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SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Unties
gainesvilletimes.com
Friday, November 16, 2018
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PAYOFFS I Second round
Credit for the hard work
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
North Hal’s JT Fair looks for running room against Chestatee on Aug. 18 in Gainesville.
North Halls offensive line the catalyst behind record stats
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Austin Sullens celebrates a fumble receovery during the scrimmage against Gainesville
on Aug. 10 at the Brickyard.
LAKE LANIER
FISHING REPORT
Bass will
respond
to better
conditions
BY ERIC ALDRICH
For The Times
Lake Lanier’s water level continues to
rise from the hard rains we had this past
week. At the time of this writing the lake
was at 1,071.53 or .53 above the normal
full pool of 1,071 and still rising. Lake sur
face temperatures are in the high 60’s.
The main lake and lower lake creeks
are slightly stained to stained from recent
rains and lake turnover.
The upper lake and rivers are very
stained to muddy from lake turnover and
rain inflow. The Chattahoochee below
Buford Dam remains very stained from
lake turnover.
Check generation schedules before
heading out to the river below Buford
Dam at 770-945-1466.
Bass fishing: Not many anglers have
been braving the rain, but that should
change as the weather clears over the
weekend. The lake has risen quickly and
the bass are on several different patterns.
We have started to concentrate on the
ditch bite this past week with good results.
A quality mapping chip is almost a neces
sity for this pattern, but I also like an old
fashioned hard copy to study beforehand
for the best ditches to target. Look for
long ditches that stretch from the creek
or river beds, all the way up to the shore
where the ditch enters the lake.
Start out early in the day by targeting
the shallow parts of the ditches with mov
ing lures. A Fish Head Spin, SPRO Little
John DD or a spinner bait are all good
lures to cast to the shallow parts of the
ditches early in the day. The bass will fol
low these ditches like we use highways.
They will trap bait early in the day in the
shallows against the bank, then follow
them back out to where they will spend
the majority of the day.
As the sun rises and the day progresses,
you can follow the bass back out deeper
in the 20 to 45-foot range close to the tim
berlines. Even though the fish may not
actively be feeding, they are suckers for
a shaky head or jig worked on the bottom.
Other lures like a drop shot rig or a jigging
spoon can also work for catching fish that
you see directly below the boat with your
Lowrance Electronics.
Other techniques are also working well.
Because the lake has risen from the tor
rential rains this week you may find the
fish shallow up around docks and along
rocky banks. You can cast an all-white
Mini Me spinner bait or a SPRO Little
John MD and work these lures up shallow.
Also, try casting a Big Bites Jerk Shad or
a Fluke to shallow docks that have deep
water close by. Skipping a shaky head
around docks and rocky banks in the
pockets will also work well to fool Lake
Lanier’s spotted and largemouth bass
population.
Striper fishing has been good, but
things are starting to change. The stripers
are hitting a variety of lures and several
different techniques are working. There
are still plenty of fish schooling on the sur
face and this has been my go-to pattern
for catching stripers in the fall.
Combat fishing is the term we anglers
use to describe several boats working the
same school of stripers as they chase shad
on the surface. It can get crazy when over
five boats are chasing the same school of
fish. Lines get crossed and tangled and
anglers’ tempers can flair. I prefer to find
a lone school of fish that we can have all
to ourselves. You can be assured that if
the fish are schooling in one area of the
lake that the same action is also happen
ing elsewhere.
It pays to come up to a school on the
trolling motor as opposed to running up
to the fish with your big motor. These
schooling fish seem to be targeting small
to medium-sized shad and blue backs.
Smaller shad imitators are out producing
■ Please see FISHING, 2B
Coming into a second-round playoff
game against Cedar Grove, the North
Hall High football program has already
enjoyed a record-breaking year offen
sively. The Trojans (9-2) have scored the
third-most points per game over a season
in school history and even broke the sin
gle-game mark for scrimmage yards ear
lier in the year.
And while much of that success has
come behind the production of skill posi
tion players like Daniel
Jackson and JT Fair,
there’s one unit that has
had a hand in every sin
gle yard gained this sea
son — the guys up front.
“When you play a
game, you’re going to
take at least 50 to 60
snaps, and in the Wing
T, you’re going to run it
about 50 times out of 60,”
North Hall coach David Bishop said. “So
just thinking about that, whatever percent
age that is just kind of gives you an idea
of the importance of those guys, know
ing what we’re doing
and knowing how we’re
doing it, and then being
able to execute.”
Whether it’s been
Jackson, Fair, quarter
back David Seavey or
any other of the Trojan’s
weapons carrying the
ball, the offensive line
of Logan Jackson, Dylan
Hughes, Nate Nixon,
Austin Sullens, Micah Holman and Seth
Carlton has been leading the way, doing
the dirty work while hardly garnering any
recognition for it.
“You’ve got to have just a different
type of mindset,” Bishop said of his line
men. “You’re never touching the football.
You’re never going to be called out on the
PA for doing something special. You live
behind the scenes. Most of your work daily
is grunt work.”
The members of that line have adopted
that “different mindset,” taking pride in
the work they do without getting the same
recognition as some of their peers.
“We’re really proud of what’s going on,”
said Hughes, the team’s starting center.
“We’re just happy to be a part of it and
be the driving force behind it, be the ones
that kind of open up stuff for the running
backs.”
The success North Hall’s offensive line
has found this year is a culmination of
hard work and team bonding, according
to Bishop.
The linemen, he says, are among the
most tight-knit groups on the team. No
matter what the Trojans are doing at
Second-round games
Today’s games
Class 5A
■ Buford vs. Kell, 7:30 p.m.
Class 3A
■ North Hall at Cedar Grove, 7 p.m.
Class A (private schools)
■ Riverside Military at Fellowship
Christian, 7:30 p.m.
practice, their a unit that is always
together, pushing each other to be better
and forming an identity that each tackle,
guard and center prides himself on main
taining on Friday nights.
“When we’re playing, we’re grit and
grind,” Logan Jackson, who plays right
■ Please see NORTH, 2B
Bishop
Seavey
For The Times
University of North Georgia cross country runners compete during a
2018 meet.
COLLEGE CROSS COUNTRY
North Georgia hosting NCAA
Regional races in Gainesville
After finishing second at the
Peach Belt Conference champion
ship race and successful bid with
the NCAA, the University of North
Georgia’s cross country team will
host the NCAA Division II South
east Regional, starting with the
men’s race at 9 a.m. Saturday, at
the school’s Gainesville campus. It
marks the first time Hall County has
hosted an NCAA postseason event.
North Georgia will run in the
women’s 6,000-meter race at 10:15
a.m.
The announcement came follow
ing a successful bid by North Geor
gia to the NCAA.
“North Georgia is honored to
receive the hosting bid, as it allows
us to showcase our Gainesville Cam
pus and the collaborative effort that
our team will put forward to give the
student-athletes the best possible
championship experience,” North
Georgia athletics director Lindsay
Reeves said.
This marks North Georgia’s 10th
regional appearance and seeks its
second trip to the national champi
onship race.
At the conference meet, Aleah
Johnson took fourth place with a
time of 18-minutes, 40-seconds,
while Bree Hammond finished sixth
(18:51). Johnson’s best mark this sea
son came with her third-place spot
at the Augusta University Jaguar
Invitational on Sept. 22.
North Georgia previously took
part in the national championship
race in 2014 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Compiled by Diana Lewis