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Section b January 23, 2008 The Banks County News Sports Editor: Chris Bridges Contact: 706-367-2745 www.mainstreetnews.com High School Wrestling BCHS prepares for stretch run BY CHRIS BRIDGES The Banks County High School Mat Leopards did not compete in a match last week and that’s probably a good thing. Coach Kasey Hanley’s team has several members battling various injuries and the off time from competition gave the Mat Leopards a chance to rest and heal. While BCHS did not compete in any matches (a scheduled trip to Winder-Barrow High School last Wednesday was cancelled because of round one of bad weather), Hanley’s grapplers did get in some on-the- mat practice time. “We’ve had some time to heal up,” Hanley said Sunday. “We have some people we will be glad to get back in the lineup.” BCHS was scheduled to return to action with a home meet Tuesday against Clarke Central and Towns County. The Mat Leopards will com pete at Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell this weekend at the Titan Cup. Following the recent fourth-place show ing at the team area duals, BCHS has several wrestlers who continue to compile impressive campaigns. Overall, Hanley’s team has posted 23 wins. Individually, both An Pham (130) and Demetric Dempson (160) have already eclipsed the 30-win total. Hanley has also been pleased with the efforts of Nathan Ward (125) Nathan Holloway (135), Jeremy Greenway (140), Wesley Angel (145), Paul Newell (152), Jarod Gregory (171), Matthew Patton (171) and Bobby Hewell (189). Up Next: WHAT: BCHS at Titan Cup WHERE: Blessed Trin ity High School in Roswell When: Friday through Saturday MAT TIME Banks County High School's C.J. Pilcher competes in a 112-pound match during a recent competition. Photo by Randy Crump BCHS Basketball: Subregion Battles King's strategy keeps Lady Leopards close BY CHRIS BRIDGES J erry King knew a little coaching strategy was in order. The Banks County High School Lady Leopards’ mentor looked for ways for his team to have the best chance to compete against the Fannin County High School Lady Rebels. King decided a solid strategy would be to slow the tempo of the game down, in effect using a stall offense which would shorten the game. As it turned out, King’s strategy was effective as BCHS surprised Fannin County with its gameplan. However, in the end the visiting Lady Rebels were able to hold on for a 41-27 subregion win. “When you play someone who’s scoring points the way Fannin County had been, then you try to shorten the game,” the BCHS coach said. “In the first half it worked . ‘...We frustrated them in The Lady Leopards the first half. trailed just 14-10 at halftime and could BCHS coach have perhaps been in Jerry King the lead if it were not for some missed layups and missed opportunities at the free throw line. Fannin County seemed to adjust to the delay scheme better in the second half although it still only led 25-17 after the third quarter. A basket by Lauren Kennedy pulled the Lady Leopards to within 25-19 with 6:51 left in the contest. “We began turning the basketball over some in the second half and they started making some big baskets,” King said. “We had to run more of our regular offense and that allowed them to get back into their normal game. I do think we frustrated them in the first half. They are a good team. I felt we had to do something to compensate for that.” In the first half, the Lady Leopards trailed 8-3 after the first quarter but outscored Fannin County 7-6 in the second to trail by just four at halftime. Fannin County outscored BCHS 11-7 in the third quarter and 16-10 in the game’s final eight minutes for the 14-point victory. Lauren Kennedy led the Lady Leopards with eight points while Andrea Hunter, Erika Evans and Allison White each scored four points. See BCHS Girls on page 3B DELAY TACTICS Banks County High School guard Erika Evans helped run a stall offense for the Lady Leopards last Friday against subregion foe Fannin County. Coach Jerry King felt slowing the tempo would allow his squad a better chance to compete with Fannin. Photos by Randy Crump/Rudeseal Photography Undefeated Fannin holds off Leopards BY CHRIS BRIDGES Mike Ruth took some positives and some negatives from his team’s game against undefeated Fannin County High School last Friday. One positive was the overall effort shown by the Leopards in the set back. Another was standout perfor mances from Justin Beasley, Kane Duncan and Chase Armour. On the negative side of the col umn were some ill-advised attempts from the floor BCHS @ Union County, Friday, 7 p.m. which helped the visiting Rebels move far enough in front to build a comfortable advantage. “We tried early to be patient on offense and look for only layups or wide-open 3-point ers,” Ruth said. “We wanted to cut down on our bad looks. However, it also got us out of our normal offen sive routine so we called timeout and went back to our running game.” See BCHS Boys on page 3B JUSTIN GIBBS Time for BCHS, Commerce athletic rivalry to end—at least for now T here’s nothing like a good, old- fashioned high school sports rivalry. Nothing can bring out the enthu siasm of the student-athletes and fans like the before mentioned rivalry. Regardless of the sport, there’s something special about playing the team from a few miles away. It’s our town against your town. Our kids against your kids. Our school against your school. It’s community pride on display and community pride being defended. It’s gen erations of fans being at the local football field, basketball gym or baseball diamond to see what the next chapter of the rivalry will bring. That’s what Banks County High School and Commerce High School have enjoyed for many years. It’s been going on long before I arrived on the scene. I admit I’ve enjoyed being a part of it, even as a spectator there to record what happens, in recent years. The BCHS-Commerce rivalry is good for many reasons. With the schools only a few miles apart many of the students know each other. That adds to the intensity of the series. Plus, in the economic world of high school athletics, it is beneficial — for both schools — to compete because the revenue gener ated helps the respective schools’ overall athletic budget. With all that being said, I hate to say it, but the time has come to put an end to this rivalry, at least for a little while. You see, Banks County High School is not being treated with the respect it deserves from its counterparts at Commerce High School and it should not be tolerated. Several weeks ago, Leopard head football coach Blair Armstrong began ironing out the details of the BCHS football schedule for the next two years. High school football schedules are done on a two-year basis with only the game locations changed from year one to year two of the two-year scheduled. As coaches began working on their new schedules, a verbal agreement was reached between BCHS and Commerce to play in the season opener. Admittedly, no contract was signed. In fact, schedules would not be official for several more weeks when they received the official stamp of approval from the Georgia High School Association. However, a “gentlemen’s agreement” was reached between the two coaches. In the following weeks, several coaches contacted First & Ten ★ ★ ★ chris@mainstreetnews.com BY CHRIS BRIDGES Armstrong about playing, but the Leopard coach told each one the schedule was already full. No open dates were available. When it came time to fill in the dates on the schedule in pen rather than pencil, Commerce suddenly decided to back out. It seems athletic and schools officials at the nearby school wanted to play Jefferson instead. Granted, Commerce and Jefferson have a long history of competing. I’m not going to argue that. However, when you give your word — even if it is not backed up with a signed contract — then it should mean something. With Commerce now not wanting to play BCHS in the season opener, some attempts were made to play the game later in the sea son. However, with the Leopards faced with a likely nine-game region schedule, it was going to be difficult. Other schools would have to get involved to move games around. In the end, it simply didn’t work. The backing out by Commerce has upset many BCHS fans, players and school offi cials alike. Not only will BCHS not play Commerce in varsity football next fall, no junior varsity games will be played. Other coaches at BCHS have told me they will also not schedule Commerce. One coach told me Banks County High School is not a second class citizen when compared to Commerce and it should not tolerate being treated like one. Some coaches I have spoken with would like to still play Commerce and beat the school’s teams on the field, sending a mes sage that way. While I understand this senti ment as well, I think the series should be stopped for at least the next two years. BCHS should not be at the beck and call of Commerce High School. I still wonder what the real motivation was for Commerce backing out the game with the Leopards on the gridiron for the next two years. Could it be BCHS is finally getting on an even play ing field and Commerce officials wanted to get out while the getting was good? Art Wheaton, principal at BCHS, said he will leave it up to the individual coaches in deciding if they play Commerce or not although he said it would be fine with him if the rivalry stops. When a school does not stand by its word, as Commerce didn’t do in this case, then it’s time to build new rivalries. Both East Jackson High School and Jefferson High School will be members of the same region with BCHS for the next two years. The closeness of these schools would make for natural rivals as much as Commerce. Let Commerce officials think about what they have done. Let them think about the lost revenue in having the series end. Let Commerce officials realize Banks County High School does not have to play second fiddle to them or anyone for that matter. Chris Bridges is sports editor of The Banks County News. Contact him at 706-367-2745 or e-mail comments about this column to chris@mainstreetnews.com.