Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

— www.MainStreetNewsSports.com — October 16, 2008 The Banks County News Chris Bridges, Sports Editor 706-367-2745, direct line 706-367-9355, FAX chris@mainstreetnews.com Saying goodbye has never been an easy thing “Don’t be dismayed at good byes, a farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.” ••• I admit I haven't been looking forward to writing this column. On one hand I have good per sonal news. In fact, in can be termed great. On the other hand, it comes at a price, as all good things do. I soon will be helping direct a new project which MainStreet Newspapers, the parent company of The Banks County News is launching. While I am excited about this opportunity, it also means I will be giving up my duties in Banks County. As I said, there is no great gain without some amount of loss. It’s hard to believe so much time has elapsed since I arrived in June 2005. A great deal has changed on the BCHS sports scene since then. It has been great to see the improvements made on the sports fields in that time. The baseball, softball and ten nis programs all have much better facilities to call home now. The football stadium has also taken a major turn for the better and some improvements were also made to the cross country course. Hopefully, improvements will arrive soon for the high school track. The coaches in the county have also been great to work this. Blair Armstrong as athletic director at BCHS has been ideal to work with allowing me complete and open access to his football pro gram as well as anything associ ated with Leopard athletics. I realize it is not this way at all high schools. It has also been a please work ing with Josh Lord and Joe Lord who have beyond helpful in getting me information on their softball and baseball programs. It’s a little easier covering foot ball when you have just one game a week, but the softball and baseball teams play two or three games every seven days. With my additional duties of covering news for the paper, Josh and Joe real ized I couldn’t be at every game and always went the extra mile to help me provide coverage every issue of their team and players. I couldn’t have done it without them. I will also miss working with long-time Leopard basketball coach Mike Ruth. I can’t recall the number of Sunday night talks we had. They weren’t just about his basketball team but about any thing and everything. If I needed to vent, Coach Ruth was there to listen. If he needed to talk, I was there as well. Coach Ruth has dedicated many years to BCHS and he deserved praise for what he has meant to the school and its varsity boys basketball program. When you have been around as long as he has, however, some people start to take coaches like him for granted and that is a shame. Coach Ruth is a true asset to BCHS. I have been impressed with what Jerry King has done in his first season with the Lady Leopard basketball program and will miss getting to see what the future holds for them. King and his family are heroes of mine and I have the highest amount of respect for them. See First and Ten on page 2B HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL Lady Leopards fall just short of state tourney BY CHRIS BRIDGES When the Region 8-AA tournament was over for the Banks County High School softball team, the Lady Leopards were one game shy of state play. To be more exact, BCHS was two runs away. The Lady Leopards fell to Dawson County 3-1 in a game they needed to win to guarantee themselves a spot at the next level. BCHS entered the contest off a 18-1 thrashing of Oglethorpe County, but could not manage to get past the Lady Tigers. “We had a good bit of momentum and confidence going into the Dawson County game,” coach Josh Lord said. “However, we could never really mount a major offensive threat as Dawson’s pitcher located well and mixed up her pitched. It was a tough game to lose.” The Lady Tigers scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning with two outs. “We finished the season one win agway from state,” Lord said. “I was proud of the strong showing we had at region. We definitely had a lot to be proud of with our effort.” Kim Thomas worked the first 4.2 innings against Dawson County recording three strikeouts. Jordan Rogers pitched the final 1.1 innings. Hayley Baird had two hits including a triple. Madison Franklin, Ashley Denton and Laura Rose Pickens each had a single. Thomas drove in Banks’ lone run. In the previous game against Oglethorpe County, the Lady Leopards pushed 18 runs against. The Lady Patriots were without their top pitcher who was injuried and not available. See Softball on page 2B FIRING IT HOME Junior pitcher Kim Thomas delivers a strike during a con test for Banks County High School this fall. Thomas will be one of the key returning play ers next season for the Lady Leopards. Photo by Lyn Sengupta Jefferson @ BCHS, Friday, 7:30 p.m. KEY REGION GAME The Banks County High School Leopards will hope to have its offense in high gear against Jefferson this Friday led by Demetric Dempson (top) and Chris Porter (bottom). The game will be key for the Leopards’ postseason chances. Photos by Randy Crump/Rudeseal Photo Leopards face tall order in Dragons BY CHRIS BRIDGES anks County High School football coach Blair Armstrong doesn’t hide the fact this week's Region 8-AA game against Jefferson is important for his Leopards. “It’s really like a playoff game for us,” Armstrong said. “It is extremely important for us. We are between a rock and hard place in terms of needing region wins. We have to win some games in order to get in posi tion to chal lenge for a playoff spot.” A big roadblock will be in the way for BCHS for Friday, how ever, as the undefeated Jefferson Dragons will venture into Homer for a 7:30 p.m. region showdown. The Dragons have been perhaps the surprise team in 8-AA this fall steamrolling through all of its competition en route to a perfect At A Glance: Jefferson (6-0, 5-0) @ BCHS (3-3, 3-2), Friday, 7:30 p.m. 6-0 overall record and perfect 5-0 region mark. “They are very physical,” Armstrong said. “They have sev eral skill players who can deliver and make plays. They make their own good fortune. We have start ed to do that.” BCHS, who now stands 3-3 overall and 3-2 in 8-AA, has played better in recent weeks, especially on the defensive side of the football. The Leopards allowed just 12 points against North Oconee (six of which came on on interception return) and blanked East Jackson two weeks ago. “If we had started the sea son playing that way we would have a couple more wins now,” Armstrong said. “Jefferson came out of the gate playing well. We may now just be peaking while they were doing so from the beginning of the season. It should be a competitive game.” See Preview on page 2B JV FOOTBALL Leopards defeat Rabun Co. BY CHRIS BRIDGES The Banks County High School junior varsity football team continued its impressive performance in 2008 with a 40-20 victory against Rabun County last week. Things started slowly for the JV Leopards as they fumbled the opening kickoff, but BCHS managed to turn things around shortly after that. Dylan Lackley led the JV team with 143 yards and three touchdowns on just 14 car ries, all in Rabun 20 the first half. Lackey also BCHS 40 successfully completed a two-point conversion attempt. Alex Banks had another standout performance with 83 yards on seven carries and a score. Banks completed one pass to Eli Autry for nine yards. Dean Ewing also contrib uted to the win with a 65-yard touchdown run. Jacob Blalock rushed for another 20 yards on seven attempts. Jordan Smith, Jeremy Greenway, Kyle Smith, Jameson Flyn and Kyle Diehl helped carry the mail in the second half for the JV Leopards. Also helping the offense in the win were Brian Mathis, Hunter McLane, Joe Denton, Parker Watson, Blake Cotton, Brannon Scales and Caleb McCoy. BCHS led 32-20 at half time. The defense held Rabun scoreless in the second half to help record the win. Travis Betts, Brad Anderson, Dean Ewin and Jeremy Greenway helped the defense limited Rabun to just five first downs the entire contest. See JV football on page 2B CROSS COUNTRY Hurtado, Diaz lead BCHS teams at recent Unicoi run BY CHRIS BRIDGES Vanessa Hurtado and Jorge Diaz led the Banks County High School cross country teams at the recent Unicoi meet. Hurtado ran a personal best of 23:51 while Diaz had a season best time of 18:29. Amy Sims also had a per sonal best mark of 24:28 for the Lady Leopards fol lowed by Maggie McCoy (24:55) and Tiffany Smins (26:29). Jessica Grisham also ran a personal best of 26:31. Ivan Diaz ran a 19:07 for the Leopards followed by Avery Chastain in 20:17. Simon Hurtado ran a 20:37 followed by Viet Pham in 21:12. RUNNING SUCCESS The Banks County High School cross country teams have already posted wins this fall under the direction of coach Kelly McDuffie. Photo by Justin Poole