Newspaper Page Text
IB
Phone: (706) 367-2348
Fax: (706) 387-5418 THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
justin @ mainstreetnews. com WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY 4,2009
Justin Griffith, shown in an earlier match, placed fourth during A he Sweet
Onion Classic. Photo by A! McLeod
East Jackson Wrestling
E]CHS Mat Eagles Take Eighth At Vidalia Tourn.
Wrestlers Prepare For Region Meet This Weekend
By Brandon Reed
Mark it down as another solid showing for the Mat Eagles of East Jackson.
A weekend trip to Vidalia gave East Jackson an eighth-place finish in the Sweet
Onion Classic on Saturday.
The Mat Eagles garnered 98 points, while winner Commerce had 204 points.
Besides Commerce, East Jackson finished behind West Laurens, Toombs, South
Effingham, Swainsboro, Dublin and Morgan County.
Individual placers in the meet included Luis Verduzco, third in the 140 lb. category;
Robbie King, third at 160 lbs.; Victor Equarte, fourth at 103; and Justin Griffith, fourth
at 119 lbs.
Next up for the Mat Eagles is the region meet this weekend in Fannin County as the
team continues to work towards the state meet later this month in Gwinnett County.
Commerce Wrestling
East Jackson Girls Basketball
Mat Tigers Rest Up Before Traditional Area Tournament
Commerce Grapplers Take First Place At Sweet Onion Classic
East Jackson Hosts
Rabun Co. Friday
By Justin Poole
With the Traditional Area
Tournament just over a week
away, the Commerce grapplers
have earned a few days to rest
from competition.
Commerce wrestling coach
Kendall Love thinks the mat
Tigers still have plenty of gas in
the tank.
“Our guys are still getting bet
ter," Love said. “They are still
wrestling well and still improv
ing. I don’t think we have peaked
yet."
Tuesday Commerce competed
in a quad-match against Oconee,
Salem and Cedar Shoals. Results
were unavailable at press time.
Commerce will take this week
end off from competition in
preparation for next weekend’s
(Feb. 13-14) Area Tournament at
Social Circle.
This past week, the Tigers
chalked up three wins in a Jan.
27 quad-match against North
Oconee, Winder and Johnson.
The Tiger grapplers defeated
North Oconee 49-25, followed
by a big win over Johnson, 67-6,
and rounded out with a 56-23
victory against Winder. Love
said that the matches provided
a good experience for JV wres
tlers to face some varsity oppo
nents.
“We were able to wrestle every
body we took," said Love.
Coming off of the three wins,
Commerce headed south to
Toombs County for the Sweet
Onion Classic.
Commerce placed 10 of 14
wrestlers inside the top four,
and brought home first place
ahead of West Laurens, Toombs
County and South Effingham.
Love said the wrestlers had
good matches and performed
well.
Addison Davis (left) gets under an opponent during last weekend’s tournament in
Toombs County, where Commerce took first place. Davis placed second in the 112
I bs. class. Photo courtesy of Lynnly Drinkard
First place finishes came from Doug
Maloch (119 lbs.), Nick Arostegui (135 lbs.)
and Terrance Martin (160 lbs.).
Mat Tigers taking a second place include
Addison Davis (112 lbs.), Casey Drinkard
(130 lbs.) and Phillip Edwards (145 lbs.). Josh
Streetman placed third in the 185 lbs. class.
Rounding out the Commerce placers were
Jon Cash (140 lbs.), Thomas Sears (152 lbs.)
and Tyler Austin (171 lbs.).
By Brandon Reed
With just four games left in the season,
and three of those being subregion pair
ings, the Lady Eagles of East Jackson
had hoped to be on firmer ground.
But so far, they’ve recorded just one
region win, placing them fourth in
the subregion with only Oglethorpe
County trailing them.
Their hopes to add more checks in
the win column fell flat last week with
losses to Banks County and Oconee
County.
Up next is a home stand against
Rabun County, a team that comes to
town 18-2 overall and undefeated in the
region.
The Lady Wildcats entered play on
Tuesday having gone undefeated since
before the Christmas break, winning
eight games in a row.
Tip-off Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Banks County
When the Lady Eagles hit the court
last Tuesday, they looked like a team
ready to make some things happen.
In the first quarter, East Jackson
moved out to a 10-4 lead by the end
of the first quarter. But a stout Banks
County team came roaring back in the
second quarter, putting 12 points on
the board while the Lady Eagles could
only answer with six, tying the score at
16 at the half.
Banks County took a five-point lead,
30-25, at the end of the quarter and
pulled away in the final quarter to come
away with a 40-34 win.
Autumn Wilbanks led the Eagles in
scoring with 13 points, while Shelby
Johnson scored eight and Callie Moore
scored five apiece.
Mikki McGinnis and Kaitlin Hill had
seven rebounds each, while Moore
and Caroline Hicks had six apiece.
Terin Gillespie had three assists and six
steals and Wilbanks and Johnson had
three steals each.
“We started out the game playing very
Continued on page 2B
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Commerce Basketball
Drea Mathis brings the ball
down the court during Friday’s
game against Jefferson.
Commerce is under pressure as
the season ends. See page 2B.
Photo by Justin Poole
Kaharie Beasley goes up
for a shot during a previous
game. The Eagles have taken
sole possession of second in
the subregion. See page 2B.
Photo by Brandon Reed
Tigers Pick Up Two Region Wins Lost Week
By Justin Poole
The Commerce Tigers are confident they
will be seeded fourth or fifth in the region
tournament.
With three region games this week and the
two region wins from last week the Tigers
should be assured a spot. Commerce is 7-4
in the region and 8-9 overall.
Best-case scenario: Commerce goes 3-0
this week and the third spot opens up as a
possibility. Currently, Commerce is fourth
in 8-A behind Athens Christian, Lakeview
and Athens Academy respectively.
Coming up for the Tigers is Athens
Academy on Friday at home. In the last
meeting between the schools, Commerce
took the short end falling 46-55. Friday’s
game starts at 8:30 p.m.
On Saturday, Commerce rides to Prince
Avenue looking for a win. The Tigers hope
to repeat a 58-28 win earlier in the season.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Commerce played Lakeview on Tuesday,
but results were unavailable at press time.
Last week against Tallulah Falls,
Commerce grabbed its sixth region win
of the season. The Tigers won 68-23 over
the Indians.
T. Green and Cameron Billings led the
scoring with 12 points apiece. Brandon
Romans and Travaris Glasper each scored
nine points, followed by Deon Orsborne
with eight. Bubba Bonds was good for
six, while Channing Anderson and Tyler
Gamble scored three apiece. Torrance
Wilcher, Drake Cash and Anthony Norris
rounded out the scoring with two points
each.
Coming off the easy win over Tallulah
Falls, Commerce faced Jefferson on Friday.
Jefferson easily defeated Commerce,
52-39.
From tip-off, Commerce had trouble, as
Jefferson got ahead 14-3 in the first quarter.
The Tigers gained a little ground in the
second quarter, but remained behind 22-13
Continued on page 2B