Newspaper Page Text
Fonyth Carty January 29,1999
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r Stephen
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Great Eight
•says (mostly),
‘Go Falcons!’
" Super Sunday is just around the
comer, and for the first time, the
Forsyth County News Great
Eight’s championship will resting
bn the Super Bowl outcome.
- True, six of our eight football
prognosticators are out of the run
ning, but Norris Vaughan and I
are currently tied for first and -
wouldn’t you know it - the War
Eagle mentor is the only one to
pick the Denver Broncos (see
page 2B).
The mad aligning of the planets,
or whatever the bizarre twist of
fate that has allowed both pro
football’s previously most pathet
ic franchise (the Atlanta Falcons)
and the Great Eight’s previously
most pathetic participant (me) to
have a chance to win it all on the
same day is truly amazing.
While the interest stirred up in
my winning the Great Eight is a
little bit less (OK, a lot less) than
the Falcons beating the Broncos, I
still derive my own little satisfac
tion for my “worst-to-first” jour
ney.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Great
Eight all have their opinions on
who will Falcons), why,
how they will spend Super
Sunday and how Falcon Mania
has affected them.
FCN Circulation Manager Phil
Jones has two sons, ages five and
nine, and Falcon Fever has gotten
them “interested in a sport for
which they’ve never had much
interest,” he says. “Oh, they ask a
million questions.”
Apparently, the Jones boys are
big baseball fans - but what bet
ter time than now to learn about
football? Dad also gave the fami
ly a big treat by taking the whole
family down to Centennial Park
last Sunday for the big sendoff.
Jonathan Hamilton, who contin-
See FALCONS, Page 2B
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Big wins for Bulldog boys. North girls
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Photo/Stephen Underwood
Looking for the open man
Crystal Carlyle (with ball) and Deidre Lotspeich (background) were the spark
for the big North second quarter.
NF girls hammer Cartersville
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By Stephen Underwood
Sports Editor
It took the Lady Raiders a quarter to get
warmed up - but once they did, it was
curtains for the Cartersville girls’ basket
ball team.
Led by Deidre Lotspeich, North Forsyth
dominated the final three periods at home
against the Lady Hurricanes to register a
decisive 59-42 victory Tuesday night. The
triumph helped the hosts get a leg up in
the tight, five-team battle for third in
Region 7-AA.
Coach Tracey Tipton’s team is now 7-6
in the loop (12-9 overall), just a half-game
back of White County for the No. 3 spot.
They are a half-game ahead of
Cartersville and South Forsyth (see graph
ic this page).
Lotspeich poured in 10 of her career-
Second quarter dooms South teams at Pickens Co.
By Alton Bridges
Sports Correspondent
The South Forsyth basketball teams were
both beaten on the road against Class AA
state-ranked teams at Pickens County
Tuesday night.
The Lady War Eagles were defeated by
the No. 3 Lady Dragons, 58-36, while the
South boys were topped by the No. 10
boys team from Jasper, 72-56. Big second
quarter surges were the difference in both
games.
Raiders pin Bulldogs
on the wrestling mat
By Stephen Underwood
Sports Editor
With victories in seven of the
first eight matches - and seven
pins overall - the North Forsyth
wrestlers rumbled to 58-23 vic
tory over county rival Forsyth
Central Tuesday night.
Both teams were missing
some top wrestlers for a variety
of reasons, but North was able
to prevail at home in the next
to-last meet of the regular sea
son for both teams.
“Our goal right now is to win
Area,” said North head coach
Richard Lowe.
Along with the pins, North
also won two by technical fall
and one by forfeit. Central’s
wins came in the form of three
pins and a decision.
Bulldog Chris Cook tried to
The Great Eight: The
Final Showdown
RAGE2B
high 22 points in the second quarter as the
Lady Raiders rallied from a 13-7 deficit
and took a 28-25 lead at the half. Even in
t the first period, it was the senior who net
ted six of North’s points to keep them in
it.
“Deidre was just unconscious,” said
i Coach Tipton. “She and Crystal (Carlyle)
really started hitting their shots there.”
i Indeed, Carlyle fired in all eight of her
markers in the second stanza as well, as
i she and Lotspeich picked up all but three
i of North’s 21.
North expanded their lead to 43-29 after
i three quarters as Cassi Bennett picked
them up this time. She had two baskets
and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line
F for all eight of her points.
“In the second half, Cassi came out and
See GIRIS, Page 3B
South’s girls were knocked out of third
in Region 7-A A, as they fell to 6-6 (6-13
overall), while the boys (6-6, 6-14)
dropped to fifth. The first-place Pickens
teams have just one loss between them in
the loop.
Girls
The knockout punch came in the second
quarter when Pickens outscored South, 15-
2. Only Stephanie Hendricks scored in the
quarter against the stingy Dragonette
hang in with red-hot Jason
Carroll at 103 pounds to start
the match, but the Raider
clinched the tech fall at 15-0 in
the third period. Jesse Ranes
then got the forfeit at 112.
North’s Johnny Harrison was
then matched up at 119 with
Central’s up-and-coming female
wrestler, Karla Hyder, and was
able to get a pin late in the first
stanza. His brother. Josh, would
later get a third-period pin at
140.
The Dogs then collected their
first pin in a thriller at 125.
Nathan Kennedy has the most
points and his share of chances,
but senior William Flynn
thrilled the visiting side when
he turned the tables with a
third-period pin.
See MAT, Page 2B
"t
Central routs White on the road, 75-48
I
By Stephen Underwood
Sports Editor
The Forsyth Central boys basketball
team hasn’t been able to top their region’s
front-runners - not yet - but Tuesday they
continued to gap the rest of the 7-AA
field.
It’s never easy to win on the road, but
the Bulldogs went to Cleveland and ham
mered White County, 75-48, to sweep the
season series with the Warriors. The vic
tory, much more decisive than the teams’
game in Cumming, gave Central a 9-4
region mark and finally boosted them
over .500 overall at 10-9.
The Lady Bulldogs were beaten by
White County, 63-23.
Boys
The Dogs were led by Micah Owings
and Brent Howell, who poured in 14
points each for a balanced attack. Bobby
Donofrio added 10, Travis Elmore seven
and Seth Cole, Jon Payne and Slate Amos
netted six each.
“It was a big win for us,” said Central
head coach Greg Dirst. “We always seem
to play well up there, though. It was a
good team effort.”
Indeed, the Dogs now have three regu
lar-season wins, there in three seasons -
plus the two wins that gave them the
1996-97 region title.
Howell was the real revelation. Having
seen limited minutes most of the year, the
Region 7-AA Basketball Standings :
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Bow: 7-AA Overall
Cartersville 11-1 13-3
Pickens Co. 11-1 17-2
Forsyth Central 9-4 10-9
Fannin Co. 7-6 11-8
South Forsyth 6-6 6-14
Gilmer Co. 5-8 6-11
White Co. 4-8 6-12
Lumpkin Co. 3-11 4-16
North Forsyth 1-12 1-19
defense.
“We stayed with them for three of the
four quarters, but you can’t let the No. 3
team in the state outscore you 15-2 in one
quarter and expect to win,” said a disap
pointed-Debbie Blake, coach of the Lady
War Eagles. “In that second quarter, we
just couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean,
as they say.”
“We didn’t give up and I think that our
mental approach to the game would have
been different, if we had not had that bad
quarter,” she added. “We stayed with them
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Phot o/Stepben Underwood
Winning moves
Raider Tony Smith (top) works on defeating Central’s Chris Lamb in their match at 130 pounds
Tuesday night.
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Central-South •»
basketball
SUNDAY |H
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— —— ——
Gym to be named for
late D.B. Carroll 1
-t.
The new Forsyth Central gym, opened
last winter, will be rededicated this
coming Tuesday as the D. B. Carrqjl
Complex - in honor of the late record
setting basketball coach.
Carroll, who is the winningest coa<sh
in state history, led the Forsyth County
Lady Bulldogs to the state title in 195?.
Tuesday’s games will be against
Pickens, where (when it was Jasper
High), he won three of his other four
titles.
The ceremonies will take place either
between the two varsity games or dur
ing halftime of the boys’ game. Former
players of Carroll are invited to take
part. For more info, see the Sunday edi
tion of the Forsyth County News and
call FCHS at (770)
5
junior made the most of his chance
Tuesday. He hit four 3-pointers, including
two that were part of his 8-point second
quarter that helped take the Dogs from a
small 13-11 edge to a 37-24 bulge.
And continuing his impressive play as a
freshman, Owings had two 3-pointers and
was 4-for-4 from the line overall. His
See CENTRAL, Page 2B
te
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Pickens Co. 12-0 NZA|
Fannin Co. 12-1 N/A j
White Co. 7-5 N/A|
North Forsyth 7-6 N/A;?
South Forsyth 64 N/A I
Cartersville 64 N/A j
GflmerCo. 54 N/A !
Lumpkin Co. 2-12 N/A!
Forsyth Central 0-13 N/Aj
until the last four minutes when we played
them (at home) earlier. Honestly, we
turned the ball over too many times in the
second half, but we would have played the
game differently had we not gotten down
like we did. I am proud of the ladies
because they didn’t give up. We are get
ting into the stretch, and we are going Ito
pick it up a bit.”
Jennifer Thompson led the Lady War
Eagles in scoring with 11 points. Katie
4
See SOUTH, Page &
h