About The Jenkins County times. (Millen, Ga.) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2023)
thejenkinscountytimes.com The Jenkins County Times Friday, May 19, 2023- Page 9 Under the Bleachers Spring sports have either finished or will be finishing in the days ahead. Graduation is right around the comer. Believe it or not, the Jenkins County War Eagles football team will be on the practice field in less than four weeks. In less than three months, we will be talking about football Friday night and cheering on “the boys of fall.” Next week, I will unveil the football schedule, and then the week after that the softball schedule. One sport will end, and the other is quickly around the comer. The NBA playoffs are fully underway. The final four teams remain, and they include Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat, and Los Angeles Lakers. If the Lakers and the Celtics were to meet in the championship game, it might have a “throwback” feel to the days when the two teams would meet and greats like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had to faceoff. I cannot promise the games would be as good as those classics, but if you like basketball it would be fun to watch a seven-game series between the two. Just a few weeks ago the Jenkins County Times reported on the good success of Bill Knight who is playing for the low-A Mariners affiliate the Modesto Nuts. Knight has had a tremendous start to the young season; however, he had a setback with an injury to his hand. Hopefully, Knight will only be sidelined for a short time and will quickly start working his way back towards the “Big Show” and live what is no doubt a dream to play in Major League Baseball. The Atlanta Braves have had their share of bad luck in recent days. Two of their starting pitchers, Max Fried and Kyle Wright went down with long-term injuries. Wright had over twenty wins last season and Fried was considered a top candidate for the Cy Young Award this season. In addition to their long-term injuries, the Braves have suffered many injuries in the early season, yet they are still regrouping each week to hold one of the best records in baseball. Yet, it was the comments by the Braves manager, Brian Snitker that stuck with me the most. Amid a press conference after a very difficult three-game losing streak, Snitker could have played on the emotions of having injured players, bad losses, and other circumstances. Snitker’s response was, “No one feels sorry for us.” He was speaking specifically about the Braves’ opponents. In sports, our opponents do not feel bad when losing streaks occur. While opponents would never wish injuries on someone, they will use injuries and bad days to take advantage and win! This is athletics, but it should not be like this in life. Romans 12:15 says, “Weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice.” This is the call of the local church. When life falls apart, we hold up the broken together. When life is full of rejoicing, people should gather to rejoice. We are not called to “feel sorry” for another, but we are expected to crawl out from under the bleachers and uphold our brothers and our sisters. And, even if that person is an enemy of ours, we are called to do good to our enemies and even pray for them. We do not learn our tactics from the field of play, under the bleachers, or even on the bleachers; we learn our ways through the Scripture either read or spoken to us. May we look more like Jesus than a baseball player; may we show more grace than our favorite team. To those in Christ, we belong to His kingdom! Comes to a Close Just as fast as the season began this year, the season was quickly over. With teams playing 9-11 games through the month of April and the first days of May, it has been a busy 2 months of practices and games. Trophies were presented, at the end of the final games. For some of these players in machine pitch and live pitch, there will be another month of play as All-Star teams were picked concluding the final game. Kids chosen for All-stars will play teams from around surrounding counties, they will participate in tournaments, and then in the first of June, they will play in the district tournament with the hope to play for the state championship. If you have pictures of the JCRD teams or if you have pictures once All-star games begin email me at pastorbradasbury@gmail.com. The 8U team sponsored by Lighthouse Lawncare prepares to take the field. The team gathered for a pep talk from the coach. Photo submitted. One of the t-ball teams discusses strategy as the opposing team comes up to bat. Or, they may be seeing who has the best shoes or discussing the snack at the end of the game. Whatever the occasion, they were having fun. Photo Submitted A player gets down to make the play at first base. Photo Submitted. Around the Region The GHSA State Playoffs are still going on as play has entered the Final Four. From the War Eagles region, there are still two teams that remain. Both ECI and McIntosh County Academy are seeking a berth in the state championship game. To have two out of the four teams from the same region in the final four says much about the competition in Region 3 in baseball. ECI played a doubleheader on Tuesday, May 16 th . At the time of writing, only the results for game one were available. In game one, ECI defeated Schley County 6-2. To get to the final four, ECI has defeated Hawkinsville, Lanier County, and Towns County. ECI has not lost a game in the playoffs, remained undefeated through regional play, and only lost a total of eight games this season. McIntosh County Academy lost their first game of a doubleheader by a score of 11-1 against Charlton County. To get to the final four, MCA defeated Wheeler County in two games, it took three games to defeat Seminole County, and three games to take out Bowdon. The 10U Champions was the team sponsored by Front Street Fitness. Photo Submitted The GHSA State Track and Field meet took place the during the week of May 8 th . The meet was held in Columbus, GA at Kinnett Stadium. The Jenkins County War Eagles were part of more than forty teams competing for the medals in the near twenty events that were offered. The War Eagles boys’ track team finished in 8 th place out of all teams in the state tournament! Individually, both the boys’ and girls’ teams finished exceptionally well. JT Moye, a sophomore at Jenkins County finished as runner-up in the 300M run and he finished in 3rd place in the 110M hurdles, and he was part of the 3rd place finish relay team of Javarius Gilmore, Gemarion Newton, and Marion Young. The 4x200 Relay team of Rob Coney, Christian WAR BRAD ASBURY By Brad Asbury, Sports Editor for 'l l 11 : Times pastorbradasbury@gmail.com JCHS Track and Field Wins Big at State JCRD Season BRINSON Aqmcty, Inc,. Rr i 'j* lVK * ! -*rc+* (g) 478-401" (W95 513 Cotton Ave Mtllen, Go Sharm Brinson Kctylo Shu mem 0 Auto Insurance Life Insurance ex Cornmerciai ^ insurance & Title Bonds S? Home Insurance 0 Health insurance gj Medicare Supplements 0 AFLAC Products ® www-brinsoninsurance,net Junior Nevaeh Campbell took 6th place in the 100M dash. This was one of two medals that Campbell won. Photo Submitted. Wilson, Marion Young, and Calvin Adams also finished as Runner-Up in the state meet. McIntosh County Academy finished less than one second faster to capture the championship. Other winners on the boys’ side included Christian Wilson who was 7th in the Triple Jump. The girls’ team finished with some hardware of their own at the state meet. Junior Nevaeh Campbell was the big winner of the day, medaling in three events. She was 4 th place in the 200M dash, 6th place in the 100M dash, and teamed up with Katari Badie, Alaya Scott, and Ladaeshia Williams for an 8th place finish in the 4x400 race. Katari Badie got a second medal on the day when she finished 7th place in the state 400M dash. The War Eagles team features mostly freshmen, sophomores, and juniors and will look forward to big days ahead next season! Congratulations to Coach Hil Johnson and his team for outstanding performance on the state level. War Eagles’ track and field teams are part of the overall success of the War Eagles athletics during the 2022/2023 school year. As the school year comes to a close, we will recap all the great moments in War Eagles sports over the past year as we look forward to the new school year ahead.
