Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth hits the hardwood at 6-AAAA tourney
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North
Forsyth’s
Christopher
Light, seen
earlier this
season,
scored 29
points in
the
Raiders’
62-54 win
over Tucker
Monday
night.
Photo/David
McGregor
CLASS AAAA STATE DUALS
Eagles, Dawgs place in top-10
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W 1 • Will
War Eagles take fourth,
Central in top six at State
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
EVANS, Ga. Just seven days earlier,
it was South Forsyth cheering Forsyth
Central wrestlers on to victory, as the
Bulldogs defeated Marist for second place
in Area 6-AAAA. Saturday, the Bulldogs
returned the favor rooting for the War
Eagles as South Forsyth moved past Lithia
Springs 32-31 en route to a fourth-place
finish at the Class AAAA state duals tour
nament at Lakeside High School.
“It definitely pumps the kids -up. 1
thanked a couple of them personally right
after [the match] because they were out on
the mat with our guys congratulating
South after the match," said South Forsyth
head coach Mike Beckley. “It’s nice to
see. They still have that rivalry when
they’re going head to head and we’ll
have some of that this weekend [at the
Area individual tournament at Tucker].
We’re definitely pulling for each other.”
Forsyth Central head coach Nick
Crowder agreed.
“I’m just happy that two Forsyth
County schools are here because it’s nice
to see friendly faces,” the Bulldog coach
said. “I’m real happy for South. That was
a tough match. Lithia [Springs] beat us
pretty good, so they must have better
matchups at the right spots than we did.”
Just moments before War Eagle 171-
pounder Kyle Huffman's thrilling win by
decision against Lithia Springs, the
Bulldogs fell sft-18 to Woodward
Sports
Raiders, Eagles
advance, Central
falls in opener
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
Christopher Light scored 29
points Monday night including
four 3-pointers to lead the
North Forsyth Raiders to a 62-54
victory over Tucker in the first
round of the Region 6-AAAA
basketball tournament at Marist.
Monday’s win sends fifth
seeded North to the second round
of the tournament, where the
Raiders will face No. 9 seed
Chamblee this afternoon at 5:30.
“Getting this first win will
Academy, ending their season as one of
the state's top six teams.
“I’m just real proud of the kids. They
came here and competed like champs,”
said Crowder, a second-year head coach.
“It's been a real good year; we’ve enjoyed
ourselves. To come this far in two years
I’m just blown away by it all. We’re just
real excited.”
South Forsyth’s road to fourth place
began this past Friday night with a 45-22
win over host Lakeside-Evans. The War
Eagles were not as successful in the
night’s second round, falling to Woodward
Academy 45-22.
Returning for Saturday morning’s 9
a.m. consolation-round matchup with
Madison County, the War Eagles squeaked
out another win, 34-33. South did not
clinch that victory until the final match.
Huffman played it safe and, though he lost
by an 8-3 decision, gave his team the win
by not getting pinned.
In the next round, South handily
defeated Columbus 42-22, setting up their
showdown with Lithia Springs.
Beckley said it is not uncommon for
three or four of his grapplers to have an
off-match against a given opponent. That,
however, was not the case against the
Lions.
“We’ve been telling the team they all
need to come together,” the South coach
said. “It was probably the first match all
year where we needed everybody to pro-
I See STATE, Pag* 2B
hopefully play in our favor come
Wednesday,” said Raider head
coach Phil Moore. “We played
with a little more confidence.”
Light was on fire from the
start, single-handedly taking the
Raiders (18-8 overall, 10-8 in 6-
AAAA regular-season play) on a
10-0 run. By the end of the first,
North Forsyth led 14-3 all but
two Raider points belonging to
Light.
“He came out hot and got us
going,” said Moore. “If have can
shoot like that, maybe we can
make a little run in this thing.”
Raider junior Josh Simms
made an impact off the bench,
helping North's cause with back
to-back baskets in the opening
1:16 of the second quarter to
extend the advantage to a 18-6
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Photos/David McGregor
Above, Forsyth Central 103-pounder Tyler Phillips brings
his Woodward Academy opponent to the mat. At top,
South Forsyth’s Taylor Autry (145) is in control of his
match against Madison Courtly.
margin.
But the Raiders shooting
turned cold as six unanswered
Tiger points cut North’s lead to
18-12.
Light broke the brief scoring
drought with a 3-point bomb with
3:38 remaining until the half. By
intermission, Tucker had pulled
within five points, 30-25.
“It was closer than we want
ed,” Moore admitted. “But we did
a good job of holding onto the
lead. We made some free throws
down the stretch when we needed
to, and I’m real proud of that.”
The pace slowed a bit in the
second half as North Forsyth
edged Tucker 12-11 in the third
for a 42-36 advantage entering the
See NORTH, Page 2B
COMNO THURSDAY
Coverage of 6-AAAA girls hoops
MONDAY’S
SCORES
Forsyth Central 41
Riverwood 53
North Forsyth 62!
Tucker 54 i
South Forsyth 52 <
St. PiusX 42:
Tuesday’s scores not
available at deadline.
INSIDE
In-depth stories cov
ering South Forsyth’s
win over St Pius X
and Forsyth Central's
season-ending loss
to Riverwood, 38.
County
swimmers
compete
at Metro
By Morgan Lee
Sports Writer
Taking to the same pool
where next weekend’s state
finals will take place, several of
Forsyth’s varsity swimmers took
their last shot at regular-season
competition this past weekend in
the Atlanta Metro Cham
pionships at Westminster.
South Forsyth, Forsyth
Central and North Forsyth were
just three of 48 teams that took
part in the mammoth event, yet 1
each left an impression during
one of the most competitive
meets of the season.
For South, who has already
qualified a number of swimmers
for State, the meet presented a
good opportunity for some of
their younger competitors.
“We got some untested,
younger kids a chance,” s'aid
War Eagle swimming coach Kris
Hunt, “and we learned a lot of
lessons. It was an excellent
weekend.”
South’s Michael Kirkpatrick
gave an impressive performance,
winning the boys 50-yard
freestyle in 22.39 and finishing
third in the 100-yard free, 48.94,
after posting the race’s second
best time during preliminaries,
48.80.
Kirkpatrick easily earned
State-qualifying times in each
event.
“All of a sudden his times
started dropping,” said Hunt. “I
think he’s finally believing in
himself.”
South’s girls 200-yard
freestyle relay team also raced
their way to State.
Emma Nicolaides, Asha
Bohr, Brandi Wilson, and
Amanda Kettles combined to
finish the preliminary round in.
1:53.81 yet with so many
high-level teams competing, the
Lady Eagles couldn’t crack the
top 10, finishing 21st.
Forsyth Central’s relay teams
also had a good weekend. The
Lady Dawgs’ 200-yard freestyle
relay team of Melinda Read,
Hannah Hall, Katie Mitchell,,
and Kelly Robinson posted a
qualifying time of 1:53.72, good
enough for 20th place.
Meanwhile, the Lady Dawgs’
400-yard freestyle team of Katie'
Mitchell, Melinda Read,
Hall, and Kelly Robinson also 1
qualified for state, swimming
the event in 4:11.23, to finish in
17th place.
Robinson also enjoyed a
strong solo outing in the 100-
yard freestyle, finishing 11th
with a State qualifying time of
58.41.
The Dawgs’ Dallas Crum also
swam well in the boys 50-yard
free but came up an agonizing .03
seconds shy of a place at State,
finishing in 23.53.
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