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January 30, 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 Trying again: Hoping Falcons can get it right I t’s tough being an Atlanta Falcon fan. Heck, sometimes it’s even tough admitting that you are one. I’ve been one for as long as I’ve known what a football is. I’ve seen coaches come and go. I’ve seen players come and go. I’ve had my hopes raised and my hopes dashed more times than I care to recall with this franchise. Some would wonder why I con tinue to bother. The only thing I offer in response is that I am hop ing one day it will all be worth it. Maybe I’m delusional, but I’m one of those who always believes as long as there’s next season, there’s hope. Such is the case with the recent hiring of new Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith. While only the most die-hard of NFL fans could have told you who Smith was (I knew who he was, but couldn’t have told you that much about him) lead Falcon Arthur Blank decided he was the right man to guide the franchise during what has to be its darkest hour (and that is saying some thing). Smith’s area of knowledge is on the defensive side of the football and with the Falcons’ new general manager arriving from the New England Patriots’ camp, I guess going with a defensive mind is not that surprising. Smith is a low-key coach which is actually something the franchise just might need right now. After the disasters which were Bobby Petrino and Jim Mora, Atlanta desperately needed to get this one right. Only time will tell if they have. One thing I can say with a pretty good level of cer tainty is that Smith will not leave 13 games into his first year on the job for a college head coaching stint. In the first few days since his hiring, Smith has already begun assembling a quality coaching staff. One of the best moves was bringing Brian Van Gorder back into the fold as defensive coordi nator after he had initially left to work for the Old Ball Coach up South Carolina way. Van Gorder worked with Smith in Jacksonville during the 2005 season after he left the University of Georgia. The Smith hiring will be an important one for Blank in many ways. To me, he has already made three mistakes in the coaching department. In addition to the hires of Petrino and Mora, he fired Dan Reeves which was a huge mistake. Also, remember Blank tied the Falcon wagon to Michael Vick which turned out to be his big gest blunder of all. (I still can’t get the image out of my mind of Blank pushing Vick around in that wheelchair.) Blank may have been successful at Home Depot, but NFL teams aren’t built with ham mers and nails. Still, the optimist in me says things are going to turn around for the Falcons this time. A new head coach is here (finally) and now we can start looking forward to the 2008 season. Yeah, I know I’m looking on the brighter side, but to stay a fan of this organization for as long as I have, you have to. Chris Bridges is sports editor of The Banks County News. Contact him at 706-367-2745 or by e-mail at chris@mainstreetnews.com. Tuesday Night Basketball Lady Leopards just miss recording first subregion win BY CHRIS BRIDGES The Banks County High School Lady Leopards had victory within their grasp Tuesday night. Coach Jerry King’s squad gave visiting Rabun County all it could handle and was on the verge of recording its first subregion win of 2007-08 before the Lady Wildcats rallied late for a 53-48 victory. The loss was a tough one to take for the BCHS girls, who gained the lead less than two minutes into the second half and held it until the 3:35 mark of the fourth quarter. Throughout the second half, King’s team led by as many as five points but could not manage to pull far enough away to secure the win. The loss overshadowed a standout effort from senior Andrea Hunter who finished with a team-high 17 points Tuesday night. Teammate Lauren Kennedy added 11 points in the contest. BCHS fell behind early in the game but took its first lead at the 5:54 mark of the second quarter on a basket by Samm Kennedy. Rabun County would eventually take a 27-25 lead into halftime. A free throw by Hunter and a basket from Lauren Kennedy at the start of the third quar ter gave the lead back to the Lady Leopards who would hold it until more than midway through the game’s final eight minutes. “The girls played as hard as they have all year,” King said. “We are still learning to fin ish off a team for a win. I think we are getting better and hopefully will peak at tournament time.” The BCHS boys fell to Rabun County Tuesday 89-71 as coach Mike Ruth continues to deal with his team’s growing pains. The majority of the roster is underclassmen with several sophomores playing significant min utes for the Leopards this season. At times, that level of youth and overall inex perience at the varsity level made it difficult to matchup with the more experienced subregion foes. Ryan Griffin and Dustin Worley led BCHS with 12 points Tuesday night while Kane Duncan and Chase Armour both finished with 11 points. BCHS played better the second time against Rabun this season trailing just 21-19 after the first quarter and 42-33 at halftime. BCHS Basketball: Sweeping An Old Rival BCHS Leopards take sweep of rival Tigers for season BY CHRIS BRIDGES W ith questions surrounding the imme diate future of the Banks County High School-Commerce High School athletic rivalry, the BCHS varsity boys basketball team put an exclamation point on the 2007-08 series with a 68-51 home win Saturday. Overcoming a sluggish start to the contest, the Leopards broke out of their haze in the second half to send Commerce home with a loss. Coach Mike Ruth’s team went on a 23-9 run in the third quarter and outscored the visiting Tigers in the fourth quarter as well en route to the 17-point win. Things didn’t start out well for BCHS on Saturday, however. Coming off a tough loss to Union County in subregion action the previous night, the Leopards seemed to be sleepwalking through the first two quarters against Commerce trailing 25-24 at halftime. That’s when Ruth and the players had a heart- to-heart talk at halftime. “We came out and looked completey different in the second half,” the long-time Leopard men tor said. “We forced 22 turnovers and ran it well up and down the court. We improved our shoot ing dras tically in the second half and took them com pletely out of their game. We took being down to Commerce at halftime as a slap in the face. It was a much-needed win for us.” Ruth said he understands the meaning of the BCHS-Commerce rivalry and said Saturday’s win will give fans something to brag about at local eateries like The Leopard and Tiny Town. “It was big for us, especially since we might not be playing for a while,” the coach said. Ryan Griffin finished the game with 18 points, including three baskets from 3-point range. Senior Dustin Worley added 14 points while Kevin Daniel scored seven, despite playing with an ankle injury suffered during pre-game warmups. Point guard Kane Duncan also had a key performance with eight points, 10 assists and only three turnovers, something Ruth said is key for that position. See BCHS Boys on page 3B For The Season: •Nov. 30, BCHS 48, Commerce 34 •Jan. 26, BCHS 68, Commerce 51 FLYING HIGH Banks County High School sophomore Chase Armour goes for two points against rival Commerce High School Saturday. The Leopards recorded a season sweep of the Tigers. Photos by Randy Crump/Rudeseal Photo “ We came out and looked completely different in the second half. We forced 22 turnovers and ran it well up and down the court. We improved our shooting drastically in the second half and took them completely out of their game..." — Mike Ruth, BCHS varsity boys basketball coach Kennedy leads BCHS to home win Saturday BY CHRIS BRIDGES The Banks County High School Lady Leopards stepped out of sub region play one final time Saturday and put one in the win column. Coach Jerry King’s squad defeated rival Commerce High School 61-50, registering its third win this sea son against the Lady Tigers. Lauren Kennedy turned in a strong perfor mance with 19 points against visit ing Commerce. “We had two strong quarters in the game,” King said. “We have been working BCHS @ East Jackson High School, Friday, 7 p.m. on trying to play well for the entire game. I thought we had two solid quarters against Commerce.” BCHS trailed 9-6 after the first quarter but rallied for a big second stanza outscoring the Lady Tigers 23-10. The Lady Leopards con tinued to play well in the second outscoring Commerce 14-10 in the third quarter. The win was a result of a balanced scoring effort as BCHS had three players in double figures. In addition to Kennedy’s standout performance, Lacey Saxon finished with 14 points while Jessica Grisham added 10. Freshman Erika Evans added seven points while senior Andrea Hunter contributed six points. Lindsey McDuffie finished with three. See BCHS girls on page 3B JESSICA GRISHAM Middle School Basketball Banks County Middle School hosting annual tournament this week BY CHRIS BRIDGES It’s tournament time at Banks County Middle School. The annual Leopard Invitational began Monday and will continue Saturday when the third place and championship contests are held. Five boys and girls teams are com peting in this year’s event including BCMS, Lakeview, Rabun County, Towns County and Commerce. The tournament began Monday with games between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. On the boys side of the bracket, Lakeview is the No. 1 seed followed by BCMS, Rabun County, Towns County and Commerce. In the girls tournament, BCMS is the top team followed by Towns County, Rabun Gap, Lakeview and Commerce. The BCMS boys, coached by John Bertrang, were scheduled to begin play Tuesday against Rabun Gap. Coach Steven Shedd’s BCMS Lady Leopards received a bye until Thursday when they will face the winner of the Commerce-Lakeview contest. Games will continue at 4:30 and 5:45 p.m. Friday with a full slate of contests also scheduled for Saturday at BCMS. The conso lation games will be at 11 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Saturday followed by the girls championship at 1:30 p.m. and the boys title game at 2:45 p.m. First, second and third place tro phies will be awarded. Each team Inside: •BCMS teams close out regular season against Lakeview. — Page 2B in the tournament will have a MVP announced with those players receiv ing a plaque. Once a team loses a game, it will not be able to play its way back into the championship contest. The best a team would be able to do at that point is to compete in the Leopard Invitational for third place, tournament officials said earlier this week.