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Inside: East Jackson at Jefferson Friday — page 3B
JANUARY 20,
2010
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Section B
JCCHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
JHS WRESTLING
LEADING SCORER
Ashley Skelton, seen here from earlier action, led
the Lady Panthers in scoring against Archer with 24
points. Photo by Brandon Reed
Lady Panthers defeat
Archer, fall to Oconee Co.
By Brandon Reed
IT WAS an up and down week for Jackson County's Lady
Panthers, as they split region games with Archer and Oconee
County.
Next up is a big region pairing for the Lady Panthers, as they
will travel to Hartwell to face Hart County. The Lady Bulldogs
enter the week 3-2 in the region and 8-7 overall. Hart County
won the last two meetings of the two teams, back in February
and January of 2009.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
ARCHER
Looking to rebound from a region loss to Elbert County the
week before, the Lady Panthers played host last Tuesday to the
Lady Tigers of Archer looking to get back
in the win column.
Both teams seemed pretty equally
matched through the first half, with the
Lady Panthers edging out a 24-22 advan
tage at the half.
But in the third quarter, Jackson County
slammed the door on Archer. The Lady Panthers' defense came
to life, holding the Lady Tigers to just five points while they
added 25 to their total to make it 49-27 by the end of the quarter.
The Lady Panthers would go on to win handily, 61-38.
Ashley Skelton led in scoring on the night with 24 points, six
steals and seven rebounds. Victoria Fontana scored 15 points.
See Lady Panthers on page 2B
Coming up:
WHAT: JCCHS @
Hart Co.
WHERE: Hartwell
WHEN: Jan. 22 @
7 p.m.
JCCHS WRESTLING
STATE PERFORMER
Ryan Shekey, seen here from earlier action, went 2-3 on
the weekend at the State Duals in Macon.
Photo by Justin Poole
Mat Panthers take
sixth at state duals
IT WASN’T the week
end that the Mat Panthers of
Jackson County had hoped
for. After just missing against
Eastside in the area duals last
weekend, the Mat Panthers
were eliminated from the
State Duals by the Eagles on
Saturday, 42-24. That gave
the Panthers a sixth place fin
ish in the tournament.
The Panthers had defeated
Westover in the opening round
68-9, but fell to LaFayette
51-17 to go into the consola
tion bracket. Jackson County
then defeated Towers 44-24,
then won in a close contest
over West Laurens, 32-20,
before falling to Eastside.
Ryan Howe and Izzy Carillo-
Garcia went undefeated in
their weight classes on the
weekend.
Coming up: Howe
WHAT: Walhalla had three
Tournament pins while
WHERE: Walhalla, Carrillo-
S.C. Garcia had
WHEN: Jan. 23 four.
Charles
Smothers went 4-1 on the
weekend with two tech falls
and two pins. Jarmari Davis
went 4-1. Justin Brewer
See JCCHS on page 3B
Mat Dragons take state duals title
By Brandon Reed
IT WAS a showdown that
many had been waiting for,
as defending AA state dual
champion Jefferson faced
off against the number two
team in the state, Sonoraville,
to decide the state dual title
Saturday in Macon.
In the end, it was the Mat
Dragons coming away with
its ninth consecutive state dual
championship by defeating
Sonoraville 41-22.
Coach Doug Thurmond said
he knew Sonoraville had a real
good team going in. “We had
scouted them and we knew
they were going to be real
tough,” he added.
Thurmond said his team
stepped up and did “a real
good job.”
“The neat thing about the
state duals is that it’s definitely
a team effort,” he said. “That's
what we got out of our guys all
weekend. If one of our guys
seemed to have a really tough
person, the team stepped up
around him and supported him
a whole lot, but supported him
by doing well in their own
matches to help the team out.
“Sonoraville is solid from
top to bottom. They have no
STATE CHAMPS
Lucas Redd takes on an opponent during the State Duals in Macon over the week
end. The Mat Dragons picked up their ninth consecutive state dual title by defeating
Sonoraville on Saturday. Photo by At McLeod
weak spot, so we knew our
work was cut out for us.”
The win also means that
Jefferson remains undefeated
in state dual competition, as
only nine state dual tour
naments have been held in
Georgia.
The Mat Dragons opened
the tournament by defeating
Fitzgerald 64-10, then moved
on to face Benedictine, defeat
ing them 62-18. Jefferson then
went on to beat Lovett 66-12
in the semi-fmals before mov
ing on to defeat Sonoraville.
It’s the 18th state title for the
Jefferson wrestling program.
The Mat Dragons now start
working towards their next
goal, a 10th traditional state
tourna-
Coming up: ment The
WHAT: Sham Slam s j a t e ( ra .
WHERE: Haber- ditional
sham Co. meet will
WHEN: Jan. 22-23 be held
on Feb. 19
and 20.
“Our goal is to get them
through the next couple of
weeks without having any
sickness or injuries or any
thing like that and keep our
team healthy,” Thurmond said.
“The other thing is to start
shooting to put all 14 as best
we can in the state tourna
ment.
“That's what we'll be shoot
ing for.”
The road to the traditionals
started Tuesday, with Jefferson
playing host to West Hall and
White County. Results were
unavailable at press time.
Next up for the Mat Dragons
is the Sham Slam Invitational
at Habersham Central, which
takes place this Friday and
Saturday.
JHS BOYS BASKETBALL
Dragons undefeated in region play
TAKING A LOOK
Jefferson’s David Watson takes a shot during last week’s game against Oglethorpe
County. Watson scored scored 10 points in the game. Photo by At McLeod
By Brandon Reed
COMING OFF their first
loss to the Commerce Tigers
in 10 years, the Jefferson
Dragons rebounded by win
ning their next three region
pairings against Walnut Grove,
Oglethorpe County and Union
County last week.
The Dragons will next play
host to the Eagles of East
Jackson in an in-county rival
ry matchup on Friday.
The Eagles enter play this
week 3-3 in region play and
4-11 overall. The Dragons
will be looking to keep their
winning streak over the Eagles
alive, having won in both
games against East Jackson
last year.
Tip-off is scheduled for
8:30 p.m.
WALNUT GROVE
After a disappointing loss
to Commerce, the Jefferson
Coming up:
WHAT: JHS vs
EJCHS
WHERE: JHS
WHEN: Jan. 22 @
8:30 p.m.
hosted Walnut Grove in their
first region matchup of the
new year.
The Dragons took control
early, pulling out to a 19-9
lead by the end of the first
quarter. Jefferson held the
Warriors to eight points in
the second quarter and added
15 to their total to make it a
34-17 advantage going into
the half.
The Dragons continued to
control the game in the third
quarter, moving out to a 56-25
lead by the end of the quarter.
In the end, Jefferson came
away with a win over the
Warriors, 78-43.
Darius Minor led Jefferson
in scoring with 18 points
on the night. David Watson
scored 17 points. Dre Clark
scored 10.
It was the first win in their
sub-region for the Dragons of
the season.
“I thought our kids played
really, really well,” said coach
Bolling DuBose. “This was
the game coming off the loss
to Commerce. We told the
kids we’re going to put an
emphasis on defense. We
didn’t feel like defensively we
were stopping people from
doing what they wanted to
do. We kind of put a different
lineup out there. I told the
kids that we're going to play
See Dragons on page 3B
Dragons
looked
to get
back on
track last
Tuesday
as they