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The Jackson Herald
www.mamstreetnewssports.com
FOOTBALL, 6B
A RECAP
OF SPRING
PRACTICE
TRACK, 4B-5B
SEE PHOTOS
FROM THE
STATE TRACK
AND FIELD MEETS
May 17, 2017
Phone: (706) 367-5233
Fax: (70S) 387-5417
sports@mainstreetnews. com
Section B
Track and field
Jefferson hires six-time state champion track and field coach
By Ben Munro
Jefferson High School has filled
its boys’ track and field vacancy
with a coach possessing a long and
championship-filled resume.
The Jefferson Board of Educa
tion on Thursday approved the hire
of six-time state champion coach
Brady Sigler, who has won titles
at Columbia (two). Elbert Coun
ty (three) and Washington-Wilkes
(one) in a career that’s spanned over
four decades.
Sigler said he’s long been famil
iar with the Jefferson track and field
program.
“I’ve been going to Jefferson
since the ‘70s,” he said, referring
the annual state meet that was held
for decades at Memorial Stadium.
“ ... Jefferson is like the track cap
ital of Georgia in some respects.”
Sigler was inducted into the
state’s track and field/cross country
coaching hall of fame in 2012. He
also coached in college, working at
Mercer University in the early and
mid 1970s.
Sigler served as an assistant track
coach this past year at East Jackson
under another hall of famer, Tomy
Sitton, while also working as an
assistant football coach there.
Sigler has ties to Jefferson super
intendent John Jackson, coaching
track and field at Elbert County in
the 1990s while Jackson served
as principal at the school and T.
McFerrin was Elbert County’s foot
ball coach (Jackson would later lure
McFerrin to Jefferson as its football
coach from 2009-2012).
“He’s a fantastic guy to work
with,” Sigler said of Jackson.
Sigler has also been a longtime
assistant football coach and even
served as a head football coach at
Madison County (1986-1989) and
Elbert County (1997-1998).
Sigler last worked as a head track
and field coach while at Washing
ton-Wilkes. where he won a state
title in 2002. He retired from coach
ing track and field and football
when his children reached middle
school but returned as a volun
teer track and field coach at North
Oconee when his kids entered high
school.
He then returned to coaching
football this past season as a defen
sive coordinator at East Jackson and
then assisted Sitton in track and field.
continued on Page 3B
Spring football
Panthers
drop spring
game, 33-12
By Ken Gustafson
Barrow News-Journal
It was the culmination of
spring practice, the spring game
for the Jackson County football
team against Winder-Barrow.
It was the last chance before
summer workouts and fall prac
tice for both teams to perfect
what they had practiced and to
work out the kinks. Winder-Bar
row showed its firepower by
scoring three touchdowns in the
first half and two in the second
en route to a 33-12 win Saturday
at W. Clair Harris Stadium.
Despite the loss, Jackson
County coach Brandon Worley
was not worried or disappointed.
“It’s evaluation going into the
summer,” he said. “We know
what we need to work on now
... the things that we struggled
with, the things we did well,”
Worley said. “We learned a lit
tle bit more about who we are.
I think we build upon that and
we get better at some certain
things. We’re going to be fine.
We played a good football team.
We’re a (AAA) school. They’re
a (AAA A A A) school. We’ll be
fine going into the season. We
have some kids playing both
ways. We have to get in shape
and we’ll do that. It’s early. It’s
spring. We’ve had nine days of
practice pretty much. I'm super
excited about our kids.”
After receiving the opening
kickoff, the Bulldoggs immedi
ately moved the ball down into
Jackson County territory. The
drive stalled for Winder-Barrow,
but on fourth down from the
20-yard line, quarterback Brock
Landis found Trace Wells in the
end zone for a touchdown, giv
ing the Bulldoggs an early 7-0
lead.
However, almost immediate
ly. the Panthers responded when
running back Noah Venable
broke through the Winder-Bar
row defense and scampered for
a long touchdown run. But the
continued on Page 3B
SIX-TIME CHAMP
East Jackson’s Chase Kennedy (right) capped a stellar high school running career by claiming
his sixth state championship between track and cross country competition with a victory in
the Class AAA 3,200 meters. He will run at Kennesaw State next year. Photo by Charles Phelps
Track and field
Exiting on top
Kennedy caps career with state title
By Ben Munro and Charles Phelps
Chase Kennedy’s high school running career
ended in a familiar spot — him standing atop the
podium.
In his final race, the Eagle senior ran to a first-
place finish in the Class AAA 3,200 meters in
Albany on Friday with a time of 9:40.45, just over
two seconds ahead of runner-up Will Wallace from
Westminster. The title was the sixth of Kennedy’s
illustrious East Jackson career, with three coming
in cross country and three in the 3,200 meters.
“I just knew that was my last one, so I needed to
make it special and try to hold him (Wallace) off
as best as I could,” Kennedy said. “I was fortunate
enough to do that.”
The victory completes a sweep in the state
3,200 for Kennedy over his final three high school
seasons. Kennedy, however, missed out the 1,600-
meter title that had eluded him throughout his
“I’m just thankful for the four
years I had with coach (Tomy)
Sitton and all my teammates,
they’re like family to me, and I
love all of them.”
— Chase Kennedy, Class AAA 3,200 meter
boys champion
career as he lost a late lead and finished fourth
(4:27.84).
Kennedy reflected on his career after his victory
in the 3,200 meters.
“I’m just thankful for the four years I had with
coach (Tomy) Sitton and all my teammates.
continued on Page 3B
Track and field
Second-place
finishers lead
Jefferson at
state meet
By Ben Munro
Two Jefferson track and field
athletes came away from the state
meet with runner-up performances
with still another year left to earn
the gold in their respective events.
Junior Clay Pender broke his own
school record in the 800 meters,
running a 1:55.56 on Saturday at
Berry College in Rome to take
second place in that event. Junior
Thomas Martin improved from an
1 lth-place finish at state last year to
take the runner up spot in the pole
vault, clearing a height of 12-6.
For Pender, this marked the sec
ond-straight year he set a school
record in the 800 meter finals at
state.
“Anytime you can run with that
type of performance, it’s always
huge,” Jefferson coach Tim Corbett
said.
Corbett noted that the compe
tition in the 800 meters was such
that Pender could have broken 1:55
and might not have cracked the top
three “because the quality was so
good.”
“He did it and got better and any
time you can PR at the end of the
year, that’s what you want, so it was
good stuff, and another year to go,”
Corbett said.
Pender also placed ninth in the
400 meters (50.12) for Jefferson,
which took seventh in the overall
standings with 30.25 points in its
first season in Class AAAA.
As for Martin, the vaulter said he
didn’t perform his best but noted
his improvement from last year’s
state meet.
“Compared to last year, when
I went 11th, it’s definitely a lot
better,” Martin said. “I didn’t jump
how I normally do. I didn’t hit any
PRs, but I'm happy to be in the
top two and next year come back
and hopefully win a state champi
onship.”
Martin said he plans to train over
the summer and perhaps take part
in some offseason competition in
hopes of winning the tide in 2018.
continued on Page 6B
Spring football
Dragons debut under Cathead in weather-shortened scrimmage
By Ben Munro
Jefferson football fans received a
glimpse — albeit an abbreviated one
— of the Dragons under new coach
Gene Cathcart.
Thanks to a rule passed by the
GHSA allowing schools to play other
programs for spring games, Jefferson
hosted Lakeside-Atlanta on Friday
and beat the Vikings 21-7 in a game
that lasted only three quarters due to
a lengthy weather delay.
Cathcart’s biggest issue with the
scrimmage was simply not having
enough time to get everyone on the
field as planned.
“You hate that you have a plan to
get all the kids in and that there’s a
whole quarter taken away from you
with weather.” said Cathcart, who
was promoted in January as Ben
Hall’s replacement. “There's a bunch
of kids we wanted to get particular
looks at and get on film to study.
Obviously, they’re leaving frustrated,
but it just couldn’t be helped.”
Bryce Moore threw a touchdown
pass to Zac Corbin, and Justin Cole
and Colby Clark both scored as well
as the Dragons finished off their
10-day spring practice season with
the win.
Players appreciated the opportuni
ty to play someone else.
“It was a blast,” Corbin said. “It
was worth all the practice over spring
and it felt great just to hit somebody
that’s not on your team.”
After three stalled offensive series
to start the game, Jefferson got on
the board with a 35-yard touchdown
pass from Moore to Corbin with 39
seconds left in the first quarter.
“It was just a great call by coach
Cathcart. and Bryce threw a great
ball down the sideline and it just
played perfectly.” Corbin said.
Moore set up the score by hitting
tight end Garmon Randolph down
the seam for a big 48-yard gainer.
Cathcart said Lakeside basically
forced Jefferson to throw the football
with the defensive looks it showed.
“I thought that Bryce came in and
threw the ball well and made some
big plays for us,” Cathcart said. “And
then I think we settled down, and got
into a rhythm.”
Cole scored from a yard out with
7:24 left in the second quarter, cap
ping a nine-play drive.
Play was then halted with 6:37 in
the second quarter due to lightning,
which was accompanied by rain. Fol
lowing a delay of approximately an
hour and a half, Clark scored on a
nine-yard run with 1:02 left in the
continued on Page 6B
BIG PLAY
Jefferson’s Zac Corbin (left) and Sammy Elegreet
(right) celebrate after Corbin hauls in a 35-yard
touchdown pass during the Dragons’ 21-7 scrim
mage win over Lakeside Friday. Photo by Ben Munro