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 Spring football session
ends this week
BY DREW BRANTLEY
The weather is beginning to feel more like August, and the progress
of the Commerce football team seems to be resemble the early
fall practice.
Commerce coach Steve Savage said his team has been productive
in the first week of spring practice.
"It's been going all right," Savage said. "We're
getting done what we thought we would. We've been pleased with
how hard the kids have worked."
Along with the varsity sessions, several eighth graders are getting
work in junior varsity practice.
"We've got some rising ninth graders down there," Savage
said. "We're just trying to take a look-see at them and
see what they can do."
FAMILIAR NEW FACES
Helping the Tigers get ready for next fall's season are two new
assistants with old roots to Commerce.
Terry Canup and At Stephenson joined the coaching staff this
spring.
"We've got a good staff," Savage said. "Terry
Canup and At Stephenson are both good additions. They're both
Commerce boys, and they understand how Commerce things are done."
Stephenson played his last year of football for Commerce in 1966.
Canup finished his Tiger playing days in 1978, though he continued
his career in college.
Canup played football at West Georgia College. He was a member
of the Braves when they claimed the NCAA Division III national
championship in 1982.
FOOTBALL 2000
The change to five classifications kept Commerce in Region 8-A.
However, only four schools compete in football from the region.
That left Commerce three region games and seven games to pick
up.
Finding seven games to fill the schedule allowed Commerce to
pick up several teams that are not new to a Tiger schedule.
Commerce will open the football year 2000 at Franklin County
Sept. 1.
The Tigers will play their first home game Sept. 8 against Forsyth
Central.
 Wilhelm wins Junior Dragster
bracket
Banks County's Hank Wilhelm came out on top in the 13-17-year-old
Junior Dragster competition at Atlanta Dragway this Friday.
Wilhelm, 16, downed Darrell Moore in the finals. While Wilhelm
turned in a 9.60 on a 9.53 dial-in, Moore went under his dial-in
for a foul in the finals.
Alton Clements III took first in the younger Junior Dragster
division.
Jefferson's Greg Winn was true to his name, claiming first in
Motorcycle action.
Chris Phillips took first in the Pro/Super Pro division. Wanda
Glover was first in Sportsman.
Scott Preves came out on top in Trophy Street.
Snap-On Tools sponsored free events for their customers Saturday
night.
Nearly 300 racers vied for a chance to win the Snap-On Tools
box, which went to each event's winner. Runners-up won an impact
wrench.
J.R. Armour took first in the Pro/Super Pro.
Mike Mann won Sportsman. James Hickman won the Trophy Street
bracket.
Jay Rhyne took first Saturday after bowing out in the semifinals
Friday.
  JCPRD to improve safety at complex
BY TIM THOMAS
The Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department will install
extra fencing at its Lamar Murphy Memorial Park baseball complex
within the next few weeks. The action comes in the wake of a
serious injury suffered by a fan recently during a busy day at
the park.
Patsy Wallace, Jefferson, was watching a 7/8 boys' baseball game
on field four, waiting for her son's game to begin. As she sat
in the third-base stands, a line drive foul ball from field three
struck Wallace just behind her right temple.
Wallace lost conciousness after the blow, and was in and out
for several minutes before EMTs arrived. She was transported
to a hospital in Athens, where she was diagnosed with a severe
concussion.
"I had no warning," Wallace said. "I heard no
one yell. I know enough to watch the game in front of me, but
the ball came from behind. The thing that upsets me, though,
is that I've had people tell me I'm not the first one, that it
happens quite often."
According to department director John Hoos, Wallace' injury is
the first of its kind during his tenure.
"This is the first one I've seen in the three years I've
been here," Hoos said. "If there have been others,
no one has informed me."
Hoos said that field three the one where the new fencing
will be installed has presented the greatest threat of
injury to spectators, since baseball games for older leagues
are played exclusively on that field.
"That's where all the high-velocity balls come from."
Hoos said he expects manufacturing to take up to two weeks, and
the fencing will be installed as soon as it is available. He
also noted that one feature in particular has made the park much
safer than some of its counterparts.
"One good thing they did here was the unusually large backstops,"
Hoos said during a telephone interview last week. "They
are larger and wider than at most parks, and they catch a lot
of fly balls."
Hoos also stated that signs posted at the park notify patrons
to watch for foul balls, and that the new fencing should greatly
reduce the chances of another serious accident.
"You can never foresee when freak accidents happen,"
Hoos said, "but we want to take preventive measures to insure
that an accident of this nature doesn't happen again."
Gresham signs with
Hiawassee College
Jackson County senior basketball standout Rodrick Gresham signed
a basketball scholarship with Hiawassee College last week.
The senior Panther finished his prep career as the all-time leading
rebounder in the history of Panther basketball, and the second-leading
scorer. Gresham tallied over 1,000 points and 700 rebounds during
his time at JCCHS.
Gresham was also named to the region 8-AAA first team, and the
class AAA state honorable mention team.
Panther head coach Ron Garren expressed enthusiasm concerning
Gresham's future prospects.
"Rodrick has the size and skills to move on to a Division
I school after two years. The sky is the limit, as far as his
ability is concerned. He just needs to go up there and work hard
in the classroom and on the court in order to meet his goals."
"Rodrick is the main reason why our program has achieved
some respectability in recent years," Garren continued.
"He's been very successful here, and we wish him well."
 Non-region
football schedule set at MCHS
BY ZACH MITCHAM
Months back, Tom Hybl had a non-region schedule set for Madison
County. Then House Speaker Tom Murphy stepped in, strong-arming
a reclassification of Georgia's high schools that left football
coaches across the state scrambling to arrange new schedules.
The change put Hybl's non-region schedule in the dump, leaving
the third-year coach little time to put together another collection
of foes. The non-region idea appeared somewhat in jeopardy, but
Hybl remained committed to scheduling non-region opponents in
hopes of improving Madison County's competitiveness on the football
field by lining his team up against weaker opponents.
The new schedule includes five home and five away games, including
two games - one home and one away - against Union Grove in the
south Atlanta area. Also scheduled is a season-finale against
Athens Christian, a private school just outside of Madison County
on Hwy. 29. Under a non-region scheduled, Madison County cannot
qualify for any postseason competition.
Here is Madison County's 2000 football schedule:
·Aug. 25 - South Forsyth, away, 8 p.m.
·Sept. 1 - Apalachee, home, 8 p.m.
·Sept. 8 - Jackson County, away, 8 p.m.
·Sept. 15 - North Hall, home, 8 p.m.
·Sept. 22 - Jefferson, home, 8 p.m.
·Sept. 29 - Warren County, away, 8 p.m.
·Oct. 6 - Union Grove, away, 7:30 p.m.
·Oct. 13 - open.
·Oct. 20 - Weslyan, home (homecoming), 8 p.m.
·Oct. 27 - Union Grove, home (senior night), 8 p.m.
·Nov. 3 - Athens Christian, away, 8 p.m.
SCRIMMAGE SET
A Madison County intra-squad game is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m.
at the high school. The game will conclude the Raiders' two-week
spring practices.
SPRING OUTLOOK
Hybl said his football team is very inexperienced, with only
five seniors returning from last year's 2-8 squad.
The coach said his team has worked the past couple of weeks on
fundamentals.
"We have 15 kids who didn't play last year," he said.
"...We're doing what we can, working hard to get better
fundamentally as football players."
SUMMER ACTION
The Madison County football team will begin hitting the weight
room on June 5, with summer practice scheduled to start July
24.
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