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SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Sftncs
gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, December 15, 2018
HIGH SCHOOL
SCOREBOARD
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL I Chestatee boys 73, West Hall 65
Flowery
Branch
girls earn
84-21 win
The Flowery Branch High girls had four
scorers in double-digit points and Lady
Falcons coach Courtney Newton-Gonzalez
earned her 100th career win in an 84-21
victory against Denmark on Friday.
Leading the Lady Falcons (7-1, 4-0
Region 7-4A), Ashley Woodroffe scored
20 points, while Caroline Wysocki finished
with 15.
Ashley Scott had 13 points for Flowery
Branch, while Ashlee Locke chipped in 11.
On Wednesday, Flowery Branch faces
Upperman (Tenn.) in the Nike Tourna
ment of Champions in Phoenix.
LAKEVIEW ACADEMY GIRLS 57,
FRANKLIN (NC) 52: Eliza Snyder fin
ished with a team-high 22 points and four
rebounds Friday in Franklin, N.C. Also for
the Lady Lions (6-2), Jo Snyder and Jackie
Allen chipped in with 12 and nine points,
respectively.
Lakeview Academy hosts Rabun Gap at
4 p.m. on Tuesday.
FRANKLIN (NC) BOYS 61, LAKEY-
IEW ACADEMY 49: Adam Cottrell scored
26 points with seven rebounds and five
steals for the Lions (5-3) on Friday in
Franklin, N.C. On Satur-
day, Lakeview Academy
faces Maynard Jackson
at the Julio Jones Kia
Classic at 1 p.m. at the
Cobb Civic Center in
Smyrna.
LANIER CHRISTIAN
ACADEMY GIRLS 57,
KINGS ACADEMY 20:
Lexie Robertson scored a
game-high 14 points and three steals for the
Lady Lightning on Friday. Also for Lanier
Christian, Madison Hughes had seven
points and six rebounds.
On Saturday, Lanier Christian visits
Bethlehem Christian.
Cottrell
GAINESVILLE GIRLS 60, CLARKE
CENTRAL 42: Tia Shelton and Tija Black-
well both racked up 18 points for the Lady
Red Elephants. Also for Gainesville (6-3),
Lauren Teasley scored 13 points.
Gainesville visits Cedar Shoals at 6 p.m.
on Tuesday in Athens.
NORTH HALL GIRLS 58, DAWSON
COUNTY 55: Sophia D’Oliveira finished
with 10 points followed by Kaylee Sticker
with nine for the Lady Tigers (6-3, 2-1
Region 7-3A). Dawson County hosts Lump
kin County at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
NORCROSS GIRLS 63, BUFORD 56:
Tate Walters had 24 points for the Lady
Wolves (7-1) in the Naismith Classic Friday
night. Also in double figures, Ebony Grant
scored 10 points.
Buford faces Newton tonight in the
Gwinnett Daily Post Challenge at Archer
High.
High school scores can be reported by
10:30 p.m. each night by calling 770-718-
3415 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
Good push for War Eagles
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Chestatee’s Jonah Bull dribbles past West Hall’s Sawyer Passmore during Friday’s game in Gainesville.
Chestatee finishes strong for Region 7-4A win over West Hall
West Hall’s Devon Williams lays the ball up against Chestatee on Friday.
BY SARAH WOODALL
swoodall@gainesvilletimes.com
Between both squads, the boys basket
ball rivalry of Chestatee and West Hall as
of late has become a common theme.
And with the Spartans claiming the last
meeting convincingly during a Region
7-4A tournament play-in game Feb. 6,
and then using a scoring surge to erase an
eight-point deficit for 63-all inside the final
three minutes Friday night, Chestatee
knew what needed to be done.
This time, the War Eagles delivered.
Brenton Nicholson knocked down a
3-pointer — one of two for the period and
five in the game — with precision to put
Chestatee ahead, and the hosts made 7 of
8 from the free throw line to pull away for
a 73-65 win in Gainesville.
With the win, Strickland’s War Eagles
(8-3, 2-2 Region 7-4A) pick up their third
Hall County win of the season, with North
Hall next in line today.
“We’ve had really bad luck versus
them — I mean, I don’t mean luck, they
play really well,” Chestatee coach Kevin
Strickland said. “We always seem to
crumble at times against West Hall, so it
was good to get a win versus them. ”
Nicholson finished with 21 points for
Chestatee to lead all scorers and made
all his attempts from the charity stripe
(4 for 4) in the fourth quarter. Jonah Bull
poured in 17 points to match Cameron
Gwyn (17 points, 4 of 4 free throws) on the
score sheet while dishing a team-high five
assists with five boards and three steals.
Meanwhile, Noah Edmondson notched
15 points to pace the Spartans, who fall to
2-6 overall and 1-1 in region play. Quentin
Smith (9) and Devon Williams (8) were
others to produce for West Hall in the loss.
The War Eagles’ willingness to live and
die by the 3 was apparent for the first half
as all but one of their field goals came
from beyond the arc. They were 7 of 18
from 3 in the first half, but went on to com
bine for 13 treys with a 40 percent mark
(13 of 32) — a number of those coming at
crucial moments. Gwyn, who was just 3
of 11 from outside, knocked down a 3 to
make it a six-point game at the half.
Gwyn’s timely make was big for
Chestatee, which watched the Spartans
explode on a 10-3 run to take a double-digit
lead at 28-18 early in the second period
and later got back-to-back baskets under
neath to keep the margin at nine with
under a minute left in the first half.
“You know, that gave them just a little
lift right there,” West Hall coach Bobby
Pless said.
Then, it was Chestatee’s turn to up the
intensity in the second half, Bull lighting
the spark at the start of the third period.
He drove inside the paint for a basket,
snatched a ball on the ensuing possession
and dished to Nicholson, who drained a
3 from near the right corner to cut it to
32-31. Bull assisted two more scores as
Chestatee exploded for a 21-6 flurry, and
regained the lead at 45-38.
The Spartans closed the third period on
an 8-3 run.
But West Hall ultimately couldn’t match
Chestatee from the stripe in the final
■ Please see CHESTATEE, 2B
ATLANTA FALCONS
Pro Bowl offensive lineman Fralic dies at 56 from cancer
D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Former Falcons offensive line
man Bill Fralic, who played for
the team from 1985-92, died Thurs
day following a battle with cancer,
according to the University of
Pittsburgh.
Fralic was 56 years old.
After a storied career for the Pitt
Panthers, the three-time All-Amer
ican was drafted second overall in
the 1985 draft by the Falcons.
He started immediately at right
guard and went to four Pro Bowls
and was twice named to the All-Pro
team.
After 1992, he played one season
with the Detroit Lions. He played
in 132 NFL games, 131 as a starter.
He was on the 1991 Falcons team
that finished the regular season
10-6 and went to the playoffs under
coach Jerry Glanville.
His tenure with the Falcons did
not end well.
In his first in-depth inter
view after leaving Atlanta via
free agency in 1992, with Len
Pasquarelli of The Atlanta Jour
nal-Constitution, he conceded that
financial considerations - the
three-year, $5.4 million contract
with the Lions made him the
highest-paid offensive guard in
NFL history - were a major part
of his decision to end his eight-year
tenure with the Falcons. Money,
however, was not the prime moti
vation, he indicated.
“In Atlanta, the coaches always
preached that we wanted to be
tough on defense and intimidate
people,” Fralic said at the time.
“And they always talked about how
we wanted to be tough on special
teams.
It seemed that what they were
saying without actually saying it
was that we didn’t have to be tough
on offense. It was like, ‘Well, we’re
just going to beat people with our
(offensive) talent.’ We didn’t go out
on the field to prove that we were
the tougher offense. For me, given
the way I play, that was hard to
reconcile.”
Fralic, who was 6-foot-5 and 280
pounds, starred at the University
of Pittsburgh from 1981-84. He
became the first offensive lineman
to twice finish in the top 10 of the
Heisman Trophy balloting, placing
sixth in 1984 and eighth in 1983.
Fralic’s collegiate career led to
the phrase “Pancake Block” being
added to the football lexicon. Pitt
publicists used “Pancakes” as a
statistical barometer for each time
Fralic put an opposing defensive
lineman on his back.
Fralic additionally was named to
the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.
Fralic’s No. 79 jersey was retired
by Pitt at halftime of his final
home game in 1984, a 21-10 win
over Tulane. He would go on to be
enshrined in the College Football
Hall of Fame in 1998.
