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The Madison County Journal INSIDE THIS WEEK Week 12 predictions are in Check out the football picks for week 11 of The Madison County Journal Pigskin Picker 2B IB Thursday, November 19, 2009 www.MainstreetnewsSPORTS.com Ben Munro/ ben@mainstreetnews.com (706) 795-2567 FOOTBALL Owens verbally commits to West Point; Cooper to Ga. Military Two Madison County football players will be get ting used to military life next year as they continue their careers on the grid iron. Madison County High School quarterback Jacob Owens will move on to Division I-A football, ver bally committing to Army Monday. Meanwhile, Jamal Cooper verbally committed to play junior college foot ball at Georgia Military in Milledgeville. Owens, who started at quarterback for two years at Madison County High School, completed 63-of-138 passes this year for 855 yards and six touch downs. Owens also rushed 174 yards and a team-high nine touchdowns. He becomes the second of Red Raider coach Randell Owens’ sons to commit to service academy. Jarrod Owens, Madison County quarterback from 2004-2006, now plays for the Coast Guard Academy. Cooper, a running back, accounted for 491 total yards this year and returned MIDDLE SCHOOL Mustang wrestlers enjoy tourney success Sat. The Madison County Middle School wrestling team had its most successful tournament in its history at the Oglethorpe County Junior Patriot Wrestling Tournament Saturday in Lexington. In addition to an all-time high fourth-place team finish, the Mustangs had a school- record eight wrestlers earn individual medals. Banks County took first place in the tournament, followed by Athens Christian School in second place and Elbert County in third place, just ahead of the Mustangs. Mustang wrestlers Dustin Howard, Chase Boyett, Dylan Haney, Tom Evans, Blake Seagraves and Christian Dean took home third-place medals, while Jared Bates and Josh Huff earned fourth- place individual honors. The Mustangs faced Oglethorpe County and Stephens County on Tuesday in the first meet to be held at the new Madison County Middle School and are scheduled to compete in the Hart County Quad Meet in Hartwell on Saturday. HUNTING Annual dove shoot ahead The fifth-annual Madison County Parent/ Child Dove Hunt will be held Dec. 19 at Travis Legg’s and Cory Clements’ property in Comer. The event will begin at 9 a.m. Participants will be able to build their own turkey call and there will be a demonstration by Craig Fulghum of how to use different calls. A barbecue lunch will be provided. Those wanting to participate can register at one of the following locales: Georgia Outdoor Sports, Madison County Hardware, North Georgia Sports, Midway Farm Supply and Shuler’s. ‘RAYBO’SIGNS WITH GEORGIA COLLEGE Madison County High School shortstop/pitcher Matthew “Raybo” Robinson has signed a baseball scholarship with Georgia College. He is pictured at a signing ceremony Monday with his father, John Robinson (seated, left), and mother, Wendi Robinson (seated, right). Also pictured (standing) are Raider assistant coach Michael Thomas, head coach Charlie Griffeth, and assistant coach Ken Morgan. Last year, Robinson batted .327. For his career, Robinson is batting .297 with 3 home runs, 49 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. Region Reclassification Region 8-AAAA could lose at least one team MCHS is second smallest school in Class AAAA By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com REGION 8-AAAA ENROLLMENT Madison County’s athletic region, 8-AAAA, could change by at least one member, based on recent classification announcements from the Georgia High School Association. Monroe Area, with an enrollment of 1,347, would drop to Class AAA for 2010 through 2012. The other 10 region teams are slated to return to Class AAAA. Rockdale County is 8-AAAA's larg est school with 1,816 students. — See ‘Region’ on page 2B Rockdale County 1,816 Habersham Central 1,775 Heritage 1,700 Winder-Barrow 1,700 Loganville 1,684 Salem 1,614 Apalachee 1,603 Cedar Shoals 1,495 Clarke Central 1,437 Madison County 1,425 Monroe Area 1,347 (sched uled to drop to Class AAA) 2009-2010 Hoops Preview MADISON COUNTY IN ACTION: Patrick McCrary fights for a basket during Friday’s scrimmage. Raiders hungry after last year’s near-miss By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com The memory is still there. But it’s not altogether a bit ter one. Needing just one more region tournament victory to qualify for the Class AAAA postseason back in February, an 8-17 Red Raider team pushed no. 1 seed Rockdale County to the brink before falling overtime by three points. “So much heartache and so much frustration, but yet at the same time, it creates such a hunger for these younger guys, to say, 'hey, we were right there with the top team in the region,” Red Raider coach Steve Crouse said. Nine months later, the Red Raiders — who tip the season off Friday at home against Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy — hope they finally have the pieces in place to end a 12-year state MADISON CO. BOYS’ROSTER Latraveon Burton 5 Kendrick Butler 22 Josh Crouse 11 Stan Maxwell 15 Patrick McCrary 40 Terrell McCrary 33 T.J. McGuire 21 Presly McKeever 20 Dominique Parrish 1 Bradley Raines 14 Matthew Robinson 10 Jamaal Cooper 24 Marquis Thomas 30 — See ‘Boys’ on page 2B The Madison County boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will host their annual pre-Thanksgiving invitational tournament Saturday and Tuesday. Teams playing in the event are Dacula, Jonesboro, Aquinas, Newton County (girls only) and Towers (boys only). The first game starts at 3 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Tuesday. Strength in numbers MADISON CO. GIRLS’ROSTER Shantydra Arnold 20 Lauren Smith 23 Sakoya Moon 12 Kiedreuna Chappell 55 Juvonna Fleming 22 Elizabeth Whieldon 15 Kayla Freeman 32 Juleigh Fouche 3 Molly Glaze 21 Areil Sorrells 24 Sam Lazear 25 Elise Coberly 31 Nekeia Brown 50 Deep squad begins c post-Courtney era’ By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com The good news for Madison County’s foes: They won’t have to account for Courtney Freeman any more. The bad news: They’ll have to account for everyone else. “We are deeper than any team in the region, I think,” said third-year coach — See ‘Girls’ on page 2B Kayla Freeman takes a shot during Friday’s scrimmage. Wrestling Madison County wrestlers gear up for early tests By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews. com T he true tests of the Madison County wres tling season will come after Christmas when the Raiders search for post-season glory in the area and state duals. Of course, there will be plenty of pop quizzes between now and then, plenty of question marks needing answers. Just how does the Madison County squad, which returns three state qualifiers, match up against the region’s elite, such as Loganville and Rockdale? And how will younger wrestlers mea sure up as they help fill out the lineup? The Raiders, who started after- school practice two weeks ago, will find out a lot when they open — See ‘Wrestling’ on page 2B TYLER ADAMS ISAAC RUIZ CODY PHILLIPS