Newspaper Page Text
Sports
Wednesday, February 27, 1985
Greg
Little
Sports Editor
Dogs * wrestlers
deserve support
Rodney Dangerfield has nothing on
the sport of high school wrestling. No
matter what either one does, they just
don’t get no respect.
Forsyth County wrestling Coach
Richie Taylor likens his sport to the
red-headed stepchild nobody wants.
And maybe he has good reason.
During a 1984-85 campaign that has
the future prospects of the Bulldogs’
program burning brighter than ever,
Taylor and his wrestlers at times had
to wonder just who was taking notice.
First off, wrestling the high
school and college version, not the
prostituted pro style is tradition
ally not a sport that attracts huge
throngs of spectators. Even at
schools with such established pro
grams as Berkmar and Norcross, a
“good” crowd wouldn’t rate with an
average gate at a basketball game.
So maybe the smattering of par
ents, friends and former wrestlers
that usually compose Forsyth’s
cheering section should not be that
disheartening. Still, after the recent
thrill and excitement of the Class
AAAA State Wrestling Tournament
at Stone Mountain, one has to wonder
why wrestling doesn’t catch on.
The championship round matches
were wrestled before an overflow
crowd, as might be expected of a
tournament whose victors will be
recognized as the class of the state.
Electricity charged throughout the
gymnasium with the emergence of
the finalists to “We Are the Cham
pions,” and a rousing, appreciative
standing ovation.
The night was filled with tales of
heartwarming successes for a dozen
wrestlers and heartbreaking defeats
for 12 others. The championship
round provided a 12-match rol
lercoaster ride full of screams and
dreams, thrills and chills.
It started when Redan’s Jeff Be
dard and Wheeler’s Jeff Vasquez,
both freshmen, squared off for a nail
biting battle in the 98-lb. class, contin
ued as brothers Bobby and Richard
Demeritt led Wheeler to an upset of
Berkmar with titles in their respec
tive classes, and may have reached a
peak as Towers’ Jay Thompson and
Central Gwinnett’s Sean Page waged
a non-stop, see-saw battle that went
undecided until the former escaped
with a narrow OT decision.
And Forsyth was not without its
own story of triumph in the state
competition, as senior Mike Slaton
overcame illness and a quarterfinals
defeat at the hands of eventual 167-lb.
runner-up Tony Butler, of SW Macon,
to become the Bulldogs first ever
state medalist.
Slaton’s feat capped an eventful
year for the Bulldogs, whose future
looks bright despite the fact that they
lose their top three wrestlers in Sla
ton, Heath Williams and Mitchell
Elzey.
The season was highlighted by a
pair of tournament championships
for Slaton and a breakeven 8-8 mark
in team competition for the Bulldogs.
And maybe most importantly, by the
establishment of a seventh and eighth
grade wrestling team occurred de
spite a mysterious absence of funds
for the project.
After taking note of the methods of
the more successful high school pro
grams in his first year as wrestling
coach in 1983-84, Taylor planned to
used the SSOO supplement supposedly
alloted to each of the county’s junior
high schools for a wrestling program,
to create a combined seventh and
eighth grade squad.
But Taylor was told the money had
already been funneled into other
areas and was no longer available for
the wrestling program.
Discouraged but still determined
Taylor, along with Otwell Coach Gary
Burrell, nevertheless initiated the
younger squad into existence, despite
the fact that transportation problems
resulted in the team consisting solely
of Otwell wrestlers.
Neither coach received any com
pensation for the additional work,
which resulted in marked progress by
the younger wrestlers, seen by the
fact that several seventh and eighth
graders advanced to the junior var
sity squad by the end of the season.
The progress is further shown by
the fact that a North Hall JV squad
that crushed the Bulldogs early in the
season found itself on the short end of
a 35-29 tally a few weeks later.
Wrestling, like any other sport,
requires early training to develop
r-hampionship caliber skills. But un
like the sports of basketball, football
and baseball/softball, there are no
youth leagues in which to enroll
would-be high school standouts, so
the role of the junior high teams
become even more vital.
The future success of the Bulldogs’
varsity wrestling program is directly
related to the continuation of the
younger teams that could serve as an
ongoing feeder system to the elder
program.
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Junior Toby Smith belts out a hit during Bulldogs’ recent preseason practice session
GRPS district tourneys
tip off Thursday at FCHS
The Cumming Recreation and Park De
partment will host a pair of Georgia Recre
ation and Park Society (GRPS) 7th District
basketball tournaments this weekend.
Titlists from the local Men’s Church Bas
ketball and Ladies Open Basketball Leagues
will compete in the district tournaments, set
to be played at Forsyth County High School.
Concord Baptist will represent Forsyth in
the district church league competition and
will play its first tournament game Friday at
8.30 p.m. Concord will begin play in the 10-
team tournament with a game against the
winner of Thursday’s opening round matchup
between Gainesville and Winder I.
Tournament semi-finals are set for 6 p.m.
and 7 p.m. Saturday, with the championship
game slated for 9 p.m.
Dairy Queen will face the Atlanta area
titlist Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the opening round
of the four-team District Ladies Open Basket
ball Tournament. Dairy Queen was originally
scheduled to play at 6:30 p.m., but complica
tions arose with the Atlanta team’s ability to
play at that time, so the time was changed.
The tournament’s championship game will
be played Saturday at 8 p.m.
Rec softball organizes
The Forsyth County Parks and Recreation
Department has planned church softball
leagues for men and women this spring and
summer, as well as industrial league compe
tition for men.
An organizational meeting for the church
leagues was held Tuesday, and those who are
interested in playing but were unable to
attend should contact the recreation depart
ment (887-5701) as soon as possible.
Leave a name and telephone number (day
/night), the name of the church represented
and a mailing address. Information about the
leagues can be mailed or picked up at the
*# |
Jackson demonstrates proper throwing form to Bulldogs’ quarterback candidates
Spring sports teams vault into action
Forsyth County News
Sports Digest
recreation department office.
Information about industrial league play
will be in the mail to all local industries and
should be received by March 1.
Any industry not receiving information and
is interested in entering a team should con
tact the recreation department. At the pre
sent time, only a men’s league is planned, but
if enough interest is shown, a women’s league
may be offered as well.
JV baseball tryouts set
All eighth and ninth grade athletes inter
ested in trying out for the Forsyth County
Bulldogs’ junior varsity baseball squad must
attend team tryouts at Cumming City Park on
Sunday, March 3 (at 3:30 p.m.), and Sunday,
March 10 (at 3 p.m.).
Players should report to the tryouts with
gloves and cleats.
Team cuts will be made following the
second day of tryouts and preseason practices
will begin Monday, March 11.
Cheerleaders hold sale
The Forsyth County varsity cheerleaders
will sponsor a yard sale on Saturday, March
2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the old Lanier
Outdoorsman (located between Appalachian
Restaurant and Barnett’s Supermarket on
Hwy. 20).
Funds raised by the yard sale will go to pay
for the cheerleaders trip to Williamsburg,
Va., for the Eastern Cheerleaders Associa
tion’s National Championships on March 30-
31.
In high school sports, there is no
such thing as an offseason. There
may be lapses between various sea
sons lapses all too short for wea
ried players, coaches and
sportswriters but action never
comes to a complete halt.
And so, before the basketball shoes
have begun to lose their sweaty odor
and before the wrestling mats have
had a chance to settle back into
storage, attention has already turned
to baseball, tennis, soccer and the
other sports that grace the spring
schedule of offerings.
Last week’s unseasonably warm
weather issued local athletes a pleas
ant invitation to take to the practice
fields and courts in preparation for
the upcoming seasons.
The Bulldogs soccer team will kick
off Forsyth County’s spring sports
seasons when it opens up its nine
game schedule on the road against
Johnson on Thursday, March 7.
Coach Doug Fields has had some 26
players out for early practices and
the Bulldogs will be looking to im
prove on last year’s 1-9 mark over the
course of the 1985 campaign.
The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs
tennis teams will take to the compet
itive courts the second week of
March, ostensibly against the squads
from Dawson County although an
exact playing date has yet to be
determined.
Junior Kathy Diggle returns to lead
the Lady Bulldogs, coming off a soph
omore season in which she advanced
to the Region 8-AAAA Tennis Tourna
ment semi-finals in doubles with
since graduated Karen Holbrook.
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Cumming native Jimmy McWhorter
(second from left) is one of the four
senior members of the Valdosta State
College baseball team who recently
took this tongue-in-cheek pose for the
cover of the team’s 1985 brochure.
McWhorter, a 1981 graduate of Forsyth
County High School who started at
By Ronnie Jackson
Forsyth Co. Bulldogs Head Coach
With spring football underway and
thoughts already turning to next sea
son, it is a time of optimism for the
future of the Forsyth County Bull
dogs.
It is also a time of taking a glimpse
backwards to a very important group
of people the kids that worked for
years to better themselves and their
team, until one day in February they
look at all the new faces on the
practice field and realize that their
high school football careers are
really over.
I remember my last high school
game and how it hit me afterwards
that four years of hard work, both
mental and physical, and competing
in a sport that meant everything to
me was over.
I was in a state of shock until
sometime early in the morning, when
I finally came to my senses. I had
been sitting in the stands for hours
just reliving my high school football
career.
At that point, I realized that even
though I may not be a player again,
my involvement in football was not
Cover boys
1985 seniors must face
spring without football
Frank Fowler will coach the Forsyth
girls this season.
Mike Peace has assumed duties as
the coach of the Bulldogs’ tennis
team, which returns seniors Michael
Waldrip and Randy Chambers from
last year’s squad.
Spring football has cut into practice
time for Coach Allen Pritchett and his
baseball Bulldogs, but Assistant
Coach Bryon Orr has taken on the
chore of working out the dozen or so
players not involved in the football
program. And Pritchett has sched
uled weekend workouts for the 18
football/baseball athletes in an effort
to make up practice time.
A young Bulldogs team, with Neil
McWhorter, Jeff Pruitt, Rodney
Roper and Jon Stauber the only re
turning seniors, will take to the di
amond in a realigned Region 8-AAAA
with their eyes set on one of the two
postseason sub-region tournament
berths.
That quest will begin Friday,
March 22, when the Bulldogs open
play in the Johnson Baseball Tourna
ment, in which they will vie with East
Hall and North Hall in addition to
their host.
Coach Jerry Hogan’s boys and girls
track teams will officially begin pre
season practices on Monday, March
11, following the end of spring football
practices, but several of the Lady
Bulldogs thinclads are already work
ing out in preparation for the season.
Both the Bulldogs and Lady Bull
dogs will open the 1985 track season
Tuesday, March 26 with a meet at
Milton.
shortstop for the Blazers in 1984 but is
penciled in at second base this season,
led the team in batting last year with a
.356 average. Pictured with McWhorter
are (left to right) senior teammates
Bobby Hurtt, Rob Busch and Mike
Jones.
‘ Towel/soap game’
slated this Friday
Two bars of soap or a pair of
bath towels (or a combination of
one of each item) will be the
admission charge for the Forsyth
County Bulldogs’ spring intra
squad game this Friday.
The contest, which will cap the
Bulldogs’ second week of spring
practices, will begin at Forsyth
County Stadium at 7 p.m.
over. Football became my way of
becoming involved with young peo
ple.
Football may not be as important to
everyone as it has been to me, but I’m
sure those seniors who have realized
that their playing days are over share
many of the same emotions.
The lessons learned, the
friendships made, the memories cre
ated will all last into the future.
To the seniors we are without this
spring, remember, you will be missed
because you contributed much to the
Bulldogs’ program. And I hope you
are better for having been involved in
football.
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