at a time and one match at a time, Schroer said. “That might sound generic, but I think it is a good motto for our pro gram to follow right now as young See TENNIS on page 2B
