Newspaper Page Text
DECEMBER 28, 2016
The Commerce News
The Banks County News
Phone: 706-621-7204
Fax: 706-367-8056
charles@mainstreetnews.com
Section B
Commerce Wrestling
Tigers ready for the Clash in Minn.
BY CHARLES PHELPS
The Commerce High School wrestling team
is nearing the end of its toughest stretch of the
season.
Since Dec. 9, the Tigers have competed in
two tournaments in Tennessee, one at Morgan
County and the Kyle Maynard Duals at Collins
Hill High School.
The Tigers finished third at the Kyle Maynard
Duals, which took place last Thursday. The
Tigers went 4-1. They defeated Thompson
(50-25), Mt. Zion (59-9), Mill Creek (56-12) and
Gilmer County (43-30).
The only loss came to Archer in the semi
finals.
“To be honest, we didn’t wrestle very well
and I told our guys that,” head coach Kendall
Love said. “They (Archer) are a good team,
but I feel like we’re better and we didn’t show it
in that match.”
The Tigers gave up six points due to a forfeit
in one weight class. They lost the match by five
points (34-29). And even though the Tigers are
still getting some guys into the proper weight
classes, Love wasn’t going to make any excuses
for the loss.
See “wrestling” on 2B
Pinfall victory
Commerce’s Cade Ridley watches as the referee hits the mat, signifying a pinfall win for Ridley in the 285-pound
match over his Archer opponent. The victory came at last Thursday’s Kyle Maynard Duals hosted by Collins Hill High
School. Photo by Charles Phelps
All era coming to an end
Commerce legend Jeff Prickett steps
away from the stat book after 45 years
BY CHARLES PHELPS
Legendary Commerce football statis
tician Jeff Prickett still has some work to
do since the Tigers’ season has ended.
Prickett will finalize all of the football
stats into the Tigers’ stat book, which
will include this year’s team and the
history of the program. Once that’s
complete, Prickett will step away from
being the team statistician, a position
he’s been in for 45 years. He’s now 71
years old.
Prickett informed head coach
Michael Brown last May that 2016 was
going to be his final season.
It isn’t known who will take the role
as team statistician, but Prickett does
get asked that very question now that
football is over.
“I get asked that question by people
around Commerce two or three times a
week. ‘Who’s going to do the stats next
year?’ And I don’t know,” he said.
With time on his side, Prickett will
enjoy more time with his wife, Judy,
his daughters, Christy and Shannon
and their husbands, and his four grand
children, Trevor, Russ, Annapaige and
Abigail.
He’s enjoyed his mn as the Tiger
statistician.
“The Bible teaches us ‘There’s a time
to laugh. There’s a time to cry. There’s
a time to dance and a time to be quiet,”’
he said. “Things happen in your life
when you go from this stage to this
stage to this stage.
“I’ve been a teacher. I’ve been a
coach. I’ve been a statistician for 45
years. I’ve been married for 50 years
and a father for 48 years, and this is my
next step.”
Prickett’s first game as statistician
came in the third game of the 1972 sea
son. The Tigers played White County.
Both teams had great mnning backs,
Prickett said. Commerce’s running
back was Ronald “Runt” Moon.
“It was an exciting affair, my first
game doing stats for Commerce,” Prick
ett remembered.
Commerce won the game, which
turned out to be White County’s only
loss that season. It was the first of 530
games Prickett would do for the Tigers.
He only missed 12 games in 45 years.
After finishing college in 1967 and
becoming a teacher in Commerce in
1968, coach Ray Lamb asked Prickett to
film the football games, which he did in
1970 and 1971, plus the first two games
of the ’72 season.
Then, Lamb asked him to do the
stats that third game of ’72, the rest was
history.
“There are certain things that you
love in life. Some people like to hunt.
Some people like to fish. Some people
like to play golf,” Prickett explained. “I
play golf and I do stats for Commerce.”
See “Prickett” on 4B
Living legend
Commerce football statistician Jeff Prickett is stepping away after 45 years of keep
ing the Tiger stats. In his time, Prickett kept stats at 530 of 542 games. Submitted photo
Banks County Basketball
Leopards roll past Trojans, 66-55
BY CHARLES PHELPS
Darius Bonds scored 12 points in the
first quarter against the North Hall Tro
jans last Thursday.
That scoring explosion helped cat
apult the Banks County Leopards to a
22-8 lead, a lead the team never relin
quished en route to a 66-55 win.
Bonds finished with 16 points.
“Darius Bonds played the quarter of
his life,” head coach Mike Cleveland
said. “I thought he really showed some
spark for us.”
Kahmal Wiley led the scoring for the
Leopards (7-4, 1-0 Region 8-AA) with
17 points. He scored 13 in the first half.
Gabe Martin contributed with 11 points.
Cleveland said the team did a good
job moving the ball.
“I thought everybody played well,” he
said. “I was really pleased with the team
effort. We’re moving the ball. It does
find its way back to Kahmal quite often,
and it should. He’s our best player. I’m
really pleased with this win and with
this team. We’ve come a long way from
where we started. We’re a totally differ
ent team right now.”
If there was a downside in a win,
Grant Rylee left the game with an appar
ent arm injury. He had six points and
five rebounds when the injury occurred.
“We don’t need to lose anybody right
now,” Cleveland said. “The thing is he’s
an athlete. He’s very coachable. He’s
a ‘yes sir, no sir’ kind of guy; does any
thing you ask him to do, from the dirty
work to whatever you need. It’s always
tough to lose a kid like that. We pray he’s
going to have a quick recovery.”
The Leopards played what Cleveland
called “odd” lineups against the Trojans.
The reason — they had to go man-to
man on the defensive side, which is
something the Leopards seldom do.
But the Leopards’ bigger post players
helped offensively.
“It was good for them to get out there
and do that,” Cleveland said. “I thought
everybody played hard. That’s a great
win for our program. North Hall is a very
good team, very-well-coached team, so
that’s a good win.”
This is the second win over the Tro
jans this season. The first came on Nov.
15, a 5145 victory to open the season.
The Leopards are also on a four-
game winning streak as they head to
Florida this week.
See “basketball” on 3B
Outside shot
Banks County’s Gabe Martin had 11 points
against the North Hall Trojans last Thursday.
Photo by Charles Phelps
Phelps
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