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Wednesday,
March 27,2013
Tribune & Qeorgian
Sports
A fun drive
Camden House golf tournament at Osprey Cove
is huge success.
see10B
B Section
System
seeking
Herron
successor
Committee
aims to ‘restock’
candidate pool
Andy Diffenderfer
sports@tribune-georgian.com
A little more than a month after
Wildcat head football coach Jeff Her
ron announced he was leaving, Cam
den County Schools, as of Monday,
remained looking for his successor.
After four top candidates backed
out of the running, Camden County
High athletic director Gary Blount
said last Thursday the search com
mittee, of which he is a member, ad
vocated to system superintendent
Will Hardin to expand the applica
tion process.
“Every one of them, the program
attracted them,” Blount said, but
other factors made the fit unwork
able.
The position
opened after
Herron accepted
a coaching job in
February at
Prince Avenue
Christian in
Bogart, near
Athens.
The commit
tee is reviewing current applicants
and inviting more to throw their hats
into the ring, hoping to “restock the
pool” and increase chances of locat
ing the best individual for the job.
“It’s not as simple as the coach lik
ing us and us liking the coach,”
Blount said. “We have to make it fit.”
Hardin said he understood any
anxiety about getting the position
filled but added he doesn’t want to
forgo diligence for expediency in en
dorsing a candidate. Board members,
he added, expect the new Wildcat
gridiron leader to play a respected
role in both the Camden school sys
tem and community for a long time.
“They want to be diligent about
this task and ensure they’re getting
See COACH, page 2B
f
Herron
Andy Diffenderfer | Tribune & Georgian
Abby Slattery scored on a penalty kick in Camden’s
3-1 win over Colquitt last Friday.
CCHS splits soccer
twinbill with Colquitt
Andy Diffenderfer
sports@tribune-georgian.com
A soccer split with visiting Colquitt last
Friday night included the Camden girls’
second Region 1-AAAAAA victory of the
year.
After the Colquitt girls scored first,
Camden scored three unanswered — in
cluding two from the penalty spot — for
a 3-1 triumph. Shelby McCaskill scored
two goals and Abby Slattery another for
the winners.
The teams went to halftime scoreless,
but the Fady Packers grabbed the lead
just six minutes into the second half.
Midway through, McCaskill was taken
down in the box and converted a penalty
kick to tie, and about 10 minutes later,
she latched onto a Haley Feistner free
kick and finished from just a few yards
away for what became the clincher.
Slattery added some insurance about
seven minutes later, netting a penalty
shot after being fouled in the box.
Camden, 6-5-1 overall and 2-1 in re
gion matches, outshot Colquitt, 23-3.
In the boys match, regulation time and
overtime couldn’t separate the rivals but
penalty kicks turned a back-and-forth af
fair in the Packers’ direction. Colquitt
doubled up Camden, 2-1 after doubling
the hosts up in the penalty-kick
tiebreaker, 4-2.
Camden slipped to 6-4-1 overall and
1-2 in the league.
The Packers broke the ice with about
20 minutes left in the match, a score
equaled about 10 minutes later by Grant
Gabriel, who took Donnie Anderson’s
right-side cross and found the net from
about eight yards away with the right
foot. Two five-minute overtime periods
went scoreless before Colquitt survived
in the shootout despite makes from
Gabriel and Joe York.
The Wildcats outshot the visitors, 15-
9, and keeper Jared Warner made six
saves. Camden travels to Tift on Friday
for league matches.
JV Wildcats win runaways
The junior varsity boys (9-1-0) ex
ploded after the intermission last Thurs
day against Ware, turning a skinny 1-0
halftime edge into a 6-1 trouncing.
Dylan Merry supplied two goals and an
assist, Brandon Storey a goal and two
helpers, and George Frazier and Josh
McRae goals.
Frazier’s score on a corner kick —
about 2 5 minutes in — put CCHS up at
the break, and within 12 minutes of sec
ond-half play, the Wildcats had hiked the
See GOALS, page 2B
Camden nine stumbles in doubleheader loss
Andy Diffenderfer
sports@tribune-georgian.com
More good pitching
couldn’t make up for an
offensive power outage
last Friday as the Camden
County High baseball
Wildcats dropped a Re
gion 1-AAAAAA twinbill
to visiting Coffee.
Camden didn’t dent the
scoreboard after the fifth
inning of a 4-2, nine-in
ning loss in Game 1, and
was no-hit 3-0 in the
nightcap as the Trojans’
Andrew Fender struck out
14, including eight of the
last nine batters.
Camden dropped to 5-
6 overall and 1-3 in the
region, while Coffee im
proved to 9-5 overall and
4-2 in league action.
Andy Diffenderfer | Tribune & Georgian
Chandler Cross slides into third base in the Wildcats’ twinbill Friday.
“As far as region play
goes, this is tough, but
we’ve still got five weeks
to go,” Wildcat head
coach Jay Fasley said.
“Question is for our kids,
how are we going to an
swer back from this?”
The chances were there
in the opener, but the
’Cats stranded 15
baserunners, 14 of them
in the first six innings. In
the nightcap, the righty
Fender walked three but
only let two balls out of
the infield, and finished
with a flourish by striking
out the side in the fifth
and sixth and adding two
more punchouts in the
seventh.
Coffee only had three
hits in Game 2, as Cam
den starter Michael
Sailors struck out eight
and reliever Zach Rader
another five. The Trojans
filled the bases with no
outs in the fourth and
were one out away from
letting the golden oppor
tunity slip before an error
and a Keegan McGovern
hit brought home the
game’s only runs. Fender
didn’t allow another
baserunner the rest of the
way.
For the winners, San-
tory Fong, Russ Fender
and Matt Strobe scored
runs and Fandon Hen
derson and Chan Hughes
hit safely.
In Game 1, Camden’s
Cody Ilgenfritz walked
and scored in the third,
and Sailors came home on
a two-out Demitri Sauls-
See BASES, page 2B
Florida Gulf Coast, LaSalle busting brackets everywhere
Brackets busted yet?
In full disclosure, I filled
out 10 NCAA basketball
draw sheets, though for pur
poses of columns, I count
just one. My lead bracket has
long since passed “busted”
status, the only saving grace
being that three of my Final
Four picks — Michigan
State, Kansas and Indiana —
are still breathing.
My counting bracket has
eight of the last 16 correct —
a consistently mediocre two
in each region — and the
others range from a disgrace
ful five to a less-than-scintil-
lating high of 10.
Sad, indeed. But that’s life
predicting a competition that
prides itself on the Fittle
Guys getting a chance — and
making the most of them —
to knock off the Big Guys in
front of millions of viewers.
This year’s Cinderellas
have become Florida Gulf
Coast and FaSalle — and
their 15 and 13 seedings —
and with Oregon, a 12 th
seed, still around in the Mid
west, three No. 12 seeds or
lower have advanced to the
Sweet 16.
But while many talk about
the party crashers, the truth
is that in three of the four re
gions, at least three of the
top four-seeded teams are
still alive. Three No. 1, three
No. 2 and three No. 3 seeds
are still kicking.
Only half of my 10 draw
Andy Diffenderfer
Sports Editor
sheets had FaSalle even ad
vancing past a play-in game,
and now the Explorers have
a date with Wichita State,
which upended top-seeded
Gonzaga — or Gone-zaga as
I’ve read elsewhere. None of
my Terrible 10 had New
Mexico — my Final Four
pick — losing to Harvard or
East No. 2 Georgetown los
ing to Florida Gulf Coast.
Go big on an upset in your
brackets, and you may come
out looking like genius — or
at least a younger, more se
date version of Dick Vitale.
Of course the flipside is your
upset special losing by 30,
and you looking like a total
idiot.
Such was the case for me
in the South draw with
fourth-seeded Michigan, a
team for which some were
forecasting an early exit. I
thought No. 13 South
Dakota State was just the
team to provide it — but the
Wolverines won, 71-56 and
then went on to bash a pop
ular pick, fifth-seeded VCU,
78-53.
No. 11 Belmont over No.
6 Arizona in the West was
another of my upset picks
gone sour, the traditional
western power winning by
17 and then roasting Har
vard, 74-51 in the next
round.
In the Midwest, identify
ing itself as the strongest of
the four, familiar Fouisville,
Michigan State and Duke
still remain and Oregon joins
them after burying Okla
homa State, 68-55 and an
other of my failed Sweet 16
picks, St. Fouis, 74-57.
Seeds 1-4 in the East —
Indiana, Syracuse, Mar
quette and Miami — are still
around, but a few points the
other way and we could be
looking at Temple, Califor
nia, Butler and Illinois in
stead. Marquette has walked
the skinniest tightrope, beat
ing Davidson by one and
Butler by two.
Kansas, Michigan and
Florida — the lone SEC
school left — are among the
South survivors, joined by
Florida Gulf Coast, the first
No. 15 seed in tournament
history to reach the Sweet
16. The Eagles proved their
78-68 shocker over George-
See BRACKET, page 2B
Bunny Hop 5K will be Saturday in St. Marys
Justin’s Miracle Field is hosting its
fourth annual Bunny Hop 5K race/walk
and 1 -mile fun run on Saturday, March
30, in downtown St. Marys. Pre-regis
tration is $20. Race day sign-up will be
from 6:30-7:30 a.m. at St. Marys United
Methodist Church on Conyers Street.
Visit www.camdenmiracleleague.com or
emailjeff@camdenmiracleleague.com
for a registration form.
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