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 Commerce Hosts Preseason
Camp With More Than 250 Prep Players Participating
More than 250 high school football players
have converged on Commerce High School practice fields for this
year's Northeast Georgia Offensive Camp. Teams from all across
North Georgia attended, including reigning Class AA champ Cartersville.
Cresent High School from Iva, S.C., was also in attendence. Players
are grouped into lineman and skill positions to receive small
group instruction from one of several head and assisant coaches
from around the area. The camp began Tuesday. Georgia High School
Association teams will begin team practices Monday, July 24,
with helmets as the only padding.
Full pads will be added to the practice regimen starting July
31. Commerce will participate in a jamboree Aug. 25. The Tigers
will open the 2000 football season Sept. 1 with a game against
Franklin County in Carnesville. The Tigers will open their home
schedule Sept. 8 with Forsyth Central.
Tigersharks Compete
in District Swim Meet
The Commerce Tigersharks competed last Saturday in the GRPA 7th
District meet at the Green Street pool in Gainesville. The team
will hold its final home meet Friday.
Nick Moulton took first place in the 18-under 50-yard freestyle
and the 50 backstroke.
He will advance to the state meet in Carrollton, which begins
on July 29.
Only the top three places advance to the state meet.
GIRLS
In the 8-under girls' 25 breastroke, Jessie Flint took eighth
place. Katelyn Nevil was eighth in the 25 freestyle in the 10-under.
Amy Nichols was sixth in the 25 breaststroke. Sarah Pippin was
eighth in the 25 butterfly.
Kristina McFadden was sixth in the butterfly and eighth in the
100 individual medley.
Casey Teague was sixth in the 100 IM.
In the 12-under 50 butterfly Sarah Ervin was eighth.
Laura Beth Baker was fourth in both the 50 breaststroke and 100
IM in the 18-under girls' meet.
BOYS
Drew Strickland was fifth in the 25 freesyle and backstroke events
for the 10-under boys.
Josh Totherow was fifth in both the 50 backstroke and the 100
IM.
Also participating for the Tigersharks were: Sarah Ridling, Adrienne
Joransen, Chelsea Wilkes, Kaylin Canup, Dankelle Hembree, Catherine
Vance, Lauren Martin, Michelle Cornelison, Mallory Ridling, Beth
Bigler, Kristy Teague, Whitney Canup, Alex Martin, Michael Edwards,
Christopher Ervin and Chris Cornelison.
 Leopards start 2000
football practice Mon.
It has been a long wait. After closing
out the 1999 season with three straight wins, the eight-month
wait for the follow-up season is finally over.
Banks County High School will begin the first week of football
practice next Monday evening.
"We're excited with all the kids we have back," Leopard
coach Rance Gillespie said. "We finished last year on a
positive note. We expect more out of ourselves this year."
A year ago, the Leopard staff was putting in new systems. That
has not been a problem this year.
The Leopards have much left to build, but much left to build
on, Gillespie said.
"We've got a long way to go," Gillespie said. "But
we've been excited about the last couple of weeks."
Taking part in passing league action with area teams, the Leopards
have been able to test their system.
"Our quarterback (senior Drew Gowder) is a year older,"
Gillespie said. "He understands the system better. The backs
and receivers both know why they have to do what they do. But
that should be the case after a year of expericence."
Gowder, the BCHS starter at quarterback for the past two years,
said the passing leagues have helped him and the team.
"I feel pretty confident," Gowder said. "I've
gotten a lot of experience. Everybody gets a feel for it. You
get to see some of how it's going to be in the season."
Senior running back Hank Jones said a year has made a big difference.
"Last year it was all new to us," Jones said. "Now
we know what we're doing. Coming out here to the passing leagues
really helped."
Banks County will practice this week with helmets as the only
padding. Full pads may be added starting July 31.
Banks County will open the 2000 football season Sept. 1 at Jackson
County Compre-hensive High School.
  JCCHS hosts Georgia Games Saturday
Jackson County Comprehensive High School
will host the 2000 Georgia Games wrestling competition Saturday.
Sidney Garner, president of the Jefferson Wrestling Club, will
serve as tournament director.
Weigh-ins for the folkstyle competition will begin at 7 a.m.,
and wrestling action is set to start at 9 a.m. Participants in
the freestyle competition will weigh in beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Freestyle matches get under way at 1:30 p.m.
Divisions for competition include: Bantam (born 1992-93), Midget
(1990-91), Novice (1988-89), Schoolboy (1986-87), Cadet (1984-85)
and Junior (born after Sept. 1, 1980 and enrolled in grades 9-12).
In addition, an open class will be available for anyone born
prior to 1981, or anyone who has competed in wrestling at the
high school level before the year 2000.
The entry fee for participants is $10. A USA Wrestling card is
also required for all participants, and cards may be purchased
at the registration desk for $25. The Georgia Games wrestling
competition is officially sanctioned by Team Georgia USA Wrestling.
All Georgia Games events are open to Georgia residents who have
lived in the state for at least 30 days prior to the date of
competition for their sport. Georgia residents attending school
or serving in the military in other states are also eligible.
Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded to the top wrestlers
in each division. In addition, the Georgia Games Sportsmanship
Award will be presented to one wrestler considered a model competitor.
For more information on the Georgia Games wrestling competition,
contact Garner at (706) 367-4124, or via email at Gabush@aol.com.
Interested parties may also call the Team Georgia hotline at
(770) 222-0903.
For information on this or any of the 42 other competitions,
call (770) 528-3580 or (770) 528-3592, or visit the Games' website
at www.georgiagames.org.
JCPRD holds sports
camps
The Jackson County Parks and Recreation
Department is currently holding its summer soccer camp at Lamar
Murphy Park. On tap for the department next week is softball
camp.
Athletic Coordinator Clayton Munnell said this week that 16 children
are participating in the soccer camp, coached by soccer guru
Karl Langheinrich. Approximately the same number met the July
13 registration deadline for next week's softball camp.
ADULT SEASONS END
The JCPRD Spring adult softball leagues ended regular season
play last week. While the coed and women's league champions have
been determined, the men's league championship will come down
to one final game tonight (Wednesday) at 7:15 p.m. between Chapman
Fence and Venom.
Both Chapman Fence and Venom have only one loss on the season.
Venom, coached by Jimmy Rouse, lost their first game of the season
to B&N Service Center, while Chapman Fence lost to
to Double-0 Bonding later in the season. The winner of Wednesday's
game will receive a berth to the Georgia Recreation and Parks
Association's District 7 men's open tournament, to be held the
week of July 24 at Lanier Point in Gainesville.
In the women's league, the Roadsters took the championship with
an 8-2 record, but had to decline the GRPA district berth due
to a prior tournament commitment. That decision allowed second-place
Baker & Taylor to go on to the district level. The women's
district tournament is slated for Saturday at Madison County.
Baker & Taylor finished the regular season with a four-game
win streak, including a 30-8 win over the Roadsters in their
final game. The team is coached by Kay Thomas.
The coed league looked as if it would come down to a playoff
between Nitro and The Cats, but The Cats stumbled down the stretch.
Nitro, coached by Charlie Banks, went 9-1 on the season, the
only loss coming at the paws of The Cats in the first game of
the season. Nitro avenged that loss six weeks later to take the
top league spot. Jackson County will host the coed district tournament
at Lamar Murphy Park beginning next Thursday.
FALL LEAGUES
The JCPRD will hold an organizational meeting for its fall adult
softball leagues August 16 at 6 p.m. at Lamar Murphy Park. Munnell
said in a press release this week that anyone interested in entering
a team for the fall league should attend the meeting. For more
information, contact Munnell at 367-6350.
SAFETY PLANS
Department director John Hoos said last week that the JCPRD is
continuing to pursue plans to improve safety at the Lamar Murphy
Complex. Hoos plans to meet with Chris Chapman of Chapman Fence
Company to develop a new plan for safety features. Earlier plans
for a large-scale netting concept were scrapped when it was learned
that the Habersham County recreation department had been dissatisfied
with a similar feature. Hoos said he is considering going back
to his original plan of extending existing fencing.
 13-14 National League
all-star team cruises on, picks up two more more wins at state
tournament
No one has yet to derail freight train
that is the Junior League National all-star squad from the track
to the state championship-and they're picking up more steam.
Thus far, the all-star season has been one big path of destruction
for the Madison County team as they have laid to ruin anyone
that dareD stand in their way-shellacking two more foes early
this week in the state tournament in Cedartown, Midway 9-3 Sunday
and Masters City 16-3 Monday.
"The team has just been playing really well and they've
been hitting good and the defense has been there," head
coach Rick Ryder said of his squad's success.
The team, who is two wins away from the state championship if
they stay in the winners bracket, will look to continue their
winning ways today (Wednesday) in the third round of state tournament
action as they are slated to play at 4:30 p.m. against Cartersville.
If the team wins, they will then play for the state championship
Friday at 7 p.m.
With the two lopsided wins in the state tournament, the Junior
League National squad has swept through the postseason without
a blemish, racking up a perfect 6-0 mark while pounding teams
by a combined score of 73-13.
Both Michael Young and Josh Fields have continued their stellar
play on both sides of the ball in the two games as both pitched
complete game victories while Young has slammed three homers
and Fields has added two long balls.
However, the entire squad's lumber was in full force during their
victory Monday.
"It was a really big day for us," Ryder said of his
team's bats.
Runs came often in the Junior League team's 13-run thrashing
of Master's City as the squad got homers from Brent Burkhalter,
Fields, and a grand slam from Young to help lead them to the
win.
The squad exploded as the team pounded out 18 hits and each player
on the team crossed the plate at least once.
From the mound, Young worked his third complete game performance
of the all-star season in the run-rule-shortened win, going six
innings, scattering six hits, surrendering two earned runs and
walking two while striking out eight batters.
"He did a great job of controlling the game," said
Ryder. "Lots of balls were hit on the ground."
Ryder also commended the squad's defensive effort in the win
as he said he felt they played well against a good hitting Master's
City team.
"Our defense did a great job," he said. "They
(Master's City) hit the ball pretty well but our defense was
there. Michael Young even commented after the game about how
comfortable he felt with the defense."
In the team's 9-3 victory Sunday over Midway, Fields dominated
from the mound, working seven innings, racking up 12 strikeouts
while surrendering only one earned run, scattering three hits
and walking three.
From the plate, Fields smashed his first homer of the state tournament,
and Young blasted two long balls to lead the team offensively.
And the team's success hasn't gone unnoticed.
Ryder said the overwhelming amount of support his team has received
in Cedartown has helped fuel their winning ways thus far in the
tournament.
"There lots of people from Madison County supporting us,"
he said. "The fan support has been phenomenal. There were
probably 60 to 80 people at our game Sunday. It really gives
the kids a charge."
The team earned the trip to Cedartown to represent District 7
in the tournament earlier this month by sweeping through the
area tournament held at the Madison County Recreation Department
in three games, downing Franklin National 10-1 July 1 and Habersham
National 16-5 July 2 and then again, 17-1 July 5 to grab the
tournament title.
They then toppled Toccoa American 5-0 in Royston to claim the
district championship.
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