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THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
Phone: (706) 367-2348 WEDNESDAY,
Fax: (706) 387-5418 FEBRUARY 25,2009
justin @ mainstreetnews. com
Commerce Basketball
Tigers Take Third At Region, Start Playoff Bid
By Justin Poole
Commerce’s Tigers are not ready to
end the basketball season just yet.
A third-place finish in the region tour
nament last week secured the Tigers a
spot in the playoffs.
“I am very proud of this team,” coach
Chad Bridges said. “We have received
contributions from 10 different players
this year. All 10 of those have started
games for us at one time or another. This
has been truly a team effort. The guys
have been more concerned with team
success than individual success.”
The tournament finish pushed the
Tigers into the first round of the state
playoffs against Paideia. Commerce will
head to Atlanta on Saturday to begin
the Tigers’ state tournament campaign.
Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. and admission is
$7 at the gate.
“I hope we can get a good crowd to
come and watch this weekend,” Bridges
said.
Paideia finished second in region 7A
and has a 21-7 record. The Pythons have
Continued on page 3B
The Commerce Tigers celebrate Commerce faces Paideia in the first
making it to the state playoffs after round of the playoffs,
taking third in the region tournament. Submitted photo
Commerce Wrestling
East Jackson Wrestling
Doug Maloch gets under an opponent dur
ing the state tournament this past weekend.
Photo by Al McLeod
Robbie King (top), shown here from an ear
lier match, placed sixth in the 160 lbs.
weight class at the state tournament.
Photo by Brandon Reed
CHS Places Fourth At State EJCHS Ties For 12th At State
By Justin Poole
Commerce High School’s Mat Tigers placed six wrestlers inside
the top four at the state tournament and placed fourth as a team.
Commerce finished fourth with 83 points. Bremen won the crown
with 176.5 points and five state champions. Wesleyan finished sec
ond with 138 points, Gordon Lee was third with 119 and Bowdon
placed fifth with 76 points.
The Tigers bounced back after a rough night on Friday to place
six inside the top four on Saturday.
Commerce had two runners-up — Doug Maloch (119 lbs.) and
Phillip Edwards (145 lbs.). Third-place finishers included Casey
Drinkard (130 lbs.) and Jon Cash (140 lbs.). Finishing fourth for
the Tigers were Addison Davis (112 lbs.) and Terrence Martin (160
lbs.).
Wrestling coach Kendall Love said he was proud of the grapplers
and their performance at state and appreciated the support from
the community for the Commerce wrestling program.
“I am very proud of the way these guys performed this season,”
Love said. “We won six tournament championships throughout the
year against some very tough competition. I could not be prouder
of them.”
East Jackson Basketball
By Brandon Reed
The East Jackson Mat Eagles
wrapped up a strong season
of wrestling Saturday by tying
with Banks County for 12th
place in the State Tournament
at the Gwinnett Arena.
East Jackson had two third-
place finishers in the tourna
ment, Justin Griffith at 119
pounds and Luis Verduzco at
140, as well as a sixth-place
finisher, Robbie King in the
160-pound class.
Two wrestlers, Shane Moore
and Scott Hill, were one match
short of placing.
“We wrestled well,” said
coach Randy Hill. “Our goal
was a top 10 and we got 12th
tied with Banks County. We
had tough matches for all three
placers.”
East Jackson scored 47
points, as did Banks. Both
teams trailed state champion
Jefferson, Lovett, Toombs
County, Henry County, Dublin,
Sonoraville, Westminster,
Swainsboro, Blessed Trinity,
Benedictine and Buford.
Hill said this is the sign of
things to come for the Eagles’
wrestling program.
“I feel our program will con
tinue to get better. With a
strong middle school bunch
and a lot of our young wres
tlers, we will keep getting bet
ter each year. The key now is
Continued on page 3B
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Commerce Youth Wrestling
The Commerce Youth Wrestling
Club had several medal winners from
recent events including the 2009 Team
Bear Wrestling Tournament and South
Georgia Challenge in Valdosta.
Continued on page 2B
East Jackson Soccer
Eagles Host Elbert Co. Fri
By Brandon Reed
The East Jackson Eagles soccer team
continues looking for its first win of the
season after losing last week to Banks
County.
Its next opportunity will come Friday, as
the Eagles play host to Elbert County at
5:00 p.m.
The Eagles were scheduled to travel to
Social Circle on Feb. 18, but that game
was canceled due to the weather. On Feb.
20, East Jackson hosted the Banks County
Leopards, who came into the game with a
2-1 record.
With several players out due to injuries
and the state wrestling tournament, East
Jackson came up on the short end of
an 8-0 score, as the Leopards picked up
another win.
“They passed well and have a couple
players that can really put the ball in the
net,” coach Matt Miner said of Banks
County. “We passed well and advanced
the ball towards their goal several times
but didn't get many real shots on goal. We
played excellent defense at times but when
we had a breakdown Banks capitalized.”
The Eagles were scheduled to host Union
County on Tuesday. Results were unavail
able at press time.
Commerce Baseball
Tigers Ready For Baseball
By Justin Poole
Commerce’s Diamond Tigers are ready
to take the field.
Commerce hosted East Jackson last
Friday in a pre-season game and kicked off
the season on the road against Oglethorpe
on Tuesday. Results from those games
were unavailable at press time.
Today (Wednesday) the Tigers face AAA
Hart County on the road at 5:30 p.m.
Hart is a triple-A school and will let Steve
Cotrell who is stepping in as head coach,
gauge a team he says is going to be young
at several positions.
Saturday, Commerce heads to
Waynesboro for Diamond Day. The Tigers
face Jenkins County at LOO p.m. followed
by Burke County at 3:00 p.m.
Cotrell is pleased with what he has seen
from the team in the pre-season.
“The kids have been working hard and
they have done just about everything that
I have asked them to do,” said Cotrell.
“We are getting better every day and
maybe by the time region rolls around,
we will be able to compete at the level we
need to compete at,” Cotrell said. “It is
hard to state a lot this early in the season,
especially not knowing much about the
competition. We will know more about
ourselves in a few weeks once we get
everyone out there on the diamond.”
East Jackson Faces Coosa In Round One Of State Tourney Play Saturday
By Brandon Reed
In only their second year, the East Jackson basketball
Eagles are heading for state tournament. They got there by
winning third in region competition, knocking off Rabun
County and Union County in the process.
Now the Eagles will prepare for a Saturday trip to Rome
to face Coosa High School in the first round of State
Tournament play.
Coosa went 12-15 overall, and 5-6 in the region.
“Coosa got off to a rough start but has really been playing
its best ball over the past month,” said coach Brian Turner.
“I believe it is a good match-up for both teams and a game
that could go either way. They are led by their size up
front and rely heavily on scoring in the low post area. One
change is that we should see plenty of man defense from
them, which we have rarely seen all year.
“The kids are excited about the trip and the opportunity
we have to represent our school and community. We hope
that as many people as possible will come out to support
us as well.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
Rabun County
The first team the Eagles had to face on the road to state
was the Wildcats of Rabun County. Earlier in the month,
East Jackson beat Rabun 55-50.
The first half of the game went back and forth, as both
teams seemed evenly matched. The Eagles held a slim
22-21 lead going into the half. In the third quarter, East
Jackson’s defense put the pressure on the Wildcats, result
ing in the Eagles outscoring Rabun 27-4 in the third to take
a 49-25 lead. East Jackson held its advantage through the
fourth quarter to win the quarterfinal round 63-43 — and
giving the Eagles their first trip to the state playoffs.
Kolby Gilbert led in scoring with 17 points, while
Standrick Stephens had 12 and Terry Cox scored 10.
Riverside
Up next were the semi-final round and a pairing with the
Continued on page 3B