Newspaper Page Text
January 16, 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
Mat Leopard
program has
strong leader
T he work by Banks
County High School
varsity wrestling coach
Kasey Hanley in the past three
years is nothing short of remark
able.
What Hanley has done with the
Mat Leopard program is worthy
of the highest level of prasise.
In less than three full seasons,
Hanley has molded the BCHS
program into a successful one
which has developed a winning
attitude. It can be seen when the
Mat Leopards practice and it can
be seen when they compete in
matches.
This past weekend, BCHS com
peted at the team area duals and
despite battling in the toughest
area in Class AA, emerged with
a fourth place finish among 16
schools. Only a few points sepa
rated the Mat Leopards from fin
ishing in third place. Not bad for
a program that three years ago no
one knew anything about.
Just how tough is the area in
which Banks County High School
competes? One area member is
Wesleyan, the defedning state
champion. Another member is
Lovett, the No. 3 team in the state
from a year ago. If those two
weren’t enough, throw in Morgan
County High School, who in
recent years has been as dominant
in Class AA as anyone with sev
eral state championship trophies
to show for it.
Hanley’s formula has been sim
ple. The BCHS coach has taken
many of the concepts he learned
as a wrestler at nearby Jefferson
High School and installed them
for his program. Hanley demands
hard work and sacrifice from his
wrestlers. In return, the rewards
have been success on the mat.
A year ago, the BCHS wres
tling team established a school
record for most wins in a season.
The Mat Leopards are prime to
break that mark again this season
against what has been arguably
the program’s toughest schedule
in its history.
Several wrestlers have been
dominant at times this year
including Paul Newell, Demetric
Dempson, An Pham, Bobby
Hewell, Tremaine Mayfield and
Nathan Holloway to name a few.
While the Mat Leopards just
missed qualifying for the team
format of the state tourna
ment, the season is not over for
Hanley’s grapplers. BCHS will
still have a chance to compete in
the traditional area tournament
where the top four individual
wrestlers will move on to that
state tournament.
Hanley said that event will also
be tough as the same area oppo
nents await his Mat Leopards.
However, one would be wise to
not bet against the BCHS wres
tlers. They have shown they have
what it takes to be successful.
They have displayed the needed
work ethic to excel in perhaps the
most demanding of high school
sports.
It has been amazing to witness
the progress this program has
made during the last three years
under the guidance of Hanley.
What will probably be even more
amazing will be the progress the
program makes during the next
three seasons. BCHS wrestling is
not an unkown product anymore.
See First and Ten on page 2B
Tuesday Night Basketball
East Jackson sweeps subregion games from BCHS
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The new rivalry between Banks County
High School and nearby East Jackson High
School continued to build Tuesday night as the
teams met on the basketball court.
When the night was over, visiting East
Jackson had recorded a sweep of host BCHS
in subregion action. The East Jackson girls
held on for a 53-49 win while the boys used a
strong third quarter to record a 76-56 victory.
The girls contest was close throughout with
the game having 12 lead changes, six in each
half. The East Jackson Lady Eagles took a
38-36 lead with 6:19 left in the fourth quarter
on a 3-pointer and would not relinquish it.
In the game’s final six minutes, East Jackson
was able to keep the Lady Leopards at arm’s
length. Each time BCHS would get within
striking distance, the Lady Eagles would con
vert a basket to stay just far enough ahead to
not have their lead overtaken.
A basket by Andrea Hunter, who finished
with a team high 18 points for the Lady
Leopards, made a basket with 1:19 left to pull
BCHS within 48-45 but the team would not be
able to get any closer.
The loss also overshadowed a strong effort
from Banks County’s Lacey Saxon, who fin
ished with 17 points Tuesday night.
The boys game was close during the first
half. East Jackson stormed out to a quick
8-0 lead in the game’s first minute, but the
Leopards would settle down and climb back
into the contest trailing just 19-16 after the
first quarter.
The Eagles continued to hold a 33-28 half
time advantage but then seized control of the
game in the third quarter. East Jackson went
on a 21-7 run to start the second half and com-
pletely change the tide of the contest.
BCHS was not able to recover from that
Eagle run and eventually fell by 20 points.
Chase Armour had one of his best varsity
games with 18 points Tuesday night. Kevin
Daniel, Dustin Worley and Justin Beasley each
added seven points. Worley, who has been the
leading scorer for several of the Leopards’
games this season, scored his team’s first
seven points but was held scoreless after that.
The BCHS teams will continue to look for
their initial subregion wins Friday when they
host Fannin County beginning at 7 p.m.
BCHS Wrestling: Strong Showing At Area
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Banks County High School's Nathan Holloway was one
weekend at Wesleyan High School.
ON THE NAT
of several Mat Leopards who performed well at the area duals this past
Photo by Randy Crump/Rudeseal Photography
BCHS wrestlers finish fourth at area
Mat Leopards face quality opposition during weekend event
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Banks County High School varsity wres
tling program, led by coach Kasey Hanley, con
tinued to grow by leaps and bounds.
The latest accomplishment by the Mat
Leopards came this past weekend when the team
finished fourth at the team area duals held at
Wesleyan High School. BCHS finished fourth
among 16 schools after entering area seeded
sixth.
“We entered area with 20 wins and to just be
seeded sixth shows you how tough our area is,”
Hanley said. “We are battling Wesleyan, who
is the defending state champion, Lovett, who
finished third in the state last year and Morgan
County, who in recent years won several con
secutive state championships.”
When the weekend was over, the Mat Leopards
had taken yet another step in establishing them
selves as a top program and battled for third
place before falling in a rematch to Morgan
County.
“We are starting to peak at the right moment,”
Hanley said. “We are in one of the toughest, if
not the toughest, areas in the state.”
BCHS opened area with a convincing 81-0
win against Oglethorpe County. Several Mat
Leopards earned pins including Jordan Waters
(103), An Pham (130), Nathan Holloway (135),
Paul Newell (152), Demetric Dempson (160),
Bobby Hewell (1989), Evan Gossett (215) and
Tremaine Mayfield (heavyweight).
Hanley said Hewell has been wrestling
extremely well of late and his performances on
the mat have really helped the team.
Jarod Gregory (171) recorded a win against
Oglethorpe while BCHS also earned points from
five forfeits.
See Wrestling on page 3B
High School Basketball
Missed chances
hurt BCHS girls
at Rabun Friday
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Banks County High School
Lady Leopards had their chances
against subregion foe Rabun County
last Friday on the road, but the
opportunity to take advantage of
those chances got away.
The end result was a 51-40 setback
to host Rabun County in a subregion
contest. BCHS missed seven layups
in the first quarter and ended the
game’s first eight minutes with just
six points on the scoreboard. While
Rabun County
BCHS hosts only led 9-6 , 11,6
missedopportuni-
Fannin ties would prove
County, to haunt the Lady
Friday, 7 p.m. Leopards, coach
Jerry King said.
“We came out
with a lot of intensity and forced
some turnovers,” the coach said.
“If we had capitalized on them we
would have gained some confidence
and I think the outcome could have
been different. It was one of those
cases where the final score does not
truly indicate how competitive the
game was.”
Lauren Kennedy had a strong per
formance for King’s squad pouring
in 19 points. The next leading scor
er for BCHS was Jessica Grisham
who finished with just six, how
ever. Samm Kennedy scored five
and Andrea Hunter contributed four.
Rabun County seized control of
the game in the second quarter out-
scoring BCHS 14-5 to lead 23-11 at
the break. The third quarter was the
strongest for the Lady Leopards who
outscored the Lady Wildcats 16-14.
“We did play well in the third
quarter,” King said. “It was the first
quarter that was really the differ
ence. If we had made those layups
things would have been different.”
The BCHS coach was also disap
pointed in his team’s rebounding
performance Friday against Rabun
County.
See BCHS girls on page 2B
Region 8-AA Reclassification
Buford loses final appeal to
become member of 8-AA
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Buford High School has run out of
appeals.
The Gwinnett County school will not be
a member of Region 8-AA during the next
two years as it exhausted its last avenue last
Thursday in an appeal to the entire Georgia
High School Association executive commit
tee in Thomaston. Buford High School offi
cials were trying to move from Region 6-AA
to Region 8-AA but were turned down by a
45-5 count.
All members of Region 8-AA, including
Banks County High School, were opposed to
Buford being allowed to move to the region.
BCHS principal Art Wheaton attended the
appeal last week which was Buford’s second
and fourth overall in the last two years. Each
time Buford has been turned down. School
officials also tried two years ago to be placed
in 8-AA under the reasoning of travel time
claiming it takes longer to travel into the
Atlanta area than it does to extreme North
Georgia.
“Their whole issue was travel time,”
Wheaton said. “While it is shorter mileage
wise to go the schools in their region they
tried to say it takes longer because of being
in the metro Atlanta area.”
See Appeal on page 2B
BCHS Athletic Complex
FANS WELCOME
The finishing touches are being put on the new athletic complex at Banks County
High School. The baseball team will play on its new field this spring and the BCHS
tennis squads will also use their new on-campus facility. See more photos on
page 4B in today's edition. Photo by Chris Bridges