Newspaper Page Text
T. Michael
Stone
Sports Editor
Is GSU's
football
team best
in state?
Football combines the
two worst things about
America: It is violence
punctuated by committee
meetings
George F. Will
T. Michael Stone/Staff
From left, Salina Fortune works the post; Tyra Smith dribbles along the baseline; Sydney Nash sets up for shot near the basket; Alexis"Pumpkin"
Brown drives to the basket; Tatyana Davis goes in for a layup.
Lady Dogs whip defending champs x 2
After my alma mater
waxed the Georgia
Southern Eagles at the
Poultry Bowl in Stinkboro
last week, the Georgia
State Panthers become
bowl eligible for the first
time in school history.
Our guys will play San
Jose State in the Cure
Bowl.
Most of the world could
care less, I suppose, but
that game is far more
important to me than
Oklahoma versus Clemson
or Michigan State versus
Alabama.
Quite frankly, I don’t
care who wins the national
championship anymore.
It’s always the same
teams and same announc
ers and the same sponsors.
Blah, blah, blah.
But change is-a-com-
ing, brothers and sisters.
Change is-a-coming.
Alabama and Oklahoma
won’t always be contend
ers.
Back in 1895 the big
four was Harvard, Yale,
Princeton and Penn. They
had won every “national
championship” in the early
days of college football
until Lafayette College in
Pennsylvania upset the
apple cart that year by
tying Princeton 0-0 in the
second game of the season
and finishing the season
with an 11-0-1 record.
They were named co
champs along with Princ
eton, which finished 8-2.
Later Yale was added to list
of champs when they went
16-0, beating Princeton
24-0. See, this national
championship business has
never made much sense.
Scheduling was quite
different in those days,
though. The Leopards
played and defeated West
Virginia three times . . .
on three consecutive days:
Oct. 15-17.
In 1901, Michigan
joined Harvard and Yale
as co-champs. Minnesota
got in on the act in 1904,
and LSU made its first ap
pearance in 1908.
By 1914, the Ivy League
SEE GSU » C6
T. Michael Stone
michael@lakeoconeenews.us
The weary travelers didn’t look
so weary upon their return to the
Morgan County High School gym,
did they?
After dispatching Laney (the de
fending AAA champions) 78-69 in
Augusta on Friday night, the Lady
Bulldogs returned to Madison and
gave the home crowd a thrilling
53-46 win over another basketball
heavy weight, the Buford Lady
Wolves the reigning AAAA cham
pions.
‘We worked hard all week in
practice for this,” Morgan County
varsity head coach Joshua Reeves
said. ‘We tried to prepare for both
teams at the same time because we
knew we had to go back-to-back
with them. The girls did every last
thing I asked them to do. “
Both wins are impressive, but the
Buford win might be even sweeter
for Reeves as it demonstrated that
Lady Bulldogs are rounding into
the team they’ll need to be when
post season arrives.
“Tonight our conditioning was
really important, “ Reeves said. “I
told them the second half of this
game is going to be the hard half,
because that’s when the soreness
is going to kick in; that’s when
the tiredness is going to kick in.
We got home late (following the
Laney game on the road) and came
right back here. We came back
in that third quarter and didn’t
score a point, but we only gave
up 10 points. It feels good to beat
both of them, but it feels better to
know we prepared for them. The
girls reacted perfectly. They hit the
shots they were supposed to hit,
and they ran the defenses they were
supposed to run.”
The Buford game was a genuine
barn-burner from start to finish
with the Lady Bulldogs taking the
lead and the Lady Wolves chipping
away at it the entire game.
Nash gave the Lady Bulldogs
an early lead with a 3-pointer, but
Buford’s Chandler Hall matched it
to tie the score.
SEE LADY DOGS » C2
MORGAN COUNTY
T. Michael Stone/Staff
Top, Jermaine Alexander
prepares to take a shot
under the rim; bottom,
Emmanuel Little drives to
the hoop.
Dogs keep wolves at bay
T. Michael Stone
Michael@lakeoconeenews.us
The Morgan County
Bulldogs came within a
point of whipping unde
feated Laney on the road
Friday night and then
turned around and beat a
tough Buford squad 57-48
Saturday afternoon in
front of the home crowd in
Madison.
“It’s tough when you go
against two programs that
traditionally are very good
and two coaches who are
able to get the most out
of their players,” Morgan
County head coach Jamond
Sims said. “So we have to
make sure the kids and the
coaching staff are all on
the same page and ready to
accept the challenge.”
According to Sims, the
Buford Wolves came out in
a triangle and two defense
in an effort to neutralize
Morgan County standouts
Jailyn Ingram and Devori-
ous Brown.
But the Bulldogs have
many weapons once again
this year.
Jordan Ford took ad
vantage of the ploy and
dropped 10 points on the
Wolves in the first period.
The first score was a
3-pointer from the baseline
followed by a relatively un
contested layup. Then Ford
hit another 3-pointer.
Emmanuel Little
followed with another trey
and Morgan County had
jumped out to an 11-3 lead
that they would not relin
quish.
That’s not to say the
Wolves went away to howl
in the corner.
After a stick back by Sahil
Patel and a 3-pointer by
Will Springer, the Wolves
had cut the lead to 16-12.
Ingram hit a sweet
fadeaway jumper to get
Morgan back up by 6,
but Patel proved danger
ous under the basket and
stuck in another score off a
rebound to cut the lead to 4.
Early in the second
period, D. J. Fisher drained
a 3-pointer, but Alex Jones
answered with a 3-pointer
for Buford.
Ford got the crowd excited
with a dunk and Alec
Woodard hit a 3-pointer
to get the Bulldogs back on
top by 7 again at the half.
The Bulldogs ran a couple
of plays to Jermaine Alex
ander at the outset of the
second half, and he scored
on both.
A little later Brown
hit a shot from beyond
the 3-point arc that put
Morgan up by 12 points,
but Will Springer answered
with a trey of his own.
Ingram hit a jump shot,
and Springer answered
with a jumper from the
baseline.
The Wolves were
stubborn, but the Bulldogs
kept them at bay, heading
into the fourth period with
a 42-31 lead.
Ingram hit a 3-pointer
from the wing to give
Morgan County a 45-32
lead, and Ford made a
runner in the lane to make
it 47-33 with Buford’s 2
points coming on foul
shots.
However, Buford kept
after it and cut the lead to
49-42 with 2:30 left.
The Wolves got no closer
than that, though.
And when Brown
slammed home Morgan
County’s final bucket of
the game and gave the
Bulldogs a 57-46 lead, the
crowd went nuts.
That’s what they came to
see.
Ford lead the Bulldogs
with a game high 23
points, while Ingram had
9 and Fisher had 8. Brown
and Little each scored 5.
Alexander finished with 4
points.
Patel led the Wolves with
22 points, most of them
under the basket. Springer
added 8 and Jones 6.
The Bulldogs had lost to
undefeated Laney 65-64
on the previous night in
Augusta.
The Bulldogs lost both
regular season games to
Laney last year only to beat
the Wildcats in the state
semi-final.
The region schedule got
underway this week on the
road against East Jackson.
T. Michael Stone/Staff
Top, Jailyn Ingram takes
a jumper from the wing;
bottom, Jordan Ford takes
a short jumper in the lane.
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