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Local Football

See who is in action this week

The varsity teams have just two more games left in the season to prove who’s boss and control their playoff destination. Jackson County Comprehensive High School will also compete in their final home match of the year against Elbert County High School on senior night. Show time is set for 7:30 p.m. Jefferson High School will open their final two games of the year by seeking a region title win against Riverside Military Academy at 7:30 tomorrow night. The Hawks of Mill Creek High School will return home for their final home game of the year against Habersham Central High School tomorrow night at 7:30.

Local Basketball

Panthers host toy drive for Toys for Tots

The Jackson County Comprehensive High School boys’ basketball team isn’t waiting until Christmas to be in the spirit of giving. The Panthers will be hosting a toy drive on Nov. 17 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the gym of West Jackson Middle School. All of the donated toys will be given to the Marine Toys for Tots. Please bring all toys unwrapped. The day will also serve as a coaching clinic. For more information and registration, please contact 706-367-6350 or send an email to crobinson@jacksoncounty.gov. The event will serve kids from ages five to eight from 9-11 a.m. and kids nine and up from noon to two p.m.

Local Baseball

Atlanta Braves’ finest host charity event

On. Nov 3, Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves will team up with others to put on a softball charity event at Coolray Field – home of the Gwinnett Braves. Along with his wife Ashley, McCann and others will kick off the Rally Celebrity Softball Game. The day will kick off at 11 a.m. with events on the field and the first pitch is set for 12:35 p.m. Admission is ten dollars for adults, and five dollars for students. Children ten and under will recieve free entry. Parking is five dollars. This event is held annually to generate proceeds to help fund research for children with cancer. Famous guests including Chipper Jones will be in attendance.

With four first place finishes under the belt, the Jefferson High School girls’ team is on their way to taking the region title today in Lexington, Ga.

Reese Bowles finished first at the Oglethorpe Invitational and the course the team competed on will serve as the site for the region title meet.

“My girls are hungry for a win. They run very well as a team and they each know their position in a race,” said Head Coach Katie Sellers.

“It was a great feeling for them to accomplish this at the course we will run region this week,” said Sellers.

The boys are working hard to finish at the top and have done so already once this season. Jefferson was without one of their top runners during the Oglethorpe Invitational and will need everyone healthy and ready to go for a competitive region meet.

“Our number one boy did not run varsity this week, as he is nursing an injury. He will be back this week for region and with his help we hope to secure a top 4 finish so we can advance to state,” said Sellers.

JHS didn’t have too much turn around time to prepare for todays meet and will hopefully have strong and well rested legs to get through the path at Oglethorpe.

“The hard work is over for both teams. This week will be spent staying healthy, keeping our legs fresh and ready for Thursday. I told my runners last week this week of practice will leave them wanting more once region arrives,” said Sellers.

The Mill Creek High School softball team headed to Columbus, Ga. for another shot at the state title, and opened the run with a 6-3 win over Kennesaw Mountain High School, a team that was rated number one coming into the playoffs.

“We played them the first game in Columbus. They had been ranked #1 since late August. Heather Felt pitched a complete game. Giving up 3 runs and scattering 7 hits. We were down 2-0 in the 5th and Kenzer Fagioli hit a 3 run homer to left to put us up 3-2. We scored 3 more in the bottom of the 6th and they scored one in the seventh for the final score,” said Head Coach Roger Parham.

Their win over KMHS sent the Hawks into a very familiar matchup; it would only be fitting that two of high school softball’s most storied and successful programs meet again.

MCHS competed against their rival Collins Hill High School and suffered a loss that forced them to a game against East Coweta High School. Unfortunately, the Hawks fell 1-0; however the Hawks have nothing to be ashamed of.

The Hawks journey to Columbus started with a nice 6 game win streak dating from Aug. 18 to Aug. 27 in the regular season. Once the region tournament rolled around, the Hawks hosted Habersham Central High School in the first round of the tourney and won 1-0.

MCHS headed out to Collins Hills to finish out the rest of the tourney, but the Eagles took the first game 5-0. Yet the Hawks bounced back with a 4-2 win over Duluth High School. In the title game against CHHS, the Hawks came one point shy of tying the game that could have led to a region title win.

However, the region tournament didn’t slow the Hawks down. They rallied and swept North Forsyth High School in the first round of the state playoffs (6-2 and 12-4) and took 2 games from Grayson High School (5-3 and 6-0), earning them a trip to Columbus.

“I am so very proud of our girls. They had a wonderful year and truly over exceeded expectations considering the talent base we lost to graduation from a year ago. To make it this far with a junior pitcher who didn’t play high school ball last year for us, or any other high school for that matter and our other pitcher being a 14-year old freshman who was pitching to another 14-year old freshman, I am ecstatic at how our year turned out,” said Parham.

“We lost 4 DI players from last years team and 88% of our RBI production and still finished in the top 5 in the states largest classification,” said Parham.

The Hawks certainly have a lot to be proud of and will look to make another great run next season.