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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 ggSLtr ?r w ! '- AL '■ J •■ ■ ...» $ ■•■”■’3l ''v“ by. #- * ‘Price includes 80' perimeter pool, plans, permits, excavation, plumbing, electrical, gunite, coping plaster, pump, filter, skimmer, light, steps, 6"x6" tile trim, 3'-5' depth, cleanup and startup. Price subject to area access, local codes and zone changes. 770-886-B04 V * ,^^^S www.mlragepools.com 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. - w ZZ$: U Iwr || Im & w iET , Send Holiday Greetings to Oh jntf' Reach All of Your Valued a| Customers! W Advertise Your Holiday Message and Say Lg Thank You to All On Christmas Eve. Forsyth County News will Publish Christmas /fc-i?' Greetings from area businesses to valued customers and the community. lllp Let your customers know how much their wI|K« IwLh business has meant to you. 25% OFF ON YOUR 2ND AD FOR NEW YEARS EVE GREETINGS, Wf JSw WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31st. wllL Sr DEADLINE: j£ SZ THURSDAY, DEC. 18TH Call Your Advertising Representative Today To Reserve Space (770) 887-3126 O . /SUhu til 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