Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PACE 3B BANKS COUNTY LEOPARD FOOTBALL 2008 Leopards pull the fourth region win, 34-13 BY JUSTIN POOLE Say what you want about Banks Coun ty, but the Leopards were faced with a must win situation last Friday night. To have a chance at the playoffs, the Leopards had to defeat Fannin County in the last home game of the season. Adding to the challenge, Friday's rainy weather added a certain degree of difficulty to the situation. After the previous week's hard fought loss to Jefferson, there wasn’t any doubt that Big Blue was not going to bring a fight whether the elements coop erated or not. The Leopards were ready to light up the board from the get-go, taking a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Justin Beasley ran in the first touchdown early on. A few plays later and an interception by Kane Duncan put the fans on their feet. Dem etric Dempson scored again for the Leop ards on a rush with five minutes left in the quarter. A holding call on Banks negated a run by Dempson four minutes into the second quarter. Taking a slightly different ap proach, quarterback Chris Porter got the ball to Beasley who scored his second touchdown of the night. The extra point missed, but Big Blue moved ahead to a 20 to nothing lead. The Fannin County players stopped lis tening to the band play Dixie, and moved the ball to get on the board with a little over five minutes left in the half, cutting Banks’ lead down to 13 points. At the end of the half, the Leopards were up 20-7. Getting back on the field in the third quarter, Dempson scored his final touch down of the night followed by a two-point conversion from Duncan stretching Banks out to a 28-7 lead. Big Blue continued to hold Fannin off for the rest of the quarter to maintain a 21-point lead going into the final quarter. A quarterback keeper three minutes into the fourth quarter, all but secured the Leopard win, pushing Banks up to 34-7. The game came to a halt in the middle of the quarter, when a hit grounded senior Thomas Baker. According to Armstrong, Baker was taken off the field to get checked out just as a precaution. During the play, it appeared Baker was knocked backwards into the ground and caught the brunt of the impact on his upper back near the shoulders. Before being loaded up for the ride to get checked out, Baker called out encouragement to his teammates. Baker is expected to have a couple of bruises, but noth ing serious. When the game restarted, Fannin recovered a fumble and put Banks on the defensive. The Leopard line held the Rebels until seconds re mained. With just under 40 seconds left, Fannin slipped by to score the last points of the game. With a final score of 34-13, the Banks County sidelines erupted and the stands spilled onto the field to gather around the team. Armstrong began his post-game huddle with a shrug and said, “It's just Banks County.” All the parents and fans gathered around the players loved it. Armstrong went on to say that all the practice and hard work led the team to that moment. “That old ship has just been slow ly turning and turning and now it's going in the right direction,” said Armstrong. “That was a great job!” Season totals The victory over Fannin County keeps Banks County on the edge for the postseason and has added to the season totals for the team. The Leopards’ quarterback Chris Por ter has passed 691 yards on 43 completed passes of 88 attempted and tallied six touchdowns. In the rushing game, Justin Beasley has picked up 1,443 yards on 189 carries tallying 17 touchdowns followed by Demetric Dempson gaining 509 yards on 75 carries tallying five touchdowns. Kane Duncan has tallied six touchdowns on 18 receptions while gaining 292 yards. Beasley has snagged 11 passes for 174 yards, while Jeff Smith picked up 108 yards on only six carries for the season. On special teams, Lyn Hester has completed eight of nine PATs and Tyler Hulsey has completed 12 of 17 PATs for the season. TEAMWORK Justin Beasley (5) receives some help from Demetric Dempson (3) in getting past a Fannin County defender. Banks County picked up a fourth region win going 34-13 over Fannin. For the season on the defensive side, Billy Pinson has 87 tackles and three sacks. Kane Duncan totals in five in terceptions, 49 tackles. Lyn Hester has made six sacks and 36 tackles this sea son. Chasse Armour has made 49 tackles including two sacks. This Week’s Games Banks County @ Oglethorpe County; Union County @ Riverside; Dawson County @ East Jackson; Rabun County @ Fannin County; North Oconee @ Jefferson. Photo by Justin Poole 2008 Schedule Region Roundup Aug. 29 @Wash.-Wilkes L14-39 8-AA Standings Sept. 5 Riverside* L 28-56 Team Reaion Sept. 12 Dawson County W 48-27 Jefferson 7-0 Sept. 19 @ Rabun County W35-6 North Oconee 6-1 Sept. 26 North Oconee* L7-12 Fannin County 5-2 Oct. 3 Oct. 10 @ East Jackson* OPEN W42-0 Riverside 4-3 Union County 4-3 Oct. 17 Jefferson* L 22-34 Banks County 4-3 Oct. 24 Fannin County* W 34-13 2-5 Dawson County Oct. 31 @ Oglethorpe Co.* 7:30 p.m. 2-5 East Jackson Nov. 7 @ Union County* 7:30 p.m. Rabun County 1-6 •denotes Region 8-AA game Oglethorpe County 0-7 mftvejhrward ichael Harden for State Representative EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP FOR BANKS COUNTY The Creat en Plan ieze Pro ia$ Taxe ax Assessments ending Of Our Schools Stop^he Annexation of Banks Crossing by Jackson County Protect Our Water from Atlanta and Help Establish County-Wide Water Service Details of Harden's Specific Policy Proposals Are Available on His Website - VoteHarden.com Michael Harden for State Representative, Family Man. Small Business Owner Creating Jobs, Effective Results, Not Election Year Promises. Harden A. -A- STATE II O L r S E VoteHarden.com Paid for byVoieHarden.com