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PAGE 14A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2009
JHS WRESTLING
JCCHS BOYS BASKETBALL
HOLD ON
Jefferson’s (bottom) Shaquille Maxey holds on to an opponent at a recent match.
Photo by Ben Munro
Mat Dragons Win At Pigeon Forge
By Brandon Reed
AFTER A long drive into
the Tennessee mountains, the
Jefferson Mat Dragons came
home last week with a victory
in the Smoky Mountain Duals
at Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Up next is a trip to Winder-
Barrow this week to take
part in a 16-team tourna
ment. Then this weekend,
the Mat Dragons will travel
to Habersham County to take
part in the Habersham Duals,
where they will face, among
other teams, Parkview, North
Forsyth, Woodward Academy
and Habersham Central.
Jefferson started off the
Smokey Mountain Duals by
beating several teams from
their pool, including teams
from Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky
and Tennessee.
On the second day, Jefferson
moved into the winner's brack
et pool. The Mat Dragons
started out
their day
defeating
the team
from Dutch
Fork,
S.C. They
then faced
Gilmer County, defeating
them 34-20. In the finals,
Jefferson faced off against
Lafayette, and defeated them
51-27 to take top honors in the
Smokey Mountain Duals.
“They all did well, they
really did," said coach Doug
Thurmond. “There were
some real good matches. We
had several people that did
real good."
Among those Thurmond
pointed to as having stepped
up during the tournament were
Shannon Joyner, Josh Harris,
Jace McClosky, Shaquille
Maxey and Kevin Selleck.
“They were wrestling in
first string spots," Thurmond
said. “We spot wrestled them
and put them in there."
Thurmond and his team are
already looking towards their
next two challenges, includ
ing Saturday's Habersham
Invitational.
“There will be a lot of good
teams at that tournament,” he
said. “It will be a good test
for us.”
Coming up:
WHAT: Hab.
Duals
WHERE: Haber
sham Central.
WHEN:Jan 2
JHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lady Dragons drop tourney opener to Kell
THE JEFFERSON Lady Dragons opened
tournament play in Pickens County with a
loss to the Lady Longhorns of Kell Monday
night.
Following tournament play, the Lady
Dragons will resume their regular season on
Tuesday when they play host to Mountain
View. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
Jefferson found themselves fighting back
early on in Monday night’s pairing. Kell
held the Lady Dragons scoreless in the first
quarter, taking a 12-0 lead. Jefferson fought
back in the second half, holding the Lady
Longhorns to eight points while scoring 19 to
pull to within one point, 20-19, at the half.
But in the second half of the game, Kell
took control and kept it. They held the Lady
Dragons to only 11 points in the second half
Coming UD - while they scored 25. In
the end, it was a 45-30 win
for the Lady Longhorns.
Skylar Evanson led
Jefferson in scoring with
12 points on the night.
The Lady Dragons were
scheduled to continue tournament play on
Tuesday. Results were unavailable at press
time.
WHAT: JHS vs.
Mtn. View.
WHERE: JHS
WHEN:Jan. 5 @
7 p.m.
2009 continued from 13A
Jackson County falls to Commerce
By Brandon Reed
THE JACKSON County
Panthers were hoping to
ride some momentum off of
their Dec. 19 victory over
East Jackson into some post-
Christmas play this week.
But it didn’t work out that
way, as the Panthers found
themselves on the losing end
against Commerce Monday
night.
The Panthers will return to
regular season play on Jan.
5, when they play host to
the Raiders of Habersham
Central. Tip-off is scheduled
for 7:30 p.m.
With a solid victory over
East Jackson in their pocket,
Jackson County was looking
to try to continue their suc
cessful run when they hosted
Commerce Monday night.
The 4-3 Tigers came to
town off of a Dec. 21 loss to
Chestatee.
Commerce took charge
early, and by the time the game
had reached the third quarter,
the Panthers trailed 35-25.
Things didn't improve much
by the time they reached the
fourth quarter, as the Tigers
held a 43-29 advantage at the
end of the third.
The Panthers continued to try
to catch up to Commerce, and
by the time they had reached
the four minute mark, they
had cut the lead to 11, 46-35.
They
Coming up: would get
WHAT: JCCHS as close as
vs. Hab. Central nine points,
WHERE: JCCHS trailing
WHEN:Jan. 5 @ 49-40 with
7:30 p.m. just over
three min
utes left to play.
But Commerce held them
at bay, blocking shots and
rebounding well, and in the
end, the Tigers came away
with the 56-43 victory.
Among the leading scor
ers for Jackson County were
Joseph Smith with 10 points
and Juice Harrison with
seven.
“We went into the break
with a lot of momentum, but
anytime you sit a few days
and you have that time off, it
makes me real nervous,” said
coach Britt Beaver. “I thought
we had a lack of focus before
the game.”
Beaver also said the
Commerce team they faced
was “really good.”
“I think they're going to do
well,” he said. “They play
real scrappy basketball, and
they just wanted that game
more than we did. Our guys
didn’t show up ready to play.
We didn’t play with any kind
of intensity or desire. You’re
not going to win any ball-
games like that.
“Hopefully we can regroup
and get ready, because we've
got a tough schedule from
here on out. We’ll definitely
have to get it together and find
some spark and leadership.”
JCCHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lady Panthers host Hab. Central Tues
THE JACKSON County Lady Panthers were
slated to return to action Tuesday in tourna
ment play at Pickens County. The Lady
Panthers were to open their tournament against
Sequoyah. Results were unavailable at press
time.
JHS BOYS BASKETBALL
Jackson County will continue tournament
play today (Wednesday) against Creekview.
They resume regular season play on Jan.
5, when they will host the Lady Raiders of
Habersham Central at JCCHS. Tip-off is
scheduled for 6 p.m.
Jefferson opens tourney play with win
By Brandon Reed
THE JEFFERSON Dragons
are ringing in the new year
by taking part this week in
the Pickens County Christmas
Tournament. They started off
tournament play with a victory
over Kell Monday night.
They will continue play
today (Wednesday ), then return
to regular
season play
on Jan. 8
when they
play host
to Banks
County.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30
Coming up:
WHAT: JHS vs.
Banks Co.
WHERE: JHS
WHEN:Jan. 8 @
8:30 p.m.
p.m.
The Dragons faced off against
the Longhorns of Kell High
School Monday to begin tour
nament play. The game started
off close, with Shod Borders
sinking three three-pointers in
the first quarter to help give
Jefferson a 19-15 advantage.
In the second quarter, Jefferson
turned on the heat, outscoring
the Longhorns 27-15 to give
the Dragons a 46-30 advantage
at the half.
With a 16-point advantage,
the Dragons looked to add to
their lead in the third quarter.
Instead, they found a strong Kell
team ready to make a charge. At
one point, the Longhorns had
cut the lead to just eight points,
but the Dragons fought back
and put the advantage back to
16 points with a score of 56-40
at the end of the third.
Kell again fought back in
the fourth quarter and cut the
lead to 56-52. At one point, the
Longhorns tied the score up,
but Jefferson managed to slip
back into the lead.
With about 30 seconds left on
the clock, the Dragons held a
slight advantage. Kell scored to
move ahead, but with seconds
left, Jefferson’s Tyler Bailey got
fouled and hit both free throws
to give Jefferson the lead again.
Despite another charge by Kell,
Jefferson was able to move out
slightly farther and by the end,
the Dragons held on to win
69-62.
J.J. Damons led in scoring
with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Shad Borders scored 3 points,
including four three-pointers in
the first half.
“I was pleased with the way
we handled the last minute of
the game, where we protected
the lead and hit some big free
throws where we had to,” said
coach Bolling DuBose.
The win meant Jefferson
would face North Paulding in
the second round of tournament
play on Tuesday. Results of
that game were unavailable at
press time.
With the news that the Panthers will move
to 8-AA next year, the Panther nation is hop
ing the success of '09 bodes well for things
to come.
JACKSON CO. HOSTS LITTLE
LEAGUE WORLD SERIES
Nicholson was the site of the 2009 Dizzy
Dean 11-Year-Old Baseball World Series in
July. Thirty-five teams took to the field in
a round robin format, with eight teams win
ning pool play to advance to a double elimi
nation round to play for the championship.
In the end, it was the team from
Jeffersontown, Kentucky, defeating the
North Point Nationals from Alabama 16-6
for the title.
Three local teams took part in the event,
with the Jackson County Force taking fourth
and the Jackson County Bullets placed sev
enth. The Jefferson Dragons went out of the
tournament early at the hands of a team from
Acworth.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
•Speedway Reborn As Gresham
Motorsports Park - Forty-two years after its
initial construction, the racetrack formerly
known as Peach State Speedway was recon
structed over the course of the last year. The
newly rechristened Gresham Motorsports
Park saw its front and back stretches flipped,
the old grandstands torn out and fresh new
seats put up, along with a new press box, on
the other side of the track. The infield was
dug out by several feet and a new infield
tech center was built. State of the art tim
ing and scoring was added. The track itself
remained unchanged, save for the addition
of a fresh coat of asphalt and the construc
tion of a quarter mile Legends track into the
center.
The renovated speedway held its first race
on Nov. 15 with the 26th running of the
World Crown 300. A near capacity crowd
watched Jeff Choquette flagged the win
ner, but Pendergrass’ Paul Kelley picked up
the win after Choquette and second place
finisher Max Gresham both failed post-race
tech. It was Kelley’s fourth win in the event,
and all-time record.
•Jefferson 13-U All-Stars Win State Title -
The Jefferson 13-year-old All Stars won the
Dizzy Dean State Baseball Tournament back
in July with a 17-2 victory over Druid Hills
in five innings. It was the first state baseball
title for Jefferson Park and Rec since 2002.
The tournament was hosted by the Jefferson
Park and Recreation Tournament with 15
teams traveling from all six Dizzy Dean dis
tricts to participate.
•JMS Dragons Win Conference
Championship - The Jefferson Middle School
Dragons football team won the championship
in the North Georgia Mountain Conference.
The team defeated Lumpkin County 28-14 to
win the title, and went undefeated with a 9-0
record on the season.
•JCCHS Wrestling Shows Strong - The
Mat Panthers of JCCHS had a strong season
in 2009, sending seven grapplers to state
competition, with one wrestler, Ryan Howe,
coming home as the state champion in the
189 lb. category. Jackson County placed
third in the area tournament and placed in
the top eight in the state duals.
•Jefferson Nets Region Titles - Among the
JHS teams picking up region titles in 2009
were the Lady Dragons Volleyball team,
who recorded an undefeated region record in
2009, going 8-0 in Area 8 A/AA North. The
team went 21-8 overall.
The Jefferson tennis teams picked up region
titles in 2009, sweeping North Oconee for
the top honors in 8-AA. The boys defeated
Fannin County leading up to the champion
ship game, while the girls defeated Banks
County in the semi-finals.
The Diamond Dragons also recorded an
8-AA region baseball title for 2009, 15-1 in
the region on the year. Jefferson would end
their season with a 22-5 overall record.
•East Jackson Cross Country Boys Win
Region - The East Jackson boys cross coun
try team came back from Riverside Military
Academy as the region 8-AA champs. The
boys would go on to finish second at state,
trailing only Westminster.