Newspaper Page Text
The Best Coverage for Monroe County Sports
Jatorian Hansford • Wrestling
MARY PERSONS BULLDOGS
281 Tift College Drive • Forsyth, GA 31029
478-992-9945
Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5:30 pm
TOMMY JOHNSTON, STATE FARM INSURANCE
INSIDE »
Terry Johnson 3B
SPRING SPORTS
CALENDAR
Wednesday, Feb. 14
Thursday, Feb. 15
5:55 p.m.
Varsity Baseball
(vs. Rutland)
Friday, Feb. 16
5:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls Soccer
(vs. Ola)
7:30 p.m.
Varsity Boys Soccer
(vs. Ola)
Saturday, Feb. 17
4 p.m.
Varsity Boys Basketball
(vs. Carver-Columbus)
Mary Persons senior guardTre Edge drove to the basket between a pair of mammoth defenders in Upson-Lee'sTravon Walker (No. 23) and Alejandro
Lockhart.The Knights prevailed against the Bulldogs 78-56 on Friday night, winning their third straight Region 2-AAAA crown and extending their
winning-streak to 58 games. (Photo/Kim Holderfield)
Knights pierce Dogs once again
MP falls short to Upson-Lee in title bid for third straight time
Sunday, Feb. 18
Monday, Feb. 19
5:55 p.m.
Varsity Baseball
(vs. Morgan County)
Tuesday, Feb. 20
4 p.m.
C-Team Baseball
(vs. Clifton Ridge)
5:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls Soccer
(vs. Houston County)
7:30 p.m.
Varsity Boys Soccer
(vs. Houston County)
By Richard Dumas
forsyth@mymcr.net
The Mary Persons Bulldogs boys basket
ball team will host a first-round AAAA state
playoff game for the third straight season
after finishing runner-up in the Region
2-AAAA Tournament in front a packed
house at James P. Evans Gymnasium on
Friday.
Despite 35 points and 13 rebounds by MP
senior Cam Holden in a valiant effort., the
Bulldogs fell to Upson-Lee 78-56 on their
home floor in Friday night’s title contest.
It was the third consecutive year that the
Knights have defeated the Bulldogs in the
championship game with MP losing 58-52
in 2016 and 84-65 in 2017, respectively. The
Knights, who enter the AAAA tourney as
the state’s No. 1 ranked squad, according
to Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(AJC) poll, have now won 58 straight games
and are in pursuit of their second straight
state championship.
Meanwhile, No. 2 seed MP, the No. 10
ranked team in AAAA according to the AJC,
will host No. 9 ranked Carver-Columbus at
4 p.m. on Saturday. Despite a 20-8 overall
record (11-4 in Region 1-AAAA), the Tigers
are the No. 3 seed, finishing behind peren
nial powers Westover and Americus-Sumter.
An athletic squad, Carver-Columbus is led
by its excellent duo of senior guards, Xaiyhir
Jacobs and Dexter Simmons as well as argu
ably the team’s top player, junior guard
A.J. Watts, who scored 32 points in a 55-52
home loss to Americus-Sumter on Jan. 20.
The Jan. 20 defeat came one week after the
Tigers played one of the most memorable
games in program history when they fell
125-122 at Americus-Sumter in six over
times on Jan. 12. According to the AJC, the
Tigers’ Jan. 12 clash with the Panthers was
the highest-scoring, multiple-overtime game
in Georgia high school history.
If MP wins on Saturday, the Bulldogs
would either travel to Woodward Academy,
the No. 1 seed from Region 4-AAAA, or host
Hephzibah, the No. 4 seed from Region
3-AAAA, on Thursday, Feb. 22 in a second-
round matchup. The Bulldogs, who have
already won a school-record 23 games, have
reached the second round in each of the past
two seasons.
MP opened the Upson-Lee contest by
knocking down a pair of three-pointers in
the early going, one each by Holden and
sophomore Dee Morton, respectively. The
Knights eventually seized a seven-point
advantage at at 17-10 on a layup by Jarrett
Adderton before a three-point play by a
hobbled Holden, who was playing despite
a sprained ankle suffered 10 days earlier,
closed MP’s deficit to four. Upson-Lee point
guard Zyrice Scott, who scored a team high
31 points, answered by draining his second
trey of the first quarter to put his squad
back ahead by seven. However, MP ended
the first period on a 6-3 spurt, capped by a
triple from the top of the key by Holden, to
pull MP back to within four at 23-19 through
one quarter.
But the Knights would not be held in check
for long. With MP still trailing by four early
in the second quarter, Upson-Lee went on
a 9-2 spurt, capped by a transition layup by
Scott off of a turnover by MP’s Tre Edge to
go up by 11 points. Thanks to Holden’s offen
sive excellence, MP would eventually pull
back to within five points at 35-30 before the
Knights went on another run, this one 9-0,
to push out their advantage to 14, their larg
est lead to date. However, not to be outdone,
Holden scored five straight points followed
by a Rekia Weaver layup with two seconds
left in the first half to narrow MP’s deficit to
seven points at 44-37 at halftime. Despite
his injury, Holden almost miraculously
See BOYS BASKETBALL. Page 4B
MP football star Hansford signs with SEC power Mizzou
Mary Persons
High School
Mary Persons
High School
Mary Persons
High School
Mary Persons
High School
Mary Persons
High School
Mary Persons
High School
Mary Persons
High School
lary Persons
High School
Persons
\School
Mary Persons
High School
>ons
n mizzou H
f *** 1
Y
J
✓
1 HH
EL
■ j Ml
* • » /
-
MP senior Jatorian Hansford signed a scholarship offer Wednesday to play college football at Missouri. Hansford is joined
on the front row by his grandmother Lola Zellner, mother Lisa Hansford and father Kim Brantley. Pictured on the back row
from left to right: head coach Brian Nelson, linebacker coach Dan Burdette, offensive coordinator Jason Morrow, defensive
line coach Pat Burdette and trainer Jeff Quinn. (Photo/Richard Dumas)
By Richard Dumas
forsyth@mymcr.net
Mary Persons football had yet another fruitful
Signing Day on Wednesday when senior linebacker
Jatorian Hansford signed a letter of intent to play col
lege football at Missouri.
P: was the second straight year that a Bulldogs’
defender has signed to play at a Southeastern
Conference school after defensive end Malik Herring
signed with UGA in 2017. Hansford and Herring are
scheduled to meet up annually, beginning on Sept. 18
in Columbia, Mo., with their respective programs shar
ing the SEC’s Eastern Division.
Hansford said of Wednesday’s Signing Day: “It felt
better than my birthday today. It’s a big day.”
As a senior in 2017, the 6’4”, 230-pound Hansford led
MP with 107 tackles, including a team-high 57 solo
tackles. He also led the Bulldogs with 9.5 sacks and
was third on the team in tackles-for-loss with 8. As a
junior in 2016, Hansford had 52 tackles, including 32
solo, and 5 tackles-for-a-loss. Hansford was named a
First Team All-Region 2-AAAA selection in each of his
final two seasons and was also a consensus AAAA All-
State choice as a senior.
Hansford is rated as the No. 78 player overall in
Georgia’s Class of 2018 and the No. 48 ranked outside
linebacker in the U.S. by 247sports.com. Hansford
See HANSFORD. Page3B