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Peachstate World Crown
$10,000 goes to the winner of the Peachstate
World Crown 250 this weekend
PAGE 4B
1B
THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 7, 2007
CONTACT US: Brandon Reed / brandon@mainstreetnews.com / (706) 367-5233 or (706) 335-2927
Eagle Runners
Capture 8-AA
Region Title
By Brandon Reed
It was a big weekend for the
East Jackson Cross Country
teams, as the boys won the
8-AA cross country champi
onship this past weekend at
Oglethorpe County, beating
North Oconee for the top spot
63-69. The win qualifies them
for the state meet Saturday in
Carrollton.
Meanwhile, the girls finished
fifth overall.
“The boys did exactly what
we planned to do in breaking
up the other groups and stayed
in our pack,” said East Jackson
coach Carly Parr. “We placed
five runners between seven
and 19. They ran smart and
were concerned with place
rather than time. It was a great
day to be an Eagle.”
For the boys, Kevin Kesler
finished seventh with a time
of 18:33, while Andy Van De
venter finished tenth with an
18:49. Other runners were Eric
Van Deventer with a personal
best of 19:00, Josh Kesler with
a personal best of 19:04, Bran
don Banks with a 19:21, Terry
Miller with a 19:32 and Kyle
Wood with a 19:48.
Meanwhile, the girls finished
fifth overall, just missing quali
fying for state competition.
“The girls are disappointed
that they did not make state,
but Coach Parr and I are real
proud of them as we know
where they started and how
much they have improved,”
head cross country coach Bob
Roller said. “We overcame mid
season injuries and they were
very close to qualifying for
state.”
“With a little more experi
ence, we anticipate placing as
a state qualifier in the future,”
Parr added.
For the girls, Sherri Blalock
finished fourth with a 21:22.
Other finishers included Ja
mie Dove with a 23:23, Alexis
Powell with a 23:53, Brittany
Robinett with a personal best
of 24:48, Hope Boggs with a
25:32, Amanda Murphy with a
26:58 and Jessica Harper with
a 27:19.
Cheer Tigers Hunting
A State Title Saturday
Saving their best for the end, the
Commerce High School Compe
tition Cheerleaders captured the
Region 8A crown Saturday, pro
pelling it to the state meet this
coming Saturday in Columbus.
“We had the best performance
we’ve had all season,” said coach
Dianne Cotrell. “We had a lot of
spirit, a lot of showmanship.”
The Tigers posted a 244, best
ing second-place Jefferson by 45
points. A repeat of that score this
week could bring the Tigers their
sixth state title.
“We got great comments on the
score sheet,” Cottrell noted. “One
of our stunts was very shaky, but
we made it.”
This week, the Cheer Tigers will
work on further refinement, and
Cotrell thinks they’re primed to
break Bremen’s two-year hold on
the state title.
“They (Commerce) looked like it
Saturday. After all of the illnesses
and the challenges and the ups
and downs, we pulled it out,” she
said.
The Tigers will compete in the
morning session, which starts at
9:00 in the Columbus Civic Cen-
Please Turn to Page 4B
Champions
of Region
8-A, the
Commerce
Cheer Tigers
will compete
for the state
Class A title
Saturday
morning in
Columbus.
Commerce Football
A Tough Night For Tigers - Page 3B
Eight turnovers and an opportunistic
Jefferson Dragon squad put an end to a 12-year
Tiger winning streak Friday night. Above, a host
of Dragon defenders stop Tiger quarterback
Reuben Haynes, causing one of seven fum
bles that allowed the Dragons to win Jackson
County bragging rights for the next year, 42-7.
See Page 3B. Photo by Allen Luton
Tigers Have Week
Off To Prepare
For The Playoffs
Coach Steve Savage didn’t plan
for his Tigers to have a week off
after the regular season ends to
prepare for the football playoffs,
but after his squad’s 42-7 whip
ping by arch-rival Jefferson, the
timing might be good.
Commerce will nurse its wounds
on football’s sidelines this Friday,
awaiting the outcome of several
games to determine where it will
go to begin the playoffs Nov. 16.
“It could be a combination of
people,” Savage said. “If Bremen
beats Bowden, we play at Gordon
Lee. If Bowden beats Bremen, we
could play them (Bowden). If Tri-
on upsets Gordon Lee, we could
be playing Bremen.”
Before worrying about who’s
the next opponents, the Tigers
will have a week to worry about
their own play.
“We’re going to try to rest up,
heal up, regroup and work on
some things we’ve been mess
ing up,” the coach said. “Like no
turnovers, making the right reads,
the right blocks, those kinds of
things.”
Friday’s night off was literally
just the luck of the draw. Will it
help or hurt?
“I don’t know,” Savage says. “Last
year was the first time we did that,
and it didn’t seem to hurt. We got
on a roll.”
The open dates are a matter of
choice, a matter of drawing a date
out of a hat.
“Somebody had to be open
the last week of the season, and
it happened to be us,” Savage
explained. “It is what it is. We’re
going to do what we normally do
during an off week and get ready
to play ever who we’ve got to play.
The good thing is, we’re still play
ing.”
The coaching staff will talk to
coaches who’ve played the other
likely opponents, trying to figure
out what those teams do and
what Commerce might be able to
do against them.
“We’ll spend some time work
ing on us this week too,” Savage
pointed out.
EJCHS Cheer
Eagles Head
To State Meet
The East Jackson Compre
hensive High School competi
tive cheerleading squad will go
to the state tournament in their
first season of competition.
The Cheer Eagles finished
second to Dawson County,
qualifying them to travel Sat
urday to the Columbus Civic
Center for the AA state cham
pionship.
“We are so excited,” com
mented coach Elizabeth Roll
er, who has personal experi
ence at the state meet from
her days as a Commerce Tiger
cheerleader. “The girls im
proved nearly 30 points from
the previous weekend. The
hard work and determination
of the girls is really starting to
show.”
The Eagle cheer squad will
compete Friday in the section
als, where the top eight teams
will advance to the state finals
the following day.
Each region sends the top
four teams — there are nine
teams in 8-AA — and the first-
place teams get a bye into the
state finals, while the second
through fourth-place finishers
Please Turn to Page 2B
East Jackson Football
Woodland, Henry Surprises East Jackson, 26-14
Eagle quarterback Evan Williamson looks for game against Woodland, Henry.
running room on the last play of Friday night’s Photo by Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
In their first game of the year,
the East Jackson Eagles handily
defeated the Wolfpack of Wood
land, Henry. Since then, the Wolf-
pack has struggled, winning but
one game before its Friday night
rematch with the Eagles.
Doubtless, many Eagle hopefuls
figured the rematch would end in
a similar fashion to the first. But it
was not to be, as Woodland, Hen
ry defeated East Jackson 26-14 in
Stockbridge .
“I do think the kids, in the back
of their minds, thought we were
going to go over there, and they
were going to lay down because
we’ve beat them before,” said
Eagles head football coach Frank
Caputo. “We had warned them
about that, and talked to them
about that, and went over and
over, but kids are going to think
the way they’re going to think.
Heck, they’re just kids.”
With the Wolfpack rematch be
hind them, East Jackson looks
ahead to Friday night’s first ever
homecoming game against West
Forsyth.
Cold Start, Hot Finish
Maybe it was the chilly night air,
but the Eagles seemed pretty cold
during the first half. The Wolfpack
got on the board early, but East
Jackson foiled their attempt at
a two-point conversion, holding
Woodland to a 6-point advantage.
The Eagles had several good
drives during the first half, but
ran out of steam before getting
into the end zone. The defense
warmed up, and was able to keep
the Wolfpack from scoring again
through the end of the first half.
When the Eagles hit the field for
the second half, they looked like a
whole new team.
On their second play of the
half, Tory Lamb ran in the Eagles’
first touchdown of the night, but
Woodland held East Jackson to a
tie game when the PAT failed, leav
ing the score 6-6.
With about eight minutes left
in the third quarter, it looked like
Zach Gilbert moved the ball into
scoring position, but lost the ball
after a hard hit on the stop by
Woodland, with the Wolfpack re
covering the fumble.
But when Woodland’s carrier
fumbled on the next play, Eagle
Drew Mitchell scooped it up, and
ran it in for the Eagles’ second
touchdown of the night. With a
successful 2-point conversion,
East Jackson led 14-6 with just
over seven minutes left in the
quarter.
“We made some adjustments at
the half,” Caputo said. “They ac
tually came out there defensively
against us and did something that
we really weren’t expecting. We
made the adjustment, which is a
credit to the coaches and the kids,
and we were able to work through
it and get going. Then we got the
delay, which took a lot of the edge
away from us, but that’s just the
way that went.”
The delay occurred when a
Woodland player was injured
Please Turn to Page 4B