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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PAGE 15A Outdoors With Skipper Youngster carries on tradition of hunting S ome time ago I wrote a story about visiting my son’s neighbor’s new place in Franklin County. Andy Peck calls it a “cabin” but it’s more like a mansion to me, a real beautiful place. I told about our going quail and pheasant hunt ing. I recall Andy and I standing on his porch overlooking the Broad River as he pointed out a stand across the river. Well, this stand proved to be a good one for his teenage son Drew. Drew really loves to be in the woods hunting — especially deer hunting. A couple of weeks ago, on Dec. 15, Drew decided to hunt the stand across from the house. In all his past times hunting from this particular stand, Drew had seen nothing. In fact, it had been two weeks since he had tried it. Not seeing many deer from other stands, he figured he would check this one out once more. Arriving The Great Outdoors By Skipper Smith 706-677-1520 around 6:30 in the morning, the weather was cloudy with rain approaching. The temperature was in the 40s. After an hour of patiently wait ing, he heard leaves crunching on his right. Looking in that direc tion, he saw a deer trotting, but couldn’t make out as to whether it was a buck or doe. He stood up to get a better look, as the deer came closer. The deer had now slowed down to a walk. Drew saw more than ears on its head, and realized it was a nice buck. Slowly raising his rifle, Drew waited for the right moment. Coming closer on a trail, the big deer was now broadside. The buck stopped, with the main part of his body hidden by a tree. Drew took a quick aim at what he could see —the deer’s neck — steadied his rifle and squeezed off a shot. The eight-pointer dropped in his tracks with that excellent aim. That’s some good shooting, but I remember how good he was with a shotgun at flying quail also. Drew said he was shaking a lot afterwards and was real excited about the whole matter. I would be too, with a nice buck like that. Well, by the time you read this story, deer season in the Northern Zone will be over. There are a couple of weeks left in the Southern area. Let me know if you close out with a nice one. Skipper Smith is an outdoors columnist for The Banks County News. Let him know about your hunting or fishing adventure at 706-677-1520. High School Wrestling Mat Leopards finish third at Keen Classic BY CHRIS BRIDGES While the annual Jefferson High School Keen Classic was not as large as in years past, Banks County High School coach Kasey Hanley was still proud of his team’s third- place showing. The Mat Leopards just missed fin ishing as the tournament runner-up, falling to Commerce High School 41-39 in a match for second place. The matchup between the rivals came down the final match with the Mat Leopards needing to gain a pin in order to win the match. BCHS earned a win in the match but did not compile enough points to overtake Commerce who won by two points. “We showed a lot of heart in that match,” Hanley said. “We really closed the gap against Commerce from when we wrestled them earlier this season.” BCHS opened the Keen Classic with a 39-38 win against Social Circle High School. It was the sec ond time in as many matches the Mat Leopards defeated Social Circle by a single point. In the second round, BCHS fell to host Jefferson 72-12 as An Pham (130) and Wesley Angel (145) were the only Mat Leopards to record pins. Prior to the event in Jefferson, the BCHS wrestling team finished third at the Tommy Warren Invitational hosted by Oconee County High School. The team wrestled five dual matches at the event and captured its first team trophy. The Mat Leopards opened with wins against Monroe Area and Social Circle before falling to a strong Henry County squad. BCHS then bounced back to take wins against North Oconee and Oconee County. The win against Oconee County was the match for third place. “We’ve been in situations before where we’ve finished fourth and they’ve only given out three tro phies,” Hanley said. “Several times we’ve been just a few points from earning a trophy. We had some bad luck along the way. Our wrestlers were real excited about winning it.” In recent action, BCHS also com peted in a tri-match with Buford and Morgan County High School. The Mat Leopards defeated Buford while falling to Morgan County. Hanley’s team is now preparing for the Georgia-Carolina Classic at Hart County High School Saturday. Several quality teams are entered in the event including Clarke Central and Jackson County, Hanley said. Recreation dept. hosting baseball, softball registration Major League Baseball Examining the highs and lows of2007 I ’ve always been a National League fan. I loved the Milwaukee Braves as a kid and the Atlanta Braves as an adult. I always rooted for the National League during the All Star game and the Fall Classic. This year’s Classic was tough to watch. It was a battle scene played on a baseball field in which my choice — Colorado — was totally destroyed. Ugly. Ugly indeed. Noteworthy also was the pre dictability of the match-up. The Red Sox came on like a runaway freight train, while one only expected a minimum performance from the Rockies. Between naps while watching the series, there were moments of measured excite ment, such as the free Taco Bell give away. The national fast food chain announced it would give away one free taco to anyone and everyone in America if a player stole a base in the fourth inning of the second game. Jacob Ellsbury obliged by stealing second base in the fourth inning, the first stolen base of the World Series, bringing the first real roar of appreciation from fans across the country. I did collect on the deal, receiving my free taco the following Tuesday. Looking past the rout and crispy taco, the Series did bring some record-breaking moments: •The last two World Series victo ries by the Red Sox have been via a sweep. (In fact, three of the last four World Series champions swept the series.) Boston manager Terry Francona has been at the helm for both Red Sox titles, making him the first manager in baseball histo ry to go 8-0 in his first eight World Series games. Commenting on his eight consecutive series wins, Francona remarked, “It doesn’t get old.” •Several of the games played in this series were played at the highest altitude in series history. (Remember, Denver is the “mile high” city.) Before Saturday’s game, the highest altitude for a series game was 1,117 feet in Phoenix. •Okajima became the first Japanese-born pitcher to play in a World Series game. He struck out four, including former Japanese star Kaz Matsui. •The Red Sox are the first team in MLB postseason history to score 10-plus runs in three straight games. The series also brought some near record-breaking moments: •The Red Sox finished with the second-highest batting average (.333) in World Series history. Only the 1960 Yankees (.338) hit better. •Boston’s pitcher Lester’s win means the Red Sox’s starting pitchers won all four games of the World Series. •Since divisional play in 1969, only four teams’ starting pitchers won all four games of the World Series -- ‘07 Red Sox, ‘95 Braves, ‘89 A’s and ‘69 Mets. •The Red Sox finished with 18 Diamond Talk By John W. Rieken doubles, one off the Series record by the 1946 Cardinals and 1910 Philadelphia Athletics. Although several sportscasters said this was a terrible series, I disagree. It was not suspense- packed like so many series are. Not all series can match the magic of a Don Larson perfect game (1956) or a bottom of the 9th Kirk Gibson walk off home run (1988). Anyway, the 56 Yankees or the 88 Dodgers never had James Taylor, a lifelong Red Sox fan, to sing the national anthem as Taylor did in game one this year. Baseball, much like any other sport, is what you want it to be. If one can’t find excitement in a game, one looks for the story lurking behind the scenes. Boston Pitcher Jon Lester is a great exam ple. Lester pitched six scoreless innings in game four, setting up the Red Sox win and series sweep. Last year at this time, Lester was undergoing chemotherapy for can cer. So for the second time in four years, the Red Sox are World Series champions. This is a remarkable feat since Boston had not won a series from 1919 to 2003. That is 84 years without a title, rather reminiscent of the Cubs. We baseball fans now await the winter trades and deals which will shape the races next season. Banks County resident John Rieken is an avid baseball fan. The Banks County Parks and Recreation Department will host baseball and softball registration beginning Monday and continuing through Friday, Feb. 15. Registration fee for both sports is $40. Age control is May 1 for baseball and softball. For additonal information, contact the recreation department office on Thompson Street in Homer at 706-677-4407. Review... continued from page 14A The new head coach also imme diately reached out to coaches at Banks County Middle School. “For the first time in three years, I feel the middle school program is part of the high school program,” BCMS football coach Vince Lehotsky said. “The most notable difference has been the amount of communication that the middle school staff and the high school staff have had. Coach Armstrong and his staff have been more than willing to help the middle school in any way possible.” Offseason work for 2008 is under way as Armstrong’s Leopards will continue to compete in Region 8-AA. BCHS Girls... continued from page 14A Lauren Kennedy added seven points in the win Saturday with Lindsey McDuffie scoring five. Samm Kennedy, Allison White and Lauren Gibbs each scored two while Jessica Grisham added one. The Lady Leopards opened the Commerce tournament against Social Circle High School Friday. The Lady Redskins have been a perennial playoff team in Class A for several seasons under the direc tion of coach Crystal Wood. SCHS is having another quality season to this point in 2007-08. “They were probably the quickest team we’ve played,” King said after the 66-44 loss. “We actually led four minutes in but they made some good adjustments.” Saxon led BCHS with 17 points. Lauren Kennedy finished with six followed by White and Hunter with four each. Evans and Gibbs both scored three while McDuffie, Samm Kennedy and Brittany Cook all scored two. BCHS will have several days off before playing subregion foe Rabun County Jan. 11. “Our offense is getting there and we have made some improvements on defense,” King said. “We need to learn to be patient. We will continue working on fundamentals which should help us down the road. We are getting better guard play and our post play has been pretty solid all year.” RATES HAVE DROPPED - SO HAS OUR PRICING! GET STARTED NOW AND SAVE THOUSANDS! UP TO $6,000 IN FREE UPGRADES! MONTHLY SPECIAL! Sweetwater” 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, over 2,000 sq. ft. under roof! 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