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Page 12 - Wednesday, November 2, 2022
The Sylvania Times
thesy lvaniatimes .com
GAMECOCKS TO METTER THURSDAY FOR REGION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHUP
Unbeaten, unranked, and apparently unrespected, the Screven County High
School Gamecocks of Head Coach Ron Duncan will travel to Metter tomorrow,
Thursday, November 3 to face the ninth ranked and apparently very much
respected Metter Tigers. At stake will be the Region Championship crown of Class
A Region 3 Di. The Red and White will be looking for their first region title since
2017 when they were 4AA champions while the Orange and Black will be looking
for a fourth consecutive region title. Kickoff for the showdown is at 7:00.
While SCHS will come into the contest at 8-0, the Tigers will come in with a
very deceptive 6-3 worksheet. Losses for MHS have come to Class AA number
six ranked Pierce County (currently 8-1), Class A Di number two Swainsboro
(currently 9-0), and Class A Di number four ranked Irwin County (currently 7-1).
They also have a strong nonregion win over Dublin who plays Swainsboro for the
Class A Region 2 Di championship Friday night. In
reaching their three region wins they have outscored Bryan County, Savannah
High, and Claxton by a 123-0 margin while SCHS has an 85-6 margin of victory
over the same trio of teams.
The respect that pollsters afford Metter is well earned. In the past two seasons
they have reached the Class A semifinals before losing to the eventual state
champion (Irwin County in 2020 and Brooks County in 2021). Also in each season
they have reached the semis with 13-0 records. In those seasons they own 37-0
and 41-0 victories over the Gamecocks. Their closest game in the regular season
a year ago was 32-20 over Swainsboro (who went to the AA semifinals). They had
no close games in the regular season of 2020. In 2019 the team won the 2AA title
and was ousted in the quarterfinals finishing at 11-2. Their first playoff win in 2019
was a very, very hard fought 27-19 win over the visiting Region 4AA fourth seeded
Gamecocks.
Metter will run the Wing-T and they will run it well. The Dirty Bird defense and
coaching staff have seen plenty of this alignment over the past weeks, but not with
the precision of this one. Everyone in the backfield is a senior and most have been
playing regularly for at least three years. Quarterback Trey Hall starts everything
and his four backs for three positions are Kaliq Jordan (6-0, 210), Antwan Coney
(5-9, 232), CJ Donaldson (6-3, 215), and Christian Washington (5-9,190).
Defensively the Tigers normally employ a four man front and their linebackers,
also all seniors, race to the ball.
This will be 14 th meeting between the two schools dating back to the first game
ever played by the consolidated (except for Newington) Screven County High
School. That was a 7-6 SCHS victory on September 9,1950. Overall the Gamecocks
lead the series 8-5 but the Tigers have won the last three, the last two by those
lopsided margins.
In setting the stage for the first round of the playoffs next week both SCHS and
Metter will be at home. The winner of this contest will host the loser of the Temple
v. Crawford County contest in Roberta on Friday. The loser of the SCHS v. Metter
game will host the winner of the Temple v. Crawford County game. Currently the
first round of the Class A Di playoffs is scheduled for November 11. Elsewhere in
the two regions Bryan County will host Claxton and Heard County will host Lamar
County. Both Heard and Lamar will host their first round state playoff contest with
the winner of the contest getting the loser of the Bryan v. Claxton game and the
loser getting the winner of Bryan County v. Claxton game.
Quarterback Jake
Pollock (14) has
helped lead the
Gamecocks from
the offensive side as
the team stands at
8-0 and prepares to
play for the region
championship
tomorrow evening
(photo by PJ
Richards)
Freshman Andre
Michaud (8) with
552 yards rushing on
the season will tty to
help the Gamecocks
win their first region
championship since
2017 this Thursday
in Metter (photo by
PJ Richards)
In a combined stunt on top are Camdyn Forehand and Peyton Lee (photo by Dana Doss)
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CHEERLEADERS HEAD
TO OLA HIGH SCHOOL
SATURDAYFOR
SECTIONALS
Their last regular season competition done in Swainsboro’s “Rumble in
the Jungle” last Saturday, the Screven County High School Lady Gamecock
competitive cheerleaders of Cindy LeMaster will head to Ola High School in
McDonough this Saturday for what the GHSA calls the state “regionals”. The
squad finished their schedule with their second best performance, score wise,
of the season in gaining a fifth place finish from among the eight participating
schools in Swainsboro.
Because so few Class A schools in either Di or D2 field (only nine in all of
D2) a competitive cheer squad, the GHSA does not have region competition
for Class A the way all classes from AA and above do. Instead the organization
combines A Di and A D2 (28 total schools) and, new this year, will separate
the participants into four “areas” with each area having a champion and a
runner-up. This is the same way that wrestling is handled and for the same
reason. All areas will be at Ola Saturday. According to a GHSA memo, “After
6:00 that same day (November 5), the GHSA website will post the top 16
scoring teams in Class A that will advance to the finals in Macon”. The state
finals for Class A are Saturday, November 12, beginning at 10:00 am in the
Macon Centreplex and area champions are not guaranteed a trip there.
SCHS was assigned to Area 2 and it will include ECI, Metter, Johnson
County, Schley County, and Mitchell County. The latter squad is the only one
the Lady Gamecocks have not competed against this season. In various meets
SCHS is 2-0 v. ECI, 2-1 v. Metter, 2-1 v. Johnson County, 0-1 against Schley
County.
Final scores in the competition Saturday showed Swainsboro winning with
a score of 97 followed by Bleckley County (80), Bacon County (78.5), Metter
(78), SCHS (65), ECI (64), Johnson County (62.5), and Dublin (51). The
schools participating included six of the same eight as in the Battle in the
Boro on October 22 with the top five schools being the same ones in the same
order save for the reversal of the SCHS and Metter order. Metter’s score of 78
was 10.5 points better than its Statesboro score while SCHS went from 69.5 to
65-
Saturday while the Red and White had their best score of the year in the
category of standing/running tumbling (16.5), their score in jumps/cheer/
dance/ORC (overall routine composition) fell from 29 (far and away their best
of the season) in Statesboro to 22.5 Saturday. While their score would still
have fallen behind Metter, Saturday was, far and away, the Lady Tigers best of
the season. For the SCHS sake, hopefully that was an anomaly. In that jumps/
cheer/dance/ORC category the squad fell the most in the execution part of
the grading. On the other hand the squad’s improvement in the two tumbling
scores was easily in the execution category.
Farm Bureau Player of the Week is Andre’ Michaud. #8
Andre’ is a freshman at Screven County High School.
He was the first to score in the Gamecocks 34-6 win over
Claxton High. Michaud has rushed for over 552 yards on
the season. Michaud and the Screven County Gamecocks
will be going to play Metter , Thursday, Nov. 3rd to play
for the region Championship for class Aregion 3. Andre’
rushed for over 180 yards and scored two touchdowns.
His is the first 100 yard rusher of the season!! Way to go
Andre’!
FARM
BUREAU
INSURANCE
Always the
Home Team
Scrcvcn County | Chris Marl-in
