Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2B
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Wednesday, December 17,2003
Local Sports
Basketball
• North Forsyth at North
Springs, Friday, Dec. 19,
6 p.m.
• South Forsyth at
Riverwood, Friday, Dec. 19,
7 p.m.
• Forsyth Central at Lumpkin
County Christmas
Tournament, Friday-
Saturday, Dec. 19-20, TBA.
• South Forsyth at Norcross,
Saturday, Dec. 20, 5 p.m.
Wrestling
• The South War Eagles will
host the South Forsyth duals
on Saturday, Dec. 20,
10 a.m., featuring Forsyth
Central and six other varsity
teams.
• North Forsyth hosts a quad
meet against Northgate,
Gilmer and Lumpkin,
Saturday, Dec. 20, 9 a.m.
Travel baseball
tryouts slated
The Georgia Buzz’s 12-U
and 13-U travel baseball
teams will soon be hosting
tryouts for the spring 2004
season at Dwight Terry Park
in Canton. Call (770) 578-
1996 for information.
Tryouts slated
for 14-U hoops
The Forsyth Bulldogs 14-
U boys YBOA basketball
team is hosting tryouts for
experienced players for its
upcoming season, which
begins March 2004. Tryouts
will take place in December
and January. For more infor
mation, contact Dave Clark
at (770) 855-1626 or (770)
886-1395 after 6 p.m.
YMCA indoor
soccer signups
The YMCA is currently
taking registration through
the end of December for its
indoor soccer program,
which focuses on the charac
ter values of honesty, respect,
responsibility and caring.
Children will learn about
team work and build self
confidence.
For more information,
contact (770) 888-2788.
Park and Rec
hosts clinics
The Forsyth County
Parks and Recreation
Department is hosting two
camps during the upcoming
holidays.
• The Fast-Pitch Clinic
covers beginning pitching for
ages 7-12. Coach Geldhart
from Young Harris College is
the instructor. The program
runs Dec. 29-31 from 9 a.m.
until noon. The fee is S6O.
• The Christmas Soccer
Camp runs Dec. 29-31 from
7:30-11:30 a.m. at North
Forsyth High School. The
clinic is led by Lady Raider
head soccer coach Erik
Moore. The fee is SIOO. For
information on either camp,
contact James Parks at (770)
781-2215.
Father/Son
clinic scheduled
The 2003 Class AAAA
Final Four South Forsyth
baseball team is hosting its
first ever Father/Son
Coaches Clinic. The clinic
will take place on Jan. 10,
2004, at 8 a.m. in the South
Forsyth High School audito
rium.
As away of reaching out
to the local baseball commu
nity, the team is bringing in
an excellent group of speak
ers. Tickets are on sale and
are $25 per person, which
includes breakfast and lunch.
A silent auction will also take
place during the clinic.
• For ticket information,
J contact Sharon Majors at
■ (770) 887-6132 or Susan
; Houston at (770) 888-1518,
or visit the team’s Web site at
' www.southforsyth-
’ baseball.com.
Change rarely good for the Falcons
Once again, the Falcons
have decided to go in a differ
ent direction.
That much was quickly
apparent Sunday, when it took
Atlanta only 90 seconds to fall
behind Indianapolis, 7-0. By
the time the road kill was
removed from the floor of the
RCA Dome, the hapless
turkeys (er, Falcons) were on
the short end of a 38-7 score.
Different direction, you
bet.
They allowed Peyton
Manning all day in the pocket,
and Eli’s big brother respond
ed with five touchdown pass
es.
At least the Falcons were
consistent. They trailed 14-0
after one quarter, 24-0 at the
half, and 38-7 after three peri
ods. At which time Colts
headmaster Tony Dungy mer
cifully called off his horses.
So now Wade Phillips joins
the rugged pantheon of
Falcons head coaches with a
fitting 0-1 record. He’s in
good company. Os the ten men
who preceded him, only
Leeman Bennett managed a
winning record. And that was
a modest 47-44 mark.
Bennett, you may recall,
was fired by The Family
Smith because the Falcons had
reached a certain level.
They haven’t reached it
since. Dan Henning succeeded
Bennett, compiled a hideous
22-41 -1 record, and in short
order restored the Falcons to
their rightful roost at the bot
tom of the league.
It’s really difficult to see
any logic in owner Arthur
HOOPS from IB
South falls twice
The South Forsyth War
Eagles battled throughout but
couldn’t get around Marist
Saturday night, falling 37-32
in the boys game and 49-33 in
the girls contest.
Coming off Friday’s diffi
cult loss at Dunwoody the War
Eagles (2-5, 2-3) knew there
would be no rest against a top
ranked Marist squad. Yet a
fired-up South grabbed an 11 -
2 first-quarter lead and took an
18-6 advantage into the locker
rooms after Brett Smith’s 3-
pointer at the buzzer.
But the War Eagles could
n’t hold their advantage in the
AIM from IB
cast, which limited the holds
he could execute.
“Josh Pledger had a great
weekend,” Jarrard said. “With
him being hurt and this being
his first weekend out of the
cast, I thought he wrestled out
standing.”
And though Forsyth
Central did not perform as
head coach Nick Crowder
might have hoped, they still
made a decent showing.
Individually, Bulldog
heavyweight Zach Morrison
placed second, while three of
his teammates Dusty
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Denton v J
Ashway Wr
Blank’s decision to fire Dan
Reeves. But even a casual fol
lower of professional sports
knows that the terms owner
and logic are mutually exclu
sive.
It’s also difficult to imag
ine anyone who has earned
more respect throughout the
league than Dan Reeves. He’s
a fine person and a keen stu
dent of the game. Not to men
tion one of only six coaches to
survive long enough to win
over 200 games in the NFL.
Consider the company Reeves
keeps in that club: Shula,
Halas, Landry, Lambeau, and
Noll. Hall-of-Famers all.
Now consider that Reeves
accomplished this feat while
spending almost half of his
career coaching the moribund
Giants and Falcons, and you
can only conclude that the
man can coach.
Last week, former Giants
quarterback Phil Simms
recalled Reeves taking over a
Giants team that Rey Handley
ran aground after Bill
Parcells’ second Super Bowl.
“The assistant coaches
walked in, and there was a
delay of about ten seconds.
Dan Reeves comes in, he puts
his notebook pretty hard on
the podium, and says: ‘All
right, everybody. Sit up
straight, put your feet on the
second, as Marist began to
chip away, eventually pulling
ahead in the fourth quarter.
South had several chances
to pull even but late turnovers
and mistakes proved costly, as
Marist held on for the win.
“I was very pleased with
guys’ effort,” said South head
coach David Sokol. “We
played good defense, but we
made some costly mistakes
down the stretch. We’re still
not in rhythm yet, but we’ll get
there.”
The South Forsyth Lady
War Eagles couldn’t find their
offensive flow either, as Marist
dominated South in the paint
Gerrell (119), Shawn Trauger
(135) and Ryan Moffit (152)
placed fifth, Michael Pruitt
(171) and Ahron Kudela (125)
placed sixth and freshman
Tyler Phillips (103) came in
seventh.
“When it comes to
wrestling the elite, we’ve still
got some distance to go,” said
Crowder. “It just shows us that
we still have sojne room to
improve... The season is still
young and we’ll see how it
goes. We’re still climbing
just not at the top of the rope
yet.”
floor, and take off those hats.’
“When he came in, you’ve
never seen a group stand to
attention the way we did.”
This from a group that experi
enced the iron rule of Parcells.
Career records aside, recall
that in 1998 Reeves accom
plished the unthinkable, the
miracle of leading the Falcons
into the Super Bowl. And just
last year, Reeves became the
first coach in NFL history to
win a playoff game in Green
Bay.
This is a guy you can with
three games left?
Who out there among the
coaching populace is so vital
to the Falcons future that the
next three weeks are crucial?
And lest we forget, this is a
franchise that has operated for
over two years without a gen
eral manager!
What gives?
You don’t think the man
can still coach? Look at what
the Falcons did last week.
They beat Carolina, the first
place team in their division, in
overtime, in a Sunday night
game that had all the excite
ment of a playoff contest.
Much was made of
Michael Vick’s return, and
that certainly was a highlight.
But Vick was also back this
week, managing to complete
only 6 of 19 passes for a
measly 47 yards.
Last week, Vick’s perform
ance seemed to energize the
entire team. It just didn’t seem
possible that one player could
make such a difference. The
NFL hasn’t seen such a phe
nomenon since Joe Namath.
the Lady Eagles were lost
the rebounding battle for just
the second time this season.
The Lady Eagles stayed
within striking distance
throughout, as Kelly Klein and
Kristi Sanders led the way
with eight points apiece. But
South couldn’t put enough
pressure on Marist.
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Back in his day, when
Namath was healthy, his Jets
could whip anyone.
When Namath was hurt,
the Jets were a 4-10 team. But
owner Sonny Werblin never
fired coach Weeb Ewbank
because Namath had been
injured.
Sadly, Arthur Blank is no
student of NFL history. But he
got a good lesson on Sunday.
The team that Reeves led a
week ago was excited, pas
sionate, and a pleasure to
watch.
The team that Phillips led
in Indianapolis was lifeless,
rudderless, confused, and
painful to watch. The whole
team looked as if they’d rather
be off trollop hunting than
playing football. It was a piti
ful, disgusting display of
indifference.
And don’t forget that Wade
Phillips is allegedly a defen
sive guru. Sunday, the Falcons
defense looked like it didn’t
have a clue.
In other words, the Falcons
defense resembled the Falcons
owner. Blank fired a good
man, a fine coach, a proven
commodity. And he doesn’t
have any idea who’s going to
replace him; it’s not like he’s
got Joe Gibbs waiting in Jhe
wings.
And if we’ve learned any
thing during 38 years of bird
watching, it’s that change usu
ally isn’t good.
When not practicing his
avocation, Denton Ashway
practices his vocation with the
law firm of Ashway and Haldi
in Cumming.
“We never could make a
run,” said South head coach
Keith Gravitt. “They’re a well
coached team. But I think our
girls are upbeat about it, and
they’ll bounce back.”
Sports Writer Morgan
Lee and sports correspondent
Danielle Schramm contributed
to this article.
CAST from IB
better. Make numerous casts
to each part of the structure
from different angles. Lure
shy fish always require plen
ty of caution and lots more
effort.
Line choice is also criti
cal to success when pitchin’
and flippin’. My experience
has shown Stren’s High
Impact saltwater line in thir
ty-pound test to be the best.
It’s limp enough to attain
good distance when pitchin’
or flippin’ and though the
line must constantly pass
over and through i;ough
structure, this line has
proven to possess great abra
sion resistance.
Setting the hook is also a
critical part of catching shal
low bass when flippin’ or
pitchin’. The best method is
to line the rod tip with the
spot where the lure enters
the water in case of an
immediate strike. Also be
prepared to move the rod tip
in the event that a bass takes
the lure and travels right or
left. With the rod tip down,
and a little slack in the line,
sharply snap the rod straight
up to penetrate the fish’s
mouth. Normally this type of
action will bury the hook in
the hard part of the mouth
and allow the angler to easi
ly land the bass.
The falling water at Lake
Lanier right now assures
anglers some great opportu
nities to pitch or flip to
newly emerging isolated
cover. Pinpoint presentations
to these structures can pay
big dividends by putting
more big, lure-shy bass in
the livewell that other
anglers don’t know how to
find, target, or catch.
Bill Vandetford has Won
numerous awards for his
writing and photography,
and has been inducted into
the National Freshwater
Fishing Hall of Fame as a
Legendary Guide. He can be
reached at (770) 289-1543,
JFishsl@aol.com, or at his
Web site: www.fishing
lanier.com