Friday Night High School Scores

Clarke Central 55 Madison County 20 Final
Flowery Branch 49 Loganville 21 Final
Prince Ave 35 Commerce 13 Final
Jefferson 31 Jackson County 14 Final
Salem 42 Winder Barrow 7 Final
Elbert County 45 East Jackson 14 Final
Heritage 45 Habersham Central 42 Final
Athens Christian 13 Athens Academy 7 Final
North Oconee 52 Oglethorpe 0 Final
Apalachee 28 Cedar Shoals 13 Final
Oconee County 35 Johnson 8 Final
Franklin County 54North Hall 37 Final

Lady Raiders Softball headed to Columbus

The Madison County softball Lady Raiders picked up their second straight sweep in the state tournament. Madison County defeated Kell by scores of 8-5 and 10-2 to take the best of 3 series on a cold windy night in Danielsville. Randee Bettis paved the way in game 1 with a two run homerun and senior Sam LaZear followed with a 3 run inside the park homerun in the nighcap.
The Lady Raiders defeated Johns Creek last week in two games of the best of three to get to this series with Kell. Kell was coming off a first round win against Marist last week.
See The Madison County Journal http://www.mainstreetnews.com/ later tonight for a full recap.

Westbrook back on roster for World Series

Madison County's Jake Westbrook will be on the active roster for the St. Louis Cardinals during the World Series which begins tonight at 7:00. Jake was active in the first round of the playoffs but didn't make an appearance against the Phillies. Westbrook was on the inactive roster for the next round against the Brewers but stayed with the them and worked bullpen sessions every third day to stay sharp. Westbrook, who spent his first full season with the Cardinals, was a starter all year and held a 12-9 record. He also had one grand slam at the plate this season. Jake will be used out of the bullpen during the World Series if needed.
For the Record:
2011 Stats

Record 12-9                                            

Games started 33
Innings pitched 183.1
Hits allowed 208
Runs allowed 103
Earned runs 95
Homeruns allowed 16
Walks 73
Strikeouts 104

Jake Westbrook on the mound in his
high school days at Madison County

Weekend Predictions

Clemson at 7-0 returns home to play North Carolina. At this point in the season, every game is dangeous. Clemson is known for falling apart after strong starts and everyone media outlet is expecting them to fall any day. The BCS rankings came out Sunday and have Clemson listed at number 7. I try not to get too excited because I don't want to jinx anything. North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and South Carolina stand in the way of a perfect season for Clemson. One day at a time. Like coach Dabo Swinney said, "Any team on our schedule can be beat and any team on our schedule can beat us on any given day."
Since Saturday's game is in the valley, I'll say Clemson by 5. If the Tigers' defense don't play any better than last week-our perfect season will end Saturday.

Georgia is idle this week. The Dawgs return to action in two weeks facing a struggling Florida team. I still think Georgia is on the weak side of the SEC and should end up winning that side. South Carolina without Lattimore, will fold and UGA will head to the Dome to play Alabama in the title game.
Georgia over Florida by 13.

Madison County travels to Athens to face Clarke Central. This one will be ugly. The Raiders coming off a come from behind win over 1-7 Rockdale will hit a brick wall this Friday.
Clarke Central by 23

BCS Football Rankings

BCS Standings
RK	TEAM	RECORD
1	LSU	7-0
2	Alabama	7-0
3	Oklahoma	6-0
4	Oklahoma State	6-0
5	Boise State	6-0
6	Wisconsin	6-0
7	Clemson	7-0
8	Stanford	6-0
9	Arkansas	5-1
10	Oregon	5-1
11	Kansas State	6-0
12	Virginia Tech	6-1
13	Nebraska	5-1
14	South Carolina	6-1
15	West Virginia	5-1
16	Michigan State	5-1
17	Texas A&M	4-2
18	Michigan	6-1
19	Houston	6-0
20	Auburn	5-2
21	Penn State	6-1
22	Georgia Tech	6-1
23	Illinois	6-1
24	Texas	4-2
25	Washington	5-1

NCAA Rankings for October 16 week

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	LSU (41)	7-0	1452
2	Alabama (11)	7-0	1411
3	Oklahoma (6)	6-0	1372
4	Wisconsin	6-0	1252
5	Boise State (1)	6-0	1218
6	Oklahoma State	6-0	1186
7	Stanford	6-0	1164
8	Clemson	7-0	1064
9	Oregon	5-1	1020
10	Arkansas	5-1	946
11	West Virginia	5-1	778
12	Kansas State	6-0	762
13	Nebraska	5-1	748
14	South Carolina	6-1	690
15	Michigan State	5-1	610
16	Virginia Tech	6-1	597
17	Texas A&M	4-2	467
18	Michigan	6-1	442
19	Auburn	5-2	374
20	Georgia Tech	6-1	281
21	Houston	6-0	238
22	Washington	5-1	221
23	Illinois	6-1	207
24	Georgia	5-2	144
24	Arizona State	5-2	144

• Dropped from rankings: Baylor 20, Texas 22