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The Commerce News
Sports
CONTACT US: Brandon Reed / brandon@mainstreetnews.com / (706) 367-5233 or (706) 335-2927
CHS Wrestling
Nick Arostegui has his first-round opponent Friday night. Arostegui won the match and won
in trouble in the 130 weight class during the first place in the tournament.
first round of the Apalachee Invitational last
Tigers Win Apalachee Invitational
The Commerce High School wrestling team won
the Apalachee Invitational tournament last weekend
and knocked off AAA schools Clarke Central and
Stephens County. They’ll try to build on that Satur
day at the Madison County Duals in Danielsville.
The Tigers are now 2-0 in dual matches; in two tour
naments, they’ve won one and finished in the top 10
in the other.
“I think they’re excited on the one hand (with the
Apalachee win), but on the other hand, they know we
have a lot of work to do,” said Coach Kendall Love.
“We’ve got to get a lot better to compete at the state
level.”
Love was surprised — not greatly, but a little — with
the Tigers’ showing at Winder Saturday.
“I thought we would finish in the top three, but
Apalachee is a pretty good triple-A team,” he said. “I
wasn’t sure how we’d fare against them, but the guys
wrestled well.”
Taking first place were Addison Davis at 103; Nick
Arostegui at 130; Dustin McClain at 140; and Phillip
Edwards at 145.
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1B
THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
WEDNESDAY,
DECEMBER 12, 2007
CHS Girls' Basketball
Lady Tigers Break Into
Win Column Over Spartans
Junior guard Lauren Jones takes a shot during first-half
action against Athens Academy. Commerce won 39-27.
The Commerce Lady Tigers
got their first taste of victory
last week, beating Athens Acad
emy. That win was sandwiched
between losses to Social Circle
Dec. 4 and Athens Christian last
Saturday.
Coach Eddie McCurley’s
troops are 1-4 and were to play
Prince Avenue Tuesday (results
were not available by press time)
and will host Hebron Christian
School Friday and travel to Daw
son County Saturday.
While the Social Circle game
was a big letdown, McCurley
said he continues to see improve
ment in the girls’ game.
“Coming off the effort against
Banks County (a 50-49 loss in the
season opener) and playing with
just not a lot of emotion really set
us back,” the coach explained.
“The next day in practice, our
players got the idea that that was
not going to be acceptable.”
One result was a more focused
effort Thursday afternoon at Ath
ens Academy, where the Tigers
beat the Spartans 39-27. Then, on
Saturday, they played their best
game of the year but fell 55-43 to
Athens Christian School.
Like the boys, the Lady Tigers
are still having trouble putting
the ball in the hoop, but there
are other areas where McCurley
seeks improvement.
“We’ve got to get our team where
it needs to be before we can start
worrying about how to play oth
er teams,” he said. “We’re really,
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EJCHS Wrestling
Eagle Wrestlers
Continue
Improvement
By Brandon Reed
The East Jackson Eagles
wrestling team continues to
gain footing in its inaugural
season. After losing to both
Blessed Trinity and West Hall
last week, the team picked up a
win against Clarke Central, and
then dropped a match-up with
Habersham Central.
East Jackson wrestling coach
Frank Caputo said his team
wrestled really well against
some tough opponents.
“Blessed Trinity was a final
ist in the duals competition
last year,” he said. “I think they
ended up fifth or so in the state.
They were really good compe
tition, and we wrestled really
well. West Hall was the same
situation. We had a chance to
beat them. We were ahead in
three matches with less than
30 seconds left and got beat,
which cost us there, but that’s
one of those things.”
Caputo says he is definitely
seeing improvement out of his
young team.
“There were some young kids
that never won matches that
have a chance to win, which is
good,” he said. “We’re moving
Please Turn to Page 2B
Autumn Wilbanks looks for an opening during a recent game. She led the
Eagles in scoring in last week’s contest against Oglethorpe County, picking
up 16 points.
Photo by Brandon Reed
Lady Eagles Are On
A Winning Streak
EJCHS Girls' Basketball
Face Stephens Co., Rematch
With JCCHS This Weekend
By Brandon Reed
After coming off of a disap
pointing outing against Jack
son County, the Lady Eagles
of East Jackson have put to
gether back-to-back wins, im
proving their overall record
to 4-2.
The run started against
Oglethorpe last Tuesday
night, as East Jackson played
host to the Patriots in a game
that saw the Lady Eagles come
away with the win, 47-38.
East Jackson took an early
lead, moving out to an 8-6 ad
vantage at the end of the first
quarter. From there, the Lady
Eagles never looked back,
leading 23-14 at the half and
35-23 after three periods, be
fore coasting in with the win.
Autumn Wilbanks led the
scoring with 16 points and
Dynelle Todman added 12.
Dane Gaillard had seven
rebounds on the night,
with Emma Turner getting
six, Todman six, and Terin
Gillespie five. Turner also
had six blocks, Todman led
the team with five seals, and
Gillespie had four assists.
“We did not play well, but
we were lucky enough to
come out with a win,” said
Coach Amy Larimer.
The Lady Eagles then trav
eled to West Forsyth, where
they picked up another win
against the Wolverines. It was
a close game, but in the end,
East Jackson won 45-41.
The Lady Eagles found
themselves in a come-from-
behind situation right from
the start, as the Wolverines
led 14-8 at the end of the first
quarter. East Jackson was able
to close to within three points
at the half, and to within one
at the end of the third quar
ter, 27-26. The Eagles would
move ahead for the victory in
the fourth quarter.
Todman led the team in
scoring, picking up 12 points.
Gaillard scored 10 and Mar-
ley Pullian and Wilbanks
scored nine apiece. Gaillard
recorded the first double
double in Lady Eagles’ his
tory as she pulled down 10
rebounds to go with those
10 points. Todman had three
steals, and Turner recorded
six blocks.
“I was proud of my team,”
said Larimer. “We saw some
things that we haven’t seen
before, such as a half-court
press and continuously
changing defenses. They
were able to adjust to them
and once again have a very
productive fourth quarter to
pull out the victory.
“I have also been throw
ing some new formations at
them and they adjusted to
those as well.”
The Lady Eagles have a
challenging weekend ahead,
as they’ll travel first to Ste
phens County for a Friday
match-up with the Indians,
then travel to Jefferson for
a rematch with the Panthers
Saturday.
“We will prepare for those
throughout the week and be
ready to play,” Larimer said.
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