Newspaper Page Text
SECTION B
ForsythSports
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
BASKETBALL
May, Cook to lead Wolverines’ hoops programs
Coaches being
introduced at
West Thursday
By Seth Coleman
scolemarK®forsythnews com
While conducting his search
for new basketball coaches at
West Forsyth, athletic director
Brett Phipps had two charac¬
teristics in equally high posi¬
tions on his wish list: success
BASEBALL
Horns
headed
to state
By David Purdum
For the Forsyth County News
JOHNS CREEK —
Chase Alvord couldn't
remember the last time he
had a hit, but no one will be
forgetting the one he deliv¬
ered Monday am time soon
Alvord’s two out, pinch
hit single ignited a seventh¬
inning rally, and Brock
Maxwell and Justin
Reichhng each drew walks
to force in the tying and
winning runs respectively
in Lambert’s 8-7 come
from-behind win at
Chattahoochee.
The win, coupled with
Northwest Whitfield’s 7-6
loss to Woodland, clinches
a playoff berth for
Lambert, and there’s still
plenty to play for
Heading into
Wednesday’s huge show¬
down with Forsvth Central.
Lambert (17-7. 12-6
7-AAAA) can still finish
as high as second in the
region, thanks in part to
another clutch perfor¬
mance in the seventh
inning Monday
In a back-and-forth affair
on a blustery afternoon, the
teams exchanged the lead
six times. The host
Cougars went up 7-6 in the
sixth, with Griffin Kern
See HORNS 12B
%
DENTON ASHWAY
Columnist
Gymdogs
still aren’t
consistent
The Georgia GymDogs
weren’t on the beam.
Friday night in the semi¬
finals of the NCAA
Women’s Gymnastics
Championships, the
GymDogs suffered not one,
not two, but three falls off
the balance beam. Since
they could only discard one
score, they had to count two
of those falls And, as wc all
know, ’’You just cannot
count two falls and get out
of this meet,” head coach
Jay Clark tokJ Roger
f Clarkson of the Athens
Banner-Herald “It’s a
shame. It’s disappointing
It ’s an emotional thing for
us right now. I’m tryuig to
be very careful with what I
say. But this team, in my
mind, has been one of the
$•0 ASHWAY 12B
Sports Editor Ioral Putnam can he reached at sportsta'torsylhncws.com or ( 770 ) 887-3126 ext. 513 .
and longevity.
He appears to
have found both
in each of his
two selections.
David May is
the new girls
coach at West,
while Jim Cook
has been tapped to take over tire
boys program
May replaces Seth Chadwick,
who went 8-21 overall last sea¬
son, but led the program to its
first-ever state tournament
appearance in his only year at
BASEBAil.
South bound for playoffs
s
t /
i
0
mm SS
1 *
V
I V «*
-lured Putnam Forsyth County News
South Forsyth pitcher Zack McCrum unloads to the plate against Forsyth Central on Monday at the Bulldogs' field.
McCrum gave up one run in a complete game performance and had three hits at the plate, as South clinched a
postseason berth.
McCrum, War Eagles clinch against Central
By Jared Putnam
lputnam®forsythnews com
On the mound, Zack
McCrum weaved in and out of
trouble throughout Monday
evening. At the plate, he was
the one to stop Spencer
Transue from doing the same.
McCrum’s two-run double
off Transue started a four-run
top of the seventh inning, pro
siding a lot more than insur¬
ance runs in South Forsyth’s
6-1 w in against Forsy th Central
at the Bulldogs’ field
GOLF
South boys clinch state tournament berth
By Seth Coleman
SColeman®forsythnews com
W'ith winds gusting to near 20
miles per hour, the conditions
didn’t appear to he favorable for
a breakout performance for
South Forsyth's golf team at the
Region 7-AAAA championship
tournament.
But that is exactly what hap
pened Monday at the Laurel
Springs Golf Course, as the War
Eagles bared dow n and gutted out
a team score of 315 to cam a sec¬
ond place finish behind champion
John's Creek, and a trip to the
Class AAAA state tournament.
May 7 in Augusta South edged
n
May
The victory clinched a play¬
off spot for the War Eagles (17-
7, 13-5 Region 7-AAAA) and
allowed them to pull ahead of
Central (17-6-1, 13-5) —
which clinched its own playoff
spot on Friday in the race
for the region’s No. 2 seed
Both teams missed the playoffs
last season
Coupled with Central’s loss,
Johns Creek’s 8-4 victory
against ( reekview on Monday
secured the first ever region
championship for the
Gladiators (19-5. 16-2).
out county rival Lambert by three
strokes.
”1 can’t tell you how impressed
I’ve been with Lambert all sea¬
son." South head coach Matt
Loveless said “Tliey are super tal
enter! and their team is made up of
great kids But I couldn't be more
proud of our team Would 1 call
this an upset? Yes, I would."
Loveless s;ud he has been wait¬
ing for his team to play w ith confi¬
dence this season He said Ihe
windy conditions actually provid¬
ed the perfect setting for that to
happen
"I was really excited when I saw
the conditions because weather
equalizes talent," Iaivelcss said
West
Cook replaces
Dennis Benedict,
who led the
Wolverines to
their first-ever
state tournament
appearance at the
end of the 20I0-! I
season, but was relieved of his
coaching duties midway through
tire 20H-12 campaign following
an alleged incident with a student
in the classroom. West finished
2-22 overall last year.
In Benedict’s two seasons at
| i
M
Cook
After losing to Central 10-8
on March 26. South needed to
win by three or more nins on
Monday to cam the head-to
head tiebreaker, and McCrum
(7 11* 7 K. ER. 9 H. BB) made
lhat happen with his arm and
his hat.
"Zack had one heck of a ball
game tonight on the mound
and at the plate." South coach
Russ Bayer said
"Good leaders, good ball
players do that, they nse in spe
cial occasions, We needed
someone to step up tonight.
"In conditions like this, you have
to display a lot of |mental] tough
ness, and we did that today"
One example was the play of
low scorer Miles Smith The
senior led the way for the War
Eagles w ith a 76
“Miles has been right on the
cusp of playing extremely well."
Loveless said. " He h as one of the
besi swings on YKrlhmi and he
really bombs it He's been shoot¬
ing around 79-80. But [Monday]
he had this steely look in his eyes
He was really focused all day long
and handled the weather with real
moxie"
Another illustration of South's
focus was the 20-foot putt junior
the helm. West's boys were a
combined 7-40 overall. 2-20 in
6-AAAAA.
While building a successful,
winning program is important
to Phipps, establishing stabili¬
ty and continuity is just as
important.
May and Cook are the fifth
head coaches each program has
had since the school opened in
2007.
"I said to myself that we’ve got
to stop tins turnover, we’ve got to
stop the bleeding," Phipps sard.
"We wanted people who would
and much like on Friday night
with Micah (Dunn). Zack did
the job lonight.’’
Smith played the game with
out Dunn, who bats in the heart
of the lineup and starts at first
base when McCrum is on the
mound Bayer said the senior
left-hander missed the game due
to illness and complimented
junior Zach Baus for the job he
did filling in at first base'
“We were kind of put in a
very tough situation,” Bayer
said “We had a new guy over
See BOUND12B
Drew luitim’s drained on the final
whole to drop ho score to 80. the
third best of the round for die War
Eagles 'Die other two scores were
posted by freshman Nick Minco
(77) and junior Drew Schmidt
(82 1 Senior Josh Hill posted an
83, while sophomore Grant Young
shot an 85.
“One of tl)c things I tell the kids
is that it’s hard to be confident all
die time.” Uwcless said "And golf
is a game that will really challenge
that But you have to find a way to
fight through that, and I think we
did lhat |Monday ] "
South's trip to the state touma
ment is the 10th since Loveless
See SOUTH 12B
not just he here next year, but for
five, 10. 15 years. Of course,
nothing is guaranteed, but we
fed like we have two guys who
wanl to be here, be part of the
community and establish some
consistency. Both of them have
been where they are for a long
time.”
Cook spent last season at
Cocoa Beach High School in
Cocoa Beach, Fla., but prior to
that he was head coach for five
years at Viera High School in
See WEST 12B