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Page 4B
Thursday, March 4, 2021
The Upson Beacon
No HOF
Banquet
This Year
By Jim Fowler
Since 2005 the Thomaston-Upson
Sports Hall of Fame has held an annual
induction banquet at which the yearly
class was introduced and inducted into
the HOF. Yep, on either the last Sat
urday evening of February or the first
Saturday evening of March we have
held our banquet. We have enjoyed 16
of those affairs but there will not be an
induction banquet this year because of
concerns over the COVID-19 virus.
The HOF board of directors felt that
people may be hesitant to attend such
a banquet since we are still dealing
with fears and doubts related to the co-
ronavirus. I feel that the decision was
the correct one, but I am very sad
dened that we will not be able to gather
at the Thomaston-Upson Civic Center
on this upcoming March 6 Saturday
night. It is always a wonderful and edu
cational event.
The HOF board did decide to go for
ward with selecting a HOF Class of
2021, although that group of four
people will have to wait to be inducted
when we hopefully meet for our 2022
induction banquet. There will also be a
Class of 2022 inducted at that time so
the evening will be full of fun and ex
citement.
The Class of 2021 is made up of four
outstanding nominees who will add
even more class to our organization. I’ll
give a short resume of each of the in
ductees so that you can understand
why they have been honored.
Tracy Caldwell was an outstanding
basketball player at Upson High School
where he graduated in 1985. He was
the team co-captain and an all-region
player while at Upson and received a
scholarship to Gordon Junior College.
While at Gordon he was selected as
Best Defensive Player and received a
scholarship to LaGrange College. At
LaGrange he received several honors
including the team’s 1989 Most Valu
able Player award and inclusion on the
NAIA District 25 All-Conference team.
He also served as the head basketball
coach at Upson-Lee High School for 10
seasons.
Steven DeVoursney is a 1990 gradu
ate of R.E. Lee Institute where he was
a starter on the 1988 Rebel AA State
Championship football team. He was
named MVP of the 1989 Lee squad and
also played baseball at Lee. He has
been the head football coach at Griffin
and Cairo High Schools for the past 16
seasons and won the AAAA State
Championship at Griffin in 2014 with
a perfect 15-0 record. His teams have
won five region championships and he
has a career record of 161-50.
Ben Lowe is a 1998 graduate of
Upson-Lee High School where he was
a three-year starter in football. He was
named first team All-Region 4AAAA in
1997. He was also named first team
AAAA All-State by the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution and the Associated Press
in 1997. He then received a football
scholarship to the University of Geor
gia, where he was a two-year letter-
man.
Stan Robinson has served local high
schools as an athletic trainer for sev
eral years. He has also been a trainer at
the 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2002
Winter Olympics, the 2000 U.S. Figure
Skating Championships, the 2012 Jun
ior College Baseball World Series, and
1995 World Cup Soccer, among nu
merous other national events. Robin
son’s contributions have been vital to
the health of local and area athletes for
decades.
So that’s our 2020 HOF class. I think
that it’s a good one. We look forward to
their induction in March 2022. Go
ahead and plan to be there!
Region Player of the Year, Milique Smith, attacks the basket.
Upson lee Falls to Windsor-Forest,
Eliminated from State Playoffs
By Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
The Upson Lee Knights trav
eled to the Savannah area to face
the highly touted Windsor-For
est basketball team. Going into
the game, Windsor-Forest was
ranked as the third-best team in
AAA. They feature a juggernaut
lineup that includes D’ante Bass,
who impresses college scouts
with his 6’7” 180-pound frame.
Upson Lee came into this com
petition as heavy underdogs
after blowing up in the region
tournament and plummeting in
the rankings.
The battle of the Knights
leaned toward the favorites
throughout the first half as
Windsor-Forest led Upson Lee
31-16 at halftime. Then UL
pieced together a rally to try and
save the season. Upson Lee out-
scored Windsor-Forest 21-9 in
the third quarter to bring the
deficit to only three points.
In the fourth quarter, Upson
Lee was unable to claw much
closer. Both teams traded blows
as the difference in the score re
mained the same. Upson Lee ul
timately could not get over the
hump, and they fell at the hands
of Windsor-Forest.
Jykevious Searcy and Mil
ique Smith both put up 12 points
in their final game as Upson Lee
Knights. Marcus Slaton, TJ
Searcy, and Wanya Johnson
added six points apiece.
This season ended the
Knights’ five-year streak of re
gion titles and it marks the first
time since 2016 that they did not
advance to the Sweet 16.
In 2016, Travon Walker’s
and Zyrice Scott’s freshman sea
sons and Ty Fagan’s sophomore
season, the Knights lost to New
Hampstead. Things only grew
from there as the Knights would
go undefeated the following sea
son and begin a stretch that
brought two state champion
ships.
The difference this year is
that Upson Lee will graduate
nine seniors. Seven of those
players were regular contrib
utors. However, the sophomore
class of Nemo Scott, Kemarrion
Alston, Jaden Weems, TJ
Searcy, and Joshua Atwater
showed a lot of promise. The
middle school team that was
loaded with eighth graders did
not lose a game this season. Tal
ent is on the way, but a lot will
change at Upson Lee.
A first-round loss is an unfa
miliar sight for Knights fans, but
it does not mean the end of the
world. Upson Lee was intro
duced to a very strong region
this season and that will only
push the program to be even
better.
The Knights finished 16-8 in
Coach Owen’s second year as the
headman. Next season will bring
a different-looking team to the
court and, as the sun sets on this
season, the next one will rise
with a new light.
Franklin Shines for lady Knights,
Boys Earn First Win of the Season
Sophomore Bryan Hernandez lines up afoul kick.
By Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
Upson Lee soccer hosted
Jones County last Tuesday for
the first home soccer games of
the season. The boys came out
with a 2-1 victory while the girls
dropped their contest. Late in
the week, they began region
play with Peach County. A big
week from Bree Franklin helped
the girls split their contests.
The girls' game was a shoot
out from the start. Franklin
scored the first goal to respond
to Jones County’s early score.
From there, Jones County put a
lot of distance between them
selves and the Knights. Late in
the second half, Franklin scored
again, but the Lady Knights
were in too deep of a hole. They
fell 7-2.
Franklin stayed hot as the
Lady Knights rolled into Fort
Valley to start region play with
Peach County. The Lady
Knights made a few adjust
ments on defense and only al
lowed two shots on goal from
Peach County. Upson Lee went
on to shut out the Lady Trojans
7-0. Franklin cashed in a hat
trick, and Isabela Velasco and
Ashley Garcia scored two goals
apiece. The Lady Knights are
now 3-2 early in the season.
Coming into the competi
tion the Knights were 0-2 from
two losses in the Jaguar Cup.
The Knights were still looking
for an earned win. Through the
first half, the score was all
knotted up. The Knights had
multiple close chances in the
final minutes of the first half, in
cluding a penalty kick, but they
were unable to break through.
To begin the second half, the
Knights wasted no time and
jumped ahead. Pasley Thomp
son assisted Candler Stinch-
comb for the first goal of the
game. With 21 minutes to play
in regulation, Jones County tied
the game, but post-scoring an
tics brought on what would be
come a sea of yellow cards for
the Greyhounds. Two minutes
later, Thompson set Luke
Hawkins up for a clear shot that
Hawkins netted.
Jones County was unable to
respond and the Knights held
on to win 2-1. The win was a
much needed one for the
Knights’ confidence after a dis
appointing Jaguar Cup.
Hawkins spoke on the goal:
“The goal was very important to
me and I do think that we have
a boost of confidence for our fu
ture games.”
When the Knights traveled
to Peach County, they were un
able to stay hot. The Knights
were shut out for the second
time this season in the 6-0 loss.
Upson Lee is 1-3 after the sec
ond full week of play.
Lady Knights,
Continued from Front
Knights started to turn the ball
over and a few players found
themselves in early foul trou
ble.
Morgan County was not
going to go down without a
fight. The Lady Bulldogs
closed the gap to 31-22 at half
time, thanks in part to Upson
Lee scoring only seven points
in the second quarter.
Both sides were playing
sloppy basketball in the third
quarter, but the Lady Knights
found their way back into a
groove. Morgan County had
an opportunity to pull within
six points, but missed two
open layups.
Upson Lee responded with
two three pointers from
Geiger and Montgomery and
stretched its lead to 13. From
there, the top-ranked Lady
Knights never looked back. A
nine-point fourth quarter for
Jakera Ellerbee helped Upson
Lee advance with a 67-38
final.
Ellerbee led offensively
with 17 points, Geiger finished
with 15, Montgomery posted
12, and Ja’Khia Parker added
10 of her own. Ellerbee’s 17
points helped her pass Felicia
Wells as the all-time leading
scorer at Upson Lee.
“It’s an amazing feeling.
Something that I always
dreamed of,” Ellerbee said of
the scoring record. “I’m very
thankful for it.”
Geiger proved to be the
catalyst for the Lady Knights
with her hot start and relent
less defense. All season, the
beauty of this team is how any
one of the first six players to
take the floor is able to have a
game-winning performance
on any given night.