Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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 CALL AND COMPARE PER GRAM 706-369-0000 GREG REEVES Fine Jewelry 613 Hawthorne Ave. • Athens FOR ONLY $5 PER MONTH, YOU CAN LIST YOUR GROUP'S MEETINGS! Let your members know when your group is meeting! Call (706) 367-5233 to advertise your meeting time, place and date in... • The Jackson Herald • The Commerce News • The Braselton News • The Banks County News • The Madison County Journal 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 We're proud to announce that once again, we've received national recognition. This time it's from "Imaging Technology News" who has named us as one of five Breast Imaging Centers in the country to be considered "The Most Influential Women's Centers of 2008." We were judged on achievements in innovation, operational efficiency, customer service and teamwork. For us, this honor is further confirmation that each of our patients is receiving the best care possible at Athens Regional Medical Center. . » CAAJt- www.armc.org Athens Regional it® Athens Innovation. Efficiency. Teamwork. Customer Service. ARMC's Breast Health Center is named one of five "Most Influential Centers of 2008"