SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Sftncs
gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
For The Times
Former Gainesville High offensive coordinator Michael
Perry, center, poses for a photo with quarterbacks Deshaun
Watson, left, and Mikey Gonzalez, right, during the 2013
season. Perry is the new head coach at East Hall.
Perry hired as East Hall coach
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
New leader of Vikings’program spent
10 years on staff at Gainesville High
BY SARAH WOODALL
swoodall@gainesvilletimes.com
Michael Perry’s hiring as East Hall’s
next head football coach was approved
by the Hall County Board of Educa
tion on Monday. But a congratulatory
message received from a former pupil
— Gainesville’s “hometown hero” —
made Perry’s return to Hall County
feel all-the-more official.
Days prior to the board’s approval,
Perry delivered the news to his close
friend and the former record-setting
Red Elephants quarterback Deshaun
Watson, who went on to be a two-time
Heisman Trophy finalist and now
starts for the Houston Texans. Wat
son replied, expressing excitement in
Perry returning to an area where both
got their starts.
Perry, also a Gainesville High gradu
ate and 11-year member of the Red
Elephants coaching staff, spent the past
two years as head coach at Centennial
High in Roswell.
“I always saw (East Hall) as a dia
mond in the rough,” said Perry. “To
have all this tradition, especially in bas
ketball, they’ve had some great years
in the past, in the 80s and 90s in foot
ball. I am gonna do everything I can
to get East Hall football back where it
needs to be.”
Perry’s contract will be effective
Jan. 2 and he joins his wife, Elia, in the
Hall County school system as a special
education teacher.
“I’m really excited, No. 1 to be bring
ing him into our program and what he
brings to it, with the experiences he’s
had and the success he’s had at dif
ferent stops,” East Hall principal Jeff
■ Please see PERRY, 2B
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL I East Hall boys 76, Cherokee Bluff 64
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
East Hall’s Cam Cheeks attempts to block Cherokee Bluff’s Jaylon Justice’s shot during Tuesday’s game in Flowery Branch.
Curry, Rucker big part of helping East
Hall close out win over Cherokee Bluff
HIGH SCHOOL
SCOREBOARD
Chestatee
girls win in
overtime
Maggie McNair nailed two overtime free
throws for the Chestatee High girls basket
ball team in a 48-46 win against Marist on
Tuesday night in Gainesville.
Christina Garcia tallied 13 points for the
Lady War Eagles (6-5), while Nicole Sed-
wick scored 11.
Next up, Chestatee hosts West Hall at 7
p.m. on Friday.
FLOWERY BRANCH GIRLS 65,
BLESSED TRINITY 32: Ashley Woodroffe
scored a team-high 14 points for the Lady
Falcons. Also for Flowery Branch (6-1),
Caroline Wysocki and Shaina Kriews had
11 points apiece. Flowery Branch hosts
Denmark at 6 p.m. Friday.
BUFORD GIRLS 48, HOLY INNO
CENTS 45: Tate Walters led the Lady
Wolves (7-0) with 19 points.
On Friday, Buford faces Norcross in the
Atlanta Hawks Naismith Classic at 7 p.m.
GREATER ATLANTA CHRISTIAN
GIRLS 61, NORTH HALL 54: Grace Holli-
field paced the Lady Trojans with 22 points.
Also for North Hall (5-3, 2-1 Region 7-3A)
Ansleigh Ferguson finished with 14 points
and 12 rebounds for a double-double.
North Hall hosts Dawson County at 7 p.m.
on Friday in Gainesville.
WRESTLING
RIVERSIDE MILITARY ACADEMY
48, WHITE COUNTY 24: Connor Davis
(106 pounds), Greg Stone (132), Jacob Cook
(148), Winston Permenter (152), Shing
Wang Moon (171), Mason Payne (182)
and Lauren McDonald (240) all won their
weight class for the Eagles on Tuesday.
Compiled by Diana Lewis
High School sports can be reported each
night by 10:30 p.m. by calling 770-718-3409
or email sports@gainesvilletimes.com
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
Nominations for Gainesville
High’s inaugural Hall of
Fame class due by Jan. 1
The deadline to nominate players for the
Gainesville High athletics Hall of Fame is
Jan. 1.
The eight-member inaugural class (six
athletes, one team and one athletic sup
porter) will be inducted during a ceremony
April 20 at Scott’s Downtown in Gainesville.
To be eligible, a candidate must have grad
uated from either Gainesville High School
or the former E.E. Butler and Fair Street
high schools no less than 10 years before
induction.
Nomination forms are available at
the school’s athletics website: www.
gainesvilleredelephantathletics.com.
For more information, contact Gaines
ville athletics director Adam Lindsey at
adam.lindsey@gcsskl2.net.
Compiled by Bill Murphy
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
East Hall’s Kylan Curry and Jayvion
Rucker provided the boost it needed
Tuesday.
Locked in a region battle against
Cherokee Bluff in Flowery Branch, the
two seniors combined for nine points
in the final period as the Vikings (6-3,
3-0 Region 7-3A) pulled away for a
76-64 win.
Down the stretch, East Hall went on
a 10-2 scoring run, while keeping the
Bears from hitting a field goal over a
five-minute stretch.
“Man, I’ll tell you what, I am so
proud of these guys,” East Hall coach
Seth Thompson said. “.. For our pro
gram, for where we are right now, this
puts us in a great position moving for
ward. It’s good. I’m just so excited.”
Curry led the Vikings in scoring with
20, and Rucker scored 18 while con
tributing six blocks and a pair of steals
defensively.
Cherokee Bluff (4-4, 1-2) got 13
points each from guards Griffin Nev
ille and Bosko Norman.
The teams played largely even
basketball through three quarters,
starting in a heavily offensive open
ing frame. East Hall’s TJ Campbell
got things going with a 3-pointer just
five seconds into the game that led to
a flurry of made 3s from both teams.
Four consecutive free throws from
Cherokee Bluff’s Devon Wainer and
Jaylon Justice briefly gave the Bears
a four-point lead late in the period,
but a 6-0 East Hall run to end the
quarter put the visitors back on top.
The Vikings never struggled to put up
points throughout the frame, despite
■ Please see EAST, 2B
East Hall’s Kylan Curry fires off a shot against
Cherokee Bluff on Tuesday in Flowery Branch.
Vikings continue to roll
GOLF
Let s look at the best shot with each club in 2018 season
Brooks Koepka used a 9-iron on
consecutive full swings in the final
round at Shinnecock Hills. One led
to birdie, the other led to par. Both
were crucial in making him the
first back-to-back U.S. Open cham
pion in 29 years.
Tiger Woods showed glimpses
of being back on his game with a
long iron and a short one. Tony
Finau hit one of the luckiest shots
in Ryder Cup history.
They were among the memo
rable shots using all 14 clubs in
the bag, from driver to putter, that
helped shape 2018 on the PGA
Tour.
DRIVER: Dustin Johnson hit
the best shot he never saw. His
DOUG FERGUSON
dferguson@ap.org
driver on the 433-yard 12th hole
at Kapalua disappeared over a
steep slope and finally stopped
rolling 6 inches in front of the cup.
It didn’t factor in the outcome —
Johnson won by eight shots — but
it sparked a new round of debate
on distance, even though the wind
was at his back and the last 120
yards are downhill with the grain.
It didn’t help that Johnson said
he caught it a little thin. He was
joking.
3-WOOD: Hideki Matsuyama
might have hit an even longer shot
with his 3-wood, except the Barry
Burn got in the way. Matsuyama’s
tee shot on the 10th hole at Car
noustie in the first round of the
British Open went an estimated
405 yards before it dropped over
the edge and into the water. “I
couldn’t believe it,” Matsuyama
said. It was an example of how
tough an Open can play when
players have to guess how far the
ball will roll on a fast links.
5-WOOD: Justin
Thomas was 259 yards
from the hole on the par-5
18th in a playoff at the
Honda Classic.
He went with 5-wood,
which he thought was
enough until he started
farther right than he
wanted. It was getting
dark, and Thomas couldn’t see.
“All I was looking at was the water
to see if it splashed,” he said. It
didn’t. He saw a tiny white dot on
the green, and the two-putt birdie
on the par-5 18th gave Thomas the
win.
3-IRON: Just about every tour
nament brought a moment that
indicated Woods was
back to being Woods. One
of those moments was
the opening round of the
BMW Championship at
rain-softened Aronimink.
From 242 yards on the
par-5 16th, Woods hit a
3-iron high and straight.
It landed 8 feet in front of
the hole and stopped 5 feet next to
the pin for an eagle on his way to
a 62. It was the first time he had at
least a share of the lead after any
round in five years.
4-IRON: Koepka had a one-shot
lead with three holes to play in the
■ Please see GOLF, 2B
Woods
