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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2023)
The Jackson Herald Sports www.mainstreetnewssports.com February 22, 2023 Phone:(706)367-5233 Fax:(706)387-5417 sports@mainstreetnews. com Section B Dragons win 5A traditional State Chavis and Cook crowned champions The Jefferson Dragons were recently crowned the 5A Traditional State Cham pions. This is the Dragons first year in the 5A Classi fication. The Dragons had sev en individuals in the finals and all seven won the title in their respective weight class. Roman Belardo, Chaz McDonald, Dallas Russell, Davis Dollar, Creed Thom as. Luke Cochran and Sam my Brown were all named State Champions for the Jefferson Dragons. Milly Hughes placed third at the State Tradition al tournament for the Lady Dragons, making her the first Lady Dragon to place at State for wrestling. Photo courtesy of Jefferson Athletics Twitter Page. Pictured above are members of the Jefferson wrestling team and their coach es. Lilly Chavis and Raven weekend. Cook set the school re- Cook were both recent- Chavis is now a 2x Cham- cord for being a 4x placer ly crowned GHSA State pion. setting the school re- at Jackson County and was Champions in their respec- cord at Jackson County and crowned a Champion this tive weight class this past a 3x placer. past weekend. Photos courtesy of JC Panther Wrestling Twitter Page. Pictured above is Raven Cook on the podium. Photo courtesy of the Jefferson Wrestling Instagram Page. Pictured above is Milly Hughes after placing third at State. Pictured above is Lilly Chavis on the podium after being crowned Champion. The Jefferson girls’ bas ketball team exited the state tournament earlier than usual, but Greg Brown is as proud as he’s been as a head coach. The top-seeded Dragons (10-18) fell to Cartersville 53-44 at home Tuesday (Feb. 21) in the first round of the Class AAAAA state tournament in a season during which they won a region title with a roster dominated by freshmen and sophomores. “I’m super proud of these kids from where we start ed to where we are now,” said Brown, who’s led the Dragons to four-straight region titles. “I don’t think many people would have said, ‘OK, you’re going to get a region championship and host a playoff game.’ Sure, we wanted to win like heck tonight and had our chances. The score, I think, is a little bit deceiv ing. I think it was a closer game than what the score ended up being. But I’m just super proud of these kids.” Brown added that his team — 1-9 at one point in the year — overcame its share of adversity to win a region title and reach the state tournament. “And they’re young kids doing it,” he said. Skylar Brady, a soph omore, paced Jefferson with 17 points in the sea son-ending loss. Turnovers played a role in Jefferson not advancing Young Dragons bow out of state tourney further. The Dragons’ mis- cues helped put them in a 10-point hole (21-11) mid way through the second quarter and again (33-23) midway through the third. “They’re very athletic,” Brown said of Cartersville. “They’re very deceiving. We just didn’t do a good job of taking care of it. It wasn’t even full-court pressure. It has half-court pressure, and we gave them some live-ball turnovers that turned into points.” Still, Jefferson made a second-half run. A traditional 3-point play from sophomore post player Eve Knight late in the third quarter cut Cartersville’s lead to 35- 32. Knight again pulled the Dragons within three points with a basket to open the fourth quarter, moving the score to 37-34. Knight finished with 12 points, 11 of which came in the second half. “We were able to go to her there in the third and fourth (quarters),” Brown said. “I felt like we had a little bit of an advantage. They were in a little bit of foul trouble ... That’s kind of when we made our run.” The Dragons remained in striking distance later in the quarter, down 42-36. But Cartersville’s Jakayah Draughn sank a 3-pointer, and Ansley Griffin fol lowed with an open-court steal and score as a six- point deficit quickly grew to 11 points with just over five minutes remaining. From there, Cartersville (17-10) led by double dig its until the game’s final moments. “We just couldn’t get the big stop,” Brown said. “We got some stops, but we couldn’t get the big one when we needed it to get it down one possession or tie it ... Give them credit. They hit some shots that were big.” Jefferson will graduate only one senior off its ros ter but will lose a leader in Makinley Stephenson. “She's been one of the best leaders I’ve ever had,” Brown said. “She doesn’t play a whole lot. She un derstands her role. Never complains about it but one of the finest young ladies and one of the finest lead ers we could have asked for to help lead this young group.” The Dragons now move on to 2023-24 returning 11 players from a region championship squad. “The future is real ly bright,” Brown said. “We’ve got some improv ing that we need to make, but we played a lot of young kids this year, and I’m proud of the fight that they showed.” Cartersville 53, Jeffer son 44 CHS 12 12 13 16—53 JCHS 5 15 12 12 — 44 Scoring (Jefferson): Brady 17, Knight 12, De- Witt 6, Hays 4, Billings 3, Aldridge 2 Photo by Ben Munro Jefferson’s Skylar Brady launches a 3-point shot in the Dragons’ 53-44 loss to Cartersville Tuesday (Feb. 21) in the first round of the state tournament. Brady finished with a team-high 17 points. * Photo by Ben Munro Emeri Billings races down the court Tuesday (Feb. 21) in the Dragons’ first- round state tournament loss to Cartersville. o
