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The Madison County Journal
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Holiday tournament action
Both Madison County High School
basketball teams played in the
Hart County tourney last week -
Thursday, January 8, 2009
www.MainstreetnewsSPORTS.com
Ben Munro/ ben@mainstreetnews.com (706) 795-2567
Girls’ Basketball
Lady Raiders’ defensive pressure leads to win
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County decided to take
a page from last year’s play book
Tuesday night in a 65-31 road vic
tory over Habersham Central.
The Lady Raiders forced 24
turnovers and turned them into
easy points in earning the win.
Coach Dan Lampe said the effort
was reminiscent of last year’s Final
Four squad.
“We kind of got back to kind
of how we did last year ... with
our defense creating our offense,”
MCHS 65, HAB. 31
MCHS 10 16 25 14 — 65
DHS 5 10 9 7 —31
Scorers: C. Freeman 28, K.
Freeman 11, Arnold 10, Peeples
7, Smith 5, Whieldon 4
Lampe said. “We were really able
to really turn them over in the sec
ond half and turn those turnovers
into points.”
The lopsided victory moved
Madison County (11-4) to 1-0 in
subregion play as it heads into
another 8A-AAAA match-up
Friday with Cedar Shoals.
The Lady Jaguars, who Madison
County hasn’t seen since last year’s
region tournament, are something
of a mystery.
"They’ve been kind of up and
down ... I'm not sure what to
expect from them,’’ Lampe said.
In its win over Habersham
Central, Madison County out-
scored the Mt. Airy Lady Raiders
25-9 in the third quarter to blow the
game open and secure its 11 th win
of the year.
Courtney Freeman again
led Madison County with 28
points. Kayla Freeman added
See Lady Raiders on 2B
Kayla Freeman maneuvers around a Stephens County defend
er in the Hart County holiday tournament. Ben Munro/staff
Boys’ Basketball
‘Underdog’ Raiders
start arduous stretch
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
With a nice win over Habersham Central,
Madison County is off to a 1-0 start in the sub-
region play.
But it might take some magic over the next
three games to stay undefeated in the division.
The Raiders (7-7) face subregion foes Cedar
Shoals (Friday), Winder-Barrow (Tuesday) and
Apalachee (Jan. 16) over the next eight days.
"We’re underdogs for the next three games ...
That’s OK. We’ve just got to embrace that and
work hard,” coach Steve Crouse said.
But there’s always hope with good defense.
Madison County held an opponent under the
50-point mark for the second time in three games
Tuesday in winning its subregion opener over
Habersham Central, 60-47.
"Defense is where we’re going to win or lose
bail games," Crouse said, whose team is in the
middle of a seven-game road stretch.
Madison County’s defense held Habersham
Central to just seven points in the second quarter
as the Raiders took a six-point lead into the locker
room.
Madison County then mixed in its 1-3-1 zone
in the second half, which gave Habersham prob
lems. "I think that was a big difference for us,"
Crouse said. "We showed them a different look
and they were not comfortable trying to find a
scorer.”
Madison County built on its lead in the second
half, but a tough night at the free throw line (12-
of-27) kept the Raiders from running away with
this one.
Patrick McCrary led Madison County with
17 points and grabbed 13 boards. Eight of the
junior’s points came in the fourth quarter.
"He really took over down low for us.” Crouse
said.
Bradley Raines added 14 points, pulled down
11 rebounds and five assists. “Bradley had a good
game," Crouse said.
The Raiders finished with 18 assists, a statistic
which Crouse was pleased to see. “That’s what
I like to see; I like to see us work the ball,’’ he
said.
What he didn’t like to see — 18 turnovers.
Crouse said his team hasn’t protected the ball
well recently, something that must change come
Friday when Madison County faces a full-court
pressure onslaught from Cedar Shoals.
"We must value the basketball,’’ he said. “That’s
one thing that we haven’t done the past three-to-
four games."
Still, Crouse was pleased for the Raiders to
have won their first subregion game.
"That is a great start for us,” Crouse said.
MCHS 60, HAB. CENTRAL 47
MCHS 15 12 16 17 — 60
SCHS 14 7 13 13 — 47
Leading scorers: McCrary 17, Raines
14, Davis 9, McGuire 8
Jeremy Smith goes in for a lay-up in
recent action Ben Munro/staff
High School Wrestling
Kyle Bates wrestles in the 140-lb. division in recent action. Madison County had 19 dual wins to its
credit heading into this week’s wrestling action. Ben Munro/staff
Madison County puts
record to test at duals
Region 8-AAAA
duals set for this
weekend in Athens
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Up Next:
@Area
Duals, Fri.
and Sat.,
Clarke
Central
Upon its return
from the Christmas
holidays, Madison
County wrestling
team already had
19 dual wins on the
season.
Not bad, coach
Richie Houston said. Especially for a
team he thought might not approach
that mark all year.
"I was kind of debating if we
would see 20 wins,’’ he said. “We
haven’t quite got there yet. Hopefully,
I think we’ll be able to break the
20-win mark again. That’s always
good.”
Making Madison County’s 19-win
total (as of Monday) this year all the
more impressive is that the Raiders
have been forfeiting matches at the
103-lb. and 171-lb. classes.
“That's hard going into each dual
meet 12 points behind,” Houston
noted.
The Raiders (19-10) were set to
wrestle Jackson County and North
Oconee this past Tuesday before
heading into the Region 8-AAAA
duals Friday and Saturday at Clarke
Central.
Madison County will likely earn a
fifth or sixth seed for this weekend’s
event.
Loganville is the favorite to win the
dual title, entering at the no. 1 spot.
Rockdale County is the no. 2 seed.
Houston said the three through five
seeds are still "up in the air.”
While the duals champion will be
crowded in a couple of days, the tra
ditional region tournament won't be
until Feb. 6-7.
Madison County padded its dual
record over the Christmas break by
going 7-3 at the Cherokee (N.C.)
Tournament Dec. 29-30 to finish
fourth out of 10 teams.
"It was a pretty good trip,’’ Houston
said of his team’s annual trek to the
mountains of western North Carolina.
The Raiders beat Berkmar,
Franklin (N.C.), Hayesville (N.C.),
Murphy (N.C.), Cherokee (N.C.),
Towns County and Northwest
Whitfield's B-team.
Cody Phillips (112-lb.) led
Madison County with a 9-1 record.
The Raiders also received standout
individual efforts from Kyle Gordon
(189-lb., 8-2), Michael Kilpatrick
(130-lb., 8-2), Issac Smith (152-lb.,
7-3), Tanner Johnson (160-lb., 7-3),
Tyler Adams (215-lb., 7-3) and Kyle
Bates (140-lb., 7-3).
Sports Shorts
Recreation Department T-ball, pitching machine registration starts Jan. 12
Registration for the Madison County
Recreation Department’s T-ball and pitch
ing machine leagues begins Monday, Jan.
12, at the rec department's main office at
1345 Highway 98 West.
Registration runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Mondays through Fridays through Friday,
Feb. 27.
The recreation department will also take
registration at the Danielsville Elementary
School Gym on Saturday, Jan. 31, and
Saturday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The recreation department will offer a
non-competitive co-ed league for players
ages 5-6, a pitching machine league for
boys ages 7-8 and a pitching machine
league for girls ages 7-8.
The age control date for T-Ball is May 1,
2009. Players must be five by that date in
order to play and cannot turn seven before
May 1, 2009.
The age control date for the boys' and
girl’s pitching machine leagues is May
1, 2009. Players cannot turn nine before
May 1, 2009.
The May 1 age control date has been
adopted to be in line with the Little
League Age control date,
A copy of the players' birth certificate at
registration must be provided at registra
tion. The registration fee is $25 per par
ticipant. This includes their game T-shirt.
Out-of-county participants will pay an
additional $25. For more information,
See Sports shorts on 2B
Things I ? d
like to see
in 2009
Here’s a list of my sports-
related hopes for 2009.
With dark economic
clouds hovering over every
one and everything, we need
sports
now more
than ever
to serve as
a pleasant
distraction
from the
doom-
and-
gloom.
So
with that,
here’s
what
would make 2009 a good
year — both locally and
nationally:
•The Madison County
High School girls’ basket
ball team reaching the state
finals this year. One shot
stood between the Madison
County girls reaching that
plateau last year during
coach Dan Lampe’s first
season.
•The MCHS boys’ bas
ketball team’s first winning
season in five years. You
won’t find a more dedicated
coaching staff than Steve
Crouse, Tim Drake and
company.
•Yet another major (or
two) for Tiger Woods. We’re
witnessing greatness in our
own lifetime.
•A playoff series victory
for the diamond Raiders.
Here’s hoping that Madison
County High School gets
back to the state tournament
and advances to the second
round for the first time since
2002.
•Dale Murphy’s induction
to the baseball Hall of Fame.
It won’t ever happen, but I
can at least put it on the list.
•A quiet summer for
Georgia’s football team.
That means no arrests.
•At least six wins for the
Raider football team this
fall. Hopefully, the program
can rally after a two-win
campaign in 2008.
•Less blogs and more sto
ries about college football.
There’s too much gossip out
there.
•More high-flying from
the Falcons. Atlanta made
a commitment to cleaning
house and doing things the
right way.
•Cool football weather in
September. Didn’t it used to
be a little chilly when prep
football started?
•A trip to Columbus for
the Raider softball team.
The Raiders haven’t reached
the state Elite Eight since
2002, but came really, really
close last year.
•A reason to watch the
Major League baseball play
offs. Who knows? Maybe
the Braves can be that rea
son.
•Florida quarterback Tim
Tebow returning for his
senior year. I know ... care
ful for what you wish for
here. But here’s the thing:
Georgia must defeat Tebow
in 2009 to get the last laugh.
•Notre Dame going unde
feated and not getting into
the BCS title game. Don’t
think this wouldn’t set off a
code red in college football?
We’d have a playoff system
the next day.
•A few less firings in
every level of football. This
off-with-their head mental
ity toward coaches is getting
out of hand.
Ben Munro is a reporter
for The Madison County
Journal.
i
From the
sports desk
By Ben
Munro