Newspaper Page Text
Inside: EJCHS wins Eagle Classic — page 3B
DECEMBER 10,
2008
Phone: (706) 367-5233
Fax: (706) 387-5409
sports@mainstreetnews. com
Section B
JHS WRESTLING
Mat Dragons victorious at Panther Invitational
TIGHT GRIP
Jefferson’s Jay Fowler (left) took top honors in the 160 lb. class at Saturday’s
Panther Invitational at JCCHS. Photo by Blair Buffington
JHS travels to Sawriee Mt. Duals Friday
By Brandon Reed
JEFFERSON CAME out on top of a
24-team field in the Panther Invitational.
Jefferson won, scoring 321.5 points.
Second place Gilmer county scored 169.
JHS had 11 wrestlers reach the finals
out of 14 classes. Six of those picked up
championships, with the other five finishing
second.
Jefferson wrestling coach Doug Thurmond
said the win was a good way to start off the
season.
“Of course, you feel like you could have
done better in some places,” he said. “I guess
it's just like anything else, you've got some
places that you see that you definitely have
to make corrections, but it was a very good
start for us.”
Taking top honors were Daniel Barber in
the 119 lb. class; Cutler Finch in the 130
lb. class; Wayne Elliott in the 140 lb. class;
Jay Fowler in the 160 lb. class; Zac Crosby
in the 171 lb. class; and Patrick Allen in the
215 lb. class.
Second place finishers were Cason
Thurmond in the 103 lb. class; Isaac Kelly in
the 112 lb. class; Cam Thurmond in the 125
lb. class; Cain Finch in the 135 lb. class; and
Zack Allen in the 189 lb. class.
Thurmond says his team now faces one
of the toughest meets of the season, the
Sawnee Mountain Duals at Forsyth Central
this weekend.
“It's probably the toughest we have to
deal with,” he said. “It’s the who's who of
wrestling in Georgia, Tennessee and South
Carolina. You've got some very big dogs
there.”
Thurmond said that at this point in the
season, a team has to go into a meet like this
knowing that they are there to compete and
do to the best they can.
“You use this as a learning tool, and some
thing to try to get your team fired up and
excited about,” he said. “There are definitely
some hard, heavy hitters there.”
A win would be the ultimate goal for the
weekend, but Thurmond said there’s more to
it than that.
“The main thing is to get through this tour
nament, and have some things to build on,
but also to keep everybody healthy,” he said.
“That’s always the main key when you're
wrestling some real tough teams, keeping
everybody healthy.”
Action at Forsyth Central is scheduled to
get underway at 5 p.m. Friday afternoon, and
again at 9 a.m. Saturday.
JCCHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
JHS BOYS BASKETBALL
Lady Panthers host Morgan Co. Fri.
Dragons defeat Hart Co. in squeaker
ON THE MOVE
Jackson County basketball coach Chad Pittman (left) looks on as Breanna Drew (44)
makes her way down the court at a recent game. Photo by Justin Poole
By Brandon Reed
IT'S BEEN a great start
to the season for the Lady
Panthers of Jackson County.
They hit their first speed
bump Tuesday, as they lost
their first game of the season
to Elbert County.
Their next game is against
a region opponent, Morgan
County, at home on Friday.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7
p.m.
The Lady Panthers started
out last week with a big 42-27
victory over the Lady Knights
of Johnson in Gainesville.
Hoping to keep their streak
alive, Jackson County next
traveled to Homer to face
the Lady Leopards of Banks
County, a team they had
defeated a week before in the
Panther Tip-Off Classic for the
championship.
The Lady Panthers took
control early, leading 12-5 by
the end of the first quarter.
But Banks County closed the
gap, and held Jackson County
to only two points in the sec
ond quarter, while they picked
up six to make the score 14-11
going into the half.
The game remained close
in the third quarter, with the
Lady Panthers holding a slim
three-point lead, 24-21, at
the end of the third. But
Jackson County moved away
in the fourth quarter, holding
the Lady Leopards to only six
points while they picked up 15
to take a 39-27 victory.
“There was a lid on the bas
ket until the fourth quarter,”
said coach Chad Pittman.
Ashley Skelton led the Lady
Panthers in scoring with 13
points.
The Lady Panthers unbeaten
streak came to an end Tuesday
night, as they fell to Elbert
County 39-35.
Elbert County took charge
early, leading 11-1 by the end
of the first quarter. The Lady
Panthers came back strong in
the second quarter, outscoring
the Lady Blue Devils and cut
ting the lead to 22-15 by the
half. In the third quarter, the
Lady Panthers held Elbert to
just four points while scoring
eight to cut the lead to 26-23.
The lead went back and
forth in the fourth quarter until
the Lady Blue Devils put it
away at the end.
“I felt like the difference of
the game was the first quar
ter, when we dug ourselves a
hole,” Pittman said. “I felt like
at times we didn't rebound the
ball like we needed to. But the
main thing is that we got to see
a really good team tonight. I
felt like once we got thorugh
the first quarter, we responded
well. We just need to learn
from tonight and correct our
mistakes.”
Breanna Drew led in scoring
with 22 points.
“She had an excellent game,”
Pittman said. “She really
played well around the basket.
I'm hoping we can look to
her to help us. She was really
strong inside, and they didn't
have an answer for her.”
Jessica Stephens led in
rebounds with 11 against
Elbert County.
The Lady Panthers are 5-1
overall, and 0-1 in the region.
By Brandon Reed
IT WAS a strong showing
for the Jefferson Dragons last
Friday, as they came from
behind with less than 30 sec
onds remaining on the clock
to take the win over a strong
Hart County team.
Now the Dragons look
ahead to this Friday, when
they will play host archrival
Commerce.
The Tigers are looking to
break a long dry spell against
the Dragons. In their last two
meetings, Jefferson won 66-55
and 56-41, both in January of
this year.
But Commerce is off to a
better start than last year, as
they are 1-1 after a 53-13
win over Tallulah Falls on
Friday. Doubtless a victory
would help Commerce keep
its momentum early in the
season.
The Dragons just want to
make sure that doesn't come
at their expense.
Tip-off is scheduled for
8:30 p.m.
Despite being down the
entire game, the Jefferson
Dragons had entered the con
test with Hart County with the
goal of staying within shout
ing distance for the fourth
quarter. That's exactly what
they did.
Hart led the Dragons 17-13
at the end of the first quarter,
and led by only five points,
31-26, by the half. In the
third quarter, however, Hart
was able to pull out a bigger
lead, 47-39, going into the
fourth quarter.
But the Dragons went to
work, and began closing the
gap. Despite their work Hart
moved ahead 56-44 with just
four minutes remaining.
Jefferson got a couple of
steals off of their press, and
a three-pointer by Chris Beck
cut the lead quickly. Hart
County didn’t expect such
a surge, and took some bad
shots while the Dragons took
See Dragons on page 2B
LOOKING
Jefferson’s Greg Hayes (34) puts a shot up as Hart County defenders try to block.
Jefferson would come from behind to defeat the Bulldogs 62-58.
Photo by Blair Buffington