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Inside: Lady Eagles beat Banks Co. — page 3B
FEBRUARY 3,
2009
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Section B
JCCHS BOYS BASKETBALL
AUTO RACING
Panthers defeat Stephens County
By Brandon Reed
THE JACKSON County
Panthers finally snapped an
eight game slide last week with
a victory over the Stephens
County Indians this past
Saturday.
The Panthers hope to carry
the momentum of that win into
the last four regular season
games. They will travel Friday
night to Oconee County to face
the Warriors.
Oconee enters the week 2-6
in the region and 7-10 overall.
They won in their last meeting
with the Panthers, 55-40, back
on Jan. 15.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30
p.m.
FRANKLIN CO.
The Panthers started their
week off with a home stand
against the Lions of Franklin
County last Tuesday.
Jackson County took control
of what promised to be a close
game early on, putting them
selves up by one, 7-6, by the
end of the first quarter. They
stretched out their lead over the
Lions in the second quarter to
a four-point advantage, leading
15-11 going into the half.
But in the third quarter, the
wheels came off for Jackson
County.
They
were held
to only
three
points
over the
course of the next eight minutes
while Franklin County piled on
23 points to take a 34-18 lead
by the end of the quarter. The
Panthers were able to regain a
little of their momentum in the
fourth quarter, but not enough
to mount a serious challenge
Coming up:
WHAT: JCCHS @
Oconee Co.
WHERE: Oconee
WHEN: Feb. 5 @
8:30 p.m.
COMING THROUGH
Jackson County’s Joseph Smith looks for an opening around a Stephens County
defender during Friday night’s game. Photo by Brandon Reed
as the Lions went on to win
43-30.
Nick Oney led the Panthers
in scoring with 11 points.
Joseph Smith scored eight.
“As you can see, we fell apart
in the third quarter,” said coach
Britt Beaver. “We knew they
would be bringing pressure and
yet we did not handle it well
despite being well prepared.
We had a lot of open looks, but
could not make shots.”
STEPHENS CO.
Up next was a Friday night
matchup in Jefferson, as the
Panthers played host to the
Indians of Stephens County.
Jackson County took control
of the game in a big way in
the first quarter, holding the
Indians to seven points while
they put 20 marks on the board
to take a 20-7 lead at the end of
the quarter. Stephens County
came to life in the second
quarter, and began slashing
the Panthers lead, moving to
within seven points as Jackson
County took a 30-23 lead into
the half.
The Panthers again took con
trol in the third quarter, moving
out to a 12-point advantage,
47-35, by the end of the quar
ter. They continued their drive
in the fourth quarter, adding
25 points to their total to come
away with a 72-57 victory.
Joseph Smith led in scoring
with 27 points. Alex Crawford
scored 15 points and had five
assists. Jonathan Holton scored
10 points and had 14 rebounds.
Juice Harrison scored nine
points and had 10 rebounds.
The Panthers also went 21
of 29 from the free throw line
as a team.
“This was a good team win as
everyone contributed,” Beaver
said. “We did a good job con
trolling the boards this game
and that is something we have
struggled with this season.”
The win gave Jackson
County a 2-8 region record
and 4-15 overall going into the
week.
The Panthers were slated
to travel to Elbert County
Tuesday. Results of that game
were unavailable at press time.
JHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lady Dragons defeat Commerce
By Brandon Reed
AFTER TWO wins and
a loss last week, the Lady
Dragons of Jefferson are now
within shouting distance of the
two region leaders with the
regular season winding down.
The Lady Dragons will host
their final home game of the
regular season Friday night, as
Oglethorpe County comes to
Jefferson on senior night.
The Lady Dragons were vic
torious in the last meeting of
the two teams, winning 50-16
back on Jan. 15.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6
p.m.
NORTH OCONEE
Jefferson played host last
Tuesday to the Lady Titans
of North Oconee. The game
proved to be a close one early
on, with North Oconee coming
away with a three-point lead,
11-8, by the end of the first
quarter. The Lady Dragons
began pushing their way back,
and by the half, Jefferson held
a slim advantage, 22-19.
The game would remain
close through the third quarter,
with the Lady Dragons main
taining a five-point advan
tage, 35-30, at the end of the
third. In the fourth quarter,
the Lady Titans made a strong
comeback, scoring 19 points
to Jefferson’s seven. The Lady
TAKE THE SHOT
Jefferson junior Kacy McDonald puts a shot up during Friday’s rematch against
Commerce. Photo by Blair Buffington
Dragons held the lead up to
with about a minute and a half
left, when North Oconee tied
the game, and then took the
lead. From there, the Lady
Titans moved away, winning
49-42.
Skylar Evanson led Jefferson
in scoring with 10 points on
the night. Rachel Goza scored
nine. Erin Knight scored
eight.
“I felt like we outplayed
them for
Coming up: three and
WHAT: JHS vs. a half
Oglethorpe Co. quarters,”
WHERE: JHS coach
WHEN: Feb. 5@6 Jason
p.m. Gibson
said. “We
just didn't finish the game. We
played hard, we did a lot of
things right, we just missed a
couple of opportunities in the
last few minutes of the game
to put it away.”
COMMERCE
The Lady Dragons were look
ing to rebound from Tuesday’s
win in a Friday matchup with
their longtime rivals, the Lady
Tigers of Commerce.
Jefferson took control
from the beginning, holding
Commerce scoreless in the
first quarter while taking a 9-0
lead. It was more of the same
in the second quarter, as the
Lady Tigers were held to six
points while Jefferson added
another 22 points to make it a
31-6 game going into the half.
The Lady Dragons contin
ued to control the game in
the second half, allowing
See JHS on page 3B
SPEEDFEST CHAMPION
Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane at Lanier National
Speedway. Photo by Finish Line Photography
Kyle Busch grabs
SpeedFest win at LNS
AFTER TAKING command around lap 150, NASCAR Sprint
Cup series regular Kyle Busch set sail and never looked back as he
cruised to his second straight SpeedFest Super Late Model victory
at Lanier National Speedway Sunday.
Busch held off charges from pole sitter and NASCAR Nationwide
series regular Steven Wallace and from Georgia racer Bubba
Pollard to take the victory.
The race wasn’t without its share of trouble, however. Braselton’s
Shane Sawyer got caught up in an incident with T.J. Reaid and
Jimmy Weller on lap 52 to bring out the caution. The yellow would
fly again on lap 88 when Nick Lay had an issue on the backstretch,
and again on lap 101 when Reaid spun on the backstretch.
In the meantime, Busch worked hard to hold off Pollard, Wallace
and Cale Gale. Dawsonville’s Chase Elliott, son of NASCAR
champion Bill Elliott, was also working his way into contention.
The race was halted for a break at the halfway point. The top
five were inverted for the restart, handing Gale the lead and rel
egating Busch to fifth place.
More trouble occurred on lap 129 when Dacula’s Russell
Fleeman and NASCAR regular David Stremme became involved
in an incident on the backstretch.
Busch would take the lead about 20 laps later, and never look
back, cruising to the victory ahead of Wallace, Jeff Fultz, Pollard
and Drew Brannon. Elliott, Donnie Wilson, Gale, Bobby Gill and
Johanna Long rounded out the top ten.
Busch was also a big part of the story of the Pro Late Model
event, which was held prior to the Super Late Model race.
Lawrenceville’s Casey Roderick, driving for Bill Elliott, held
the lead in the final laps, with Busch hounding him in second.
With seven laps to go, contact occurred between the two, sending
Roderick’s car spinning.
Race officials sent Busch to the back of the field on the restart,
handing the lead to Greg Simpson. Simpson would hang on foi
his second straight SpeedFest Pro Late Model victory, followed by
Dwayne Buggay in second and Shane Sawyer third.
JCCHS WRESTLING
HANG ON
Zach Moore puts a hold on an opponent at a recent
meet. Photo by Justin Poole
Mat Panthers ready
for Area tournament
TUESDAY NIGHT proved
to be another good one for
the Mat Panthers of Jackson
County, as they faced off
against Riverside Military
Academy, Oglethorpe County
and Monroe Area.
The Mat Panthers came
away victorious, not losing
a varsity match in any of the
three pairings. The only team
points given up by Jackson
County were due to forfeits.
Jackson County was next
slated to take part in the
Patriot Classic at Oglethorpe
County, but the meet was
cancelled due to inclement
weather.
The Mat Panthers now look
ahead to this weekend and the
Area Individual tournament
at Morgan County.
“We have a number of indi
viduals that should be com
peting for an Area title and an
even larger number that should
be advancing to Sectionals
next week,” said coach Jason
Powers. “I feel that we should
at least advance nine or 10
wrestlers into sectionals next
week just looking at how they
have wrestled against their
opponents so far this year.”
Powers
said that
as a team,
the Mat
Panthers
should
have a
great shot at winning the Area
tournament.
“We have a lot of strong
individuals that should be able
to come away with first or
second in the tournament and
the others should score points
through the wrestle backs,”
he said. “The key will be
being able to beat Eastside
in the head-to-head matchups
that we have against them.”
Coming up:
WHAT: Area Tradi
tional Tournament
WHERE: Morgan
Co.
WHEN: Feb. 5-6