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SOCCER WRAP-UP
War Eagles claw North Springs
Central splits
contests with
Riverwood
By Morgan Lee
Sports Writer
South Forsyth soccer erased any
worries of a letdown after last
Friday’s momentous victories against
St. Pius X with a sweep of Region 6-
AAAA foe North Springs, Tuesday
night at home.
Meanwhile, Forsyth Central split
contests with Riverwood, winning
the girls game 5-1 before dropping
the boys match-up 3-2.
South boys hold off late push
The South Forsyth boys soccer
team withstood some nervous
moments and a tenuous finish to hold
on to a 2-1 victory over region oppo
nent North Springs. Tuesday night.
Carrying a state ranking for the
first time this season, the No. 9 War
Eagles (5-1 overall, 3-0 in Region 6-
AAAA) dominated for 60 of the
game's 80 minutes building a 2-0
lead that would have soared higher
but for the goalkeeping skills of
North Springs’ Matt Manning.
Yet the visiting Spartans fought
back midway through the second
half, halving South's lead and miss
ing three clear chances before the
War Eagles clinched a critical win.
"We have to learn a great deal
from this one," said South coach
Phoday Dolleh. “We were a little
unlucky in the first half [not to score
more]. And then, in the second half,
we lost our cool a little and started
putting pressure on ourselves.”
All the pressure was on North
Springs' defense in the first half.
Firing on all cylinders early, the
War Eagles peppered the Spartan
goalmouth, starting with Linus
Warendh's header just five minutes
into the contest.
Kiel Voight nearly broke through
just a minute later but saw his low
drive pushed around the post by
North Springs’ Manning the
Spartan keeper who kept his club in
the game throughout with a cagey,
solid display.
“Their goalie was very smart,”
said Dolleh. “He was a big reason we
couldn’t score more.”
But even Manning couldn't shut
out South’s high-flying attack forev
er as Nathan Renaud proved midway
through the first.
Running on to a pass in the
Spartan penalty area from teammate
Nelson Alvarez, Renaud blasted a
close-range shot past Manning with
21 minutes left in the half to give
South a 1-0 lead.
North Springs stiffened after the
strike, allowing few more chances in
the first stanza, but South needed just
one chance to score again after the
interval.
Two minutes into the restart. Kyle
Swisher latched on to a pass from
Voight who had won a ball in
front of the Spartan goal strode
into the North Springs’ penalty area
and slotted a nine-yard shot past
Manning for a 2-0 War Eagle advan
tage.
But just as South looked as
though they might pull away. North
Springs turned the tables and clawed
Dixie Speedway
prepared for opener
From staff reports
‘‘l’ve never seen so much
anticipation for the first race of
the season,” said Mike Swims,
Dixie Speedway general man
ager.
Swims and company have
been busy preparing for the
Spring Short Track Champion
ships at the 3/8-mile clay oval
on Saturday, March 13.
He said more than 150 race
cars participated in an open
practice session at the track on
Feb. 21 and March 6.
“We have had our first race
of the yason the first weekend
A Il
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f / r
a goal back three minutes later.
Taking a ball away from the
South defense 35 yards from goal, a
streaking Spartan attacker surged
forward and drove a shot past strand
ed War Eagle keeper Richie Larkin
to pull North Springs within 2-1 with
35 minutes left.
South’s Jordan Cushman tried to
answer four minutes later pounc
ing on a rebound from Warendh's
shot but saw his point-blank effort
saved by a diving Manning.
With time waning, the Spartans’
confidence grew as South began los
ing continuity in midfield, allowing
North Springs to grab control of the
contest.
Twenty minutes in to the half,
midfielder Greg Bova stepped up to
preserve South’s lead, clearing a shot
off the War Eagle goal line. But
North Springs wasn’t ready to fade.
With just eight minutes to play.
South’s Larkin saved a blistering
shot off of a botched clearance only
to find himself facing a one-on-one
breakaway just one minute later
See CLAW, Page 4B
of May for the past few sea
sons,” Swims said. "With the
response we had at both of our
practice sessions, it looks like
everyone is ready to go for the
Spring Short Track Champion
ships on March 13.”
The Spring Short Track
Championships will be head
lined by a 50-lap, $3,000-to
win Super Late Model main
event that is expected to draw
the top local and regional com
petitors in the area. One local
competitor that is ready to step
out on to the national and
See PREPARED, Page 2B
Sports
NMn 11 \
Photo/File
Racers ages 5-15 from 17 states will compete at the
Spring Nationals at the Cumming Fairgrounds. t
I g ■ i h|
A » 1
’ 1 Mw
/ \
That's Racin', 5B
Above, South
Forsyth’s Linus
Warendh chal
lenges a North
Springs player
for the ball dur
ing the War
Eagles' 2-1 win
on Tuesday.
Left, South
Forsyth's Katie
Lindsey con
nects on a
header during
the Lady
Eagles’ 3-0 win
over North
Springs. Both
South teams
are now ranked
in the state’s
top 10 after last
week’s wins
over St. Pius.
Photos/David
McGregor
Quarter midgets set
to draw thousands
By Travlg M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
Organizers of the North
Georgia Quarter Midget
INSIDE |
■ Results
from the
NGQMA’s
most recent
race,4B.
Association’s
inaugural Kids
Racing for
Kids Spring
Nationals
expect that the
event could
bring as many
as two thou-
sand visitors to Forsyth
County.
As early as Wednesday
night, trailers began filing,
North Forsyth baseball
outlasts Berkmar
North Forsyth improved its
record to a perfect 4-0
Wednesday night, defeating
Class 8-AAAAA’s Berkmar
Patriots 9-5 at Raider Field.
Starting pitcher Scott
Patterson (2-0) went four innings,
allowing four hits and three runs
(two earned) while walking none
and striking out five. Mark Doll
earned the save.
The Raider offense was high
lighted by Dexter Bobo, who went
2-for-2 from the plate with two
triples and 3 RBI, and
Christopher Light, who was 2-for
-4 with a double and 2 RBI.
North Forsyth opened strong,
batting around in the bottom of
the first for a 7-0 lead entering the
second.
But Berkmar did not give up,
scoring two runs in the second,
one in the third, and two more in
the fifth to pull within 7-5 heading
into the bottom of the fifth.
After drawing a walk with one
out in the bottom of the sixth,
Justin Hamilton capitalized on an
errant pickoff attempt and two
wild pitches to score for an 8-5
Raider lead. Then, with two outs,
Christopher Light hit a double to
score his brother, Payton, from
second base for the 9-5 North
Forsyth victory.
The Raiders host Kennesaw
Mountain Friday afternoon. First
pitch is at 5:55 p.m.
Bulldog tennis sweeps
Chamblee at home
Both Forsyth Central Bulldog
tennis teams took out region foe
Chamblee Monday afternoon at
Central Park in Cumming.
The Dawgs blanked Chamblee
5- without dropping a set, while
the Lady Dawgs won 3-2.
Central's boys (1-2 overall, 1-2
in Region 6-AAAA) got singles
wins from Justin Davis (6-1,6-0),
Bryan McKinnon (6-0, 6-1) and
Harry Pritchett (6-2, 6-4). Central
also took both doubles points with
wins from No. 1 team Tony
Abdulkarim and Kyle Rinna (6-2,
6- and No. 2 team Simon Allen
and Andrew Webber (6-2, 6-2).
For Central’s girls (2-1,2-1),
singles players Brittany Romig (6-
1,6-0) and Melissa Smith (6-3, 6-
0) helped the Lady Dawgs to a 2-
1 advantage. In doubles, No. 1
team Maddie Stoddart and Erin
Moister dropped the first set 6-1
and were down 4-3 in the second
before storming back to win the
final two sets 6-4, 6-4, and take
the match.
Coaches, contact the
FCN with your scores
Coaches, statisticians and
parents can report scores,
stats and game accounts to the
Forsyth County News sports
department by emailing
sports@forsythnews.com or by
calling (770) 887-3126, ext. 505.
into the parking lot of the
Bill Thomas Raceway at the
Cumming Fairgrounds to
begin running practice laps.
“There are already 30
trailers here,” said NGQMA
publicist Lorraine Good. “On
a Wednesday night, that’s
pretty unheard of ... People
from Pennsylvania are
already here [and] a lot of
the out-of-towners are start
ing to trickle in.”
Practice laps were sched
uled for Thursday, seven cars
See DRAW, Page 2B ,
□