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 Soccer teams start with wins
Banks to travel to Union Friday
Banks County’s Lady Leopards soccer team is already breaking records. And they’ve only played three games.
Banks (2-1) scored eight goals in a win over Jackson County last week, the most in a single game in the program’s history. The previous record was five.
Lady Leopard Ashley Stapleton also tied the single-game scoring record with five goals.
“She’s a real opportunist,” head coach Mike Brownlee said. “She hangs around the goal and does a good job.”
After winning two of the their opening three games, Banks now looks forward for more victories.
The Lady Leopards were slated to take on Lakeview Tuesday night. On Friday, Banks will travel to Union County for a 5:30 p.m. game. They will then face East Hall on the road Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Banks downed East Hall 5-0 in the team’s biggest win last season.
The Lady Leopards will be without senior striker Kristi Landrum, who broke her radius in the season opener against Towns County.
“I’m hoping that maybe after spring break she’ll come back,” Brownlee said. “She really wants to play.”
Landrum scored one goal before getting injured.
Banks will go into their next few games coming off a 2-1 loss to Rabun Gap. Rabun Gap picked up the winning goal off what Brownlee called a “fluke kick.”
Last Thursday, the Lady Leopards took an 8-0 shutout over Jackson County.
“The girls were really excited and played real hard,” Brownlee said. “The next night against Rabun Gap, we were just dead.”
Stapleton led the team against the Lady Panthers with five goals.
Banks also took a 4-1 win over Towns County in the season opener.
In the first three games, Stapleton has scored five goals. Ashley Dumas has three, Megan Williams has two and both Landrum and Kelly Cheek have one.
LEOPARDS
The Leopards are staring down the barrel of a tough week.
Banks (1-1) was set to play Riverside Tuesday and will travel to Union County Friday night.
“Riverside will be a good test for us,” head coach Donnie Bennett said. “I’ve never coached against Union. This week is going to be a toughy.”
The Leopards split their opening two matches. Banks picked up a 5-0 shutout of Towns County in the season opener last week.
“That was a good game for us,” Bennett said.
Ben Vang led the team with two goals. David Creasy, Ryan Littman and Mathias Nickerson all had one goal each.
Bennett added that Creasy, Littman, Yoric Erb-Summers and Joey Lincoln were captains for the game because they had played varsity soccer all four years of their high school career.
Banks fell 2-1 in a close game with Jackson County last Thursday.
The Leopards led for most of the match before the Panthers picked up a tieing goal with 18 minutes to play. Then, in the final seconds, Jackson got a controversial goal call to go ahead by one.
“They pushed the ball down the field and crossed the ball,” Bennett said.
Vang scored the team’s only goal.
Bennett said he was pleased with the way his team handled the pressure against Jackson County.
“They’re excited and are staying with me,” he said. “I was afraid that if we got down, they would revert back to what they learned before I came. But they held their positions well. They have bought into it 100 percent.”
 Tiger Tennis Teams Open Seasons Tuesday
The Commerce tennis teams will be dealing with both experience and youth this year as their seasons are set to get underway Tuesday at home against Franklin County at 4 p.m.
The match will be the first of a 10-event slate for the Tiger netters.
A veteran boys’ squad will be led by seniors Blake Milford and Erik Drahms according to head tennis coach Tremaine Skeen. In fact, the boys’ squad will consist of all seniors, except for one freshman.
However, a young girls’ team—which has only one senior—will be looking to fill some holes this year with the loss of the top two players from last season.
But Skeen said Kristi Weathers, the girls’ team’s lone senior, and Acacia Wilson, have been impressive so far in practice.
Both squads have been working out since last Monday and Skeen said he has been impressed with the work ethic on the court.
“We look alright,” Skeen said. “We’ve got some that can hit the ball. They work harder than some past teams and listen well.”
So far, the coach said the team’s strength is on the baseline.
“We’ll be primarily a baseline team,” Skeen said. “We’re not going to be a serve and volley team.”
Included in this year’s schedule are four region events.
According to Skeen, Providence and Wesleyan should be the team to beat this year in 8-A competition.
Skeen will be taking the place of former girls’ head coach Stacey Olson, who coached the squad for one season.
This is his second season coaching the boys’ team.
 Dragons all grown up, ready to pick up where they left off
Coming off a season in which they reached the state tournament’s final four, the 2002 Jefferson baseball team looks to be in contention for another run deep into post season play. The Dragons open the season next Friday at home against Georgia Military College.
With seven seniors, Dragon head coach Chuck Cook says his team should have plenty of experience.
“We’ve got a bunch of seniors,” Cook said, “and most of them have at least three years of varsity experience. They’re really good leaders, too; We hope our younger guys will look up to them and respond to their leadership. I’ve never had this before; we could go with a lineup of all juniors and seniors, all with experience. We’ve always been young, but I guess you’ve got to grow up some time.”
Among those senior leaders are pitchers Kyle Potts and Christopher Wheaton, both of whom recently committed to Southern Union. Potts has consistently been one of the team leaders in earned-run average and strikeouts, and both he and Wheaton are known for throwing some serious heat.
“We’re expecting big things out of them,” Cook said of his two aces, adding that the rest of his pitching staff should be strong as well. “Tyler Murphy can pitch, and Michael Freeman is probably going to get some innings, as well as Ben Songer. Landon Bailey is a lefty, and I think if we can get his control where it needs to be, he can help us a lot.”
Freshman Mark Price could provide another boost from the left side.
“Mark’s got some pretty good stuff,” Cook continued, “and he may be able to help us. It’d be nice to have a second lefty. Landon and Mark are going to be a pretty tough combination in a couple of years.”
In addition to Potts and Wheaton, fellow senior bashers Murphy, Ryan Gurley and Josh Nabors should bring a lot of punch to the plate, and both Chris Seibert and Chris Kinsey will also play crucial roles in the Dragon offensive scheme.
“I expect us to be able to score a bunch of runs,” Cook said. “When we lost Corey Hill and Shane Wilburn [to graduation], we lost 17 home runs and about 80 RBIs. We hope Murphy will be able to pick up in at least one of those areas, and we hope Wheaton and Jeremy Smith can pick up some there, too. Gurley and Potts and Nabors, if they improve just a little bit, they’ll be great. Brantley Gilbert is another one who swings the bat well.”
Yet even with their potential to dominate with pitching and offense, Cook thinks a tight defense may be the Dragons’ strongest asset.
“We may be as strong as we’ve ever been,” Cook said, referring to his team’s defensive lineup. “Our guys just have so many games under their belts, and they’ve seen a lot of different situations in the field.”
Songer, Smith, Gilbert and Freeman make up a junior class that Cook labeled “pretty strong”, while Price, Andy Songer and Jay Wood are the likely contenders out of 15 freshmen to earn spots on the varsity squad. In between is a sophomore class of six: Bailey, Prince Cruz, Brian Wells, Montrey Riley and Jarvis Hunter.
REGION OUTLOOK
Looking at the other teams in Region 8-A, Cook said the usual suspects will probably be in contention for playoff spots.
“I’m always a little scared of Buford,” Cook said, “and a little fearful of Providence. If I had to guess, Providence will likely be the team to beat. Buford is down a little, but they’re still Buford, so you never know what to expect. Lakeview was a playoff team last year, and should be much improved. Wesleyan, you never know with that group; they’ve had the talent, they just haven’t been able to pull it together. Commerce has got some real good young players, too. It could be a lot of fun to see how things go in the region. There won’t be any cakewalks out there.”
 Panthers fall in opening round, 67-65
Finish season at 17-10 overall
The Jackson County boys’ basketball team saw its 2001-02 hoops season end Saturday in Tallapoosa, as the host Haralson County Rebels handed the Panthers a 67-65 loss in the opening round of the Class AAA state tournament.
“Haralson County shot the ball really well,” first-year Panther head coach Ron Smith recalled. “They had the home court advantage, and we didn’t shoot the ball real well. We just couldn’t execute.”
In the final games of their prep careers, seniors Buzz Wehunt (24) and Dustin David (19) led the Panthers in scoring, while sophomore John Richardson added 10 points.
“John struggled a bit in the region championship,” Smith recalled, “but he came back and played well against Haralson County.”
Haralson grabbed the lead in the first half, but Smith said his team dug its heels in and fought back for an opportunity to win, though the Panthers couldn’t capitalize on the chance.
“We let them get ahead on us,” Smith commented. “We came back to within two points, but we just couldn’t execute at the end.”
Reflecting on his first season with Jackson County, Smith said he was pleased with his team’s’ effort and accomplishments.
“We had a great group of kids, and we’re real pleased with them. They’ve been good to work with. We had a good group of six seniors and some good young players, too.”
After a short break, Smith will pick up the coaching reins again, this time as an assistant with the Panther track and field team.
Jackson County finished 17-10 on the season, virtually identical to last year’s 17-11 record. The Panthers fell to Pepperell in round one last year, in the team’s first state playoff appearance in 37 years.
OTHER TOURNAMENT RESULTS
In other boys’ Class AAA tournament results of interest, Gainesville defeated Riverwood 65-62, Hart County fell 81-65 to Carrollton, Stephens County bested Villa Rica 55-52 and Winder-Barrow edged past Pepperell 54-51.
Raiders ousted from region tournament
 Madison County fell one game shy of a state playoff berth last Wednesday in Winder, losing 68-53 to Jackson County.
The Panthers’ Buzz Wehunt and Dustin David combined for 52 points. Wehunt tallied 29 points, while David poured in 23.
Ben Baker led Madison County with 18, while Chris Faust pitched in 10.
The Raiders, 5-20, took a 4-0 lead in the opening moments, but the the Panthers gained control soon after as David showed deft aim from outside the three-point arc. David drained four first-half three-pointers, while tallying 18 points before intermission. Wehunt also connected on two first half three-pointers. The duo combined for all but two of the team’s first half points.
The Panthers threatened to knock the Raiders out of the game in the first half, but Madison County stayed in the contest, forcing turnovers and draining put-back baskets.
Jackson County, which took a 33-23 lead into the locker room, secured its biggest lead of the night, 19, when Wehunt hit two free throws with 3:15 to go in the third, putting Jackson County up 48-29. But Madison County closed the quarter with an 11-1 run to cut the lead to 49-39.
Later, Baker scored a bucket and drained a free throw to cut the Panther lead to nine, 57-48, with 3:46 to go in the game, but the Raiders could get no closer as Jackson County proved solid from the charity stripe, with Wehunt knocking down 11-of-14 fourth quarter free throw attempts.
Other Raider scorers included Orlando Lattimore, who finished with seven; Bryan Bird and Russ Drake, who tallied six apiece; Josh Booker, who had four; and Stephon White, who chipped in two.
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