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THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
Phone: (706) 367-2348 WEDNESDAY,
Fax: (706) 387-5418 FEBRUARY 18,2009
justin @ mainstreetnews. com
Commerce Wrestling
Jon Cash (left) sets up an opponent during the
Traditional Area Tournament this past weekend.
Photo by Lynnly Drinkard
Mat Tigers Sending
11 To Gwinnett Arena
By Justin Poole
The Commerce grapplers made a good showing at the
Traditional Area Tournament, missing the area champion
ship by just a half a point.
Commerce finished with 238 points just behind Wesleyan
with 238.5 points.
Last weekend the Mat Tigers qualified 11 wrestlers to
go to the State Tournament this weekend at the Gwinnett
Arena.
“Our guys wrestled hard," said coach Kendall Love.
The 11 qualifiers to state include Area champions Doug
Maloch (119 lbs.), Nick Arostegui (135 lbs.) and Thomas
Sears (152 lbs.).
Second place finishers Casey Drinkard (130 lbs.) and
Jon Cash (140 lbs.). Finishing in third at Area were Phillip
Edwards (145 lbs.), Terrance Martin (160 lbs.) and Josh
Streetman (189 lbs.).
Rounding out the state qualifiers are Area fourth place
winners Addison Davis (112 lbs.), Tyler Austin (171 lbs.)
and Andrew Minish (215 lbs.).
“Our guys did what they needed to do to get in some
good spots," Love said.
The Tigers will start at 11:15 a.m. on Friday in the first
round of the State Tournament.
“We are going to go at it in practice and get everyone
where they need to be and see what happens," Love said.
East Jackson Wrestling
Luis Verduzco (top) holds down an oppo
nent during last weekend’s State Sectionals.
Photo by Justin Poole
Seven Mat Eagles Head To State
By Brandon Reed
After a successful showing at the sectionals tournament
in Jefferson, seven Mat Eagles will represent East Jackson
Comprehensive High School at the State tournament at the
Gwinnett Arena this weekend.
The highest place finisher for the Eagles was Robbie King,
who placed third at 160 pounds. Other placers included
Scott Hill, fourth at 189; Justin Griffith, fourth at 119; Shane
Moore, fourth at 130; Drew Hunter, fifth at 152; Victor
Equirte, fifth at 103; and Luis Verduzco, sixth at 140.
“It was a well-run tournament at Jefferson," said coach
Randy Hill. “I felt some of our boys should have placed
higher."
The State tournament gets under way Thursday and runs
through Saturday at the Gwinnett Arena.
Commerce Basketball
CHS Splits Games, Faces Social Circle At Tourney
Cameron Billings (left) and an game last Friday. Commerce ended
Athens Christian opponent scramble the regular season 10-6 in region play,
for the ball during the final season Photo by Mark Beardsley
By Justin Poole
The Commerce High
School Tigers ended an era
last Friday night.
The final game of the regu
lar season also marked the
end of the CHS gymnasi
um.
The gym is slated to be
demolished this spring to
make room for the new high
school. A future practice
gymnasium almost com
pleted will serve as the tem
porary home for the Tigers
during next season. A new
pit-style basketball facility
will be constructed as part
of the new high school.
While those concerns
rest with someone else,
the Tigers and coach Chad
Bridges are focused on the
Region Tournament this
week.
“We feel like we have a
Continued on page 2B
East Jackson Basketball
Commerce Girls Basketball
Eagles Start Region Tourney Lady Tigers Face Social Circle
By Brandon Reed
The East Jackson Eagles
wrapped up their regular
season run by splitting two
games last week, winning
over Oglethorpe County
on Senior night, then losing
the season closer at Banks
County.
Now the Eagles’ attention
turns to the postseason. A
second-place finish in the
subregion means they will
start region tournament play
Wednesday night at North
Oconee, where they’ll take
on Rabun County at 8:30.
East Jackson came away
with the victory at the two
teams’ previous meeting,
winning 55-50 on Feb. 6.
Rabun finished third in the
subregion.
Oglethorpe County
On Tuesday, the Eagles
honored their five senior
players prior to tip-off,
including Kolby Gilbert,
Standrick Stephens, Kaharie
Beasley, Zach Gilbert and
Terry Cox.
After the pre-game festivi
ties, East Jackson got down
to business. The Eagles took
control early, and had built
up a 15-point, 35-20 edge into
the half. They remained in
control of the game through
the second half, and would
go on to win 64-54.
Kolby Gilbert and
Stephens both scored 22
points, while Cody Gibbs
scored nine.
Banks County
East Jackson wrapped up
regular season play with a
trip to Homer to face the
Banks County Leopards.
The Eagles had won the
previous meeting of the two
teams 66-44 back on Jan.
27, and hoped to duplicate
that feat to round out the
season.
But the Leopards came out
with different ideas, jump
ing out to an 18-8 lead after
the first quarter. The Eagles
could only close the gap to
nine points by the half, as
Banks County led 33-24.
The lead would stay
right around nine through
the third quarter, but East
Jackson couldn’t close on
Continued on page 2B
By Justin Poole
After a rough season, the Commerce Lady Tigers will
enter the region tournament.
The Lady Tigers ended the regular season with two losses
that left the team 5-11 in region play and 6-16 overall. The
record secured the seventh seed in the region tournament.
The first round for Commerce was against number two
seed Social Circle — a team that beat Commerce in both
regular season games — on Tuesday. Results were unavail
able at press time. See www.mainstreetnewssports.com for
updates.
“Social beat us up pretty good in both games we played
them," said coach Eddie McCurley. “It goes back to if we
can take care of the basketball and not have as many
unforced turnovers, then we get more opportunities to
score... for us this is key."
McCurley felt good about the Lady Tigers as they entered
the tournament.
“There is no pressure on us. The only pressure we have is
what we place on ourselves," McCurley said. “All the pres
sure should be on Social Circle because they are expected
to win. We hope to keep the game close and put the pres
sure squarely back on them. We have to play our best game.
Our worst enemy is ourselves."
Last week the Lady Tigers ended the regular season on
the short end of a seven-game streak.
Commerce started slowly against region-leading Towns
County and fell 63-21.
McCurley said the Lady Tigers were overmatched and
had trouble finding the basket in the first half. At the end
of the half, Towns led 32-9. Commerce attempted to cut
Towns County’s lead in the third, but was held to seven
points as the Lady Indians scored 21 points
Continued on page 2B
East Jackson Girls Basketball
Lady Eagles Close Regular Season
Abby Adams (right) goes for a lay-up dur
ing the first round of the post-season tourney.
Photo by Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
It was a good ending to the
regular season for the Lady
Eagles of East Jackson,
as they beat Oglethorpe
County and Banks County.
They then went on to win
their first post-season game
Monday night against
Oglethorpe.
The Lady Eagles’ post
season fate rested on a
Tuesday match-up with
Rabun County at North
Oconee. The winner of the
game would advance to face
the winner of the Union
County-Jefferson game at
JHS on Friday at 7 p.m.
Results of Tuesday’s game
were not available at press
time.
Oglethorpe County
The Lady Eagles entered
play last Tuesday against
the Oglethorpe County
Lady Patriots knowing they
had a shot at coming away
with a win having defeated
Oglethorpe on Jan. 20.
The Lady Eagles domi-
With Wins
nated the first quarter 16-2
then held Oglethorpe tc
only eight points in the sec
ond quarter, to carry a 31-S
advantage into the half.
It was more of the same
in the third quarter, as East
Jackson ran their lead up
to 54-14, then coasted to a
65-19 victory.
Autumn Wilbanks led
the team in scoring with Id
points, while Callie Moore
scored 14, Bralee Griffin
and Kaitlin Hill scored 1C
apiece and Abby Adams
scored six.
Hill made it a double
double pulling down 11
rebounds, while Wilbanks
had six. The Lady Eagles
had 16 total assists, with
Terin Gillespie producing
seven of them. Gillespie and
Moore led in steals with five
each, while Griffin had foui
and Wilbanks had three.
The team had 21 steals on
the night.
Continued on page 2B
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