Newspaper Page Text
January 9, 2008
Section
b
The Banks County News
Sports Editor: Chris Bridges
Contact: 706-367-2745
www.mainstreetnews.com
First
&
Ten
★ ★ ★
chris@mainstreetnews.com
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
BCHS teams
enter record
books in 2007
B efore we completely
close the book on 2007,
two Banks County High
School athletic teams are worthy
of one final mention.
Both the BCHS varsity boys
tennis team and the varsity boys
cross country team did more than
have standout seasons in 2007:
they both made school history by
qualifying for their respective state
events.
Coach Mike Ruth’s tennis squad
advanced to state last spring
while the cross country Leopards,
coached by Kelly McDuffie,
accomplished the lofty goal this
past fall. Members of both teams
have set a new standard for all
who will follow and no doubt that
standard will be tough to follow.
The tennis team entered state as
the No. 4 seed from Region 8-AA.
Few probably expected much
from the Leopards, but Ruth’s
team showed it was not there just
for the sake of being there. In
the opening round, BCHS upset
Marion County, the No. 1 seed
from Region 5-AA.
While the state journey would
end the following week against
Walker High School, it had been
quite an accomplishment for the
tennis Leopards. Chaz Elrod, Kyle
Walker and Michael Baker com
peted in singles matches for the
Leopards in 2007. The teams of
Keith Freeman/Tyler Mathis and
Alan Yancey/Garret Hayes handled
the doubles action for BCHS.
“Our goal was to make it to to
the state tournament,” Ruth said.
“Everything else, including hte
win in the first round, was simply
icing on the cake.”
A few months later, the BCHS
boys cross country team would
put its stamp in the school record
book. The Leopards entered the
season with a high level of poten
tial but McDuffie knew her team
would have to prove its worth
while competing.
Building off the success the
BCHS girls cross country team
enjoyed the previous season, the
varsity boys continued to improve
as 2007 progressed.
The Leopards finished fourth
at the Region 8-AA meet but
then took their performance to a
season-best level at state capturing
a top 10 finish. Runners Keiffer
Hellmeister, Chris Parks, Simon
Hurtado, Andre Aguliar, Pedro
Mendoza, Jorge Diaz, Ivan Diaz
and An Pham have established a
new tradition for the BCHS boys
cross country program — a tradi
tion which includes excelling at
state.
“Being a winner comes from
inside,” McDuffie said following
the season. “If you have never
been to the next level in athletics,
you do not know what you are
missing.”
What the BCHS varsity boys
tennis and cross country teams did
not miss in 2007 was finding that
necessary inner desire to be suc
cessful.
Members of both teams, as well
as the coaches of both squads,
deserve a high degree of praise for
the success they enjoyed during
the past calendar year.
Here’s to hoping that level of
success continues in 2008 and per
haps even goes beyond what they
have already enjoyed.
Chris Bridges is sports editor of
The Banks County News. Contact
him at 706-367-2745 or by e-mail
at chris@mainstreetnews.com.
High School Wrestling
Mat Leopards capture third at Ga.-Carolina Classic
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Earning team trophies is getting to be a habit
for the Banks County High School wrestling
team.
The Mat Leopards brought home their sec
ond team trophy this season and second in
program history this past weekend by plac
ing third at the prestigious Georgia-Carolina
Classic, hosted by Hart County High School.
The performance drew high praise from BCHS
coach Kasey Hanley.
“We wrestled the best we have all season,”
he said. “We still had some starters missing,
but we came through with a big performance.
The wrestlers are excited about getting another
team trophy.”
The Mat Leopards competed five times at the
event wrestling Cross Creek, Jackson County,
Oconee County, Franklin (North Carolina)
and Crescent (South Carolina). The team’s
only setback was a 46-30 decision to Jackson
County, who eventually won the event for the
second year in a row.
As BCHS enters the second part of the
2007-08 season, several competitors are begin
ning to take their performances on the mat
to another level. Demetric Dempson, who
wrestles at 160, is now 31-3 overall.
“When he steps on the mat, we expect him to
win,” Hanley said. “Two years ago he had just
started wrestling and won four matches. Now
he is tearing it up and could won 50 matches
this season.”
See Wrestling on page 2B
STRONG
PERFORMANCE
An Pham and the
Banks County
High School Mat
Leopards turned
in a standout
performance
at the Georgia-
Carolina Classic
last week.
Photo by
Randy Crump/
Rudeseal Photo
BCHS Basketball: Season’s Second Half Begins
Leopards working
for battle with
Rabun County
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Banks County High School Leopards have
certainly played well at times this season.
Coach Mike Ruth’s team completed the first
half of the 2007-08 campaign with a 7-4 record
and has been victorious in five of its last seven
contests. BCHS will look to keep its winning
ways going this Friday when the Leopards travel
to Rabun County High School for a key subre
gion contest.
BCHS has not played since the Commerce
High School holiday tournament in late
December. A gap in games was caused by vari
ous schools backing out of scheduled contests
with the Leopards. Ruth has been using the off
time to keep his team sharp with two subregion
games on tap including the Rabun County game
Friday and a game with East Jackson Tuesday.
Ruth scouted the game between East Jackson
and Rabun County last week.
“I hope we will be ready for Rabun County,”
the coach said earlier this week. “It’s always
tough to play on the road. Rabun County always
seems to play well at home. We feel we can
compete with both Rabun County and East
Jackson so it will be important for us to get wins
in these games.”
Rabun County lost to East Jackson last week
as the Wildcats suffered a defeat for just the sec
ond time this season. Ruth said Rabun County
returns several perimeter players from last sea
son and appears to be a solid team.
“We will have our work cut out for us,” the
coach said. “But that’s how it goes when it’s
subregion time.”
Ruth said the subregion race will be tough the
rest of the way. Fannin County is currently 13-0
and Union County has already defeated BCHS
earlier this season. Dawson County defeated
the Leopards in the championship game of the
Commerce tournament.
“Hopefully our press will be able to help us in
our subregion games,” Ruth said. “We will look
to use our press to keep ourselves in the game.”
In the two games at the Commerce High
School holiday tournament, BCHS defeated
Social Circle 67-45 in the opening round before
falling to Dawson County 74-57 in the champi
onship. Chris McDuffie and Dustin Worley were
both named to the All-Tournament team.
“We played well against Social Circle,
but came out flat the next night,” Ruth said.
“Dawson County jumped on us early. We stress
defense but Dawson County draws you out by
kicking it out to three-point range. When you
play a team like that it’s tough.”
SENIOR STANDOUT
Banks County High school senior Chris McDuffie, competing in earlier action this sea
son, has stepped up his play this year for the Leopards. McDuffie and BCHS will travel
to Rabun County High School Friday for a subregion contest.
Photo by Randy Crump/Rudeseal Photography
Kasey Hudgins did manage 12 points against
the Tigers.
“We’ll make some adjustments the next time
we play them,” Ruth said of Dawson County.
“We knew we had to get out and try to limit their
shooters. They made us pay with their outside
shooting. We also had way too many turnovers.
It was one of those nights where we couldn’t get
anything going.”
The BCHS coach said in the opener against
Social Circle, he liked his team’s effort on the
defensive end of the court.
“Our defense really stepped up in the second
half and put the game away,” Ruth said.
King's team
preps for
subregion
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The part of the schedule all basket
ball coaches point to is at hand for
the Banks County High School Lady
Leopards: the subregion.
Coach Jerry King’s team will begin
subregion play in earnest this Friday
when it travels to Rabun County
High School. While BCHS has one
subregion contest under its belt, the
majority of games on the remainder
of the regular season slate will now
be against Region 8-AA North foes.
The Lady
BCHS @ Leopards have
Rabun been dealing with
County, a long lay off as
they have not
Friday, 7 p. m . taken the court
since the holiday
tournament at
Commerce High School Dec. 28-29.
The layoff has given BCHS plenty
of time to prepare for this Friday’s
game against Rabun County, which
begins at 7 p.m.
“We have spent a lot of time on
improving our basketball handling
and putting in a couple of new offen
sive wrinkles,” King said. “We have
also worked a great deal on defense.
We are working on some defensive
schemes which we hope will utilize
our strengths.”
The long layoff, caused by teams
backing out of games originally
scheduled against BCHS, is allow
ing the Lady Leopards the oppor
tunity to prepare for both Rabun
County and East Jackson.
BCHS will host East Jackson next
Tuesday in another subregion con
test.
King has been able to scout East
Jackson in person twice and Rabun
County once. The coach said Rabun
County is led by a senior and junior
while East Jackson is comprised of
several players who were keys for
Jackson County High School last
season.
The first-year BCHS coach has also
been able to keep an eye on the over
all subregion noting Dawson County
is a team heavy with seniors.
See BCHS girls on page 3B
Region 8-AA Reclassification
Buford High School files final appeal to move back to 8-AA
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Buford High School is not going away with
out a fight.
Current members of 8-AA learned this week
that Buford High School will appeal one final
time to become a member of the region during
a hearing before the entire executive commit
tee of the Georgia High School Association
Thursday.
Buford was already denied a move from
Region 6-AA to 8-AA by the reclassification
committee but the Gwinnett County school
had the right to pay $2,000 for a final appeal
to be heard by the entire executive committee.
Buford High School officials did the exact
thing two years ago but was denied by the
executive committee by a 31-17 vote.
School officials at Buford High School con
tend that it will benefit their student-athletes
to be in Region 8-AA because it is less travel
time. Buford officials contend it takes more
time to travel into the downtown area, where
several 6-AA schools are located, than it does
to travel to some of the extreme North Georgia
mountain schools in 8-AA.
All current members of 8-AA, including
Banks County High School, are opposed to
Buford being allowed to move into the region.
Allowing Buford in would create a schedul
ing conflict for football for the 2008 and
2009 seasons as schedules have already been
tentatively set as schools have agreed to play
complete region lineups. That would not be
possible if Buford were allowed in.
In addition, sources have told The Banks
County News that Buford High School wants
out of 6-AA so it can be more successful
in other sports besides football. Currently,
Buford has to compete against several private
schools in 6-AA and does not enjoy the level
of success in several minor sports as it does
in football.
See Appeal on page 3B