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About The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 2016)
SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 The Commerce News The Banks County News Phone: 706-621-7204 Fax: 706-367-8056 charles@mainstreetnews.com Section B Rollin' in region Fighting through blocks Commerce defensive back TJ Trudnak fights off a Hebron Christian Academy blocker to make a tackle during the Tigers’ 49-15 win last Friday. Photo by Charles Phelps Tigers run past Hebron Christian in region opener BY CHARLES PHELPS In the Commerce Tigers’ season-opening win against Banks County, mnning back Cole Chancey rushed for 75 yards and one touchdown. He backed up the first performance with a great second act against Hebron Christian Academy Friday night, carrying the ball five times for 81 yards and one touchdown. He also showed his defensive prowess, inter cepting a Hebron Christian pass and returning it 46 yards for a touchdown during the Tigers’ 49-15 region win last Friday on Tiger Field at Ray Lamb Stadium. Commerce is 2-0 and 1-0 in Region 8-A with the win. “We prepared all week in practice,” Chancey said after the win. “This time last year, we came off a big win and had a second-game slump. “That’s something we had to overcome and prove that we are still hungry and hum ble, and we prepared hard all week in practice and came out and worked hard all four quarters.” Quarterback Lane Sorrow had two rushing touchdowns last week and doubled-down against Hebron Christian with a rushing and passing touchdown. Sorrow finished the game with 56 yards on four carries and was 1 of 1 through the air for 65 yards with the score. Austin Brock carried the ball seven times for 50 yards and one score. The Tigers’ first drive last ed six plays and finished when Brock found the end zone on a 6-yard mn to give the Tigers a quick 7-0 lead. On the ensuing Hebron Christian possession, Chanc ey intercepted Hebron Chris tian quarterback Troy Allen’s pass and returned it for the Tigers’ second score, mov ing the lead to 13-0 in 20 seconds. “I just played my reads like the defensive staff told me, and my defensive teammates helped me out on that one,” Chancey said about the pick- six. The next possession ended in a punt for Hebron Christian and more points for the Tigers as Kyre Ware returned the punt 55 yards for a touchdown. After a suc cessful 2-point conversion, the Tigers’ lead grew to 21-0 with 6:36 left in the opening See “Tigers” on 2B Rounding third Jaycie Bowen rounds third base during the Banks County Lady Leopards’ 3-2 loss against Social Circle last Thursday. Photo by Charles Phelps Leopards get first win in shootout Lady Leopards fall to Social Circle, 3-2 BY CHARLES PHELPS The Banks County Lady Leopards’ softball team had a great outing defensively last Thursday against the Social Circle Lady Redskins. The team didn’t commit any errors, and starting pitch er Tybee Denton stmck out 10 Lady Redskins and gave up only three hits. The problem: the Lady Leopards’ offense couldn’t get mns across the plate. The offense put the ball in play as opposed to previ ous games, head coach Tony Bowen said, but they had five pop-ups in the infield with runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the 3-2 region loss. The Lady Redskins’ big gest hit came in the fifth inning on a two-run single that gave the Lady Redskins the lead, 2-1. “If we would’ve strung together a few hits, it might have been a different story,” Bowen said. “I wasn’t completely dis satisfied with our play. I think we need to in those big situa tions try to put the ball in-play on the ground.” Jaycie Bowen led the Lady Leopards (2-5, 0-1 Region 8-AA) at the plate with a double and an RBI. Kya San tiago scored the Lady Leop ards’ two mns and stole two bases. Abby Ledford and Mikala Beckett each had a single. “It was a tough defen sive outing for both teams, because both teams got out of some situations where it could have been a whole different ball game if things had broke loose earlier in the game,” Bowen said. The Lady Leopards got on the board in the first inning as Santiago reached base after being hit by a pitch. After stealing second and finding third, Santiago came < ^ > home on a passed ball. The Lady Leopards led 1-0. In the fifth inning, the Lady Redskins found life with the two-mn single to take the lead, 2-1. They added one more in the sixth to push the lead to 3-1. The Lady Leopards could only plate one more mn when an RBI groundout by Bowen brought Santiago home to cut the deficit to 3-2. Banks County doesn’t play again until Thursday at Oglethorpe County, its sec ond region game of the sea son. “We’ve got a little break right here. I’m giving them a couple of days off, so they can regroup,” Bowen said. He wants his players to come back from the break “refreshed” and “loving” softball. “I want them to miss it these next couple of days, so when they do come back, everyone will play like they are supposed to play” he added. Banks County 8, Franklin County 6 The Lady Leopards picked up their second win of the season on Aug. 27. Santiago heated up at the plate, going 3-for-5 for three singles and RBI. Bowen was also 3-for-5 at the plate with two singles, a double and two RBI. Amelia Lyons added two singles, three runs and an RBI. After trailing 1-0 in the first inning, the Lady Leopards gained the lead with a two- mn second inning, 2-1. The Lady Lions tied the game in the bottom half of the inning, 2-2, and the two exchanged mns in the third inning, putting the score at 3-3. ~ In the top of the sixth inning, the Lady Leopards scored two mns to take a 5-3 lead. But the lead quickly evaporated as the Lady Lions responded with three of their own and led 6-5 headed to the last inning. The Lady Leopards weren’t going to be denied, however, scoring three mns on a pair of singles to take the lead away for good at 8-6. BY KYLE FUNDERBURK CORRESPONDENT A balanced and potent Banks County offense lit up the scoreboard Friday Night. Quarterback Griffin Good win passed for 249 and five touchdowns. Running back Clayton Dykehouse added 245 rushing yards to lead Banks County (1-2,06 Region 8-AA) to a 54-35 win over Johnson. “We did a great job coming out of the gate,” head coach Josh Shoemaker said. “I chal lenged our kids to start the game off well. “We have been playing behind the first couple of games, so I wanted to start the game by scoring. That’s a good day on offense no doubt, whenever you can score 54 points it’s a good showing.” Banks County scored on eight of its nine possessions, beginning with a 48-yard drive that culminated in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Good win to Bryce Bennett. Bennett ended the game with three touchdown catches. “Griffin had a great game but he had all day to throw the ball,” Shoemaker said. “Our offensive line did a great job protecting him.” Goodwin said, “We pre pared all week and we con sidered their secondary to be their weakness and we should go after them with our passing game. “I think this was a great game for us to come out and have fun after these last two games. We put up 54 points, and I think we’re going to keep getting better.” Banks County appeared to take the game over after a 34-yard pass from Goodwin to Bennett a few minutes later. But Johnson cut the lead to 14-7 early in the second quar ter with a 73yard drive led by mnning back Fernando Ruiz. He ended the drive with a 3-yard touchdown. Dykehouse dominated the Leopards’ next possession and extended their lead to 21-7 with a 17-yard touchdown. Johnson answered with a 27- yard pass from Sam Cor bett to A.T. Young. Banks County extended the lead back to 14 points with a 44-yard pass from Goodwin to Bennett. The Leopards led 28- 14 at halftime. They immediately expand ed their lead just 35 seconds into the third quarter when Dykehouse ran for a 50-yard touchdown on what was sup posed to be a halfback pass. Banks County missed the point-after attempt, setting the score at 34-14. “That kid (Dykehouse) can mn the football, can’t he? He’s really fun to watch and we’re really excited to have him in our backfield, no doubt,” Shoemaker said. Dykehouse said, “I was just finding holes and it was open just about every time. I just kept looking for somewhere to mn and somewhere to score every time.” The Leopards’ next posses sion ended in disaster due to a bad snap on a punt attempt. Kylan Curry scored on the next play to slim the lead to 3421. Banks County stretched the lead again with a quick drive ending with a 13-yard pass from Goodwin to Blake Segars. Goodwin was sacked on the two-point conversion attempt leaving the score at 40-21. Johnson put together another drive to end the third quarter, this time finishing with a 4yard pass deflecting off the hands of a Leopard defender and into the hands of Chandler Barkley. The score cut the lead to 40-28. Johnson attempted an onside kick but it was recov ered by Banks County. Three minutes later Dyke house scored from three yards out to give the Leopards a 47-28 lead. After getting a stop on defense, an 11-yard pass from Goodwin to Segars gave Banks County its largest lead of the night, 5428. “We didstruggle afew times, and part of that is because we were lined up wrong, but they got stops when they needed to, and a big fourth-down stop late in the fourth quarter really helped us,” Shoemaker said. Johnson added one more touchdown with 11 seconds left. Bennett caught four passes for 102 yards. “I think we have one of the best receiver groups in the region and I think peo ple sleep on them, but they are hard workers and they’re going to get better,” Goodwin said. “If they keep getting better, who knows how we’ll be. I can’t say enough about those guys.” Banks County hurt itself with penalties, accumulating 21 for 160 yards. Shoemaker sees that as the biggest thing to work on. “We’re still making too many knuckleheaded mis takes, too many off-sides and too many holding penalties, simple stuff like that we have to clean up,” he said. “The refs throw a lot of flags. I’ll have to look at the tape but I’m sure most of them were our fault. If you’re in a real close game, those things will kill you, and they kept making it closer than I wanted to.” Banks County hosts Union County next Friday.
