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PAGE 2B BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020 Sports continued from 1B Seven seniors played their final game for the Knights, including Peevy, a four-year starter who scored all 11 of his points in the first half, 9 of them in the opening quarter. Matthew Binns had a strong second-half performance, scoring 14 points to finish with a team-high 16. Jacob Adams and Laine Jean Francois tallied 5 points apiece, while Eliel Saint Louis and Andrew Richey each finished with 4. CORONAVIRUS BRINGS END TO SPRING SPORTS SEASON The coronavirus pandem ic has affected virtually every high school sports team in the county in some form or fashion this year, but nothing has been as crashing as the cancellation of all games for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year halfway through halfway through the spring sports sea son. The cancellation deprived dozens of seniors a full final year in uniform and the oppor tunity to compete in the post season one final time. On March 13, in what turned out to be the final local contest of the spring sports contest, the Apalachee boys’ soccer team edged out rival Winder-Barrow 2-1 at home on the strength of a 70th-minute goal by Jorge Ba- zan, moving ahead of the Bull- doggs into first place in the Re gion 8-AAAAAA standings. A pair of Apalachee seniors teamed up for the winning goal as Nestor Perla broke away down the right side and crossed the ball over to Bazan, who knocked it past Bulldogg goalkeeper Caylan Barron with 10:31 remaining for the eventual match-winner. After surviving a strong and aggressive counter-attack by the Wildcats struck first on a goal by freshman Jared Rome ro with 1:04 left before the halftime buzzer. The Bulldoggs tied the match with 25:40 remaining when a long free kick from about 50 yards out by Osvaldo Juarez tipped off the hands of Apalachee senior keeper Ronal Galindo and into the net. But Galindo atoned for the mis take, coming up with several big stops down the stretch, including a spectacular out stretched save off a line-drive kick with just over two minutes left to preserve the victory. The cancellation of the re mainder of the season by the GHSA, which came a few weeks later in April when Gov. Brian Kemp ordered the state’s public schools closed for the remainder of the academic year, deprived both teams of playoff runs. The senior-heavy Apalachee girls were also de nied another playoff appear ance, as were the Winder-Bar row and Apalachee baseball teams. Several track and field athletes were also expected to compete for state medals. The virus’ impact has con tinued to be felt throughout the fall and winter sports seasons with teams and individual ath letes having to quarantine. The Barrow County School System also canceled the fall sports season at the middle school level. FOOTBALL COACH, AD CHANGE AT BCA Right as the pandemic was hitting the state and the area, Bethlehem Christian Acade my was dealing with another change as athletic director and head football coach Gus Felder resigned in March after just under a year with the school to take an assistant strength and conditioning coaching position with the NFL’s Carolina Pan thers. Felder, a former All-Ameri can offensive lineman at Penn State, spent a year with the Cleveland Browns before be Considering ((TM*R) )) buying or selling? 770-867-9026 www.maynardrealty.com Submitted photo The Winder-Barrow boys’ cross country team won the Region 8-AAAAAA champion ship meet Oct. 24 in Winder. Photo by Ben Munro Apalachee senior pitcher Emily Hodnett had a strong season in helping lead the Wildcats to a 28-8 finish and the GHSA Class 5A Final Four. ginning his coaching career, which has included several high school and collegiate stops, including stints as direc tor of strength and condition ing under Mark Richt at Miami from 2016-2018 and assistant strength coach under Richt at Georgia from 2014-2015. He was hired by BCA in April 2019 as the school’s head foot ball coach and AD following the dismissal of Lance Fendley from those duties two months prior. The rebuilding Knights straggled on the gridiron in Felder’s only season at the helm, going 1-10. After a three-month search, in June the school hired veteran coach Brace Lane to take over the football program and Tim Early to become the new AD. WINDER-BARROW’S HOUSE SELECTED TO NATIONAL SHOWCASE Winder-Barrow senior in- fielder/pitcher Brady House, a Tennessee signee and high ly-ranked national class of 2021 prospect who has been projected as a first-round MLB Draft selection, was selected to compete in the 18th annual Perfect Game All-American Classic, which was held Sept. 4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ball park in Oklahoma City. House got off to a torrid start during his junior campaign in 2020 before it was halted half way through due to the corona- virus pandemic. He hit .653 in 15 games with a .734 on-base percentage, eye-popping 1.816 OPS, four homers, five dou bles, three triples, 20 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 10 attempts out of the leadoff spot in the batting order. House, who served primar ily as the team’s closer last spring, was also dominant on the mound, finishing with a 0.88 ERA and 16 strikeouts in just eight innings of work be fore the remainder of the sea son was canceled. BULLDOGGS PREVAIL IN ANNUAL BATTLE OF BARROW After a two-week delay to the start of the high school football season and the can cellation of preseason scrim mages, rivals Winder-Barrow and Apalachee returned to the gridiron Sept. 4 for the 17th annual “Battle of Barrow,’’ and the Bulldoggs claimed a 34- 27 victory at R. Harold Harri son Stadium for their second straight win in the rivalry. Senior running back J.C. Green scored his fourth touch down of the night on a 61-yard run with 5:05 remaining, and the Bulldoggs held off a last- ditch effort to improve to 10-7 in the all-time series. Green ran for 184 yards on just 17 carries to lead the Bulldoggs. WINDER-BARROW’S DUDLEY GETS 200TH CAREER WIN Omarious Smith intercepted an Antonio Meeks pass with 18 seconds left, and Winder-Bar row held off Shiloh 35-28 for a key Region 8-AAAAAA win on Oct. 23 and gave Ed Dud ley his 200th career victory as a head coach. Dudley, in his third season at Winder-Barrow and 27th over all, became the 62nd coach in Georgia high school football history to reach 200 wins. WBHS BOYS’CROSS COUNTRY TEAM WINS REGION TITLE The Winder-Barrow boys’ cross country team got four top-10 finishes to win the Re gion 8-AAAAAA champion ship meet on their home course between Russell Middle and Winder elementary schools on Oct. 24. Junior Brian Gaddy paced the Bulldoggs with a fifth-place finish (16:52.30), crossing the line just ahead of senior team mate Ryan Kehoe (16:52.90). Junior Christopher Parada-Ru- bio came in seventh place (16:56.90), and sophomore Daniel Laird finished 10th (17:35.80). Sophomore Kyle Kehoe came in 16th (18:10.20) to help give the Bulldoggs a team score of 37, well ahead of second-place Dacula (68). All five of those runners, along with junior Noah Boyd and senior Jacques De la Reza rep resented Winder-Barrow and finished 11th as a team in the Class 6A state meet at Carroll ton High School on Nov. 6. Also, Winder-Barrow soph omore Matilee Rogers finished second in the region meet (20:43.80) and registered a top- 20 finish at the state meet. AHS VOLLEYBALL REACHES ELITE EIGHT Apalachee’s volleyball team reached its second Elite Eight under Joey Alfonso before dropping a 3-0 decision to Whitewater at home in the state quarterfinals on Oct. 27. Apalachee had to reload after losing some key seniors off the 2019 team, but still had seven seniors play their final match in a Wildcat uniform. Senior outside hitter Emily Crocker finished the season with 597 kills, cementing her place as one of the top players in program history. AHS SOFTBALL MAKES FINAL FOUR Strong pitching from senior all-stater and Georgia State signee Emily Hodnett and solid hitting up and down the lineup led the Apalachee soft- ball team to a historic season that saw the Wildcats finish 28-8 and reach the Class 5A Final Four before losing a pair of one-run games to Whitewa ter and Starr’s Mill in Colum bus on Oct. 30. The Wildcats’ heart-stop- ping playoff run included a walk-off three-run homer by sophomore catcher Sam Woody that capped a sec ond-round sweep of Calhoun. Apalachee reached the Final Four by sweeping Northgate in the quarterfinals with a pair of 1-0 victories. Sophomore shortstop Tiyara Wingfield supplied both runs in that se ries with a sixth-inning homer in Game 1 and an RBI single in the fourth inning of Game 2. The Wildcats reached the Final Four with a team that still consisted mostly of un derclassmen and is set to re turn six starters in 2021. WINDER-BARROW’S MERRIFIELD SIGNS WITH FLORIDAATLANTIC Winder-Barrow senior de fensive end Jacob Merrifield put together another strong season in 2020 and was named the Region 8-AAAAAA De fensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-3. 275-pound, 3-star recruit committed to Florida Atlantic over the sum mer and signed with the Owls on Dec. 19 on the first day of the NCAA’s early-signing period. Merrifield graduated early from Winder-Barrow and will enroll early at Florida Atlantic in January. December 30, 2020 ~ Crossword Puzzle Across Down 1. Specialist 1. Plunk 4. Terminates 2. Lion’s cry 8. Performance 3. Cheery one 12. Cut off 4. Proved human 13. Chess piece 5. 6. Negative responses Two, to Juan 14. Melody 7. Patrol or instructor 15. Meal starter 8. Hi-fi 16. Dwelling 9. Large lump 18. Fixes the cost of 10. A single time 20. Bothered 11. Gardener’s nemesis 21. Rabid 17. Part of DJ 22. Military station 19. Unscrupulous fellow 24. Raring to go 22. Lures 26. Confronts boldly 23. Certain pilot 30. Sibling 24. Volcanic dust 31. Hasten 25. By way of 27. Yelled 32. Passing grade 28. Ball holder 33. Small ax 29. Do needlework 36. Witch’s concoction 31. Garment edge 37. Radio buffs 34. Cheddar or Swiss, e.g. 38. Neckline shape 35. Fastening device 39. French edibles 36. Beseech 42. Stogies 38. Floor covering 45. Wedding bash 39. Forehead 48. overboard! 40. Accomplish again 49. Poetic tributes 41. Cake decorator 42. Advance 50. Land force 43. Storm 51. Freudian topic 44. Stuffed shirt 52. Eroded 46. Sticky roofing 53. Film spool material 54. Society gal 47. Hot temper 1 2 3 12 15 18 21 24 25 30 33 39 40 41 r 5 6 H r r 17 8 9 10 11 14 45 49 52 Average Monthly Cost For: Cable TV Subscription $55 Cell Phone $65 Internet Service $55 Electricity $130 Automobile Fuel $160 Health Insurance $245 Subscription to this NEWSPAPER s 3.75 . For just $45 per year (or just over $3.75 per month) you can get a lull year’s subscription to the BARROW NEWS- j JOURNAL. That’s 52 full issues and also includes access to j our e-edition online. Sometimes you get what you pay for - and ■. sometimes, you get much more. Subscribe Online at barrownewsjournal.com