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PAGE 8A- THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. JANUARY 9. 2020
Sports
Girls Basketball
McPherson, Wilson lead the Red Raiders
to blowout win over North Oconee
Photo by Kyle Funderburk
Kayla McPherson drives inside for a layup Tuesday night in Madison County’s win
over North Oconee.
Softball tournament held
for Joe Lukas, family
By Kyle Funderburk
kyle@mainstreetnews.com
When Kayla McPherson
and Tiffany Wilson go a
full game without com
mitting a foul, you know
Madison County is having
a good night.
In this case, the good
night was a 75-47 win over
North Oconee Tuesday in
a Region 8-AAAA match
up. North Oconee failing
to draw fouls from the Red
Raiders' leading scorers
allowed the duo to play
freely on both ends of the
court. McPherson scored
32 points, grabbed nine
rebounds and made nine
assists. Wilson added 22
points and grabbed nine
rebounds. Ella Chancey
scored 11 points.
“With no fouls I play
free.” McPherson said. “I
can gamble, I can do any
thing I want to. If I’m in
foul trouble, I play con
tent. I can't go hard on de
fense.”
North Oconee (12-6,
0-2 region) seemed to
have the right game plan
early on when it jumped
out to an 8-2 lead. A pair
of steals by Wilson led to
four quick points by Mad
ison County (12-7, 2-1
region). Later on, trailing
10-6, McPherson scored
13-straight points. A pair
of deep three-pointers
tied the game 12-12 and
McPherson gave her squad
the lead with a steal and
fast break layup. Madison
County led 21-12 after the
first quarter, and McPher
son had 17 points.
McPherson only scored
15 points in the last three
By Kyle Funderburk
kyle@mainstreetne ws .com
Madison County may
have a rebuilt roster, but
after three region games
on the year, the Red Raid
ers are in the driver’s seat
for clinching an automatic
berth in the AAAA state
playoffs following a win
over North Oconee.
Madison County defeated
the Titans 74-64 and sit in
second place in the Region
8-AAAA standings with
five region games remain
ing. The top three teams
after the regular season
are guaranteed spots in the
playoffs with seeding de
cided by the four-team re
gion tournament.
“You only play eight of
them, so every one matters
a lot,” said head coach Bry
an Bird. “We’ve told them
from the get-go, we want
to play our best in Febru
ary and we're starting to get
there.
“They’ve been practicing
really well and still buying
in. It’s been a grind playing
a really tough non-region
schedule. But now we’re
setting ourselves up well.
We still have a lot to work
on, but I’m so proud of the
way they played tonight.”
Adam Metts led both
teams with 28 points and
Roderick Jones added 13
points. Bird called the per
formance one of the best
of the year, especially on
offense.
“That’s by far our best of
fensive performance.” Bird
said. “Not just shooting the
ball, but the way we want to
play, where we’re unselfish
and we set our teammates
quarters of the game, but
her reduced scoring had
more to do with teammates
being open than anything
North Oconee did to slow
her down. Wilson scored
18 of her 22 points and
Chancey scored all 11 of
her points in the last three
quarters. The Red Raiders
also got points from Keia
Cooper, Caitlyn Arwood
and Amber Fowler.
“After I hit those three’s,
it lifted everybody up,”
McPherson said. “Ella got
to the foul line twice in a
row. Tiffany had a really
up. They’re starting to fig
ure that out a little bit.
‘We shot really well to
night and it helps when
you're unselfish and you set
your teammates up. It gives
everybody confidence.
That’s the first time we’ve
gotten over 70 all year.”
Madison County's (5-14.
2-1 Region 8-AAAA) hot
shooting started right after
tip-off when Metts drained
a corner 3-pointer in front
of the North Oconee bench.
Nolan Hill made a three
from the opposite corner
good down low game to
day. It all came together as
a team.
“We’ve been talking
about (ball movement), we
can't just go through me.
We can't just shot three's
out of nowhere, we’ve got
to be able to move the ball
and get open shots.”
Head coach Dan Lampe
was excited about his
team's performance, pro
claiming it to be their best
of the season so far.
“It is definitely the best
we’ve looked,” Lampe
said. “Our press rotation
to give the Red Raiders
an early multi-possession
lead. Jones, Willie Gaines
and Logan Griffeth also
hit 3-pointers in the first
quarter. Griffeth’s shot beat
the buzzer to put Madison
County ahead 22-9.
North Oconee (5-12, 1-1)
matched Madison County's
pace in the second quarter,
and even cut the lead to 32-
25 in the middle of the quar
ter. Metts dropped eight
points before halftime to
help the Red Raiders reach
the break ahead 42-30.
was spot on. Boxing out
looked better, offensive
boards looked great, we
had a bunch of them. Oth
er people catching the ball
and being a part of the of
fense, that’s all we need.
Madison County now
take some control over its
own destiny in the region
8-AAAA standings and
can take even more con
trol with a win next Tues
day at St. Pius X. Before
that game, the Red Raiders
travel to Elbert County on
Saturday for a non-region
game.
The Red Raiders added
to their lead in the third
quarter with points from
five different players in
cluding 11 by Metts. Mad
ison County led 63-46 and
held off North Oconee in
the fourth quarter to win
74-64.
Madison County takes
a sabbatical from region
play this Saturday with a
road trip to Elbert Coun
ty. Region play resumes
Tuesday at St. Pius X, who
is currently first in the re
gion.
A softball tournament to
raise funds for former Mad
ison County baseball player
Joe Lukas and his family is
being held Saturday, January
25th at Lamar Murphy Park in
Jefferson. Lukas was involved
in a vehicle accident in De
cember.
Entry for teams is $200
and each game will last five
innings or 45 minutes. Orga-
By Kyle Funderburk
kyle@mainstreetnews.com
Jaxon Hoetzel led Mad
ison County’s efforts at
Lambert this past weekend.
His first-place finish in the
182-lb. weight class helped
the Red Raiders secure a
ninth place finish out of
29 teams at the Hook Em’
Holiday Clash tournament.
Josh Kincaid (126 lb.)
and Rowan Smith (138 lb.)
finished second place and
Hamilton Cooper (220 lb.)
finished third place. Four
other Red Raiders won at
least one match at the tour
nament. North Hall won
the championship and Cha-
tooga finished second.
Hoetzel secured the
championship with a sec
ond period pin fall victory
over Aryeh Mehl from Cy
press Lake (Fla.). The pin
came with just seconds re
maining in the period after
scoring a takedown with 24
seconds left.
Hoetzel’s other four wins
came by pin fall and his first
three wins ended before
the first period. He pinned
Jake Swart of Denmark in
30 seconds. Fitzgerald’s
Drew Moore in just over
a minute, and Sequoyah’s
Josiah Mann in 45 seconds.
He couldn’t defeat Forsyth
Central’s Luis Mier in the
first period of the semi-fi
nals, but he only needed 22
seconds in the second peri
od to pick up the win.
Kincaid started his tour
nament with a first period
pin fall over Hillgrove’s
Khalil Williams. Vidalia’s
Hunter Manning and Ar-
muchee’s Cameron Espy
proved difficult for Kincaid
to put away, but he defeated
both on points. Four take
downs, one reversal and a
nearfall allowed Kincaid to
defeat manning by a major
decision 12-4. He defeated
Espy by technical fall 20-1
with four nearfalls and
three takedowns. Kincaid
couldn’t get out of the gate
in the finals and lost 7-0 to
nizers also plan on offering
concessions. If there’s space,
organizers also plan on having
a home ran derby with $10
granting 10 swings.
For more information about
the tournament contact Bob
by Hipp at 706-621-9146 or
Dylan Hipp at 706-765-7199.
If you’re interested in donating
concessions, message Sydney
Graham at 706-340-9287.
Pickens County's C.J. Mur-
phy.
Smith needed three-and-
a-half minutes to win his
first match, but the result
was never in doubt. He
pinned Cypress Lake's
Joshua Hargrove before
the end of the second pe
riod. He already led 14-2
because of four take
downs and two nearfalls.
He followed the win with
a second period pin fall
of Armuchee's Theodore
Chesnut. He advanced to
the finals with a 4-3 deci
sion win over H.F. Byrnes'
C.J. Heiselman. The decid
ing point was an escape at
the top of the third period.
Smith battled Veterans’ Ju
lian Farber through the sec
ond round, but eventually
lost by technical fall 18-2.
A pin fall loss to Chatoo-
ga’s Alex Mears was Coo
per’s only blemish in the
tournament. He defeated
Denmark’s Arthur Mars-
den 3-2 in overtime and
Dunwoody’s Charles Mc-
Cown 5-1 in his first two
matches. Cooper defeated
Vidalia’s Jaylin Burns 4-3
in the consolation semifi
nals and won third place
by defeating McCown in a
rematch 13-1. In the conso
lation finals, Cooper made
three takedowns and two
nearfalls.
Jace Jachimski (132 lb.)
won three matches, all by
pin fall. Austin Kearns (160
lb.) won two matches by
pin fall. Bryer Autry (152
lb.) and Tristan Poss (170
lb.) each picked up one
victory. Madison County
scored 122.5 points in the
tournament, just 1.5 points
shy of finishing eighth
place.
The Red Raiders begin
wrapping up the dual sea
son this weekend in the
Region 8-AAAA Duals
at Stephens County High
School. The top two teams
will compete in the AAAA
State Duals next week at
the Macon Coliseum.
Boys Basketball
Despite youth, Red Raiders in
control of destiny in region standings
Photo by Kyle Funderburk
Adam Metts finesses his way past a North Oconee defender for a layup Tuesday night.
Wrestling
Photo by Kyle Funderburk
Jaxon Hoetzel starts a takedown in the 185 lb. finals
match. Hoetzel went on to win the match and his
weight class at the Hook Em’ Holiday Clash at Lam
bert High School.
Hoetzel takes first
prize at Hook
Em’ Holiday Clash