Raider guys take second in state tennis tourney

Posted on the Madison County Journal website: www.mainstreetnews.com

Ben Strickland hits backhand in Saturday's state championshipmatch.
 Photo by Dallas Bordon

By Dallas Bordon

JONESBORO: The Madison County Red Raider tennis team made history this season by advancing to the state championship for the first time. 

They came up just short of the top prize Saturday as 5A-AAAA Columbus won the championship with a 3-1 win over Madison County. 

The expected rain that was due to the area held off just long enough to get the matches in at the Clayton International Tennis Park in Jonesboro.

A rain-out would have given number one seed Madison County home court advantage on Monday or Tuesday, but as it turned out, plenty of the Raider faithful made the trip to Jonesboro.

Trey Morris remained undefeated on the season, winning at the number one singles (2-0). Ben Strickland battled to a tie-breaker but came up on the short end of a 2-1 loss. With the number one doubles team of Zach Peneguy and Adam Sartain falling to Columbus 2-0 and the number two doubles Hank Sartain and Koti Nguyen also losing 2-0, all eyes were glued to Strickland's match. 

With Columbus leading overall 2-1 with Strickland and Tyler Terrell (number 3 singles) still playing, Columbus needed just one win to seal the championship. 

Columbus got the win after Strickland fell 6-4 in the tiebreaker. Terrell's singles match was halted at that point as Columbus got the needed 3 wins. 

The Raiders (22-4, 12-0) were able to reach the championship round by defeating Carrollton and S. Effingham in earlier post season play

Tennis Raiders advance to Final Four!

Raider Tennis (boys) defeated Carrollton 3-2 today at Carrollton in the Elite 8 of the State Tournament. Trey Morris won at number one singles 6-2, 7-5; Ben Strickland won at number two singles 6-1, 6-4 and Tyler Terrell won at number three singles 6-1, 6-4. Number one doubles of Adam Sartain and Zach Peneguy lost 5-7, 0-6 and number two doubles of Koti Nguyen and Hank Sartain fell 3-6, 2-6. With the win, Madison County advances to the Final Four of State play early next week. A time, date and opponent is yet to be determined.

2012 Madison County Basketball

Nov 15 Red and Gray Scrimmage at Middle School 4:30

Nov 17 MC Invitational  Home 3:00

Nov 20 MC Invitational Home 4:00

Nov 27 Elbert County Home 6:00

Nov 30 Stephens County Home 7:00

Dec 1 North Oconee Home 4:00

Dec 4 Hart County Away 6:00

Dec 7 Clarke Central Away 7:00

Dec 8 Oconee County Home 4:00

Dec 11 Apalachee Away 6:00

Dec 15 Elbert County Away 4:00

Dec 21 Walnut Grove Home 7:00

Dec 27-29 Hart County Christmas Tournament Boys Away

Dec 27-29 Hart County Christmas Tournament Girls Away

Jan 5 Oconee County Away 4:00

Jan 8 Johnson High School Away 6:00

Jan 11 Walnut Grove Away 7:00

Jan 12 Clarke Central Home 4:00

Jan 15 Chestatee Away 6:00

Jan 19 North Oconee Away 6:00

Jan 22 Monroe Area Home 6:00

Jan 25 Lanier Home 7:00

Jan 29 Lumpkin County Home 6:00

Feb 1 Stephens County Away 7:00

Feb 11-16 Region Tournament at Johnson High School

Feb 22-23 First round of State

Feb 26-27 2nd round of State

**All home games will be played at the Madison County Middle School Gym due to construction at the high school. 

"Like" The Madison County Journal Facebook page for game updates during the season.

Raider softball vs Wayne Co. preview

Alexis Damron

Raiders versus Wayne County

Round 1 of Elite 8 State Tournament

Columbus, Georgia

Thursday, October 25, 4:15

The Madison County Raiders, 8-AAAA Region Champions (30-6) will face Wayne County (24-2) of Jessup, Georgia Region 3A-AAAA on Thursday at 4:15 in the Elite Eight of the State Tournament in Columbus, Georgia. Madison County is coming off a Sweet Sixteen series win over Heritage-Catoosa last week losing game one 6-0, but bouncing back to win games two 5-4 and three 9-8 with the help of three home runs in the series from Ivie Drake.

The Wayne County Yellow Jackets are coming off a sweep of the state’s 7^th ranked team Locust Grove, 10-2 and 12-3 to advance into the Elite Eight to face Madison County. The winner of this game will advance to round two and will play the winner of the Rutland (21-8-1) and the Northwest Whitfield (31-3). The Jackets, coached by Barbara Struckhoff, are led by pitcher Myranda Hand (18-2) who was the winning pitcher in both games versus Locust Grove.

The Raiders will look to their pitching duo of junior Randee Bettis and sophomore Alexis Damron complemented with the speed of Bri Carr and Haley Gordon on the offensive side. Add to the mix the power of catcher Ivie Drake the Region 8-AAAA Player of The Year.

The Raiders, coached by Doug Kesler, defeated Walnut Grove to win the Region Title and defeated LaGrange in round one of the state playoffs 2 games to 0. Madison County is 18-2 in their last 20 games.

Wayne County’s only losses of the season both came against South Effingham County. The Yellow Jackets are riding a 10 game winning streak and have pitched 11 total shutouts (5 in a row at one point) this season.

Other round one games will feature Rutland/North West Whitfield, West Laurens/Columbus, and South Effingham/Lumpkin County.

“Like” the Madison County Journal Facebook page for updates throughout the state tournament or check out the website www.madisoncountyjournaltoday for updates.

2012 Madison County Football Schedule

Aug 24  Athens Christian (Scrimmage) 7:30 Athens, Ga
Aug 31  Oconee County 7:30 Red Raider Stadium
Sept 7   Franklin County 7:30 Carnesville, Ga
Sept 14 North Oconee 7:30 Watkinsville, Ga
Sept 21 Lanier 7:30 Lanier High School Stadium
Sept 28 Eastside 7:30 Red Raider Stadium
Oct 5    Open week
Oct 12  Lumpkin County 7:30 Lumpkin Co. Stadium
Oct 19  Stephens County 7:30 Red Raider Field
Oct 26  Monroe Area 7:30 Monroe, Ga
Nov 2   Walnut Grove 7:30 Red Raider Stadium
Nov 9   Chestatee 7:30 Red Raider Stadium

New era begins at Madison County

Chris Smith began his new role as head coach for the Red Raiders Friday night at the spring football game at Madison County High School. Smith, a long time staff coach for the Raiders, replaces Randall Owens who stepped down following the 2011 season. Smith is a former Raider and Presbyterian College quarterback. 

Red Raider baseball is here

This Saturday the Madison County Red Raiders will hit the diamond to open the 2012 baseball season on the road at Hebron Christian in Dacula at 1:00. Catch all of this season's highlights of Raider baseball in the Madison County Journal each week and at http://www.mainstreetnews.com/

Sam LaZear Signs With UGA Softball

 
Nov. 21, 2011


ATHENS, Ga. – University of Georgia head softball coach Lu Harris-Champer announced on Monday that Samantha LaZear has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Bulldogs.
LaZear, a 5-11, left-handed hitting outfielder from Danielsville, Ga., will join the Bulldogs from Madison County High School where she played for Doug Kesler. LaZear, a two-time All-State and three-time All-Region selection, helped MCHS win its region championship in both 2009 and 2010, and the Red Raiders advanced to the Elite Eight of the AAAA division in the Georgia High School Association state tournament in both 2010 and 2011. For her career, LaZear holds school record with 150 runs scored and 85 stolen bases. As a senior, LaZear batted .407 with 46 runs, 18 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases. As a junior, she set single-season school records with 56 runs and 40 stolen bases. LaZear plays travel ball for the Southern Force who she helped her team finish in the Final Four at the ASA 16U National Championships in 2010. In 2011, she helped the Southern Force Gold, coached by Kevin Stephens, to a top 25 finish in the 18U division of the Premier National Championships. A 2010-11 National Fastpitch Coaches Association High School All-American Scholar Athlete, LaZear will have earned by 10 varsity letters by the end of her high school career next spring – four softball, four tennis and two basketball. She is also a MCHS Wendy's High School Heisman award winner, National Merit Scholar and ranks at the top of her class academically.
“Sam is the fastest player we have brought in since Nicole Barber," Georgia head coach Lu Harris-Champer said. "We are thrilled to have her speed, defense and toughness joining our program next fall. Sam has incredible hand-eye coordination and rarely fails to make contact at the plate. She has the ability to bunt, slap and hit for power along with being a great student-athlete and the No. 1 student in her high school class at Madison County. We believe Sam is the best slapper in the 2012 class not only in Georgia, but in the country, and look forward to seeing her develop in our program.”
LaZear is the fifth of seven signees to be announced as part of the Georgia signing class that will join the program in 2012-13 joining Bryanna "Cricket" Blanco, Katie Browne, Geri Ann Glasco and Tina Iosefa. Georgia will continue reveal a new member of the signing class each day until all seven have been announced here on www.georgaidogs.com, on www.facebook.com/UGAsoftball and on Twitter @UGAsoftball.

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.

Lady Raiders sweep first round of state playoffs

It was a damp cold night at Raider Field but that didn't stop the Madison County Lady Raiders from sweeping their way into next week's round 2 of the state playoffs. Madison County got 3 homeruns from former Prince Ave star Randee Bettis, one of which hit the American flag in deep center field, to cap off the sweep in the best of three series against Johns Creek. The Ladys Raiders took game one by a 9-0 score and won the nightcap 8-0. Both wins were run ruled games ending after 5 innings. Bettis was the winning pitcher in game one and Gabby Gillespie tossed the game two win.
The Lady Raiders await the winner of Marist and Kell who split their first two games of their three game series. If Kell wins that series they will visit Raider Field next week in round two of the AAAA state playoffs. A Marist win would have the Lady Raiders playing at Marist next week. Bri Carr had an outstanding night in by turning 3 double plays on the Raider infield.

High School Scoreboard

Friday Nights Highschool Scoreboard

Habersham Central 41 Madison County 24
Prince Ave 18 Athens Academy 0
Elbert County 48 Jackson County 0
Monroe 41 Chestatee 35
Gainesville 42 Franklin County 13
Washington Wilkes 27 Oconee County 14
Clarke Central 44 Winder Barrow 0
North Gwinnett 71 Meadowcreek 6
Flowery Branch 51 Rockdale 0
Salem 47 Loganville 17
North Oconee 24 Hart County 20
Heritage ____ Apalachee ____

Raiders at Loganville

Madison County is playing at Loganville tonight trying to even up their record at 2-2. The Raiders came out on top last week in an overtime win over Winder Barrow.
Late in the second quarter, the Raiders trail Loganville 9-7. Madison County scored on a 12 yard touchdown pass from Burton for their only score sofar.

Predictions

Auburn over Clemson by 12
Georgia over Coastal Carolina by 35
Loganville over Madison County by 5

Raiders Win in OT

What a game! Madison County trailed 21-0 at one point but battled back to defeat Winder Barrow 42-35 in overtime. Madison County had a shot at winning with just seconds left in regulation but a bad snap on a 20 yard field goal attempt forced overtime. Big win for Madison County (1-2)!

My weekend predictions

It's finally starting to feel like football with the cooler temps outside.
My predictions for this weekend:
Clemson by 21 over Wofford
USC by 5 over UGA
Madison County by 3 over Winder Barrow

Madison County football could be in for a long season

0-2 start for the Red Raiders of Madison County High School. It could be a long season and we will shortly see how the fans will respond.
I pick the Raiders to start at 1-2 with their first win coming this Friday night against Winder-Barrow. Could it be the only win of 2011??