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Offensive Camp Under Way In Commerce
Players hit the field for the Northeast Georgia Offensive Camp in
Commerce this week in preperation for the upcoming high school
football season. Photo by Brandon Reed
Hundreds of high school football players are in Commerce this
week, as the 13th annual Northeast Georgia Offensive Camp gets
under way.
Commerce High School head football coach Steve Savage said
last month that he expected between 350 to 425 athletes to come
out to the camp, which began on Tuesday and will run through
Friday at CHS.
Last year, 360 players attended the camp, compared to some 210
that attended in the first year that the camp was held.
In previous years, athletes from Commerce, Stephens County,
Dacula, East Hall, St. Pius X, Norcross, Lincoln County, Franklin
County, Hart County and White County took part, among others.
The camp will be divided into a lineman camp and a skills
camp.
Players will learn the skills needed in an option style offense,
along with the fundamentals that they will need to play quarter
back, fullback, halfback, wide receiver and offensive lineman.
The camp is being held just as the first official day of football
practice looms around the corner. Players can hit the field for the
first official practice on Monday, Aug. 4.
Commerce will play its first game on August 29, at home against
the Jefferson Dragons.
EJCHS Volleyball
Lady Eagles Focus On Future, Not Past, In 2008
By Brandon Reed
There’s really no other way
to say it - 2007 was a tough
year for the East Jackson Lady
Eagles volleyball team.
After picking up a historic first
victory against the Gainesville
Red Elephants on August 23, the
team struggled for the rest of its
first season to find its footing.
But that was the past, and
according to the Lady Eagles’
new coach, Tim Thomas, it has
nothing to do with the approach
that he and his team will take
going into the 2008 season.
“The first meeting we had was
last May in my classroom, and
the first thing I told them was
that we weren’t going to worry
about the past,’’ Thomas said.
“It’s behind us and it’s going to
stay there. We’ve actually used it
to our benefit a couple of times.
Whenever we’ve reached a goal
this summer I’ve tried to point
out to the girls that it’s a step
forward from last year, because
last year at this time they were
all still sitting on the couch.’’
Thomas said that up to this
point, everything he and his
team have done this summer
has been a milestone for the
team.
“The only consideration we’re
Tim Thomas
giving to last year is in pointing
out that we’re moving the pro
gram forward with everything
we do,’’ he said.
Thomas said there is some
difficulty involved in coming
into such a young program just
because things are up in the air.
“You don’t have the stability
that comes with a long team
history, you don’t have as many
proven leaders and contributors
like you do with an older pro
gram,’’ he said.
However, Thomas is quick to
point out the benefits that can
be found in such a situation.
“I can come in new to the pro
gram and not worry too much
about someone else’s traditions.
The athletes are more willing
to follow my lead because they
don’t have as many precon
ceived notions about how a pro
gram should be run. So it has
its benefits and difficulties, but
overall it’s exciting to be able to
build something new and have a
chance to set a good precedent
for the type of team the East
Jackson community deserves.’’
Thomas said he and his team
are already looking past the sea
son opener next month, and
looking ahead to October and
the state tournament.
“Our goal is to make the state
tournament ... and everything
we do between now and then is
going to be designed to take us
one step closer to reaching that
goal,’’ he said. “The difficulty
is in getting the girls to buy in
to that idea of delayed gratifi
cation, because there may be
times during the season when I
ask them to give up a chance for
immediate success in order to
better prepare us for that long
term goal. But in the long run,
everything we do is going to be
geared toward October.’’
East Jackson sophomore Jenna Dukes works out at the
EJCHS gym on Monday. Dukes is a newcomer to the Lady
Eagles. Coach Tim Thomas says he expects her to be a major
contributor by the end of the season.
Photo by Brandon Reed
So far, Thomas said, a large
number of girls have expressed
an interest in playing since May,
but he really won’t have an idea
as to how many of those will
actually show up until August,
when mandatory practices
begin.
“I’ve been pleased with the
turnout we’ve had so far in the
voluntary workouts, but we’ve
just now started inviting our
upcoming freshmen,’’ he said.
“We need to have a lot of them
come out so that we can have a
quality JV program to feed the
future varsity squad.’’
Thomas said he has a good
core group of girls to work with
as the team works this week on
Continued on Page 2B
Commerce Park and Rec
Tigersharks Ready For State Meet In Tifton
Jonathan Book competes at a recent meet for the Commerce
Tigersharks. Photo by Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
The Commerce Tigersharks
continued to work this week in
preparation for their trip to Tifton
for the State Meet this weekend.
Practice continued this week for
the 10 swimmers who will be
going to Tifton, with their final
practice scheduled for today
(Wednesday).
Qualifiers include, for the girls,
Taylor Lacey, Hannah Lacey,
Emmie Burley, and the team of
Hannah McRee, Hayden McRee
and Tori Smallwood.
Qualifiers for the boys include
Brandon Lyle, Quincy Mashburn,
Dalton Dean and Dawson Knick.
“We’re practicing morning and
night,’’ said Commerce Parks and
Recreation aquatic center coor
dinator Pam Minish. “They don’t
practice quite as hard this week.
We have some kids that have
really good chances at having
personal best times this weekend.
We stress personal best. That’s
more than winning. We like to
win, but we really stress the best
you can do for yourself. That
helps a lot.’’
The Tigersharks are coming off
of the League Swim meet this
past weekend at the Habersham
County Aquatic Center, where
the team placed seventh out of
12 teams.
“We had a really, really long
meet Saturday,’’ Minish said. “We
were there at 7 a.m„ and left at 8
p.m.’’
The Commerce team, which
consists of around 68 kids, faced
several teams that have around
200 athletes.
“We feel like we hold our own
pretty good,’’ Minish said.
The State Swim meet kicks
off Friday for swimmers 10 and
younger, while swimmers 11 and
older will take center stage on
Saturday.
It’s not what you would usually consider a high perfor
mance racing vehicle, but this Jeep Cherokee got the job
done for Commerce’s Mark Hancock as he took the win in the
Sportsman class at Atlanta Dragway Saturday.
Photos by Amy Glover
Commerce Racer Takes
Home Dragway Victory
Hancock Gets First "Wally" Trophy
By Amy Glover
Every race weekend is an
important one, but this week
end’s event took on special
significance out at the Atlanta
Dragway, as the National
Dragster Challenge and Junior
Dragster Challenge was held
on Saturday.
The annual event provides
a chance for bracket racers
to pick up an NHRA Wally
Trophy, the ultimate prize to
represent the best drag racers.
Mark Hancock of Commerce
earned his first Wally in the
Sportsman class, a long-over-
due triumph after previously
running in four other finals
competing for the trophy, three
of them in the motorcycle rank
and one in the same ’00 Jeep
Cherokee with which he won
Saturday’s race.
After his competitor in
the finals, Harold Wilson of
Winder, fouled at the start,
Mark gave a surprisingly solid
run with his street car, pulling
off a .004 light and a dead-on
dial-in at 16.28.
Scott Reynolds of Cartersville
and Jeff Wagner of Jefferson
placed third.
Two-time track champion
Thomas Bell of Toccoa claimed
his third Wally in the Super Pro
category, defeating Maysville’s
Ed Nalley for the win. The
round began with a staging
battle, with neither man pull
ing through the beams first.
It’s a strategy often applied
against Bell, who is known for
his habit of staging last.
“I don’t know why they do
that,’’ Bell said. “I’ll burn a hole
in the piston.’’
If the battle was meant to
intimidate, it didn’t throw Bell’s
game off in the least, as he
won with a .019 reaction time,
running 4.77 on a 4.74 dial,
alongside Nalley’s .053 light,
running 6.88 on a 6.82 dial.
Jeremy Hancock of
Commerce and Michael Brown
of Covington placed in the
semi-final round.
Pro Class winner Bruce
Wilson’s victory was a full-
fledged family achievement.
His win-light was met with
deafening screaming from his
nieces and wide smiles from
his racing father Jessie, mom
Sue and brother Michael.
Wilson secured the win with
a dead-on dial of 6.68, and the
better reaction time of .070
against Monroe’s Barry Camp,
who turned in a .159, running a
6.40 on a 6.39 dial.
Wilson, of Tallapoosa, said
he was just glad not to red
light, as he did in his past five
races, having beaten himself
on the tree.
Wilson won his first Wally
Mark and Sue Hancock
at the ’01 NHRA Division Two
ET finals. He said he originally
planned on staying at home, if
it weren’t for the Wally oppor
tunity.
Greg Allen of Greenwood,
SC, and David Simmons
of Suwanee finished in the
semis.
Winterville’s Steve Winn won
in the Motorcycle category,
making his first racing career
triumph that much sweeter with
the simultaneous gaining of a
Wally by defeating final-round
opponent Jeff Shropshire of
Dallas. Winn sank Shropshire
with the better package, cut
ting a .012 light, and tripping
the win stripe with an 11.04 on
a 10.90 dial, in opposition to
Shropshire’s .046 light and 9.78
run on a 9.63 dial.
“I’m just happy,’’ Winn said,
“All the hard work paid off. It’s
real cool.’’
Jimmy “Chacha’’ Heisler of
Woodstock and Michael Tlapa
of Loganville finished in third
place.
For the second year in a
row, the 13-17 Junior Dragster
Challenge was won by Danielle
Krause of Peachtree City, who
won with an 8.00 run on a 7.91
dial and a .036 light, facing
Statham’s Jordan Thurmond,
who beat himself by running a
hundredth of a second under
his dial-in with a 7.96 on a
7.97.
Fifteen-year old Valerie
Clements of Central, SC,
and Jeff Osborn, also 15, of
Woodstock, earned the third
place trophies.
Twelve-year old Wesley
Mayfield of Gainesville won
in the 8-12 Junior Dragster
category after Hiawassee’s
Daulton Roger fouled at the
line, illuminating Mayfield’s
side with the win light before
the finish line was reached.
Ten-year old Hiawassee racer
Alex Krause, brother of 13-17
winner Danielle Krause, fin
ished in the semi-finals.