Newspaper Page Text
Page 12 - Wednesday, October 12, 2022
The Sylvania Times
thesy lvaniatimes .com
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1944: A MOST UNUSUAL SEASON
(Part 2) PART XIX
Burton Kemp
Sports Editor
Standing at 3-0 including
their win over Boys
Catholic, SHS defeated
Statesboro 33-0 on October
27, Glennville 14-7 on
Thursday, November 2 14-
7, and then Claxton 26-13
on November 10. Gilbert
Daley, Hoot Brinson,
and Wink Thompson
each scored multiple
touchdowns in the wins.
At that point their two
biggest district games
were coming up - Vidalia
on Thursday, November
16 and Swainsboro
on Thanksgiving day,
Thursday, November 23.
Swainsboro, just as
the Gamecocks, was
undefeated in district play
and Vidalia had lost only
to Swainsboro. At 6-0 little
did anyone know that the
high flying Roosters had
won their last game of the
season and they would
play but once more.
The morning of the
scheduled game with
Vidalia, Principal/
Superintendent Howard
Peek received a telegram
from the GHSA as the
team prepared to leave for
Vidalia. The content of
the telegram was that the
eligibility of four players
- Gilbert Daley, Tommy
Odom, Hoot Brinson, and
Lindy Sheppard - had been
challenged. Sylvania had
the right to appeal the
decision and Peek said
the school would when
the letter of explanation
was received. The origin
of the complaint was not
explained in the telegram.
Worried about later
complications should
the players be actually
declared ineligible, the
four players were held out
of the key district clash
in Vidalia. The Indians
won 25-6. The following
week Swainsboro refused
to play the scheduled
Thanksgiving contest if
the quartet played and
Sylvania would not play
without them. An appeal
had been filed by Peek,
“but action by the High
School Association could
not be taken in time to
clear the eligibility of the
players in time for the
game.” The harsh reality
was that the season for the
Gamecocks was over.
There were no District
playoffs in 1944 but
Swainsboro finished
undefeated in district play
and owned a 38-0 win
over Vidalia. The Tigers
were declared the District
Champions.
It was reported that in
the Vidalia game Claude
Bazemore suffered a
fractured vertebra and
was still confined to the
hospital in Augusta. It was
later learned that the injury
was not as serious as first
believed.
The epilogue to the
eligibility question was,
“All of the players have
been declared eligible with
the exception of Odom
according to information
from the High School
Association. Odom was
ruled ineligible because he
attended G.M.A. (Georgia
Military College of today)
a few months last year
(1943). Regulations specify
that a student transferring
from a boarding school to
a public school must be in
residence 12 months before
being eligible to participate
in high school activities.”
Odom had not met the 12
month requirement and the
Gamecocks were forced to
forfeit all of their wins save
the forfeit awarded over
Claxton.
A banquet was held for
the team on December 12
with 23 players attending.
Included in the story was,
“at a later date...a trophy
will be presented to the
captain of the team.” In the
trophy case at SCHS today
is a large trophy that reads
1944 Champions.
Regulars while healthy
for the 1944 season were
ends Lindy Sheppard and
Daniel Howard, tackles
Charles Pryor and Donald
Sheppard, guards Billy
Harrison and Carlton
Weaver, and center Tommy
Odom. The backs were
Joe Martin at quarterback.
Hoot Brinson and Wink
Thompson at halfback, and
Gilbert Daley at fullback.
Others were Mike Kelly,
Frank Zeagler, Chaude
Bazemore, T. W. Rhodes,
Edgar Lariscy, Aaron
Morris, Fenton Powell,
Raymond Wells, Charles
Herrington, Billy Bennett,
and Lovett Bennett.
SEVEN WEEKS INTO THE
1992 STATE SOFTBALL TITLE
Thirty years ago, in 1992, Screven County High School won its first state
championship of any sort when the softball Lady Gamecocks of Head Coach Dawn
Bloodworth defeated Washington County 3-2 on October 24. The Final Four that
year was played, all in one day, at the Al Bishop Complex in Marietta. The Times is
chronicling the week by week progress of the team. This is week seven of the Times
coverage and covers the state playoff games on Wednesday, October 14
After falling in the first game of the best of three region championship series
with Vidalia before winning the second and third games to claim the Region
3AA championship (their third in four years), the Lady Gamecocks (18-2) hosted
Region lAA champion Early County (11-4) at the Pine Street Field on Wednesday,
October 14. The matchup was a two of three format. As only the region champion
from the eight regions went to state, the winner of the series at Pine Street was to
advance to the state Final Four in Marietta.
The suspense of the Vidalia series was not present against the Lady Bobcats as
the Red and White never trailed in either game though both games of the best of
three series were tight.
Game one saw SCHS score single runs in the first, second, and fourth innings
to claim an amazing 3-0 win. A shut out in slow pitch softball was a very unusual
thing. Brandy Bragg, Tasha Albright, and Cynthia Beasley scored the runs with
Kiki Mobley getting three hits while Bragg, Beth Thames, and Albright recorded
two each. Early managed just six hits and got but one runner past second.
Game two saw SCHS as the visitors and score four in the third and two more in
the fourth; more than Early recorded on the day in the 8-4 finale. Amazingly the
Lady Gamecocks had but seven hits to score the eight runs while 13 hits in the first
game produced but three runs.
Albright was the only member of the Red and White to get at least two hits. She
and Octavia Zeigler scored two runs each. Thames pitched both games.
With the wins the Lady Gamecocks qualified for state finals along with the
champions of 2AA in Brantley County, 6AA in Washington County, and 7AA in
Haralson County. That tournament was not until October 24.
Please join us Friday night as we celebrate our 70th Homecoming at Kelley
Memorial Stadium. 7:30 pm. The band will be featured and will include the
Clarinets and Flutes section of the Gamecock Marching Band. L to R: Akima
Jones, Savannah Bacon, Natalyah Johnson, LynGenia Atkins, Ashlee Siegesmund,
Claire Smith, Teairra Wadley.
Screven County Recreation Dept
Adult Volleyball Leagues
The Screven County Recreation Department will be offering Adult Volleyball (Co-ed,
Men’s, & Women’s Leagues) for the Fall 2022. The deadline to enter a team and pay team
entry fees will be Friday, October 21. To participate in the adult volleyball leagues players
must have turned 17 by September 1, 2022. Players must also sign a player contract with
their team manager. The team entry fee for any league will be $ 180/team. Games will be
held in the SCRD gym starting the first week of November. There will be practice time
available prior to the leagues starting up. Anyone interested in signing up a team must
come by the SCRD office to get a team packet and pay the league entry fee by October
21. League winning teams will receive “Champion” t-shirts.
"Mutt" Lariscy, Wytch
Stubbs, Roland Stubbs,
Burton Kemp, Donnie
Sheppard, Hyland Black,
Billy Scott, and Frank
Zeigler. In the backfield
were Neil Swaney, Claude
Bazemore, Dupont Smith,
and Glendal Mixson (Yes
there are 12 players in the picture). Behind the players are Assistant Coach Forrest Howard (L) and Head Coach
Jack Lyons. Thompson Funeral Home can be seen in the background.
On this day at practice
the lineup for the 1946
Sylvania High Gamecocks
included linemen Milton
SOFTBALL TOPPLES JOHNSON COUNTY,
FALLS TO BURKE
Lady Gamecock seniors Shay Sasser, Emma Jones, Jada
Pinckney, and Kimberly Cochran smile behind the sign put up in
their honor (photo by Christie Kemp)
Putting up a three spot
in the third the SCHS Lady
Gamecock softball team of
Jim Randall Doyle made
the runs stand up in a 4-2
win over visiting Johnson
County on Senior Night on
the Screven County High
School campus Monday,
October 3. Two days later
the Red and White let a chance for another win slip away in a 9-7 loss to
AAAA Burke County in Waynesboro. Standing at 9-13 the team hosts AAAA
SEB at 5:00 this afternoon and will go to AAAA Harlem tomorrow afternoon.
State playoffs begin for the Region 3 runners-up on Tuesday, October 18 in
Cochran at the home of the Region 2 champion Bleckley County. SCHS will
play the Region 4 third seeded Crawford County. The other team that will
be participating in the double elimination regional is Region 1 fourth seed
Brooks County.
With seniors Kimberly Cochran, Emma Jones, Jada Pinckney, and Shay
Sasser honored before contest, the Lady Gamecocks started slowly but did just enough to win on Monday.
Behind the one hit, complete game performance of sophomore Lauren McMillan (6-4, 3.04) the visiting Lady
Trojans were able to push across only a pair of unearned
runs. In both innings that saw JCHS score, there were two
SCHS errors. The home team picked up three in their half of
the third as they trailed 1-0. Cheyenne Heath, Julia Dews,
and Alyssa Harper had consecutive singles with Harper’s
plating Heath. Dews and Harper scored when Sasser
reached on an error.
SCHS got an insurance run in the fifth when Harper reached
on an error, ventually scoring on Sasser’s sac fly to center.
The Red and White managed six hits, no one with more than
one.
After home games always comes the task of
raking any holes out of the infield. Sophomore
Julia Dews and Maddison Mitchell prepare to
do their share of the post game manicuring.
Dews is also holding part of the leftovers from
the pregame meal (photo by Ginny Atchley)
Prior to last week's Johnson County game the Lady Gamecock
seniors were honored. Here are the coaches and seniors: Coach
Christie Kemp, Kimberly Cochran, Emma Jones, Coach Jim
Randall Doyle, Jada Pinckney, Shay Sasser, Coach GeeGee
Beasley (photo by Ginny Atchley)
Hoping to gain momentum down the stretch, the Lady
Gamecocks traveled to
Waynesboro on Wednesday to face the Lady Bears, a team
they normally handle. In five wins over the three previous
seasons SCHS
has outscored
BCHS by an
average margin of 12-2. Not so on Wednesday. After taking a 3-0
lead in the second and leading 3-1 with two outs and no one on
base in the bottom of the fourth, the Red and White imploded,
allowing eight runs to score before the final out of the inning was
recorded. They came back with four in the fifth to
move within 9-7, but only six batters went to the plate in the
final two at bats. SCHS left the bases loaded three times in the
first four innings. Tamia Pierce (3-8, 2.85) went the distance,
allowing a single earned run. Harper and Maddison Mitchell had
two hits each while Dews had two rbi.
Catcher Shay Sasser awaits the throw from Ashley Stanley
(hidden from view) as Johnson County's Karlee Powell begins
her slide into home. Tamia Pierce (7) backs up. Powell was
tagged out (photo by Ginny Athcley)
