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The Madison County Journal
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Youth wrestler takes title
Dawson Legg won the 2009 Georgia Kids
State Wrestling Championship in .
his age and weight division
IB
Thursday, March 19, 2009
www.MainstreetnewsSPORTS.com
Ben Munro/ ben@mainstreetnews.com (706) 795-2567
Boys’ Tennis
Raiders back
at .500 after
consecutive
victories
The Madison County
boys’ tennis team seems
to have turned the tables
after a few near misses
earlier this year.
The team is back to
.500 overall and has a
2-1 subregion record after
a 4-1 win over Winder-
Barrow.
The Raiders own a two-
game winning streak.
"I'm extremely proud
of the way our boys have
been playing the last few
matches," coach Keith
Strickland said. “After
losing so many close
matches, 3-2; they've
turned it around and won
the last two region match
es with confidence.”
Both Marcus Bowen
and Jeffrey Branson
pulled out three-set vic
tories at no. 1 and no.
2 singles against Winder-
Barrow as Madison
County moved to 3-3 on
the season.
"Our singles players
Marcus and Jeffrey have
played very well and are
learning how to win the
big points and take match
es even if they have to
go three sets,” Strickland
dsaid.
Blaise Bolemon, back
from an injury, “played a
great match,” Strickland
said, at no. 3 singles, win
ning easily in straight
sets.
The no. 1 doubles tan
dem of Jake Scarborough
and Chris Dove won their
— See ‘tennis’ on 3B
_
Mauro Ortiz runs this
past Tuesday night
at a Raider home
track meet. Madison
County won its sea
son opener a week
earlier. Ben Munro/Staff
Boys’ Track
Raiders
dominate
four-team
meet
Members of the
Madison County boys’
track team won 11
events as it took a four-
team meet convincingly
March 10.
The Raiders finished
with 113 points, 71.5
points ahead of sec
ond place Washington-
Wilkes (41.5).
Taliaferro County (40)
and Lincoln County
(26.5) also competed.
Winning individual
events were Kendrick
Butler (long jump, triple
jump, 300 meter inter
mediate hurdles), Claude
Johnson (shot put). Matt
Dove (discus), A1 Allen
(100 meters),
— See “Track’ on 3B
Girls’ Tennis
Lady Raiders unscathed in subregion
The Madison County Lady Raider tennis
team continues to roll through subregion play
with little interference.
Madison County (5-1,3-0) downed Winder-
Barrow 4-1 Tuesday to stay perfect in the
8A-AAAA ranks.
‘The girls continue to play very well,” said
coach Keith Strickland, whose team is seeking
a second-straight region fide.
Molly Smith and Jeannie Bowen won eas
ily at the top two singles spots, taking those
matches in straight sets.
“Molly and Jeannie have been very solid
SUBREGION WINS
•MCHS 4, Hab. Central 1 (March 10)
•MCHS 5, Apalachee 0 (March 12)
•MCHS 4, Winder-Barrow 1 (March 17)
in every match they’ve played this season,"
Strickland said.
The duo of Samantha LaZear and Sarah
Powers won a three-set match at no. 1 doubles,
while Kaitlyn Hale and Alexia Supakomdej
won their match easily at no. 2 doubles.
Strickland praised his doubles team play.
— See ‘Girls’ tennis’ on 3B
State champions
The Madison County Recreation Deapartment 12-and-under basketball
all-stars recently claimed the Class B state title. Submitted photo
High School baseball
Ian Drake (center) is congratulated by Matt Kennison (right) after scoring the final run in Madison County’s 12-2
victory over defending state champion Loganville. Ben Munro/Staff
Raiders represent
MCHS in first place after whipping defending state champs
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
T he season is quite young,
but the diamond Raiders
certainly looked the part
of region title contenders Tuesday
night — maybe more.
Behind a six-run third inning,
Madison County (6-2, 3-0) wal-
lopped defending Class AAAA state
champion and traditional power
Loganville 12-2 in just six innings.
The Raiders have beaten three of
the region’s best teams in a span of
six days. The other two victories
came over Heritage and Salem.
Whipping Loganville sets the bar
high now.
“We came in with high expecta
tions,” Raider coach Charlie Griffeth
said. “I know they realize they have
to come earn everything they get,
especially now, winning these three
... people are going to be gunning
for you a little bit more.”
Matt Kennison and Ian Drake
each drove in three runs in the
Raider rout of Loganville, while
Jack May pitched a gem from the
mound, working six innings, surren
dering three hits and one walk while
Jack May threw a three-hitter
in Madison County’s victory
over Loganville. Ben Munro/Staff
striking out one.
“Jack threw well and kept them
off stride,” Griffeth said.
For a Raider club seeking a return
trip to the Class AAAA playoffs, it’s
enjoyed a resounding start.
The victory moved the red-hot
Raiders to 3-0 in the region and a
top the 8-AAAA standings head
ing into Wednesday's game with
Monroe Area (results were not avail
able at press time).
“It’s a long haul,” Griffeth said. “A
lot of things can happen. You start
taking the game for granted, it will
slap you in the face in a hurry.”
Before thrashing Loganville, the
Raiders toppled defending 8-AAAA
champion Heritage, 5-3, March 11
and then on Friday beat Salem, a
final four team from last year, 6-5.
The Raiders play a non-region
make up game with Franklin
County on Friday and then return to
region play Monday at Habersham
Central and Wednesday at Rockdale
County.
In Tuesday’s big win, Madison
County trailed the Loganville 2-0 in
the third inning before unleashing
an offensive onslaught.
“After we got down 2-0,1 wanted
to say, ‘we’ve got them right
where we want them,”’ Griffeth
said, pointing to recent comebacks
against Heritage and Salem.
Kennison tied the game 2-2 with a
— See ‘baseball’ on 3B
Rifle
Raiders
fire their
way to
semifinals
NOTES
•The
Madison
County
rifle team
is 8-0 this
year. Wade
Threlkeld
and Casey
Brown have
both quali
fied individ
ually for the
state meet.
The Madison County rifle team (8-0) out
gunned Gainesville 1,131-1,013 to earn a
berth in the state semifinals.
Wade Threlkeld shot a 289 to lead the
top-seeded Raiders over the sixth-seeded
Gainesville team. Casey Brown added a 286,
followed by J.S. Fielding (281) and Nathan
Coker (275).
Madison County was scheduled to shoot
Wednesday (March 18) in the semifinals
against Lumpkin County,
but results weren’t avail
able at press time.
The winner of that
match will move on to the
next round on April 4.
Madison County earned
a no. 1 seed out of the area
for the sectionals based
on the strength of another
unbeaten regular season.
Due to several schools
in Area 4 being unable
or unwilling to travel to
the area tournament due
to economic reasons, officials were forced
to forgo the tournament and select its seeds
based on a team’s average score during the
year.
But in an effort to ensure that all shooters
had as many matches as possible to individu
ally qualify for state — by shooting a 290
— area officials arranged for an impromptu
postseason match for all schools who could
afford to travel.
Madison County took on Evans in a match
essentially for individual purposes.
The rifle Raiders competed in this match
without team members who had already
qualified individually for state — Wade
Threlkeld and Casey Brown. However, no
other Raiders qualified. Team score was still
tallied and Madison County won the match
1091-1081. Nathan Coker shot 279, fol
lowed by J.S. Fielding (275), Jacob Holliman
(274), Ryan Bridges (263). Garrett Cook
(259) competed, but his score didn't count.
Rifle team members (L to R)
Casey Brown, Nathan Coker, Wade
Threlkeld and J.S. Fielding shoot in
the prone position.
Jake Sapp
(left) and
Ben Ortman
(right)
close in on
a North
Oconee
player
Thursday
in Madison
County’s 3-2
loss to the
Titans. The
Raiders fell
to fourth-
ranked
Habersham
Central two
days later.
Ben Munro/
Staff
Boys’ Soccer
Raider soccer team fares better
against ranked foe but loses
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County improved
against Habersham Central, but
didn't improve in the win col
umn.
Despite a valiant effort, the
Madison County boys’ soccer
team (3-5) fell to fourth-ranked
Habersham 5-2 Saturday.
The narrow loss to the region
foe came after a 15-0 drubbing
last season.
“Last year, they beat us 15-0,
and we obviously wanted to
put out a much better effort,"
Raider coach Trevor Mangan
said.
Madison County trailed 2-1
at halftime,
“We were slack on some
marking in the box off of cross
es, which gave them two goals,"
Mangan said.
But Ian Webster was able
to get behind Habersham’s
defense to score and cut the
lead to 2-1.
Unfortunately for Madison
County, Habersham answered
— See ‘Soccer’ on 3B