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The Upson Beacon
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Page 5B
Tennis Has Perfect Week, Girls Find Their Second Doubles
Photo by Jacob Stewart
Zaria Childs and Paige Neal have played solid in the first doubles
spot while second doubles shuffled around.
By Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
Upson Lee tennis is on a
roll and is looking like a true
region championship threat
on both the boys’ and girls’
sides.
The boys and girls went 3-
o on the week with wins over
St. George’s, Americus-Sum-
ter, and Central-Macon.
Coach Tim Bosworth’s boys’
squad did not lose an individ
ual match all week. The
Knights are now 6-2 and a
perfect 4-0 in the region. The
Lady Knights improved to 3-
4 overall and 2-1 in region
play.
Coach Krista Bosworth has
been searching for a consis
tent second doubles team that
she could lean on day in and
day out. Through the first
seven matches, she has rolled
out four different combos on
the second doubles court, but
after Molly Greer and Ansley
Weed grabbed a 2-0 win over
Central-Macon, she believes
she has found her fit. Bos
worth told The Upson Bea
con, “It took a while to find
the right combination of skill
and communication on the
court. (Greer and Weed) is a
solid combo... it is set in
stone.”
Greer spoke of the fit: “I
have had the opportunity to
play with several talented
players. However, I think that
me and Ansley make a great
team! We complement each
other’s strengths and weak
nesses. I am positive that we
will dominate the courts for
the remainder of the season!”
Weed told The Upson
Beacon, “Molly and I learned
each other’s strengths and
weaknesses which helped us
communicate better...” Con
sistency in that spot will help
the Lady Knights get into a
groove and continue to im
prove.
Both coaches have talked
about their beliefs in the
team's ability to challenge for
the region title this season.
Bosworth sent her girls’ team
the following message last
week: “As I reflect on this
week’s matches, I can say
without a doubt I am coach
ing the best team of girls I
have ever had!”
She went on to mention
that she has never coached a
team that won all three sin
gles matches or swept a
match and the girls checked
both of those boxes last week.
The boys are flat out dom
inating the region competi
tion early on. The singles trio
of John Hernandez, Silas
Laughman, and Tanner Wil
son have not dropped a re
gion match so far. First
doubles of Jed Weatherford
and Grayson Shepherd have
yet to lose in the region and
Cutter Bowen and Sawyer
Wilson have a stout 2-1
record.
Upson Lee will host a jug
gernaut LaGrange program
this Monday before facing
Mary Persons and getting a
first look at Peach County.
Jones Stands Out as High-Powered
ULMS Knights Keep Rolling
The sky's the limit for left handed pitcher Trey Jones. Photo by Jacob Stewart
Pasley Thompson points upfield to pass to a teammate. Photo by Jacob Stewart
Six Goals for Velasco Leads UL
Soccer to a Successful Week
By Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
The middle school Dia
mond Knights picked up
two wins last week and are
hitting the cover off the ball.
A 15-6 victory over Bryon
and a 13-6 win over ACE
proved that there are plenty
of young sluggers at the
middle school.
The Knights fell into a 4-
o hole after a rough first in
ning against Byron, but the
deficit did not last long.
Extra base hits from Jaden
Wise and Trace Peaden
helped the Knights pull
within one. Trey Webb’s
start on the mound was
ended after just one inning,
but Wise came in to pitch
3.1 strong innings while the
Knights’ bats got hot.
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Three more runs in the
second, four in the fourth,
and five in the fifth helped
the Knights advance with a
win. Peaden went three-for-
three with two triples and
two runs batted in. Trey
Jones stole three bases
while also going two-for-
four with two runs batted
in.
Jones has turned a lot of
heads with his bat, but most
recently he has taken the
ball on the mound and
looks like a serious problem
for batters. Jones is throw
ing in the low 80s and is
just learning to grip a four-
seam fastball. It is not often
that such a raw arm is dis
covered.
Jones struck out nine
batters in his first three in
nings of work on the
mound. The 6-1, 215-pound
eighth grader has an elec
tric arm that batters at his
level are not going to be
able to touch, and if they do,
it will not be very solid con
tact.
Jones started the game
against ACE and was im
pressive with his plus fast
ball. He picked up more
strikeouts and induced a lot
of weak contacts. Of course,
an arm so high-powered at
this young of an age is
prone to control issues, but
with more work, he can de
velop to be a very high-level
pitcher.
Behind Jones’s start, the
Knights continued to pro
duce a lot of extra-base hits
and they trampled ACE
with a 13-6 victory. The
Knights are 5-1 and looking
like a favorite to win the re
gion.
By Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
Upson Lee High School
soccer played two Macon
area schools last week: Cen
tral-Macon and the Academy
for Classical Education
(ACE). Both the boys and the
girls defeated Central-Macon
and the girls tied with ACE
while the boys fell.
The boys won an over
time thriller over Central-
Macon for their first region
win of the season. Pasley
Thompson stole the show by
scoring both Knights’ goals
in the 2-1 win. The first goal
was assisted by Fisher Mc
Daniel to help the Knights
push the game into overtime.
Within the first two minutes
of the extended period, a
shot hit the crossbar and
Thompson got his header to
go in for the go-ahead score.
Thompson spoke with
The Upson Beacon: “Scoring
both of those goals has moti
vated me to continue scoring
and setting my teammates
up for goals.”
Coming into the season
as one of the few seniors on
the team, Thompson has had
a leadership role. The role is
new for him since for most of
his career he played under
the class of 2019 that loaded
the roster and made two
deep playoff runs. He talked
about how his role has
evolved: “I feel like it’s my re
sponsibility to make the
team motivated and continue
to play together and move
forward in our region.”
The Knights dropped the
non-region game with ACE
by a score of 8-0 and are 2-6
overall.
The girls had their way
with the Lady Chargers of
Central-Macon. Five goals
from Isabela Velasco helped
the Lady Knights rout Cen
tral 10-0. Ashley Garcia
added two goals, Bree Frank
lin, Tatum Michael, and
Emma Kate Peoples all
added one score as well. Ve
lasco recently scored five
goals in an indoor soccer
game and said that is what
pushed her to be so aggres
sive in Macon.
Upson Lee is now 2-1 in
the region.
Upson Lee jumped out to
a lead with two goals in the
first half against ACE. Garcia
scored within the first 10 mi
nutes, and then a minute and
a half later, Velasco scored
off of a free-kick. However,
the early scores were all the
Lady Knights could get going
and ACE tied the game with
a score in each half. The non
region game did not go into
overtime or penalty kicks, so
the Lady Knights left with
their first tie of the season.
The Lady Knights are
now 4-3-1 and 2-1 in region
play. Upson Lee will play
host to Griffin and Crisp
County. The game against
Crisp County will be played
this Friday night and it will
be senior night.
McDowell Earns 10th Degree Black Belt
Billy D. McDowell reached
the level of 10th Degree Black
Belt—Grand Master on Feb.
27, 2021. He has fulfilled the
requirements established by
Grand Master Charles Dixon,
chief authority of the system
Shinjimasu ISKA. McDow
ell’s love for the pure martial
arts has achieved the award
certificates of Chinese Goju-
Ryu, Shaolin Goju, Shinji
masu Karate-Do Association,
five times USA Martial Arts
Hall of Fame and ninth de
gree in the style ofTang-Soo-
do. He is the master
instructor at Billy D Fitness
Karate Center at 106 North
Green Street in Thomaston.
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