With the largest snow in recent history barely a week melted away, the spring sports schedule of Screven County High School will be in full bloom this Monday, Feb. 22. As Effingham County visits the SCHS baseball field, Statesboro visits the SCHS tennis courts and the Lady Gamecock soccer team visits Liberty County, the schedule is off and running. Look for the track teams to begin Thursday-week, March 4, when Tattnall County, Savannah Country Day and Jenkins County come to visit.
A quick Internet check of the prognostications of the weather for the next 10 days does not reveal any predictions of snow for this area. In fact, according to the expert visions of the meteorologist pundits on my particular site of choice, the next significant chance of rain (not snow) is Monday, Feb. 22, followed by an even greater chance on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Uh oh! But then again one does not want to take long-term weather predictions to the bank for investment. Not and expect a guaranteed return anyway.
Saving their best for last, the SCHS Gamecock grapplers of Caleb White will send five team members to the Class AA State Sectionals in Jefferson Friday and Saturday after their performances at the Area Traditional Tournament this past weekend. Led by area champion Terrell Roberts in the 145 Class, the Roosters had a quality showing when it counted most. “I want to thank my coaches,” Roberts said. “This will be my third time going to state and I am hopeful I will be able to win a state championship this year.”
Do you know what you can find if you just know where to look? It is truly amazing the things that are out there just waiting to be discovered, or maybe rediscovered. I am sure that I am not the first one to learn this or even to write it down. I claim no original thought here. A couple of visits to a trophy case filled with “older” awards can lead to worlds of long lost treasures and interesting stories. Two such examples are to follow:
Portal’s visiting Panthers scored the final five points of the fifth period of the contest to take an extremely hard-earned 78-76 overtime victory over the hard-luck SCHS Gamecocks Saturday night in the regular season finale at the Harold Lee Scott Gymnasium. Finishing at 9-15, the Roosters next will be in action Feb. 17 in the opening round of the 3AA tournament at Brewton Parker College in Mt. Vernon.
On the heels of a disappointing trip to Eastman, the youthful SCHS Lady Gamecocks of Roy Cooper finished out their regular season at 11-11 with a resounding 50-25 victory over Portal’s Lady Panthers in the Harold Lee Scott Gymnasium Saturday night. The team next will be in action Feb. 17 at the Brewton Parker College Gym in the opening round of the 3AA Tournament.
Using a third quarter offensive outburst, the SCHS Lady Gamecocks overcame the visiting Dublin Lady Irish by a 63-44 margin Saturday night to complete a two-game weekend sweep of 3AA opponents. Combined with their 55-34 win over Southeast Bulloch Friday night, the Red and White now stand at 10-10 with two regular season contests remaining. Dodge County will host the team at 6 p.m. Friday in the season’s final 3AA crossover contest, while Portal will be at the Harold Lee Scott Gymnasium Saturday for senior night and the season finale.
One of the most versatile athletes on the 2009 Screven County Gamecock football team, Ed Burns has signed a letter of intent to continue his playing career with the Elon University Phoenix of the Southern Conference. The signing took place in the high school media center Wednesday afternoon.
After spending the past seasons in the trenches on the offensive line for the Screven County Gamecocks, Murphy Frankhouser on Wednesday signed a letter of intent to continue his education and playing career for the Blue Hose of Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. “When I visited PC I met a lot of people and saw a lot of the school,” said Frankhouser. “The place was beautiful and the people that I met were fun. The place just felt right. They have a really strong business department and that is what I plan to major in.”
Screven County Athletic Hall of Famer Jesse Watkins has been named the General Manager and Head Coach of the Evansville (Ind.) Swish of the upstart MidWest Basketball League (www.mwbasketballleague.com). Watkins says, “The business owner was pondering about bringing a team here and he looked at the facility where I was employed. He talked to me about the possibility of coaching and decided to run with the idea and made me general manager and head coach due to my background with college coaching experience.”
