NEW Sports Wednesday.indd - Georgia High School Cycling League

Inside B:
PC to host NCAA Baseball Regional
Sports
Page 2B
The Northeast Georgian, Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Up Next
Wednesday, March 4
HCHS Baseball
Raiders vs. Lanier
5:55 p.m. - Buford
HCHS Tennis
Raiders vs. Johns Creek
4 p.m. – Demorest
HCHS Tennis
Lady Raiders vs. Johns Creek
4 p.m. – Johns Creek
HCHS Baseball
JV Raiders vs. White Co.
5 p.m. – Cleveland
Middle School Baseball
Raiders vs. Jefferson
5 p.m. – Demorest
Thursday, March 5
HCHS Track
Raiders vs. Commerce
and White Co.
4:15 p.m. – Demorest
HCHS Soccer
JV Raiders vs. Alpharetta
5:55 p.m. – Alpharetta
Friday, March 6
HCHS Baseball
JV Raiders vs. Johns Creek
5:55 p.m. – Johns Creek
HCHS Soccer
Raiders vs. Alpharetta
5:55 p.m. – Mt. Airy
Shorts
Season pass available
Season passes for the
2014-15 school year are still
available for purchase.
Passes cost $75 for an
adult or two adults can
purchase a single card to be
shared for $150. Student
price for the pass is $50.
The passes can be used
for the entire 2014-15
school year to gain entry into
every regular season game
played in the county at the
high school, ninth grade or
middle school level.
The pass will not allow
entry into tournaments or
post-season games.
Any inquiries can be
directed to the HCHS athletic
department at 706-7787161.
Habersham athletics to
hold $10,000 raffle
Habersham County
athletics will hold its second
annual dinner and silent auction March 21, and the big
prize will be $10,000.
“This is a big fundraiser
for our program,” said
Habersham County Schools
Athletic Director Geep Cunningham. “It raises money
for the high school and the
middle schools. It’s a big
one.”
The cost for a ticket to the
event is $100, which gets a
steak dinner for two and one
entry into the drawing for the
$10,000 grand prize.
In addition to the big
money giveaway, there will be
a silent auction of items donated by local individuals and
businesses. Items include
a Big Green Egg, a custom
cooler stand, a guided bow
fishing trip, a Red Hare
Brewery tour for 10, brewery
passes for four to the Terrapin Brewing Company, a
cabin getaway and more.
“This is one of two big
projects we want to do in our
community to raise money for
our total athletic program,”
Cunningham said. “This is for
every sport, high school and
middle school. That’s why
it’s very important this goes
well.”
The dinner is set for
6 p.m. in the cafeteria at
Habersham Central High
School.
Tickets can be purchased
from any athletic coach in the
Habersham County School
System. They can also be
purchased at the athletic office at HCHS.
For more information, call
the athletic office at 706778-7161.
ZACK MYERS/Staff
The Assault on Mount Currahee set its start and finish line at the Cornelia Depot Saturday as more than 120 riders showed up to brave the cold, icy conditions left behind after two rounds of winter weather struck the area.
Riders brave ice, wind for
Assault on Mt. Currahee
BY ZACK MYERS
Habersham County served as
a starting and finishing spot for
a 34-mile bicycle race Saturday,
which mapped its midway point
at the top of Currahee Mountain
in Stephens County.
The Assault on Mount Currahee, which was put on by Chain
Buster Productions, served as a
gravel-grinder, ultra cross-style
race as the more than 120 competitors faced asphalt, gravel,
dirt, mud and ice among other
surfaces en route to to the finish.
The race benefitted the
Habersham Central Raiders Cycling Team as well as the Prima
Tappa high school team out of
Gainesville, both of which compete in the Georgia High School
Cycling League (GHSCL).
At the starting line the temperature hovered just under the
freezing mark at a brisk 29 de-
grees as the race got underway at
10 a.m. from the Cornelia Depot.
Not only were the riders facing
cold temperatures, they were facing windy conditions as well.
“People came decked out in
their winter gear,” said Race Director Kenny Griffin. “I’m sure
they warmed up pretty fast.”
Just over two hours and 17
minutes after the start, Gordon
Wadsworth of Cumberland Gap,
Tennessee, crossed the finish line
with the fastest time of any competitor.
“I think that course has potential to be a little bit faster,” Wadsworth said. “The front group
held it together pretty well until
the bottom of [Currahee] Mountain. Then, everybody started to
break up a little bit. If we had hit
the gas earlier, it could have been
a little bit faster.”
Wadsworth, who has been racing for 11 years and a professional
racer for four, said five or six riders, including himself, were all
together in a pack at the bottom
of Currahee, but he was the first
to the top. That was the marker
before making the way back to
climb Tower Mountain to the finish.
“I think all of us used Currahee to gauge each other,” he said.
“You knew whoever climbed
[Tower Mountain] best was going
to win.”
Two weeks leading up to the
event, Habersham County was hit
by a first round of winter weather
the week of Feb. 16, which led to
icy roads, trees and power lines.
Three days before the race, Feb.
25, a second winter storm blanketed Cornelia with four inches
of snow.
Griffin said it took hundreds
of hours of volunteer efforts to
See Bike Race, Page 2B
SUBMITTED
Gordon Wadsworth of Cumberland Gap,
Tennessee, finished the 34-mile course
Saturday in 2:17:10 to win the Assault on
Mount Currahee.
Cunningham to local businesses:
‘Contact me before agreeing to
advertising with outside companies’
Habersham County Athletic
Director Geep Cunningham is
asking local businesses to contact him before agreeing to any
advertising offered by outside
companies to be distributed at
school athletic events.
“We have companies from
out of state calling businesses in
Habersham County and offering
them advertising if they’ll pay
a fee … they’ll put their advertising on a football, T-shirt and
the like and send that merchandise to the high school and we’ll
throw it out during a game.”
Cunningham said the school
system gets no money from these
See Cunningham, Page 2B
ZACK MYERS/Staff
ZACK MYERS/Staff
Salvador Velazquez, No. 12, surveys the field looking for a fellow
Habersham Central High School Raider to help get the ball into the box
for a shot on goal in the Raiders’ 1-0 losing effort to Central Gwinnett
High School Saturday in Lawrenceville.
Soccer Raiders take a late
tumble to Central Gwinnett
BY ZACK MYERS
Habersham Central High
School’s varsity boys’ soccer
team played only its second game
of the season Saturday, its first
since Feb. 13, in Lawrenceville at
Central Gwinnett High School,
which saw the home team snatch
a late, 1-0, victory away.
The Raiders gave the Black
Knights fits in the first half by
controlling the ball into the Central Gwinnett defensive half of
See Soccer, Page 2B
Trevor Bell made his first varsity start on the mound for the Habersham
Central High School Raiders against Stephens County High School Saturday.
Bell lasted 5.1 innings, leaving the game with a 3-2 lead before the Raiders
dropped the game 6-5.
Baseball drops a pair on ‘Opening Day’
BY ZACK MYERS
13-3 in Toccoa.
Habersham
Central
High
School’s baseball team has been
itching to get started on its 2015
season, but two weeks of winter
weather delayed Opening Day
and three other varsity baseball
games.
Saturday, the Raiders fi nally got
to play their inaugural games of
the season, cramming two games
into one day to get the schedule
back on track. The day was not
pleasant for them as they fell to
Stephens County High School 6-5
and Rabun County High School
Stephens County
The Raiders opened the day
against the Indians on the latter’s
home field. It didn’t take long for
Habersham’s fresh legs to show.
The Indians pitcher hit Steven
Loudermilk, Habersham’s leadoff
hitter. Payton Dalton stepped to
the plate and delivered a triple to
centerfield, scoring Loudermilk in
the process.
Two batters later, with one out,
Will Hubley took a four-pitch walk.
See Raider Baseball, Page 2B
2B
Loudermilk Field to host NCAA Soccer
Regional for second-straight season
One year removed from
hosting a six-team baseball playoff in the NCAA’s
2014 Division-III National
Tournament,
Piedmont
College’s
Loudermilk
Field will once again be
showcased in 2015 as a repeat host of the regional
tournament.
The fi rst round of the
National Tournament will
be played in May, with
dates to be determined
later this spring. Serving
as the South Regional host
in 2014 was the fi rst NCAA
postseason event hosted
by the school since joining
the association as a full DIII member.
“Piedmont is extremely
excited to have been chosen again this year as the
site of the NCAA baseball regional tournament
at Loudermilk Field,”
said Piedmont President
James Mellichamp in a release from the school. “We
look forward to the possibility of watching our
PC Lions team playing on
their home turf as part of
the tournament.”
Piedmont fi nished the
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
The Northeast Georgian
2014 season in fourth place
during the USA South
Athletic
Conference’s
regular season with a 1710 overall record and a
25-14 conference mark.
Covenant College moved
on to represent the USA
South in the Piedmonthosted regional, though
the Lions watched as Emory University won the
championship game after
beating nationally-ranked
Shenandoah
University
and, then, taking two
games over Bridgewater
College. The Eagles moved
on from the regional to
represent the south in the
College World Series held
in Appleton, Wisconsin.
“We are very excited
to host the 2015 South Regional,” Piedmont Head
Coach Jim Peeples said.
“I was very proud of the
efforts of the entire Piedmont community in helping us pull off a great
NCAA baseball regional
a year ago.
“We got rave reviews
from the people at the
NCAA who oversee baseball, as well as from the
Division III baseball
community in the south
for how well the event
was run and the entire
tournament
experience,” he continued. “A
special thanks to Coach
Dzik for his organization
and management of last
year’s event. He thought
of everything in his planning and execution of the
event.”
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics John
Dzik said he is happy to
have the opportunity to
host the tournament once
again, though this year he
would like to see his Lions
make the cut.
the field. Habersham made
so many runs toward the
Black Knights’ goal, the
home goalie at one point
yelled, “Get it out of our
side,” to his defense.
As the game went to halftime, neither side showed
an advantage, despite the
number of offensive runs
and chances for the Raiders.
“The boys came out tonight and put out a great
performance,” said Head
Coach Ric Wallace. “In the
first half, I felt like we really took the game to them
and created lots of chances.
We created all sorts of trouble for them in terms of how
to defend us.”
Central Gwinnett found
its control in the second
half, not winning the possession battle, but enough
to make its own effective offensive runs on goal. None
of the Black Knights’ chances came to fruition.
Habersham Central also
continued to push for an opportunity on goal, putting
multiple shots on target,
but was unable to put the
ball in the net.
With 5:58 left in the
game, Central Gwinnett
made the last potentially
prosperous run of the game.
A pass to the right side of
From Page 1B
the field led a Black Knight
attacker to dribble toward
the middle of the field before slamming a line-drive
shot off the right post of the
goal. The goal would have
proven to be the game-winner, but after 80 minutes of
play, the teams entered two
extra time periods with a
0-0 scoreline.
The first extra time period saw both teams attack
offensively taking opportunity after opportunity
to shoot, but neither team
broke through.
The second and, what
proved to be final extra
time period, progressed
much like the first. For the
first four of the five minutes, the teams ran from
end to end, trading possession and chances for shots.
In the final minute, possession was a struggle, which
played out in the midfield.
With about 30 seconds
left,
Central
Gwinnett
pushed the ball into the
Raiders’ defensive half of
the field. Habersham Central cleared the ball for a
throw in from the Black
Knights.
Central Gwinnett threw
the ball in, made one pass
and, with just under 12
seconds remaining on the
clock, slotted the ball in the
Raider Baseball
Jared Jones stepped into
the batters box and delivered a long fly ball to right
field to score Dalton from
third.
The sacrifice moved
Hubley into scoring position at second base. Colby
Cook scored Hubley on a
single to left field, bringing
scoring to a close in the top
of the fi rst.
Defensively, the Raiders
faced four batters in the
bottom of the frame.
“We started out well and
jumped on them early,”
Head Coach Chris Akridge
said. “We had some really
good at-bats early on.”
Over the next four innings, Habersham sent 15
batters to the plate, just
one less than the Indians.
Neither team plated a run.
In the top of the sixth
inning, just four batters
made appearances in the
box for the Raiders. In the
bottom of the frame, Stephens County sent eight of
its nine batters in the order
to the dish.
Just two players for the
Indians touched the plate
to score in the inning, leav-
ing Habersham sitting on a
3-2 lead with one frame to
play.
In the top of the seventh,
Dalton was walked with
one out. Dalton was able to
move around to second and
third on stolen bases before crossing the plate on
an error as the next batter
struck out.
Hubley stepped to the
plate next, delivering a
two-out double to left-centerfield.
Hubley wouldn’t be on
base long as Jones hit an
RBI single to centerfield,
scoring a fi fth run in the
game for Habersham.
Now, with a 5-2 lead,
the Raiders needed a clean
seventh inning to pull out
a victory in their opening
game of the year.
The Indians sent seven
players to the plate with an
error, two walks and two
hits leading to a four-run
inning for the home squad,
securing a walk-off win on
a single to the right side of
the field.
“We had the lead-off
man on in five of seven innings, but we only capital-
Bike Race
help clear trees and debris
in the national forest from
being hit by the two storms
leading up to race day.
“We cleared hundreds of
trees [after the first storm]
and then this week, almost
to the race, we had to do it
all over again on foot,” Griffin said. “Huge thanks to the
volunteers for their efforts.”
Still, despite the obstacles left in the riders’ paths
by the storm, Griffin said
he felt the windy conditions
left behind were good for the
course.
“I think we really lucked
up,” he said. “It was a lot
drier than I thought. I think
the wind dried everything
up for us. It’s still wet in
some areas, still a little icy
and dicey up on Currahee,
but overall it just added to
the epic factor.”
Wadsworth said it was
evident the work put in by
the volunteers.
“The start was definitely cold,” he said. “We
all dressed pretty reasonably, then we went downhill
and it was like, ‘Oh gosh.
Cunningham
companies.
“The company makes a
profit and we made nothing,” he said.
While this has been an
accepted practice in past
years, and support from the
local businesses is much
appreciated, Cunningham
said, the method of fundraising has changed to a
more streamlined process.
The Habersham County
Schools Athletic Department hosts an advertising
fundraising event once a
year, in May. That is the
only time local businesses
are asked to contribute advertising dollars to support
the school system’s athletic
programs,
Cunningham
said. Funds are then dis-
From Page 1B
ized on it in two of those
innings,” Akridge said.
“That really is what hurt
us in the end is we left a lot
of runners stranded. We
could have put them away.”
Starting pitcher for
Habersham Trevor Bell
tossed 5.1 innings for the
Raiders, giving up four
hits, four walks, two strikeouts and two earned runs.
“Trevor pitched a great
game,” Akridge said. “His
fi rst varsity start on the
mound, he pitched an outstanding game and gave us
a chance to win. His pitch
count got up there, then the
bullpen gave too many free
passes to their players. We
let them hang around instead of putting them away
and that was the name of
the game.”
Rabun County
Habersham’s
game
against Rabun took a turn
in the fourth inning, leading to the 10-run game to be
called after five innings.
The Raiders took the
field in the top of the fi rst
inning,
with
starting
pitcher Jay Nix seeing just
From Page 1B
Brr it was cold.’ Kenny and
the high school team folks
did a great job clearing the
course. We could see the
work they put in.”
Wadsworth said he was
excited to compete in this
race knowing the history
behind Currahee Mountain,
a place he heard about as a
child.
“I have some family who
was in the 101st Airborne so
I grew up listening to stories
about those guys training at
Currahee and jumping out
of planes at Normandy yelling ‘Currahee,’” he said. “I
thought it would be cool to
experience the place some
of my family experienced so
that’s why I did this race.”
Wadsworth
traveled
nearly four hours, totaling more than 200 miles, to
race in the event and said he
would be interested in coming back to Habersham to
participate in the event next
year as well.
Griffin also serves as the
race director for the GHSCL
and said the Assault on
Mount Currahee is one of
three events this year which
will benefit teams which
compete in the GHSCL.
Head coach of the
Habersham cycling team,
Kim Cantrell, said he looks
forward to seeing it come
back next year.
“Just having the event
in Habersham County and
bringing that caliber of
race to Habersham and having Chain Busters give us
some proceeds back, I was
happy just to be a part of it,”
Cantrell said. “I’ve been to
a lot of mountain bike races
over the years and this one
was really run well. It was
just phenomenal. Everybody I talked to said they
couldn’t wait to ride it next
year.”
Cantrell was one of the
volunteer workers who
helped clear the course from
the winter weather debris.
“I just look forward to
seeing the race come back
next year,” he said. “I think
next year I’m going to put a
lot of the time in earlier so I
can go out and actually race
it.”
From Page 1B
tributed among all school
athletic programs.
“Our advertising is a
one-time deal,” he said,
adding he didn’t want businesses to think they were
being asked additional
times for money.
“Any advertising local
businesses do in this community for [county school]
athletics must go through
the athletic department,”
Cunningham said. “If not,
we haven’t approved it or
had anything to do with it.”
He said advertising
solicited
through
outside companies has nothing to do with the local
school system and does
not benefit local athletic
programs. “To me, that’s
bottom left corner for a 1-0
advantage.
“It is what it is,” Wallace
said. “We’ve practiced three
times since Feb. 13 because
of the weather. Ultimately,
in the end, the hard thing
to swallow is, like I told the
boys, we work so hard from
November until now working on our fitness and our
strength. Knowing that two
weeks has set us back in
that department [is tough].
[Central Gwinnett] has
been able to keep practicing
and keep going. I think that
was the difference.
“I certainly don’t think
we got beat, they just took
an opportunity there at the
end and we just missed on
a few,” he continued. “I’m
proud of the effort tonight.
What we saw tonight are
things we can build on.”
Habersham Central is
now 1-1 on the season. The
group was scheduled to
host Norcross High School
Tuesday. Scores and stats
were not available by press
time.
Next up for the Raiders will be a home match
against Alpharetta High
School in their Region
6-AAAAAA opener. The junior varsity boys will kick
off at 5:55 p.m. with the varsity following at 8 p.m.
not good business for us,”
Cunnigham said. “We’re
the ones losing out, our
athletic department. … All
advertising for Habersham
County school athletics has
to come through the athletic department. If not, we
don’t support it, condone it
or want it. If they want to
spend $500 on advertising,
give it to us. That way the
money stays here.”
Cunningham said there
is no guarantee merchandise purchased through
outside companies will be
distributed at school athletic events.
For more information,
contact Cunningham at
706-778-7161.
– Staff reports
four batters to pick up his
three defensive outs. The
Wildcats needed just three
Habersham batters to record their three outs and
return to the offensive side
of the ball.
With one out in the top
of the second inning, a
Rabun County hitter was
allowed on base with an
error on the defense. Then,
back-to-back singles for the
designated away team put
the red and white on top
1-0.
Neither team scored another run in the third, but
both pushed runs across in
the fourth.
In the top of the frame,
Rabun
County
batted
around its order twice,
scoring the fi rst eight batters who stepped to the
plate. After a sacrifice
fly, the next four batters
scored before the fi nal out
was recorded in the top of
the fourth. The Wildcats
took advantage of six errors, seven free bases and
only two hits to push 12
runs across the plate in the
inning.
In the bottom of the
fourth, a hit batsman and
a walk led to a pair of runs
for the Raiders.
“We went out and just
had a horrible inning defensively in the fourth inning,” Akridge said. “We
made six errors. You can’t
make that many errors and
expect to win, I don’t care
who you’re playing.”
The 13-2 score heading
into the fi fth inning meant
Habersham had to hold the
Wildcats’ offense scoreless,
while putting up at least
two runs on the board of
their own to keep the game
going and avoid the runrule.
The Raiders held up the
fi rst end of that by striking
out three of four batters for
Rabun County.
In its offensive half,
Habersham scored just one
run – a two-out, solo home
run for Dalton over the left
field fence – bringing the
game to a close.
“They’re a good team,”
Akridge said. “We gave
up 13 runs and zero were
earned. Our pitching really wasn’t that bad, especially our guys in relief.
We’ve just got to play solid
defense behind them.”
The Raiders played
Madison County High
School Monday night. Stats
and scores were not available by press time.
Next up for Habersham
is a showdown with Lanier High School in Buford
Wednesday night. First
pitch is set for 5:55 p.m.