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Inside: Lady Dragons best Commerce — page 6B
JANUARY 13,
2010
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Section B
JHS WRESTLING
Mat Dragons take Region Dual title
By Brandon Reed
THE JEFFERSON Mat
Dragons took their first step
towards another state title by
taking first in the 8-AA Region
Duals at Riverside Military
Academy Monday.
The Duals had originally
been scheduled for the previ
ous weekend, but was resched
uled to Monday and moved to
Riverside due to icy weather
in Fannin County, where the
tournament had been originally
scheduled to take place.
The Mat Dragons first defeat
ed Oglethorpe, then Dawson
County before facing Banks
County in the finals, sending
Jefferson to Macon this week
end for the State Duals.
Jefferson dominated the final
match, taking the region title
with an 84-0 effort.
“It was pretty good,” said
coach Doug Thurmond. “I don't
think either one of us wrestled
all of our first string. I know they
didn't
Coming up: i n some
WHAT: State Duals points
WHERE: Macon and we
WHEN: Jan. 15-16 didn't
either.
I think they were sitting on
reserve wondering if Dawson
was going to come back
through, and I think they were
going to keep themselves as
strong and ready for Dawson.”
There was no need for a
match to determine hue second
since Banks had defeated North
Oconee, who later defeated
Dawson County. Banks would
take second, meaning a trip for
the neighboring county to the
State Duals next week. North
Oconee took third and Dawson
County took fourth.
Thurmond said what he
STRONG MOVE
Isaac Kelley (top) puts a hold on an opponent at a recent match.
Photo by A! McLeod
enjoyed about the tournament
was that he had a good chance
for a lot of his kids to wrestle,
“We wrestled pretty much
most of our Varsity and JV
throughout the tournament,” he
said. “Just about everybody
on our team got a match, and
everybody wrestled real well.
We were proud of that.”
Thurmond said the win was a
team effort.
“We've got some of our
experienced wrestlers that are
wrestling well right now,” he
said. “We have some of our
younger guys that are stepping
up and doing a good job too.
It’s pretty much a team effort at
this point. We'll kind of break
away from that a little bit after
this weekend, not that it's not
a team effort. If you’re going
to win a state championship,
whether it’s duals or tradition-
als, you have to have every
body running on all cylinders.
It’s kind of a different situation
this week say than in the sev
eral weeks following that.”
Thurmond said right now
they just want to keep every
body healthy.
“Hopefully nobody gets sick
or gets hurt,” he said.
The team will travel to
Macon on Thursday, with
weigh in scheduled for Friday
morning. Wrestling kicks off
around noon Friday. Jefferson
is slated to wrestle their first
match against Fitzgerald.
JHS BOYS BASKETBALL
Dragons
fall to Tigers in Commerce
By Brandon Reed
IT WAS not the result
the Jefferson Dragons had
hoped for in their most recent
match up with in-county rival
Commerce.
The Dragons found them
selves in a rare position Friday
night - on the losing end of a
score against the Tigers. It
was the first such loss in 10
years.
Jefferson has to shake that
off now and look ahead to
region play, as they will travel
to Oglethorpe County Friday
night to face the Patriots.
Oglethorpe enters play this
week with a 3-4 overall
record, and winless in region
play. Tip-off is scheduled for
7:30 p.m.
COMMERCE
After Friday night's region
pairing with Banks County
was postponed due to inclem
ent weather, the Dragons
of Jefferson traveled to
Commerce to face their arch
rivals, the Tigers in a non
region game.
Commerce took control
early, holding an 11-6 lead
with about three minutes left
in the first quarter. But the
Dragons began moving the
SHOOT IT
Jefferson’s Tyler Bailey puts up a shot during Saturday’s game at Commerce.
Photo by Justin Poole
ball, and picked up 13 points
while holding the Tigers
scoreless to take a 19-11 lead
by the end of the first quarter.
The Dragons would continue
to control the game, allowing
the Tigers to score only 11
points while they added 13
to their lead to take a 32-22
advantage into halftime.
Commerce began coming on
strong in
the third
quarter,
hold
ing the
Dragons
to eight
points while they scored 13,
closing the lead down to five
points, 40-35, by the end of
the third.
Coach Bolling DuBose said
that from about the six-minute
mark in the second quarter on,
Commerce “totally outplayed
us.”
Coming up:
WHAT: JHS @
Oglethorpe Co.
WHERE: Lexington
WHEN: Jan. 15 @
7 p.m.
“I don't know if it's a situa
tion where we got that 15-point
lead, and here's a team that
we had beaten (before) ...
we quit running with the ball,
quit playing hard on defense
and from that point on, they
outplayed us. They played
harder and they played better
together than we did.
“The entire second half, I
felt like we were stagnant on
defense. We never ran the
ball, we never pushed it down
the floor.”
Commerce's surge would
continue in the fourth quar
ter, with Commerce tying the
game with about two minutes
See Dragons on page 6B
JCCHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
GET OPEN
Emily Elrod looks for someone to pass to during a
recent game. Photo by Brandon Reed
Lady Panthers split
Habersham, Elbert games
By Brandon Reed
AFTER A strong start to
the new year with a victory
over Habersham Central, the
Jackson County Fady Panthers
hit a bump in the regional road
this past Friday by dropping a
loss to Elbert County.
The Lady Panthers now look
ahead to
their next
region
pairing,
as they’ll
play
host to
Oconee County this Friday.
The Lady Warriors enter play
this week with a 9-4 overall
record and 2-1 in the region.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7
p.m.
HABERSHAM
The Lady Panthers began
play last week with a non
region pairing at home against
AUTO RACING
the Lady Raiders of Habersham
Central on Tuesday.
Jackson County took con
trol early, moving out to a
15-point advantage at one
point. Despite a slowdown
late in the fourth quarter, the
Lady Panthers went on to win
43-38.
Bree Drew led in scor
ing with 19 points and 10
rebounds on the night. Emily
Elrod had four steals, three
deflections and four assists.
“I was real pleased with all
of the game except for the
last part, where we seemed to
coast home,” said coach Chad
Pittman. “At that point, you
want to drop the hammer and
put the game away.”
“After coming off those two
games at Christmas, we were
looking to jump-start the sec
ond half of the season with a
See JCCHS on page 6B
Coming up:
WHAT: JCCHS vs
Oconee Co.
WHERE: JCCHS
WHEN: Jan. 15 @
7 p.m.
READY FOR 2010
Gresham Motorsports Park will play host to 12 events
in 2010, including a NASCAR Camping World Series
East event in August. Photo courtesy GMP media
Gresham releases
2010 race schedule
GRESHAM MOTORSPORTS Park has announced its 2010
stock car racing schedule - a mix of national, regional and
local events - to be contested on the facility's all-new half-mile
oval.
Headlining the 12-race calendar is a NASCAR Camping
World Series East race on Saturday, August 28. The event marks
a return of NASCAR to the track that originally opened with
a NASCAR Late Model Sportsman (now Nationwide) race in
1967.
Also joining the Gresham Motorsports Park mix of 2010
events will be two USARacing Pro Cup races. The former
Hooters Pro Cup division - a staple at GMP for years when the
track was known as Peach State Speedway - will take to the
Gresham Motorsports Park high banks Saturday, March 27 and
Saturday, October 23.
Not to be overlooked, GMP’s signature event - The World
Crown 300 - will return again in 2010 with a new format. The
27th-Annual race will be contested November 11-14 and will
feature more bang for the buck with the return of the Super Late
Model division as the featured attraction in the 300-lap headline
event.
The Pro Late Models will again be a part of the World Crown
300 schedule events competing in a 150-lap feature on Saturday,
November 13. That event - which will also have a Truck divi
sion feature - is expected to draw a top field of cars including
four-time and defending World Crown 300 champion Paul
See Speedway on page 6B