Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
PACE 3B
BANKS COUNTY LEOPARD FOOTBALL 2008
Complete win: BCHS dominates East Jackson
DEFENSIVE SURGE
Banks County High School senior Lyn Hester sacks East Jack
son’s quarterback in last Friday’s Region 8-AA contest. The
Leopards recorded a 42-0 victory to remain in postseason
contention. Photo by Randy Crump
2008 Schedule
Aug. 29
@Wash.-Wilkes
L14-39
Sept. 5
Riverside*
L 28-56
Sept. 12
Dawson County
W 48-27
Sept. 19
@ Rabun County
W35-6
Sept. 26
North Oconee*
L7-12
Oct. 3
@ East Jackson*
W42-0
Oct. 10
OPEN
Oct. 17
Jefferson*
7:30 p.m.
Oct. 24
Fannin County*
7:30 p.m.
Oct. 31
@ Oglethorpe Co.*
7:30 p.m.
Nov. 7
@ Union County*
7:30 p.m.
•denotes Region 8-AA game
Region Roundup
8-AA Standings
Team
Reaion
Overall
Jefferson
5-0
6-0
Fannin County
4-1
5-1
North Oconee
4-1
5-1
Riverside
3-2
4-2
Union County
3-2
4-2
Banks County
3-2
3-3
Dawson County
1-4
2-4
Rabun County
1-4
1-5
East Jackson
1-4
1-5
Oglethorpe County
0-5
1-5
Last Week's Scores
Banks County 42, East Jackson 0; Jefferson
47, Riverside 20; Fannin County 42, Union
County 35; Dawson County 27, Oglethorpe
County 6; North Oconee 34, Rabun County 0
This Week's Games
All Region 8-AA teams are off this week.
Region members resume play Friday,
Oct. 17.
Class AA Top 10
1. Buford (5-0) at Cross Keys
2. Fitzgerald (5-0) at Berrien
3. Appling County (6-0) OFF
4. Jefferson County (6-0) at East Laurens
5. Pepperell (5-0) vs. Temple
6. Charlton County (4-1) vs. Long County
7. Westminster (4-1) at Avondale
8. Henry County (4-1) at Greene County
9. Brooks County (4-1) at Early County
10. Callaway (5-1) vs. Lamar County
(Top 10 rankings for all
classifications are compiled
each week by
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
and released each Monday)
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
he Banks County High
School football team
crashed East Jackson's
homecoming party last Friday.
The Leopards pounded the Eagles
into submission with a 42-0 win. It
was a complete performance for
BCHS both offensively and defen
sively.
The Leopards compiled 435 yards
of offense, paced by Justin Beasley's
209 yards on the ground, while lim
iting East Jackson to just 90. In the
second half, the BCHS defense held
the Eagles to -3 yards on just nine
plays.
The win was vital for the Leopards
in keeping their postseason hopes
alive. BCHS is now 3-3 overall and
3-2 in 8-AA entering the bye week.
“The win felt good," said Leop
ard head coach Blair Armstrong.
“We played fast and played hard and
executed well. I think we matured
quite a bit. I could sense a new level
of confidence in our kids. Beating a
close rival never hurts either."
The Leopards built a 20-0 half
time lead. Their first score came on
a 9-yard run by Beasley at the 3:46
mark of the first quarter. The se
nior standout set up his score with a
37-yard run earlier in the drive.
The second score of the half came
on a 10-yard option keeper by quar
terback Chris Porter with 9:18 left
in the second quarter. Tyler Hulsey's
second point-after kick of the game
made the score 14-0.
Beasley’s 9-yard score with 2:08
remaining before halftime pushed
the lead to 20-0. Beasley had a key
run on a fourth and nine play during
the drive which lasted seven plays.
East Jackson coach Frank Caputo
was ejected from the game just be
fore halftime for disputing a non call
with the game officials. Caputo was
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Banks County High School senior
running back Justin Beasley rolled
past the 1,000-yard mark last Friday
against East Jackson High School.
Beasley rushed for 209 yards in the
42-0 win and now has 1,091 for the
season. Beasley, who has also scored
12 touchdowns, is averaging 8.1 yards
per carry.
• ••
Chris Porter, also a senior this sea
son for the Leopards, has now thrown
for 569 yards. The quarterback’s fa-
flagged twice for unsportsmanlike
conduct which calls for an automatic
ejection.
vorite target has been Kane Duncan.
The two have hooked up 16 times
in 2008 for 254 yards and six touch
downs.
• ••
Billy Pinson continues to be the
team’s leading tackier with 60 stops.
Lyn Hester is the team's top player
with six quarterback sacks.
Bill Redmon leads the team with
three interceptions.
• ••
Captains for the East Jackson game
were Porter, Pinson and Tyler Hulsey.
His team was in the process of
moving the football and had gotten
as far as the BCHS 28-yard line when
That's what successful programs
do when they are on the way up.
When the game was over I saw
Hudson and he actually had a
smile on his face, something the
old-line coach doesn’t always
have.
“How'd you like that?” Hudson
asked.
“Just fine,” I told him. “Just
fine.”
It was easy to see then why
Hudson was so eager for the game
to begin. The coaches clearly had
the penalties pushed them back into
its own side of the 50.
Several Leopards had key defen
sive plays in the first half including
Billy Pinson with a quarterback sack
on East Jackson’s second possession
and Thomas Baker with a backfield
tackle on the Eagles' fourth series.
Three additional scores in the sec
ond half gave the Leopards their big
gest win of the season. The first came
on a 17-yard strike to Kane Duncan
from Porter with 3:06 left in the third
quarter.
Demetric Dempson raced 16 yards
for the next score of the second half
with 11:04 remaining in the contest.
Backup quarterback Alex Banks
also added a 7-yard run with just
under a minute to play for the 42-0
final.
“This game was a big confidence
builder,” Armstrong said. “If we had
any chance to do something past the
regular season, this was one we had
to win.”
The Leopard defense, led by coor
dinator Paul Hoch, has been stellar
the past two games. Armstrong broke
down the reasons for the defense's
improvement.
“The biggest thing for this season
is that we had a new coordinator and
the kids needed some time to adjust
to the new schemes,” the head coach
said. “They are now having some
success and are playing more aggres
sively.”
The BCHS football team is off this
Friday as are the other members of
Region 8-AA. The Leopards are pre
paring for their Oct. 17 matchup with
Jefferson, who has emerged as the
leader in the region. The Dragons,
who moved up from Class A this sea
son, have not been challenged to this
point in the 2008 season en route to
posting a perfect 6-0 overall record
and 5-0 record mark.
a solid strategy set and the players
carried it out to perfection Friday
night.
It was indeed a memorable night
for the BCHS team, one which
kept the Leopards very much alive
in the fight for postseason conten
tion. Hats off to the players and
coaches for getting the job done.
Chris Bridges is sports editor of
The Banks County News. E-mail
comments about this column to
chris@mainstreetnews.com.
Beasley tops 1,000-yard mark
First and Ten continued from page IB
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f§% VETERANS OF
W FOREIGN WARS
Post 4872, Hurricane Shoals Convention Ctr.
Each 4th Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Mike Buffington, Commander
Phone 706-335-6532 26.1
JEFFERSON EIONS CEUB
Meets 2nd & 4th Monday
Jefferson City Clubhouse
6:30 p.m. *(706) 387-1156
Mack Cates, President
542
A UNITY LODGE
F&A.M.
No. 36, Jefferson, GA
1st Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m.
Dwight Wier* 706-367-5882
Borders St. behind Tabo’s 260
JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB
Meets Tuesdays
Jefferson City Clubhouse
12:30 p.m. *(706) 367-7696
Gina Mitsdarffer, President
547
BANKS COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.
meets first Monday each month
7:00 p.m. in the Banks Co. Historial
Courthouse at 105 U.S. Hwy. 441
North in Homer pd.-07/09
Citizens Organized for
Pipeline Safety
investigating the health risks to citizens from
underground pipelines and booster stations in
Madison Co. Meetings 6:30 p.m. at the Colbert
Grove Baptist Church the 2nd Thurs. of each
month. 706-783-4702. Pd.04/09
JEFFERSON
ip AMERICAN LEGION
Albert Gordon Post 56
Each 3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Harvie Lance, Commander
Phone (706) 654-1274 310
White Plains Baptist Church Pd 02/09
Faith Bible Class meets every Sunday morning
at 10:00 a.m. It is a place where strangers
become friends and friends become family.
706-367-5650
White Plains Baptist Church
3650 Hwy. 124 West, Jefferson, GA 30549
The Jackson Co. Republican Party
Would like you to meet us for
breakfast the second Sat. of each
month, 8:00 at The Jefferson
House. For more information, call
706-652-2967 or email
fishyglass@yahoo.com Pd.ti/os
BANKS COUNTY
fgj! AMERICAN LEGION
Post 215
Meets each 3rd Thursday, 7 p.m.
In Homer, GA at the
American Legion Building on
Historic Highway 441 Pd.06/09
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