Newspaper Page Text
Inside: Florida
team leaves town
with Dizzy Dean
title — Page 4B
JULY 28,
2010
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Section B
LONGTIME COACH
T. McFerrin enters his 36th
season on the sidelines with
preseason practice starting
Monday,
Prep Football
Two-a-days now a thing of the past
Football practice
starts Monday
By Ben Munro
LAST YEAR marked a first
for Jefferson’s T. McFerrin in
his long and distinguished
career — no two-a-day foot
ball practices.
For McFerrin, who’s been
coaching since 1965, drop
ping that preseason routine
took some getting used to.
“You’ve got to really
maximize your time,” said
McFerrin, who noted that
his team was able to work-
in 24 practices last year
before its season opener.
“You’ve got to be really
organized.”
With school starting
much earlier now than in
the past, having two prac
tices a day to start pre
season camp has gone
by the wayside. Football
practice state-wide begins
Monday, and many teams
will go into full-practice
mode on day one.
Billy Kirk’s Jackson
County Panthers will tran
sition into a regular prac
tice schedule, complete
with helmets and pads,
when they return to the
practice field Monday.
“We will literally go into
a regular practice schedule
with the way we run our
offense, the way we run
our defense and the way
we run our special teams,”
Kirk said.
With preseason practice
time not what it used to
be. local teams make the
most of voluntary summer
workout time allowed by
the state.
See Practice on page 3B
PANTHER LEADER
Billy Kirk’s Jackson County Panther football team begins
practice Monday. Photo by Ben Munro
A COACH AND AUTHOR
Former Jefferson High School coach Jim Lofton has written a book that offers guidance for young coach
es. Lofton coached football for 50 years, 39 of which were as a head coach. Photo by Kerri Testament
Sharing the wisdom
College Football
Holton heading north to
continue football career
By Ben Munro
JONATHAN HOLTON is
determined to play college
football — even if that oppor
tunity is 800 miles away.
Holton, a former Jackson
County Comprehensive High
School tight end and outside
linebacker, has signed with
Monmouth College — a
Division IE school in Elinois
— fulfilling his wish to play
at the next level.
“I always wanted to play
college football, and I finally
get an opportunity and not
many of them come by, so I
plan on taking it whether it’s
a million miles away or right
down the road,” Holton said
Friday at a signing ceremony.
Wabash (Ind.), LaGrange
and Shorter colleges all
recruited Holton while in high
school, but he initially decided
to stay home to help take care
of his family instead of pursu
ing his college football goals.
“I had already told the other
schools that I was kind of
wanting to stay home, because
I live with my grandparents,
and supporting them and help
ing them out and helping my
sister out and stuff like that. I
wanted to stay home,” Holton
explained.
But when one last oppor
tunity to play college foot
ball arose - at Monmouth —
Holton decided he owed it to
himself to follow his dream.
‘This popped up, and I was
like, ‘I’ve got to go.’” Holton
said.
The former Panther thinks
being in an unfamiliar place
will actually strengthen his
focus on football. Of course,
home will always be there if
needs it.
“That’s what I got to
thinking,” Holton said. “I
can always go up there and
if I don’t like it, I can always
come home ... I’m thinking
I can just get away from
everything, go somewhere
totally new where I can start
over.”
In fact, Holton has a
chance to see the field as a
slot receiver at Monmouth,
noting that the Fighting
Scots - who play
See Holton on page 4B
Former Jefferson
football coach Jim
Lofton releases book
By Ben Munro
ormer Jefferson coach Jim
Lofton spent 50 years on
the sidelines, a tenure he
says “may or may not be a record.”
Either way, the well-traveled
coach had things he wanted to say.
Lofton, one of the winningest
and most well-known high
school football figures in the
state, has authored a book, So
you think you want to coach ...
The coach said the decades he
spent doubling as a classroom teach
er came in handy with this project.
“It was helpful that I was an
English teacher over the years,”
The Jim Lofton file
•Age: 81
•Career: Was a head coach at Jefferson
and six other schools during a 39-year
head coaching career in prep football,
winning 255 games and one state title
•Today: Lives in Gainesville and has
written a book “So You Think You Want
To Coach” as a guide for young coaches
said the 81-year-old Lofton,
who coached at Jefferson High
School from 1965-1974.
Lofton, who guided the Dragons
to a 70-28-6 record, three top-10
finishes and a 1971 region title,
will unveil his book Saturday at
North Hall High School at 9 a.m.
So you think you want to coach... is
a 105-page guide for young coaches,
incorporating Lofton’s half century
of experience in coaching. He spent
39 of those years as a head coach
for seven schools, during which he
won 255 games and one state title.
The picture that graces the cover of
the book is of Lofton on the shoul
ders of his players at Lee Academy
after winning a state champion
ship in Alabama in the 1970s.
Through his work at coaches’
clinics during his retirement, Lofton
noticed young coaches dealing with
a lot of the same problems in run
ning their teams. He wanted to help.
“In my years, I’ve dealt with most
of those things,” Lofton said. “I
had some answers, but there was so
much that, in preparing for another
clinic, it just ran into a book.”
In fact, Lofton said he felt an
“obligation” put words on the
page, given the role coaches
play in their players’ lives.
See Lofton on page 2B
HOLTON INKS WITH MONMOUTH
Former Jackson County Comprehensive High School
tight end and outside linebacker Jonathan Holton
has signed a football scholarship with Monmouth
College in Illinois. Pictured are (front row, L to R)
Jerry Holton Jr., Jonathan Holton, Peggy Holton,
(back) Brent Gilstrap, Joe Lancaster, Todd McGhee,
Carl Cole, Adam Lindsey and Billy Kirk.
STATE MEET STANDOUTS
This group of 8-and-under girls brought home two first-place relay fin
ishes, two additional relay medals and five individual medals, totaling
71 points for the team. Pictured are (L to R) Ally Kate Navas, McKenzie
Klinck, Sydney Bowles, Kylee Novicki, Sarah Beller, Logan Knight,
Audrey Mixon, and Gibbly Slappey. Not pictured Joanna Griffeth.
Youth Swimming
Fantastic finish: Sea Dragons fifth at state
THE JEFFERSON Sea Dragons’
swimming season came to a dra
matic close this past weekend at
the Georgia Recreation and Parks
Association Class B/C state swim
meet in Tifton, with the team fin
ishing fifth out of 30 squads.
Forty-two of the 44 Sea Dragons
at state earned medals. Swimmers
qualified for the Tifton meet by fin
ishing in the top three of an event
at district.
“I am very proud of this team
and the results from the state meet,”
coach Matt Grant said. “I am even
more proud of the team overall that
they showed good sportsmanship,
Swimming strong
•42 of the 44 Jefferson Sea Dragons
competing at the state meet in Tifton
over the weekend earned medals.
The team finished fifth overall
worked hard and made incredible
improvement in their swim tech
niques.”
Team administrator Chad Klink
praised the Sea Dragons’ work and
the parents’ support in getting the
program to where it is today.
“We did not import these swim
mers,” Klink said. “Most of the
kids have never competed in swim
ming before the Sea Dragons came
along. The kids have all worked
incredibly hard and the parents
have really bought into swimming
and the benefits of the sport.”
All swimmers 10-and-under
competed Friday and the older
swimmers on Saturday. The morn
ing preliminaries have at least 16
swimmers or teams in each event.
The top eight then go to the after
noon finals.
Prior to the swimming events,
both days started a-30 team proces
sional ceremony into the pool,
See Sea Dragons on page 4B