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Washington-Wilkes
Cl SECTION THREE
THURSDAY • 19 DECEMBER 2013
Ryne
Dennis
From the
Press Box
Hope your stocking
is full of basketball
We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year.
Now, the figgy pudding is up to
you, we don’t condone the eating
of that.
This is it, our last newspaper
before the big day is upon us.
But of course that doesn’t mean
that we here, especially us in the
sports department, won’t have our
ear to the ground to bring you
everything that happens with the
wrestling and basketball teams
over the break.
Continue following us
@TheOEnews for scores and
updates on games and events that
continue throughout the holidays.
But enough shameless plugs
about our twitter handle, let’s
think about why we’re so thankful
to be celebrating the holidays.
Of course friends and family
come to mind (I have two holiday
parties to attend this weekend
with lots of both), and spending
time with them is better than
opening that gift you’ve been
drooling over since last May.
I’m thankful to have a good job
and work with good people every
day.
Of course part of that has to do
with how thankful I am to cover
sports for a living.
My parents like to tell the story
of me as a kid, going to events
that mainly involved my dad who
was a physical education coach
and teacher.
They tell me that I would go to
softball games and do anything
but watch the games.
I would go to football games
and stare off into space.
But at basketball games, I
would sit in mom’s lap while dad
ran the scoreboard for the middle
school teams and my head would
go back and forth the entire game,
watching play after play until the
final buzzer sounded.
I guess that’s continued to this
day, which is why I enjoy cover
ing the local basketball teams, and
why I’m thankful that we have
some good teams and players to
watch this year.
The Athens Academy boys
picked up their first win last
week, thanks in part to standout
point guard Eric Williams, who
can be as smooth a player as you
will see on the court.
North Oconee’s girls team, led
by seniors Ginny Channell and
Carmen Williams, has been one of
the top girl’s teams in the state the
past few seasons.
The Titans have looked much
improved this season as well, with
great play from the likes of Ethan
Dobberstein, Jaime Quintero,
Cody McEnaney and Collin
McDonald.
Oconee County’s girls are
beginning to play much improved
basketball, looking like a team
that is figuring out new coach
Jeanette Looney’s system.
The Warriors’ boys team has
looked like a new team this sea
son with a boost from James
Howell and the excellent play of
junior Jalen Bonds and Chance
Peden. First-year head coach
Richard Wehunt seems to have
the program going in the right
direction.
Speaking of Wehunt, be sure to
read Oconee the Magazine when
it comes out in a couple weeks, as
there will be an article delving
into his basketball life as well as
health issues he encountered this
past summer.
There I go shamelessly plugging
again.
Have a safe and happy holiday
everyone!
Ryne Dennis is a sports writer of
The Oconee Enterprise. Opinions
expressed are those of the writer.
¥
Lady Braves defeat
MB MS in overtime
by Derek Wiley
Taking advantage of two Malcom
Bridge Middle turnovers in the final
minute of overtime, Oconee Middle
edged the Lady Lightning 44-41 last
Wednesday.
“It means a lot to them,” OCMS
coach Shelynn Scott said. “This
atmosphere is always crazy. It’s
hard to get them to settle down and
play.”
The Lady Braves raced out to a
10-6 lead at the end of the first quar
ter but MBMS went on a 6-0 run to
end the second period and led 18-14
at halftime.
OCMS forward Eric Cross, who
finished with 16 points, scored to
give the Lady Braves a 1 -point lead
with 2:32 remaining in the third
period.
After back-to-back buckets by
Sara Bailey Lakatos gave the Lady
Lightning a 24-21 advantage enter
ing the fourth quarter, OCMS scored
the first four points of the period to
retake the lead.
Hannah Byrom then knocked
down a 3-pointer to give the lead
back to MBMS.
After the Braves took a 30-27 lead
with 2:27 to play, the Lightning
came right back and went up 34-30
on two baskets from Colby Wilson.
A layup by Cheyenne Boswell fol
lowed by two more points in the
paint from Cross with 50 seconds
remaining tied the game at 34-34
and sent it into overtime.
The Lady Lightning led 39-36
with 1:51 left to play but the Braves
answered with a 5-0 run capped off
by a Cross bucket to take a 41-39
lead with 1:15 remaining.
“She’s a special player,” Scott
said of Cross. “She has great hands,
great feet. She’s a great rebounder.
We just need to get her to come into
her own and realize her potential.”
A basket by MBMS guard Mary
Collins Pearson tied the game at 41-
41 with 1:05 to play but turnovers
prevented the Lady Lightning from
getting back on the scoreboard.
All three of Oconee’s final points
came from the free throw line.
MBMS got to the line with 3 sec
onds remaining but missed the front
end of a one-and-one. The Lady
Lightning were 0-for-7 from behind
Oconee Middle School guard Cheyenne Boswell had 13 points in last
Wednesday’s overtime win against Malcom Bridge. [Photo by Derek Wiley]
the free throw line.
“It’s early in the season,” Malcom
Bridge coach Kevin Daniel said.
“We haven’t had that kind of situa
tion yet. We turned the ball over but
the thing that hurt us the most was
the easy shots we missed early in the
fourth quarter and we didn’t make
any free throws tonight and they
were like 78 percent so that hurt a
whole bunch.”
Despite the win, Scott also knows
her team has to improve.
“They can be pleased with this
win but they shouldn’t be proud of
it,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of
work to do, a lot of kinks to work
out. We’ve had five players with
injuries so we just really have fig
ured out our chemistry yet.
Everybody’s playing now. We just
have to get the reps in.”
Streak continues
North Oconee senior Ginny Channell scored 16 of the Lady Titans’ 37 points and had 10 rebounds in Tuesday night’s
Region 8-AAA victory over previously unbeaten Morgan County. [Photo by Ryne Dennis]
Lady Titans top
Morgan for 33rd
straight region win
by Ryne Dennis
The Lady Titans last suffered a
regular season region loss in
February of 2011.
That streak will continue at least
until 2014 as North Oconee defeated
Morgan County 37-30 Tuesday
night to run its string of games to 33
in a row.
“Every region game is important
to us and we just try to take it one
game at a time and Morgan had
proven they’re a good program and
a good team by beating Buford ear
lier this year,” head coach Donnie
Byrom said. “We knew we needed
to take care of our home court, and
it’s gravy that it keeps the streak
alive at 33.”
The Lady Titans last loss in region
play was Feb. 1 of 2011 at Hart
County, but since that time NOHS
has had two consecutive undefeated
region seasons and now sits at 3-0
this season in region 8-AAA.
North Oconee won’t play another
region game until after the new year
when they host Jackson County on
Jan. 4 and while the streak is good
for the program, the Lady Titans
have bigger goals in sight for this
season.
“At some point that [streak] is
going to end and our goal is to win a
region title and advance to state and
to go farther in the state,” Byrom
said.
“Over the last seven to 10 days our
team has really grown up and are
building off a foundation of solid
defense and that’s a good base to
build off of.”
see NOHS Hoops page C3
Oconee
wrestlers
get fourth
at Morgan
by Ryne Dennis
Oconee County’s wrestling
squad left Madison feeling good
as it walked out of the Morgan
County Christmas Classic fourth
place in the 12-team field
The Warriors placed nine indi
viduals in the top 6 of their respec
tive weight classes, led by Rudy
Rodriguez (106 pounds) and Chris
Couch (152), who each placed
second.
“We made a lot of improve
ments this weekend, but we’ve
still got a long way to go,” head
coach A1 Yauck said. “We defi
nitely showed some strides,
though.”
Rodriguez lost in the finals to
the same kid Dalton Flint that beat
him in the Panther Invitational
finals just a week earlier, but was
given a tough break by the offi
cial, who stopped the match with
Rodriguez leading due to a situa
tion he deemed potentially dan
gerous. Rodriguez would be taken
down following that and fell 8-4.
Yauck was impressed at the out
ing Couch produced on the mats,
making it to the finals of a diffi
cult weight class.
“He made the finals of a fairly
tough weight class and wrestled a
guy that had placed at state a cou
ple times from Social Circle to a
4-point match,” Yauck said. “He
wrestled him really tough and I
was impressed with him.”
Andrew Harris (132), Rexx
Halyburton (170) and heavy
weight Tyler Thomas each placed
third for the Warriors, while Blake
Smith (113), Stepan Amirkhanyan
(126) and Drake Dawson (145)
came home in fourth.
The Warriors finished behind
some of the top competition in the
state in Banks County, Social
Circle and Commerce, three teams
that figure to fight for state cham
pionships in their respective
weight classes.
“Overall it was a good showing
but Banks is good, Commerce is
good and Social Circle are all
good,” Yauck said. “We got some
work to do to catch up with Banks,
but you never know.”
It will be a good week to get-
three injured senioirs back, as they
wrestle in two big tournaments
this weekend, starting with the
Classic City Championships at
Clarke Central Friday night.
The Warriors will then host the
Tommy Warren Duals Saturday, a
tournament that will expand from
10 to 12 teams this season
The Ellis Pain Center/Oconee Enterprise Athlete of the Week
Oconee County junior wrestler Rudy Rodriguez finished second at the Panther
Invitational and the Morgan Christmas Classic. [Photo by Ryne Dennis].
Rodriguez places second at two competitive tournaments
by Ryne Dennis
The old adage goes, “If it wasn’t
for bad luck there’d be no luck at
all.”
That would almost be the case for
Oconee County junior wrestler
Rudy Rodriguez, except he’s out to
prove that he can make his own
luck.
Last season Rodriguez, then a
sophomore, was in arguably the
toughest Area of any classification
in the state of Georgia, finishing
fifth and just one spot away from
making the state tournament.
The four ahead of him?
They each finished in the top four
at the state tournament.
The guy that won the state in his
weight class?
Rodriguez lost to him three times
in three crucially close matches.
The past two weeks, Rodriguez
has finished second in the Panther
Invitational and the Morgan County
Christmas Classic to Dalton Flint of
Commerce, the first a tough match
for Rodriguez, but the second was
an 8-4 decision that could have been
Ellis Pain Center
ATHENS-BOGART
COMMERCE
ROYSTON
decided on an officials call.
Still, the Ellis Pain Center/Oconee
Enterprise Athlete of the Week is
determined to make his own luck.
“Hopefully this is my year to do
big things at Area, I just have to
keep working hard,” Rodriguez
said. “I know who I have and who
I’m going to meet at the Area tour
nament.”
Rodriguez began this year in the
113 weight class where he was in
over his weight, so he moved down
to 106, where the only person to
defeat him is Flint.
Head coach' A1 Yauck believes
Rodriguez has all the tools to take
that next step this season.
“I think he’s going to have a shot
to do well and he’s going to have to
work and keep getting better, every
body else is,” Yauck said. “But he
hasn’t lost to anybody in AAA yet at
106.”
With the Area Duals on the hori
zon, Rodriguez will be focusing on
each match, making sure that he
lands in the state tournament of the
traditionals this season.
“You know you work hard every
day in the wrestling room to keep
getting better and take it one match
at a time and you can’t look forward
to anyone,” Rodriguez said. “Just
like coach Yauck says, ‘Fear none,
respect all.’”
The Ellis Pain Center/Oconee
Enterprise Athlete of the Week is
chosen by the sports staff of The
Oconee Enterprise. Local coaches
are welcome to email their nomina
tions to sports@oconeeenter-
prise.com by Monday at 10 a.m. Ellis
Pain Center can be reached at
www.ellispain.com.
