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The True Citizen, Wednesday, November 25, 2020 — Page 9A
Q SPORTS
Bears finish regular season,
state playoffs begin Friday
James Mable brings in the Bears’ sole touchdown of the
night.
BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
Burke County wrapped up
its regular season last Friday,
losing to the Region 4-AAA
first place team, the Academy
of Richmond County (ARC),
36-10.
The loss brought the Bears’
region record to 3-3 but they
secured the fourth place seed
in the Georgia High School
Association (GHSA) playoffs
that begin this Friday, Nov.
27. Burke County will travel
to Blackshear, Georgia, to face
the Region 1 number one seed,
the Pierce County Bears.
Pierce County was 4-0 in
region play and 8-1 overall this
season. Their only loss was to
the current number one ranked
team in the state in AA, the
Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes.
“Pierce is pretty good,” said
Bears’ head coach Eric Parker.
“Those guys are a little bit
ahead of everybody else. But
it’s football, you’ve just got
to go down and play 48 min
utes of good football and who
knows, the ball may bounce
your way. You’ve just got to
put yourself in that position.
That’s our attitude going in.”
ARC’s Region 4 champion
ship is their first since 1976.
Thomson took second place
with their only loss coming to
ARC. Morgan County, who
lost to both ARC and Thom
son, took third place. Burke
County’s three region losses
were to the three top-finishing
teams.
This marks Parker’s 14th
straight post-season appear
ance with the Bears, having
made the playoffs every year
since he took the head coaching
job in 2007.
Last season, the Bears were
the number one seed fac
ing the number four-seeded
Americus-Sumter Panthers in
a rain-soaked Bear Den. Burke
County lost that game to exit
the playoffs in the first round.
“As I told the kids, we were
a one seed last year and got
beat by a four seed, you know,
things can happen,” Parker
said.
Friday’s matchup against
ARC (6-0 in region, 9-1 over
all) was a continuation of
the storyline for most of the
season: the Bears are a young
team, trying to gain experience
and learn from their mistakes.
“It’s kind of become a bro
ken record: we make too many
mistakes to win at this time of
year,” Parker said. “We did
some good things but we’re
not nearly as consistent as
we needed to be. Turnovers,
missed assignments, the fact
that they’re pretty good on
offense too; it’s just a combi
nation of things. I was really
hoping we could put together
48 minutes of quality football. I
feel like if we can ever do that,
we can compete.”
ARC’s talent and speed
aside, Burke County couldn’t
seem to get out of its own way
for much of the night. The
Bears were 6 of 13 on third
down conversions, threw two
interceptions, had one lost
fumble and several costly
penalties at inopportune times.
“You go back and you watch
the him and you show the kids
you just can’t consistently get
what you’re asking for and
what you need right now,”
Parker explained. “And it’s
not that the kids aren’t playing
hard, but they’re not playing
with a whole lot of confidence
and that shows some of the
time. It’s almost like you’re
waiting on the next bad thing
to happen and that causes you
to play a little slower than you
want to. But we’re going to be
alright with this group before
it’s over with.”
The Bears’ first drive against
ARC looked promising until it
ended with an interception just
outside of the red zone in Mus
keteers ’ territory. ARC then
drove 79 yards to score their
first touchdown. The point after
attempt was blocked by senior
Daveion Henry to keep it 6-0.
Two drives later, senior kick
er Jacob Hickman was good on
a 22-yard held goal attempt to
cut the Musketeers’ lead 6-3.
ARC scored on their next
two possessions however and
finally scored a two-point
conversion to go up 20-3 late
in the first half.
Senior James Mable scored
on a 35-yard pass from Mar
shall Flowers with just over
four minutes left in the third
quarter. Hickman’s pointer
after attempt was good and
the Bears had once again cut
ARC’s lead in half at 20-10.
Burke County would fail to
score in the second half while
ARC tacked on two more
touchdowns and two-point
conversions for the final score
of 36-10.
Tickets for the first round of
playoffs are $8 each and only
available for purchase thru the
GHSA website at www.ghsa.
net. Advance tickets will not
be sold at Burke County High
School and no tickets will be
sold at the Pierce County gate.
Kickoff for Friday’s game is set
for 7:30 p.m.
FCA Eagles off to great start
The Faith Christian Academy Eagles celebrated double victories to kick off basketball season.
The Lady Eagles defeated Trinity Christian 28-11, and the varsity boys also handed Trinity a
35-30 loss. In middle school sports, the boys fell 39-15.
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