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Forsyth duo headed to State Meet
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
With their performance at the
Region 6-AAAA Track Meet this
week at Marist, a pair of South
Forsyth War Eagles earned the right
to represent Forsyth County at next
week’s state competition.
South’s Bo Brawner and
Vladimir Gulchuk were the coun¬
ty’s only boys athletes to place in
the top two spots in their respective
events and advance to the State
Meet in Jefferson.
Tucker High School finished
first in total team points with 130,
followed by St. Pius X with 97 and
Marist with 91.33. South Forsyth
finished fourth with 59 points,
while Forsyth Central placed sev¬
enth with 12, ahead of North
STATE SOCCER PLAYOFFS
Late decision stuns
Playoff run cut
short in 1-0
heartbreaker
By Morgan Lee
Sports Writer
In the blink of an eye, South
Forsyth’s boys soccer team saw its
season saved and then dashed
Monday night during their second
round state playoff game in Rockdale
County.
Trailing Region 8-AAAA champ
Salem 1-0 with just seconds left in
overtime, War Eagle striker Nelson
Alvarez tucked home what he thought
was the game-tying goal as time
expired.
But the War Eagles’ wild celebra¬
tions quickly turned to disbelief and
outrage when the referee — after con¬
ferring with an assistant disal
lowed the strike, ruling that time had
run out before the ball crossed the
goal line.
Despite strong objections from
South’s players and coaches, the deci¬
sion (and scoreline) held, knocking
the War Eagles (14-3-2) from the
playoffs in a finish that tainted an oth¬
erwise thrilling match.
“That’s a very, very tough call,”
lamented South coach Phoday Dolleh.
“I consider that a goal. I cry in my
heart for [my players]. This is a group
of heroes.”
What looked like the War Eagles’
final act of heroism came after Salem
took the game’s only lead with eight
minutes left in the second overtime
period.
The Seminole’s strike was the sole
blemish on South goalkeeper Kyle
Swisher’s stat sheet.
Making just his fifth start in goal
— after switching from striker late in
the season — Swisher produced an
MVP performance, producing several
clutch saves in 1-on-l situations.
But there was nothing Swisher
could do when a Salem player picked
up a loose ball 30 yards from goal,
dribbled into the penalty area and
lashed a drive into the far right corner
of the net.
Salem’s lead ignited the War Eagle
offense and South surged forward in
search of the equalizer that would
send the game into penalties. Kiel
Voight and Tyler Breisch each pro¬
duced near misses, until, after batter¬
ing the Salem goal for the last three
minutes, Alvarez got a clear chance
when he pounced on a spilled cross
from the Seminole keeper and fired
home.
But with officials tied to the game
clock, South could only watch as the
goal was waved off.
“This is very new to me, watching
soccer played like basketball,” said
Dolleh, still trying to come to terms
with GHSA rules which state that
official time be kept on the clock not
by the referee unlike most levels of
soccer.
Each side had chances to grab hold
of the contest during regulation.
Despite a scoreless 80 minutes, the
match produced quality chances from
the outset as the two combatants took
turns controlling the tempo.
Forsyth County News — Wednesday, May 5,2004
Forsyth’s eighth-place finish with
10.33 points.
“I think our kids showed some
true heart,” said South Forsyth
coach Clayton Tillery.
“All the kids came in and ran
[personal records]. They just
worked hard all season and got bet¬
ter and better and better.
“We’re leaving for [the girls
state meet in] Albany Wednesday
afternoon. The girls are in great
shape ... we’ve got five kids in
seven events. We’ve got a chance to
go down there and be quality in the
seven events we’re in.”
At the boys state meet May 6-8,
Brawner can look forward to dou¬
ble duty, after registering second
place finishes in both the 1,600
and 3,200-meter runs on Monday
— finishing the events in 4:28.40
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South’s attacking style created
problems for the Salem defense but
also provided some scary moments
for the War Eagles when Salem
exploded for several quick counter
attacks.
One of those quick counters pro¬
duced the Seminoles’ best scoring
chance of regulation when a Salem
drive was pushed onto the post by a
diving Swisher with 29 minutes left in
the game.
South answered through Linus
Warcndh, who earned a corner kick
when Salem’s keeper couldn’t corral
his 16-yard effort with 18 minutes
left. Salem’s keeper then came up
with a clutch save on a close-range
effort after the ensuing set kick.
Yet even though the War Eagles
pulled a defender over the last four
minutes of regulation, adding another
attacker, South’s usually potent
See STUNS, Page 2B
l
and 9:49.91, respectively.
Gulchuk, meanwhile, set a
school record and took second in
the 800-meter run at 1:59.07, just
edging teammate Chris Bruce’s
third-place, 2:00.31 finish.
Bruce also took fourth in the
1,600-meter at 4:35.10.
Other Forsyth athletes finishing
in the top six and scoring points for
their teams included:
Stephan Mason, NF, fourth
place in 100-meter dash at 11.43,
and fifth place in the 200-meter at
23.13; James Taylor, SF, fourth
place in 3,200-meter at 9.58.86;
Jonathan Daniels, FC, fourth
place in 110-meter hurdles at
16.07, and fourth place in 300‘
meter hurdles at 42.25;
See MEET, Page 2B
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Photo/Jena Blackshear
With a pole vault of 12 feet, South Forsyth’s Jay Garrell placed third
at the Region 6-AAAA Track Meet at Marist.
Above, South
Forsyth full¬
back Dustin
Dozier shows
his frustration
after a late
goal from War
Eagle striker
Nelson Alvarez
was disallowed
as time
expired. At left,
Kiel Voight
surges past a
defender
during South’s
1 -0 playoff loss
Monday night.
Photos/David
McGregor
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COMING THURSDAY
Coverage of Monday night baseball
Garvey
nabs ASA
win at LNS
From staff reports
Georgia native Mike Garvey
captured his first win of the sea¬
son in the ASA Racing Lanier
250 at Lanier National Speed¬
way this past Saturday.
As the defending champion i
of the event, he came into his
home track with a vengeance, set
to defend his title.
“It was really tough to pass
here,” said Garvey, driver of the
No. 17 Jani-King Chevrolet.
“I had to go high and low to
get around cars. I knew Mike
[Cope] wasn’t going to give me
the low side so I went high on
the restart. The crew gave me a
great car. It’s fun to win two in a
row on your home track.”
Garvey started the race from
the fifth position, and was one of
the stronger cars throughout the
evening, especially at the end of
the caution-filled event. On the
final restart on lap 241 of the
250-lap event. Garvey was able
to pull away from the fierce bat¬
tle going on behind him.
As Garvey cruised to a
2.2322-second victory, Casey
Smith and Cope were beating on
each other for second place.
Smith was able to get the nose of
his Chevrolet ahead, relegating
Cope to third at the line. Brett
Sontag and Todd Kluever round¬
ed out the top 5, also battling for
track position.
Cope, driver of the No. 25
Manheims Florida Auto Auction
of Orlando Dodge predicted
before the race that the event
would be “full-contact, all-out
ASA short track racing at its
best.”
This proved true as the race
was slowed by 15 caution flags
for a total of 137 laps, though
this didn’t dampen the enthusi¬
asm of the thousands of fans in
the stands and packing the hill
behind the back stretch. There
were five lead changes among
four drivers. As with the first
race, drivers used the “Choose
Rule" to move up quickly
through the pack.
The Cool Shirt “Cool Move
of the Race" award was given to
Casey Smith for coming from a
lap down to finish third. Scott
Lagasse Jr. was the VP Racing
Fuels "Hard Charger" of the race
by moving up 16 positions, and
Robbie Pyle picked up the
BFGoodrich Tires Halfway
Leader award.
The ASA National Tour is
next in action at Kentucky
Speedway in Sparta, Ky.. on
Friday, May 7.
The American Speed Asso¬
ciation is based in Pendleton,
Ind.. and has offered stock car
racing programs since 1968.
including the ASA National
Tour. ASA Late Model Series,
several regional touring series
and ASA Member Track pro¬
grams.
For additional information
about upcoming at Lanier
National Speedway, call (770)
967-8600.
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