Newspaper Page Text
The Commerce News
Sports
CONTACT US: Brandon Reed / brandon@mainstreetnews.com / (706) 367-5233 or (706) 335-2927
CHS Football
Tigers To Face Dragons In Historic Opener
Commerce’s Tyler Austin (72) reaches for ter outcome on August 29 after losing in their
Jefferson’s carrier during last year’s Tigers- last meeting 42-7.
Dragons meeting. Commerce hopes for a bet- Photo by Allen Luton
By Brandon Reed
August 29 will not only mark
the opening of another season
of Commerce Tiger football,
but it will represent another
piece of Tiger history.
For the first time, Commerce
will open its season by playing
host to its in-county rivals, the
Jefferson Dragons.
It marks the first time for
each team that they’ve opened
against the other since the
series started back in 1947.
Normally, the teams face each
other later in the year, in late
October or early November.
The earliest the teams have
faced off in the year, according
to Tiger historian Jeff Prickett,
was the second game of the
year.
That occurred four times for
Commerce. In 1996 and 1997,
both teams faced each other in
their second scheduled game.
In 1986 and 1987, they met
in what was Commerce’s sec
ond game of the season, and
Jefferson’s third.
Scheduling was the issue
when it came to the decision
to play the Dragons in the first
game of the season, according
to Tigers coach Steve Savage.
“They went to a new classifi
cation,’’ he said. “They went to
AA, and playing a nine-game
region schedule. That’s the
only time we had to play.’’
Savage said there’s no real dif
ference to playing them early.
“You’ve got to play them
sometime,’’ he said. “We might
as well play them then. I don’t
think either team will have
any problems getting ready to
play”
The history books show
Commerce with an advan
tage in those few early season
games in the series. In all four
early meetings, the Tigers have
been victorious.
Savage says it doesn’t mat
ter who they open the season
against.
“It’s going to be another game
for us. Hopefully, we’d like to
win it. But we’ve got to find
out where our football team is.
Certainly the first game is not
going to make or break us.”
He said the rivalry won’t
play into how he and his team
approach the season opener.
“We play about six or seven
rivals anyway,” he said. “We try
not to get too hyped up over it.
My guess is they’ll get a little
hyped up, but we’re going to
play it just like it is.”
Savage also didn’t see any
real advantage for the team
in opening the season on its
home turf.
“It doesn’t matter either way,”
he said. “We’ve got to play
sometime.”
The Commerce-Jefferson
rivalry has a long and storied
history, leading back to the two
teams’ first meeting in 1947.
In that year, the teams
faced each other twice, once
in Commerce, and once in
Jefferson. Commerce won both
times.
In fact, Commerce has
the clear advantage when it
comes to facing the Dragons.
The Tigers have recorded 41
victories, 16 losses, and five
ties. The ties do not include
their 2004 meeting, where
Commerce won by a field goal
in overtime.
Until this year, Commerce
had a solid lock on the win
column in the series winning
12 times in a row dating back
to 1995, but Jefferson broke
the streak in a big way last
year, crushing the Tigers 42-7
in Jefferson.
Regardless of history, Savage
and his team are working hard
during the summer months to
prepare for the fall, regard
less of who they open against.
Commerce will host the
Northeast Georgia Offensive
camp July 22-24.
Savage says his team is start
ing to crank things back up
this week after coming off of
a dead week. He says they’ve
been working on their strength,
agility and endurance as they
look towards the beginning of
the season.
No matter how the opener
goes, it will still be a significant
moment for Commerce foot
ball. According to Prickett, this
year marks the 100th year of
Commerce football. The first
team was formed in 1909, and,
except for a layoff between
1928 and 1940 due to the Great
Depression, football has been
going strong here ever since.
The Tigers hope to write more
history starting in late August,
preferably with a win over the
Dragons.
CHS Track & Field
Sewell To Join Lady Hawks Track Program
Brittany Sewell signed recently with Shorter College. Pictured
are, left to right, Tommy Sewell, father, Brittany Sewell, coach Pam
Canup, and Sharon Sewell, mother.
By Brandon Reed
Commerce track standout
Brittany Sewell has signed
with Shorter College in Rome
to join its women’s track pro
gram.
Sewell went to state all four
years of her high school career,
placing each year. She was
a four-time region champ in
4x100 competition.
Sewell was a captain for
track for two years. Coach
Pam Canup said Sewell partici
pated in many different events
due to her ability to fill in
where she was needed.
“She is a very hard worker
in what ever she does,” Canup
said. “She will give all she has.
She’s a good leader.”
Sewell placed in region and
went on to state in the long
jump, the triple jump, the 100
meters, the 200 meters and 400
meters, as well as the 4x100
relay all four years of her high
school career. She twice went
to state in the 4x400.
She’s also done well in the
triple jump, with her best per
formance resulting in a 34’2”
mark, and in the long jump,
with her best performance
being a 15’6” jump.
She’ll be joining a program at
Shorter that placed 15th in the
NAIA Women’s Track National
Championship in Edwardsville,
IL, in only its second year of
existence. The Lady Hawks
also placed second in the Mid-
South Conference track cham
pionships in Williamsburg,
KY.
Commerce Park and Rec
Commerce 12-U Team Continues At Tournament
By Brandon Reed
Two Commerce Park and Rec
baseball teams spent their holi
day weekend slugging it out with
teams from around the state in
the 2008 Dizzy Dean State tour
nament.
The 10-under All-Stars were
eliminated on Sunday, while the
12-under team was scheduled to
face Jefferson Tuesday evening.
Results of that game were not
available by press time.
10-Year Olds
The 10-U team traveled to
Chatsworth to play at the Murray
County Recreation Department
on Friday. The Tigers started off
with a victory over the Hall County
Mudcats, winning 6-3. They then
moved on to face Sandy Plains,
where they suffered their first loss
of the tournament on Saturday,
falling 10-4.
Commerce then moved to the
losers’ bracket, where they hoped
to work their way back into con
tention. It wasn’t to be, howev
er, as they were stopped by the
Kennesaw Blaze by a close 7-6
final.
12-Year Olds
For the 12-U Tigers, tournament
play got off to a rough start in
Alpharetta on Saturday, as they
were blanked by New Georgia
Elite 8-0. That moved the Tigers
to the losers’ bracket, where
they won a squeaker against the
Hobgood Heat 11-10 Sunday
morning.
Commerce next faced Jackson
County Sunday afternoon, hand
ing their in-county neighbors a
big 21-11 loss to earn the right
to take on their other in-county
rivals, the Jefferson Dragons, on
Tuesday evening.
Exciting Time
Barry Brooks, coach for the
10-U team, said his team did well
in its effort at the tournament.
“The team played good, they
played hard and competed in
every ballgame,” he said. “We had
a good effort out of every one of
them.”
Brooks said he hopes his team
took away several things from its
tournament experience.
“Hopefully they learned a little
bit about being a team, a little bit
about playing in competition, and
became a better baseball player
from the beginning to the end.
I think every kid got better as a
player and team member from
start to finish, and that’s what it’s
all about.”
Auto Racing
Ryan Crane celebrates his first GAS series win last week at
Peach State Speedway. Photo by Brandon Reed
Crane Dominates For
First Peach State Win
By Brandon Reed
It was an eventful night for racers at Peach State Speedway
Thursday, as the track hosted the Toyota Tundra Independence 125
for the Georgia Asphalt Series, the longest event for the tour this
year.
A crowd estimated to be in excess of 2,500 watched as Ryan
Crane from Panama City, FL, in only his second race at Peach State,
ran away from the field for the victory.
It was Crane’s first GAS series race to boot.
“It’s not many times you get a car that runs like that,” Crane said.
“We worked real hard on it, and got it where it would hold out for a
long race. Man, was it fun!”
Crane’s win came in a car that still has that new car smell.
“This car was new five races ago, and I’ve won three out of five
races with it,” he said. “I love this thing now.”
From the start, Crane pulled out to a huge lead, leaving Jefferson’s
Joey Senter, Ryan Sieg, Braselton’s Jimmy Garmon, and 2007 GAS
champion Russell Fleeman to fight for second.
The night went sour early on for two Commerce racers. Four laps
in, Dennis Wilder made contact with the fourth turn wall, bringing
out the caution. As the field slowed in the first turn, Taylor Satterfield
spun, making hard contact with the turn two wall. Wilder was able
to continue after making repairs, but Satterfield, who was making
his first Peach State start of the year, was done for the night.
When the race resumed, it was Crane’s show again, as he jumped
out to another huge lead. That left Pendergrass racer Paul Kelley to
Continued on Page 2B
IB
THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
WEDNESDAY,
JULY 9, 2008
Down The
Stretch
By Brandon Reed
IMHOF Needs To
Honor Parks
Back in April, 1949 NASCAR Cup
champion Red Byron was inducted
into the International Motorsports
Hall of Fame at Talladega, Alabama.
As part of the induction, Raymond
Parks, owner of Byron’s champion
ship winning racecar, stood side-by-
side with 2007 Cup champ Jimmie
Johnson, both with their champion
ship trophies. They were joined
shortly thereafter by all the past
championship winning car owners
and drivers who are members of
the International Motorsports Hall
of Fame.
It was a nice tribute to the history
and heritage of stock car racing.
It was also very hypocritical.
That’s because Raymond Parks,
often referred to as “The Godfather
of NASCAR”, is not currently
a member of the International
Motorsports Hall of Fame.
The question, from anyone who
knows what Parks did for the sport,
is, without a doubt, “why not?”
Parks embodies the history of
early stock car racing, and, to
be blunt, without him, there very
well may not have ever been a
NASCAR.
Parks was born in rural north
Georgia. He became involved at an
early age in the illegal whisky busi
ness that transported liquor out of
the hills and into thirsty Atlanta,
until he moved to Atlanta to help
run the now legendary Hemphill
Service Station in Atlanta with his
uncle, who also ran a bootlegging
business part time.
Parks did well in this business,
and a few other enterprises.
Parks got into racing just before
the war, winning his first race as a
car owner in 1938 at Atlanta’s leg
endary Lakewood Speedway with
his cousin, Dawsonville’s Lloyd
Seay behind the wheel.
As a pilot of Parks’ Fords,
immaculately prepared by legend
ary mechanic Red Vogt in Atlanta,
Seay and his cousin Roy Hall took
wins all over the southeast.
Parks entered Hall in the March
1940 stock car event on Daytona
Beach. Hall’s faster car and quick
er team took the win.
Hall won again on the beach in
March of 1941. Seay was victori
ous there in August.
World War II interrupted Parks’
racing ventures. He served in
Europe with the 99th Infantry
Division at the Battle of the Bulge.
When he returned home in 1946,
Parks’ legitimate vending machine
business was successful enough to
fund his race team.
With Vogt again wrenching his
Fords, Parks’ teams won all five
races at Daytona Beach in 1945
and in 1946.
Big Bill France, who was promot
ing the beach events and trying
to get his own racing organization
off the ground, was not a fan of
the fast Atlanta crowd. He didn’t
like the moonshine background
they brought to Daytona Beach
with them. But there was little he
could do to keep them out of vic
tory lane.
With Atlanta’s Fonty Flock
behind the wheel, Parks’ team won
the 1947 NCSCC modified cham
pionship, France’s pre-cursor to
NASCAR.
Parks’ team won the first
NASCAR sanctioned race, a modi
fied event at Daytona Beach, in
1948 with Byron behind the wheel.
Byron went on to win the 1948
NASCAR championship. Byron,
Vogt and Parks would follow this
up the next year by winning the
first NASCAR Strictly Stock (now
Sprint Cup) championship.
As France worked to make
NASCAR succeed, he often called
Continued on Page 2B