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The Madison County Journal
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Week 9 predictions are in
Check out the football picks for
week 9 of The Madison County
Journal Pigskin Picker
2B
IB
Thursday, October 29, 2009
www.MainstreetnewsSPORTS.com
Ben Munro/ ben@mainstreetnews.com (706) 795-2567
Madison County’s Sam LaZear hit .388 this year, the highest
average for any Red Raider player with at least 50 at bats.
Ben Munro/stair
Softball
Red Raider softball team made mark in stat book
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
There were some impressive numbers behind
Madison County High School’s 27-4 finish on the
softball diamond this fall.
The 2009 team scored a
school-record 254 runs and
batted .323, good for sec
ond best all-time in MCHS
history as it won Region
8-AAAA and advanced to
the second round of the state
tournament.
Madison County also had a stellar year defensively
with a .953 fielding percentage. The only Red Raider
INSIDE THE
NUMBERS
■ The 2009 MCHS
softball team enjoyed
a program-best .871
winning percentage.
team to top that mark was Madison County’s first fast-
pitch team in 1998, which had an aggregate fielding
percentage of .971.
Individually, senior pitcher Erin Gibson enjoyed a
record-setting year with 18 wins, the most ever in a
single season in Madison County history. Gibson also
recorded 98 strikeouts and finished with a 1.31 ERA.
Offensively, the Red Raiders had seven players hit
.300 or better.
Sam LaZear led all Madison County hitters having at
least 50 at-bats with a .388 average, followed by Haley
Peeples (.383), Ariel Bates (.369), Olivia Duncan
(.348), Brandi Osborne (.329) and Katie Bolin (.326).
Emily Mann hit .419 in 43 at-bats.
— Softball on page 2B
Prep Football Week 9
The Madison County defense makes a stop earlier this year in a game against Winder-Barrow. The Red Raider run defense faces a huge chal
lenge this week against Apalachee’s prolific running attack. Ben Munro/staff
Awaiting Apalachee
MCHS faces stout running game of seventh-ranked Wildcats
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
A palachee didn't earn a no. 7 ranking in
Class AAAA based on flair and finesse.
Madison County (5-3) faces an 8-0
Wildcat football team Friday night that likes to
pound the football down opponents’ gullets.
“They’re loaded,’’ Red Raider coach Randell
Owens said. “They've got some great running
backs.”
Apalachee, which gashed Madison County for
467 yards on the ground last year, boasts a potent
trio of backs — Jon Lee, Reggie Battle and John
Ansley — that's helped it clinch the school's first
region title with two games to spare.
While Loganville’s Storm Johnson might be the
most sought-after running back in the region by
colleges, Apalachee's stable of ball carriers might
be more complete high school football players,
Owens said.
“I'll take them any day,” he said. “It doesn’t mat-
FRIDAY’S OPPONENT
■ Who: Apalachee (8-0) at Madison Co. (5-3)
■ Where: Danielsville
■ When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
■ Series: Madison County leads 2-1
■ Last year: Apalachee 55, Madison Co. 35
■ Last week: Apalachee 24, Heritage 23; Madison
County was off
■ Opponent’s coach: Shane Davis (fifth season,
28-24)
■ What else: Madison County and Apalachee com
bined for 1,011 yards last year in the Wildcats’ 55-35
victoiy ... Friday is MCHS’s senior night.
ter which one has the ball. They can all take it to
the house.”
Compounding the problem is that Apalachee
operates out of the Wing-T, a scheme that thrives
on concealment of the actual ball carrier through
fakes and misdirection.
“Inside, outside, misdirection or pass, there's
about four things that go off each series,” Owens
said.
So what will it take to contain the Wildcats’
backs and Wing-T attack?
“Try to control the line of scrimmage and stop
the explosion play,” Owens said.
Similarly, Apalachee coach Shane Davis is wary
of Madison County’s offensive scheme, noting
that the Red Raiders will do everything from using
two tight end sets to spreading it out and throwing
the ball around the field. In fact, Madison County
passed for 442 yards against the Wildcats in 2008.
“It is not going to be easy this week,” Davis said.
“Madison County will be as athletic offensively as
anyone we’ve seen. They are able to do so many
things.”
Apalachee is coming off a pair of one-point
victories, edging Loganville, 42-41, Oct. 17 and
Heritage, 24-23, last week. While Apalachee has
already locked up the region title and no. 1 seed
out of Region 8-AAAA for the state playoffs, this
game has huge postseason implications for the Red
— Football on page 3B
Subvarsity Football
Racing
MCHS JV cruises past Winder-Barrow
Red Raider freshmen fall in finale
Trey Burton scored two touchdowns and
Trey Carruth and Lashawn Willingham each
added a score to lift Madison County’s
junior varsity team past Winder-Barrow
27-8 last Thursday (Oct. 22).
Madison County closes its season at
Gainesville Nov. 5 at 5:30 p.m. The game
with the junior varsity Red Elephants serves
as a substitute for a cancelled contest with
Clarke Central.
In the ninth grade ranks, Madison County
fell 14-0 to Winder-Barrow last Thursday to
COMING UP
■ MCHS junior varsity @ Gainesville,
Nov. 5, 5:30 p.m.
cap a tough season in which the freshmen
Red Raiders were often short-handed.
“With players hurt and out sick, the only
thing to do is to keep playing hard and do
your best ... We did not give up,” coach
William Trimier said.
The freshmen football and cheerlead
ers banquet is tonight (Thursday) at 6:30
p.m. at the Madison County High School
cafeteria.
Segars and Segars take first
place finishes at Hartwell
On the final day of the local racing
season, Colbert’s Cody Segars won
the Yong Guns division and Colbert’s
Steven Segars took the checkered flag
in Crate Late Model competition over
the weekend at Hartwell Speedway.
Other Madison County drivers fin
ishing strong were Chad Hoopaugh,
who logged a second-place finish
in the Modified Street division; and
Comer’s Jimmy Little, who was sec
ond in the Stock Four Cylinders race.
Comer’s Bubba Russell finished third
in Limited Late Model action.
Other Madison County drivers with
top 10 finishes were Colbert’s Robin
Collins and Colbert’s Kenny Collins
who finished seventh and eighth
respectively in the Crate Late Model
race. — report by Heather Rhoades
Georgia:
Take the fight
to Florida
Hopefully Georgia will
come armed for a knife
fight on Halloween against
Florida, not a tea party.
Last year. Georgia played
like this was a Pilot Club
social and got blasted 49-10.
For the Bulldogs to have
any chance of hanging with
the SEC’s Darth Vader and
reversing their Jacksonville
hex, Georgia must do some-
tiling early to send a clear
message
to a
program
that’s bul
lied the
Dogs for
20 years.
It
doesn’t
have to be
a turnover
or a quick
score, but
some ges
ture of ill will during the first
three minutes of the game
— within the rules (no end
zone celebration) — to make
Florida flinch.
How about a highlight reel
hit from Reshad Jones that
ejects a Gator player's hel
met several yards? Or Tim
Tebow driven back in such
astounding fashion that it sets
off a symphony of officials’
whistles?
That’s not Georgia, you
say. Well, the great thing
about Halloween is that you
play the part of someone else
for a day.
In that case, the Bulldogs
best come disguised as the
Alabama Crimson Tide. Just
please don’t show up as that
oft-confused, passive group
that’s been easily pushed
around in 2009.
Die Bulldogs must play
tlie role of psychological
aggressor for once.
After all, they have little
else going for them.
They can't out-athlete
Florida. The Bulldog
coaches certainly can't out
fox Florida. But if Georgia
can win the proverbial
street fight with the Gators,
strange things might happen:
quarterback sacks, fumbles,
blocked punts and pure
chaos — all things that come
with aggressive play.
And then maybe the Dogs
have a chance.
On a personal level, it’s
been agonizing to watch
Georgia struggle while
Florida has flourished.
In Hie interest of full dis
closure, I’ve been a Gator
hater since the 1980s when
I lived in Jacksonville and
am a Georgia fundamentalist
when it comes to the Gator
nation. I gag at the sight of
all your Florida tags, hats,
shirts and mementos floating
around suburban Atlanta.
Take yourself, a U-haul and
all that trash back to Palatka.
Florida is bad news.
People like to poke fun at
Georgia's off-the-field indis
cretion. Well folks, here's
a Florida program that had
SEC titles in 1984,1985
and 1990 negated because it
broke the rules.
What’s more, it has
employed two of the most
insufferable coaches in
recent college football histo
ry, Steve Spunier and Urban
Meyer. And its poster boy.
St. Tim Tebow. should be
served an excessive celebra
tion bench warrant for all his
grandstanding on the field
tlie last four years.
So Georgia, bring the
proverbial knives to the fight
Saturday. Not Hie proverbial
tea cakes like you did last
year.
If not, look forward to
Florida running up 70 on
you.
Ben Munro is a reporter
for The Madison County
Journal.
Ben Munro
From the
sports desk