Newspaper Page Text
The Jackson Herald
www.mamstreetnewssports.com
May 10, 2017
TRACK, 3B, 6B
LOCAL TEAMS
GEAR UP
FOR STATE
GOLF, 6B
SEE RECAPS OF
RECENT AREA
TOURNAMENT
ACTION
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Section B
ONE MORE TIME
Chase and Chandler Kennedy, shown here earlier
in their careers, will run their final races for East
Jackson this week at the state meet in Albany.
Photo by Ben Munro
Track and field
Nearing the final lap
College-bound
Kennedys look
for strong finish
to prep careers
By Ben Munro
East Jackson track and
field coach Tomy Sitton
used to give brothers Chase
and Chandler Kennedy
rides to and from school.
During those commutes,
the hall of fame coach
expressed his hope that
his young distance running
duo would go on to com
pete one day in college
— a vision that ultimately
came true with both sign
ing scholarships.
“I told them, ‘I’d like
for y’all to be able to go
on and run in college and
hopefully the college will
be able to help you,'” Sit
ton said. ‘‘That’s been a
big thing that I wanted for
them. They’ve meant a lot
to me and meant a lot to
the program.”
But before the Kennedy
twins turn the page to col
legiate running, they have
one more meet left to add
to their storied high school
careers. Both will compete
in the 1.600 and 3,200
meters at the state meet
Albany, which runs from
Thursday to Saturday.
Neither said they have
had the senior seasons they
would have liked.
But Chase, a five-time
state winner between track
and cross country, seeks
a three-peat in the 3,200
meters after turning in the
top time in the state in that
event this season. He also
seeks an elusive 1,600-
meter crown. For all his
accomplishments, he has
yet to take the gold in the
Class AAA mile. Make no
mistake, he wishes to rem
edy that.
‘‘That’s the main one I’ve
wanted,” Chase said. “If
I could give up the cross
country and two-mile state
championship, I would for
one of those.”
Chase points to a strate
gic and demanding race in
Albany.
“You're going to have
to go out hard to if you’re
going to win the mile,” he
said. “There’s a lot of good
people who have kicks in
there so you have to do
something to make your
self a part of it if you’re
not exactly the fastest one
out there.”
Meanwhile. Chandler
— whose resume includes
three state runner-up fin
ishes between track and
cross country - has been
saddled with an Achilles
injury that’s impacted his
continued on 2B
Girls’ basketball
Former Winder-Barrow
assistant named
Jackson Co. girls’ coach
By Ben Munro
Jackson County has
found its next girls’ bas
ketball coach, bringing in
an area assistant with pre
vious head coaching expe
rience.
The Jackson County
Board of Education on
Monday approved the
hire of Monty McClure,
an assistant boys' basket
ball coach at Winder-Bar
row who also served as
the school's head softball
coach.
“It's an opportunity to
be a head coach, and it’s
got a great reputation of
being a good school,”
McClure said of the fac
tors that attracted him to
the job.
McClure, who has four
children that will attend
high school where ever
he coaches, noted that
the Jackson County job is
closer to his home in Dan-
ielsville. It will also allow
him to focus on one sport.
McClure takes over as
Jackson County girls' head
coach after having had five
years of experience as a
boys' basketball coach at
Excel Christian Academy.
Jackson County athlet
ic director Adam Lindsey
said McClure was an ideal
fit for the athletic depart
ment.
“He definitely came
across as somebody who
could challenge our girls
and push them to be better
every day,” Lindsey said.
McClure is originally
from Marietta and attend
ed Lassiter High School
before playing college
basketball at Lee Univer
sity in Cleveland. Tenn.
MCCLURE
His first coaching job was
at Excel Christian, which
was just getting started.
Building the program
from the ground up,
McClure guided Excel to
a .500 record in region
play in his final year at the
school before moving on
to Winder-Barrow, where
he served as an assistant
boys’ basketball coach for
eight years and the head
softball coach for seven
years.
Lindsey said that
McClure “has a great
knowledge of basketball.”
“All the references that
I talked to about him just
raved on that it wouldn't
be long until he was a head
basketball coach again,”
Lindsay said.
McClure will teach spe
cial education at Jackson
County.
McClure takes over for
Julie McCutcheon, who
coached the Jackson Coun
ty girls for four seasons
and guided the program to
back-to-back state tourna
ment appearances in 2016
and 2017. McCutcheon
resigned back in March.
McClure will get started
with his team on May 25,
continued on 6B
CLASS AAAA SOCCER PLAYOFFS
REACHING THE FINAL FOUR
Jefferson’s Sommie Nixon fights for the ball on Tuesday night in the Dragons’ state semifinals loss
to Marist. Jefferson reached the Final Four with a victory over LaGrange that went down to PKs (see
page 4B for story). Photo by Ben Munro
A run to remember
Jefferson girls’ soccer team
By Ben Munro
One of the Jefferson girls’ favorite slogans from this season
was, “You define this team.”
This year's Dragon team will be defined by its historic
Final Four run, which came to a close on the road Tuesday
night with a 6-1 loss to top-ranked Marist.
“That’s what I told the girls,” McCarty said. “'You made
the Final Four. We were the last four out of 53 teams. What
can you say for that? I’m so proud of them.”
The game was tied until the 27th minute when Marist —
which has outscored its playoff opponents 29-1 — racked up
three goals in a six-minute span to take a 4-1 lead and assume
control of the game.
“We knew we had to match their intensity,” Marist coach
ends season in Final Four
PHOTOS: See action shots of Jefferson's Tuesday night Final
Four game with Marist on www.mainstreetnewssports.com
Chandler Yount said of Jefferson. “When you see what
they’ve done in the bracket, kind of being the underdog
coming in, we knew we were going to get their best shot,
and that’s what we got. I think our girls just kind of met that
intensity after the first few minutes.”
Jefferson weathered an early attack from the War Eagles
with goalkeeper Sophia LaMar recording a pair of saves in
the seventh minute. LaMar tallied six saves in the first half.
“Sophia played a heck of a game,” McCarty said.
continued on 6B
Spring football games
Local teams excited about playing other schools in spring games
By Ben Munro and
Charles Phelps
Call it Friday Night Lights,
the spring edition.
Thanks to a rule passed
by the Georgia High School
Association last year, foot
ball teams throughout the
state can host spring football
scrimmages against other
schools, a move that will cre
ate a more competitive atmo
sphere to spring practice,
“There’s no doubt, playing
a game at the end of spring
practice makes it more excit-
Coming up
•Jackson Co. at Winder-Barrow,
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
•Lakeside-Atlanta at Jefferson,
Friday, 7:30 p.m. (Admission $5)
ing for everybody,” Jackson
County coach Brandon Wor
ley said.
Worley's Panthers will
travel to Winder-Barrow on
Friday at 7:30 p.m., while
Jefferson will host Lake
side-Atlanta on Friday at
7:30 p.m. as well.
“It will be good for the
excitement level around the
game this time of year,” said
new Jefferson coach Gene
Cathcart, who takes over a
program that went 12-2 last
year. “For folks to be think
ing about football in a foot
ball community is always
good.”
Not everyone is taking the
GSHA up on the offer to play
another school in a spring
game. Neither East Jackson
or Commerce have plans to
scrimmage anyone.
New East Jackson coach
Scott Wilkins said he and
his coaches opted against a
spring scrimmage because
they were unsure of player
turnout for the spring. As it
turns out. the Eagles have
had 95 players, including
seventh graders, in practice.
“Had we known that our
numbers would be as they
are, we would have (played
one) without a doubt,”
Wilkins said.
Commerce opted for
inner-squad scrimmages.
Tiger coach Michael Brown
said scrimmaging another
team is not the best approach
for the team.
“We would rather spend
our time in the spring focus
ing on fundamentals and just
moving as slowly as we can,
rather than trying to get ready
for a game in nine days,” he
said.
Approximately 10 players
are still in spring sports, he
added.
“For us, the best approach
is a slower, more-detailed
approach. We're not worried
about scrimmaging some
body else.”
But for those choosing
to do so, it offers a unique
opportunity in the spring.
Worley, whose team went
3-8 a year ago but made the
state playoffs, used the term
“co-opetition” — competing
with each other—to describe
the normal atmosphere in
spring practice. Placing
another team in the equation
will add a different dynamic.
“It will be good to compete
continued on 6B