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Raiders overcome shaky start
Promise shown in
strong second day
at Cherokee Duals
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
The North Forsyth varsity
wrestling team took eighth place in
this week’s Cherokee Duals in
Canton, finishing behind first-place
McEachem, Kell in second and
Henry County in third.
Despite not taking home a trophy,
Raider head coach Travis Jarrard was
pleased that his squad managed to
bounce back from a 1-3 start on
Tuesday for a 4-1 outing on
Wednesday to finish fifth in their,
pool and move into the No. 8 spot.
“I don’t think we wrestled as well
yesterday as we did today,” said
Jarrard on Wednesday. “I thought we
wrestled extremely well today.”
For the tournament, Matt Miller
(140 pounds) and Alex Haney (145)
were undefeated, going 9-0 and 7-0,
respectively, before being named to
the All-Tournament Team. On the
season, Miller is 33-2, while Haney
has assembled a 29-3 record thus far.
Also for North Forsyth, 160
pounder Chad Tillery was 8-1 (29-7
season record). Meanwhile Brian
Bourque (171 pounds) was 6-3,
Casey Sheets (215) was 5-3 and
Brent Sawyer (275) was 5-2.
Jarrard said each of his wrestlers
have shown moments of success at
various tournaments this season, but
Wednesday was the first day they hit
on all cylinders at the same time. If
they can now build on that for a com¬
plete tournament, the Raider coach
knows a bright future could lie ahead.
“Everybody did something good
today — that’s a positive,” Jarrard
said. “I’m still waiting for us to put
everything together at one tourna¬
ment.
“It will be a real good team if we
can put everything together at one
tournament. But until we do that,
we’re going to be average — 5-4 like
we were [in Cherokee].”
On Tuesday, North dropped
matches to Lassiter (46-34), Henry
County (46-28) and Moore, Okla.,
(52-28) before tallying their first win,
a 64-17 triumph over Riverwood.
But Wednesday was a different
story. Though the Raiders opened the
morning with a 46-20 setback to
Grissom, Ala., the North Forsyth
grapplers responded with four con¬
secutive duals wins — defeating
Kennesaw Mountain (49-32), Milton
(45-24), St. Paul, La., (37-31) and
Cass (52-19).
Against St. Paul, North Forsyth
was down by one point with two
matches left. But with Miller and
Haney still to wrestle, Jarrard had lit¬
tle to worry about. Miller came
through with a 16-5 major decision
and Haney followed with a 14-8 deci¬
sion as North defeated the visitors
from Louisiana 37-31.
Other key wins against St. Paul
included 152-pounder Evan Martin’s
9-7 decision and Kyle McDaniel’s
(125) 9-4 decision.
“I thought we came back strong,”
said Jarrard. “It’s such a grueling
tournament — nine dual matches in
two days.”
The Raiders return to action on
Wednesday, Jan. 5, as they host
Woodland and Columbia at 5 p.m.
Racer a name for himself
By Bill Vanderford
For the Forsyth County News
It seems that throughout most of
my adult life, I have always had the
influence of those special folks
whose lives were tempered to tough¬
ness by the harsh climate of Scotland.
As early as my 20s, I often rubbed
fenders with World Champion Jimmy
Clark when he drove Lotus Ford
Cortinas in Europe, and sadly, I was
there the day he died in the forest
mist at the Hockingheim Ring in
Germany in a Formula II.
He had always driven with such
perfection in Formula I that all of us
who had been fortunate enough to
know him were stunned.
After returning to the States from
my facing days in’Europe, I met
Forsyth County News—Friday. December31,2004
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another young Scot, Bill Lamont. He
and I ran the streets of Atlanta for
fun, won soccer championships in the
semi-pro leagues as teammates, and
he was my best man when I married
for the second time.
Therefore, it only seems appropri¬
ate that my return to racing, after
more than 30 years, should again
involve a young man from Scotland.
His name is Colin MacLean and,
though he is half my age, we bonded
with our first conversation.
He respected my history of racing
with some of his childhood heroes
and, despite his quiet, reserved man¬
ners, I could easily see the fire and
determination in the depth of his eyes
that I had seen in Jimmy Clark.
Colin’s passion for motor racing
began at an early age.
“As a young lad growing up in
Fife, Scotland, you can’t help but
have motor-racing in your blood,” he
said. “I vividly remember watching
in awe at my local race track as the
motorcycles with sidecars flew by at
incomprehensible speeds.”
Colin spent his Saturday nights at
the local track, but would always
daydream about “real” road racing.
“It never entered my mind that
one day I would be doing it,” he said.
For his 18th birthday, Colin’s par¬
ents bought him an afternoon at the
Knockhill Racing Circuit in a
Formula First (a scaled-down
Formula Ford). This car had street
tires and was limited to 4,000 RPMs,
but from that point on, he was
See SHOWS, Page 2B
North Forsyth’s
Brian Bourque
(171 pounds),
above, was 6-3
at this week’s
Cherokee
Duals. At left,
Raider 119
pound wrestler
Tyler Fitz¬
gerald, in
black, com¬
petes with his
airborne oppo¬
nent from
Lassiter High
School.
Photos/David
McGregor
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Photo/Bill Vanderford
Bill Vanderford writes that local race car driver Colin MacLean (68)
is a driver on the rise. ! *
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TWO-MINUTE DRILL
North Forsyth
boys go 1-2 in
Cass tourney
The North Forsyth boys bas¬
ketball team found mixed
results in Cartersville this week,
sandwiching a 65-62 win over
Paulding County on Tuesday in
between losses to Newton
County and Rome on Monday
and Wednesday, respectively.
On Wednesday, the Raiders
were within one point, 39-38, in
the fourth quarter when untime¬
ly turnovers forced North into a
. fouling situation.
Rome took advantage of the
opportunity from the free-throw
line and took the 54-42 win in a
game that was closer than the
score indicated.
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Raiders.......... 9 5 15 13 -42
Rome........... 13 7 12 22 -54
North’s leaders: Michael Rubio,
23 points (three 3-point bas¬
kets, 4-for-4 free-throw shoot¬
ing); Josh Simms, seven
points.
Tuesday, Dec. 28
Raiders. 17 15 17 16 -65
Paulding Co. 13 12 14 23 -62
North’s leaders: Rubio, 22
points (three 3's, 11 -of-12 free
throw shooting); Simms, 17 (9
of-11 from the free-throw line).
Monday, Dec. 27
Newton Co. 12 13 22 22 -69
Raiders, 14 8 16 22 -60
North’s leaders: Rubio, 25
points (three 3’s, 12-of-13 free
throw shooting); Simms, 17 (9
of-11 from the free-throw line).
Lady Raiders hit
rough road in
Madison County
The North Forsyth Lady *
Raiders’ Sweet South Classic
opened with a strong start
Tuesday before a 33-31 half¬
time lead over Notre Dame
Academy (Va.) quickly turned
into a 58-42 deficit entering the
final stanza as North fell 71-52.
Lady Raider standout
Elizabeth Benedict turned her
ankle near the end of the con¬
test and had to leave the game.
Results from the North girls’
game on Thursday were
unavailable at deadline.
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Elbert Co. 8 15 9 21 -53
Lady Raiders 17 9 9 8 -43
North’s leaders: Kelley Reeves,
19 points (one 3-pointer);
Cecily Curl, seven points.
Tuesday, Dec. 28
ND Academy 12 19 27 13 -71
Lady Raiders 16 17 9 10-52
North’s leaders: Benedict, 15
(two 3-pointers); Lindsey Byers,
12; Rachel Tinsley, 10.
•From staff reports