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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010
Sports Shorts
12U girls’
basketball travel
team holding
tryouts Sunday
TRYOUTS FOR a 12-and-under
girls’ basketball travel team are
Sunday, Aug. 29, at the Jefferson
Recreation Department from 1-3 p.m.
For more information contact Sandy
Davis at 706-340-3927.
Send us
your sports
announcements
THOSE WANTING to publish infor
mation about camps, booster club
meetings, registration dates or other
community sports news can send
an announcement to The Jackson
Herald by emailing Ben Munro at
ben@mainstreetnews.com.
Submissions may be edited due to
space constraints.
Prep Football
White Co. At East Jackson, Fri., 7:30 p.m., Eagle Stadium
■ • • ■ ■' ■
HARD-RUNNING EAGLE
East Jackson’s Chas Malcolm looks for an opening in the defense during the
Eagles recent scrimmage against Johnson. Photo by Brandon Reed
East Jackson to war with Warriors
FAST START
The Jefferson Middle School A and B volleyball teams won their openers Saturday
at Oconee Middle School in their first matches of the season. The middle school
Dragons face Lakeview today (Wednesday) at 5 p.m.
Opinion
Prediction: UGA goes 8-4 this fall
By Brandon Reed
T’S BEEN almost eight months
since the East Jackson Eagles have
been on the gridiron against an
opponent under real game conditions.
The last time, the Eagles came up short
against Lovett in the second round of state
playoff action following the strongest sea
son in East Jackson's short history. That year
saw the Eagles go 10-2 overall and finish
as runner-up in region 8-AA to Jefferson.
The Eagles will charge out onto the
field Friday night looking to write a new
chapter in their school’s history books, as
they will start the 2010 season off against
the White County Warriors at home.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
The match-up with the Warriors will
be tough, but head coach Frank Caputo
said he and his team have “got pretty
much everything ready to go.”
“We've got to shore up a bunch of
scout reports on White County, but they're
such a good football team that I think it’s
going to be a big brawl,” he said. “I think
it’s going to be a heck of a game.”
Caputo said the Warriors are traditionally a big
team and that's what he expects Friday night.
“I know they've got a big quarterback,”
he said. “They’ve got a good-looking run
ning back that's already committed to
Kentucky. They’ve got some kids. In year's
past, they've had some big linemen. I don’t
know what they’ve got this time. We expect
it to be a very, very good football game.”
The Warriors come into Friday night off
of three straight winning seasons, having just
missed the playoffs with a 7-3 record last year.
“They’re going to be a hungry bunch,”
Caputo said. “Our kids just have to learn to
play within themselves and play our brand of
football. They have to realize it’s not going
to happen in the first quarter. It’s going to
be a four-quarter ballgame and whoever can
hang on there at the end, I think, is going to
win. We're just watching film and talking to
the kids about their mental preparations.”
While the Eagles hold the home
field advantage, Caputo said it's some
thing he’s never been big on.
“Other places I've been, we always played
well on the road and I think we’ve played
pretty well on the road here,” he said. “But for
the opener, I think it’s going to be a heck of
a good crowd, and we need all the hollering
and support we can get. I think in this case, I
think it will be to our advantage Friday night.”
Caputo said there were several pleasant sur
prises in the recent scrimmage against Johnson
that he's looking forward to seeing Friday night.
“I want to see how well Cody (Gibbs,
quarterback) is going to do in a game type
situation,” he said. “We’ve got some kids
being replaced in some key spots, and I’m
interested to see how they're going to do. I'm
also interested in seeing how some of the older
kids that have lettered in the past and have
started in the past are going to handle this situ
ation without the guys we had last year.”
Caputo said the excitement level for
opening night will grow among his play
ers as the big night approaches.
“As the week goes on, we start doing
some stuff and start talking more about
the mental preparation of it. I feel like
by Friday, they'll be ready to go.”
That excitement level also extends
to Caputo and his staff.
“We’ve been waiting a year to get back
going,” Caputo said. “This is what we
do as coaches. I think all the coaches are
starting to get emotionally and mentally
charged. We’re going to welcome this sea
son with open arms and do the best we
can, and hopefully have a good season.
“Every day is a new adventure.”
THE UNIVERSITY of Georgia's recent
football history can be summed up in four
simple words: Good but not great.
The Bulldogs have won at least eight games 13
seasons running and claimed two SEC titles over
the last eight years, but, alas, no national tide.
And that’s the argument that Georgia crit
ics will continue to use against the Bulldogs
whenever their place in the college football
hierarchy is discussed.
In fact, an Orlando
Sentinel columnist
recendy called Georgia
the most overrated
program of all time.
With Georgia start
ing a new quarterback
and breaking in a new
defense, it's safe to say
UGA's next national title
won’t come this year.
The Bulldogs look like
an eight-win team, which
is well, good but not great.
Here’s a game-by-game breakdown
of how the year will play out:
•Georgia vs. Louisiana-Lafayette: The
Bulldogs will play it close to the vest in the
opener, settling for a lot of Blair Walsh field
goals. Georgia 33, Louisiana-Lafayette 14
•Georgia at South Carolina: Georgia
has narrowly escaped the Gamecocks the
last two years, and the luck runs out this
time. South Carolina 27, Georgia 14
•Georgia vs. Arkansas: Coming off a
disappointment against Carolina, Murray
breaks out against the Hogs, and Georgia
will play just enough defense to contain
Ryan Mallet. Georgia 30, Arkansas 27
•Georgia at Mississippi State: The trip to
“Starkvegas” has all the makings of a disaster.
Mississippi State came within inches of upsetting
LSU last year and hung with Florida. Georgia
survives, barely. Georgia 17, Mississippi St. 14
•Georgia at Colorado: A cross
country, high-altitude trip to Boulder
will be arduous — even if Colorado isn’t
that good. Georgia 20, Colorado 7
•Georgia vs. Tennessee: Vince Dooley's
son, Derek, comes to Athens wearing
Vol orange, having heisted Georgia's top
recruit in February. Oh yeah, Georgia also
lost 45-19 last year to Tennessee. Dogs get
payback. Georgia 24, Tennessee 14
•Georgia vs. Vanderbilt: The Bulldogs his
torically underwhelm against the Commodores
but should have enough athletes to get by
Vandy. Georgia 31, Vanderbilt 17
•Georgia at Kentucky: Since beating the
Wildcats 45-13 in 2005, this series has turned
into one big straggle for Georgia, includ
ing two losses (2006 and 2009). Dogs win
a tough one. Georgia 21, Kentucky 20
•Georgia vs. Florida: Next.
Florida 34, Georgia 7
•Georgia vs. Idaho St.: Barring the worst day
in the history of Georgia athletics, the Bulldogs
beat Division I-AA Idaho State, which is 2-21
the past two seasons. Georgia 40, Idaho St. 13
•Georgia at Auburn: Watch out for the
War Eagles. Auburn may be even better
equipped on offense with expelled Florida
quarterback Cameron Newton at the con
trols. Georgia isn't beating Auburn five years
in a row either. Auburn 34, Georgia 20
•Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: As long as
Paul Johnson is the Jackets’ coach, there
will be a lot of back-and-forth in this series.
Georgia won last year. This time, it's Tech's
turn. Georgia Tech 28, Georgia 21
•Regular season record: 8-4
•Bowl: Outback
Ben Munro is a reporter for
The Jackson Herald,
Gresham continued from IB
The first event held there was
a NASCAR Sportsman division
race called the ‘Tiger 200,” in
honor of the Commerce Tigers'
football program. That event,
ironically enough, was won by
‘Tiger Tom” Pistone.
That event was followed in
1968 with a NASCAR Grand
National (now Sprint Cup) event
won by three-time NASCAR
champion Cale Yarborough.
In 1969, the late Bobby Isaac
piloted his Dodge to a win in the
same event at the track.
Years later, Darrell Waltrip
and Larry Pearson scored
Busch Grand National (now
Nationwide) series victories on
the Jefferson high banks.
The final NASCAR event
held at the track came in July of
1996, when Ron Young won a
NASCAR All-Pro event there.
And now, NASCAR is return
ing for its first national touring
event in several years.
“When you go back and look
at all the champions and great
drivers that competed at this
track when it was first built,
you have to have a sense of
pride about the people that
made NASCAR - and Gresham
Motorsports Park - what it is
today,” said Dan Elliott, gen
eral manager of Gresham
Motorsports Park. “We've have
such great NASCAR history
here and we know that with the
kind of NASCAR K&N Pro
Series drivers we have coming
here, that tradition is going to
carry on in the future.”
Darrell Wallace Jr., the most
recent winner on the K&N
Pro Series East tour, said the
main difference between one of
the series' racers and the Late
Models usually seen at Gresham
is amount of horsepower. A Late
Model generates around 400
horsepower, while the engine in
a K&N Series machine puts out
around 600 horsepower.
“That’s a lot more horsepower
and a lot more weight,” Wallace
Jr. said. “You’ve got to be easy
in and hard off, that’s the main
thing.”
Wallace, a two-time winner
in his first season on the K&N
Series tour, has never been to
Gresham.
“I’ve heard a lot about it, I’ve
heard it's going to be fast and
be fun,” he said. “I'm looking
forward to it.”
Wallace Jr. said last week that
he hasn't heard many compari
sons from his fellow competitors
of the track to any other facility.
“They haven’t said anything
to compare it to another track, so
I’m guessing it’s one of a kind,”
he said. “I like tracks like that. I
think it will be cool.”
Along with the K&N Series
East event, local events in the
Tracks, Renegades and Mini-
Stock divisions are also sched
uled.
Gates for Saturday’s event
opens at 11 a.m. Opening cer
emonies are slated for 6:45 p.m„
with racing beginning at 7:30
p.m. For more information, go
online to www.greshammotor-
sportspark.com or call 706-367-
9461.
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In Loving Memory of
KRISTI DIANE WOOD
8/30/73 - 5/29/00
IN OUR HEARTS
We thought of you in love today, but that is nothing new,
We thought of you yesterday, and days before that too.
We think of you in silence. We often speak your name,
Now all we have are memories,
and your picture in a frame.
Your memory is our keepsake with which we’ll never part.
God has you in His keeping. We have you in our hearts.
Love always,
Your Family
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