All six In The Game Magazines can be found on-line at www. We need your help, if you know of an athlete, team, coach or supporter in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington or Bay counties who deserves recognition, please let us know.
Send nominations to info inthegamemagazine. In this edition, We are happy to highlight a father and son duo that are now leading two area high schools on the grid iron; a legend of the game golfer, who is giving back to our community and an up and coming swimmer, among many other stories.
ITG Next is your go-to source for high school sports media coverage in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and across the country. Read, watch, and listen to the latest news and opinions in the high school sports world. Want to get the content before anyone else? Sign up for our email newsletter. With a new coach also came changes to the way the team approached the game. Wickard had come up as an outside hitter but agreed to.
Despite losing both of their top players for 17 matches, the Terrors swept through league play and the Region 3-AAAAA tournament with a perfect record and without losing a set in region play.
With Wickard and Kirk back for the Lady Terrors, they won eight in a row, including a perfect tournament run before winning the first two playoff games. Wickard received a perfect set and was able to smash the ball. The Terrors went on to win the match and a celebration ensued. The ride came to an end against eventual state runner-up Sequoyah High School in the quarterfinals. During her senior season, she played six rotations, passing when she got to the back row, meaning that she was never out of the game.
That is until she went down with an injury on September 4, against Savannah Christian. During an attack, she twisted her ankle, resulting in a sprain that sidelined her for more than two weeks. Glynn Academy Volleyball Coach Jon Ricketts has always been able to depend on her; whenever the team needed a serve, a kill or block, she got it done.
Even after missing so many games due to injury she still had kills and 43 solo blocks last season, good enough to be named to the first team AllArea squad. Wickard is a product of the feeder system, starting as a Glynn Middle School seventh-grader, and she has had a passion for the game since. She played on junior.
Ricketts credits Wickard for being able to transition into playing for a new coach in her senior year, calling her coachable. She put her trust in what she was being taught She learned and became a great volleyball player. Working with director Jeff Huebner taught Wickard the skill sets she needed to become a competitive player.
She has also been an outstanding student with a 3. She is a regular on the honor roll, won first place in the Science Fair, and was selected by faculty as a Most Outstanding Senior.
Before college will come a six-week trip to the Bahamas. Not the normal graduation trip with fun and frolic in the sun, this will be a mission trip interning with The Living Stone Ministry serving Haitian refugees. Her giving attitude and selfless acts are among the things Ricketts will miss when Wickard graduates in the spring.
Wickard trains at the Southeast Volleyball Academy in Brunswick. The most dramatic change already on the table is moving the practice time to am. A graduate of Paulding County High School, the son of a coach and a teacher, Cofer has years of experience coaching and teaching in Georgia.
He brings the Bacon County program coming off a season a history of success and an attitude of winning. We set our goals high and expect them to achieve them. I want the players and the community to expect us to win, and then the team will begin to build a legacy of winners.
Cofer has over 60 young men signed up for the team next season who have already begun taking part. That number far out-shadows the thirty-something that required most of the starters to play on both sides of the ball the previous two seasons.
Players are working in the weight room. He compared his offense to that of Auburn. Special teams, a problem spot for Bacon in the past, will be included in the routine of practices. The Raiders will spend hours working on the basics of catching the ball correctly. Catching punts and passes no matter what. Every player on the team will be taught to handle the ball. We will teach our kids to be aggressive with mental toughness, and sometimes aggression leads to penalties.
The first is set for Atkinson County at pm, August 18, and then he pits his team against the much bigger foe Cairo on the road again at 7 pm. Players, fans, and coaches wait to see if all the pieces fit for a great season. After being inducted into Halls of Fame at both schools, Yeomans embarked on a coaching journey that has seen head coaching stops at two other area schools. Now in his 13th season at WCHS, he is paying forward baseball lessons he has learned. Mike Eckle was also my head coach, and he was a fierce competitor.
My coach at Armstrong was Joe Roberts, who retired as the all-time win-. Joe was a numbers guy who always kept up with business and stats. And I worked as an assistant here at Ware County under James Conoly, who was very knowledgeable and very conscientious about safety and treating kids fairly. He finished his career with a.
He considered playing professionally and participated in several free agent camps before pursuing a career in the private sector. He got a job teaching and coaching at Brantley County High School, where he served as an assistant baseball and football coach before being tapped as head baseball coach in , his fourth year at the school.
He led the Herons to an mark in his first and only season as the Herons skipper. Long County High School was the next stop, and. He led the Blue Tide to a Final Four appearance and a region title en route to a overall record. He was Region Coach of the Year in In , Conoly retired from coaching and passed the torch to Yeomans.
The Gators went during the campaign, their first under the new skipper. WCHS improved to the following year and last season, with playoff berths each time. His Gators took a mark into the final week of February, with sights set on greater things to come. I used to do it all, but when Tony came to work for me I turned hitting over to him.
He is good at breaking down the fundamentals of hitting and gets a lot of bat speed out of the kids. He is good at helping them set up for certain pitches. Though WCHS lost three starters to graduation in , he is confident Ware will compete this season. My second year we hit 17 homers, so we did more bunting and running and sacrificing. He also coached the baseball and wrestling teams for five years at WMS and taught there for 10 years. This is his first year at Waycross Middle School, where he teaches health and physical education.
They are members of Hoboken Baptist Church. Jason Smith and Drew Shealy coach the junior varsity. I feel like you need to put a product on the field to compete, and my job is to put us in a position to win the game. The baseball season is starting at a quick pace at Camden County High School.
Under the leadership of Head Coach Jay Lasley, the Wildcats are giving preseason percent effort in order to become champions. Being a high school coach for sixteen years 12 at Camden County , Lasley has always loved the game of baseball.
I want to push my guys to be the best that they can be. My philosophy has changed over time. Now I aim to be a little bit more understanding instead of being their drill sergeant. However, even though the high school level should be an enjoyable experience, it is also competitive. So, we try to get the best out of it that we can.
Lasley explains how during the early season, the main focus is on the fundamentals of baseball. That is the reason why our goal to be strong early can have an effect on how we play and how we can be well-balanced. Just trying to use your players properly is something over the last few years that I have been trying to do.
The Camden boys are strong and can move swiftly and fast. If we can be creative, and our team can gain some confidence, I strongly believe we can play ball. They want their players to represent the baseball program and the school well. My players need to remember how, in order to be successful, they must give percent of all that they have and strive to achieve in all areas where they think they are unworthy.
He was on the opening day roster of the Detroit Tigers roster. I started trying to do the same things they did to make myself better. Should I go opposite field, where is the hole that the infield is giving me?
Townsend is a pitcher who throws a two-seam fastball that has been clocked at 80 mph but is consistently in the mid 70s. Coupled with a 12 to six curve ball and a circle change-up, his six-foot frame hurtling off the mound can create fear in hitters. Last season, he finished , striking out 20 batters for Martha Puckett. His knowledge of the game allows him to take on a commanding role during games and practices. On the mound he brings such size and power that is pronounced by his flawless mechanics.
Since I met Ford in. As a hitter, Townsend is a tough out for any pitcher. Last season he hit. I am waiting on a fastball, but I can and will adjust to anything they throw me. Pruitt also has Ford as a student and says that his academic work ethic and hard work as a student is the same that exists on the diamond or gridiron.
Townsend also played football last season for the first time for Pruitt, enjoying his time on the defensive line. Like all great baseball players, Ford has his rituals that he follows.
ITG Would have been real nice to win because of the way the region tournament is set up with a day off between games for the one and two seed. A three seed in the region tournament, Bradwell cruised by Glynn Academy in the first round which set up a second game with number two seed Effingham.
A healthier Gant that was able to play most of the game created lots of problems for the guard-oriented Tigers. However, Bradwell still had fight and came back to claim the third seed, defeating Richmond Hill. We did not beat anyone handily, and it is going to be hard to beat whomever we have in the region tournament three times. Those teams are motivated to beat you, and you become complacent. Being a third seed, the Tigers had to travel halfway across Georgia for the first round, playing the Bain-.
They are leaders and play hard day in and day out in practice and games. Lady Gators had to overcome perennial powerhouse Glynn Academy to win their region title.
The Lady Gators finished second to the Red Terrors last season and were determined to overcome the mental and physical obstacles keeping them from beating the Brunswick school.
Many of the girls spent the offseason playing in tournaments and working on their games. He coached at Ware Magnet School for 17 years where he won 11 consecutive region championships in girls golf and back-to-back Single A state titles in and Entering what is considered to be the toughest region for golf in South Georgia, Wheeler felt that his team.
Carter was the state runner-up last year, and Buie was low medalist in the region tournament this year. They will return next year along with the other two members of the region team, junior Moriah Skinner and freshman Kylee Wheeler. Photo courtesy of Bo Carter. For the past several years he has gone to tournaments, gaining experience and earning the respect of fellow competitors, with the dream of competing in Taekwondo in Rio in Taylor came up studying traditional Korean Tang Soo Do under Master Ronnie Crews and competes in Taekwondo tournaments, which emphasize kicking above punching.
Since the. Growing up, Taylor played lots of sports: soccer, T-ball, baseball, basketball, football, tennis, wrestling, and running cross-country. Five years later, he earned his black belt and is expected to test for master next year. Because there are no traveling teams in Taekwondo, it is up to parents and instructors to load up vehicles to drive for hours to get to tournaments.
Preparation for a tournament takes a lot of work - constant stretching of the legs and hips enable kicks to go high, but multiple repetitions make the legs steady and the kicks strong. Taylor must prepare for sparring, which requires tactical planning, speed, and kicking ability. Thus far, Taylor has won 63 medals and trophies and has 44 wins to his credit.
They met again at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado and came upon the idea that Taylor should train under Remarck to give him an edge in getting to the Olympics.
S Olympic coaches. This will allow him to continue working toward the Olympics while also majoring in the medical field as a nurse practitioner.
Like most of its students, martial arts has had a positive influence on Taylor. He now has more respect for others and is more of a leader rather than a follower.
Wayne jumped out early, scoring three runs in the first inning from four Statesboro issued walks. Though Statesboro battled back, the Yellow Jackets proved too much, winning and moving on to the region championship against Cross Creek. They then had to beat a good Statesboro team on the road and later a solid Cross Creek team on the road for the region title. Payton Phillips, J. I think we have improved in all aspects.
A region title and number one seed will give the Yellow Jackets home field advantage during the opening rounds of the AAAA state tournament. After dropping a couple of key games down the stretch, Wayne County Yellow Jackets varsity baseball team battled back with a win against Region 3A-AAAA opponent Liberty County, putting the Yellow Jackets in a three way tie for first place in the subregion. Wayne was sharing the top spot, its only losses coming to perennial power South Effingham and a strong Statesboro team.
Since Statesboro and South Effingham held the tiebreaker, Wayne finished as the third seed, forcing the Yellow Jackets to go on the road in the first rounds of the region tournament. The Yellow Jackets piled up 21 runs and only allowed the Bears one run in the two game sweep. After Wayne eliminated Burke County, they had to face Statesboro for a fourth time this season.
The last time the two teams played, Statesboro defeated Wayne with a late game, two-run homerun. Since the game was not complete,. My family has always been supportive of athletics. After playing middle infield and graduating from Fitzgerald, McDonald went on to play the same position at Georgia Southwestern University. When he finished his playing career in college, he became an assistant at the school.
He was a huge influence, and he instilled aspects of the game that have gotten me to where I am today. I was fortunate to not only play for him for two seasons but also to stay on and coach with him as well for two seasons.
I would say that those two seasons as an assistant coach got me to the level where I knew I could be a head coach and be successful at it. McDonald is in his eighth year of coaching and his sixth year of teaching health and physical education at Wayne County High School.
He spent. He also coaches the varsity wide receivers for the Yellow Jackets football team. Football season proved to be busier than usual for McDonald. The Yellow Jackets made an unprecedented run to the semifinals, losing to Griffin, the eventual 4A champion. It was busy on a personal level as well because nuptials for football coaches come in December or early in the summer, due to the time constraints of football.
We got married in December, and this is my first season with a wife. She is my biggest fan, and this season has had highs and lows. Wayne County has long been known as one of the strongest baseball programs in Southeast Georgia. The facilities and field have been as award-winning as the teams on the field.
The administration at the high school is very supportive of the student athletes and everything that it takes to make those kids and programs successful. The community support for baseball and athletics in general is outstanding. We have great fan support at home and on the road all season long. We have an outstanding Homerun Club that raises funds to continuously improve the program in all aspects.
I think that the. We also have great feeder programs at each middle school. That is one thing that I worked really hard on, is getting both middle schools on the same page with the high school and incorporating everything we do from the sixth through the 12th grade.
I have a great staff here at Wayne. Jordan Mullis is our pitching coach, and if you look over the past three years at what this pitching staff has done, it is remarkable. I am completely hands off with pitchers. He is in full control of the staff and does an outstanding job.
Jesse Barfield is [junior varsity] head coach and works with our outfielders. He also does an outstanding job with maintaining the field.
High school baseball has been going through a lot of changes over the last few years with the adoption of new standards for bats. I tell people all the time that it has now become a fun game to coach and not so fun game to watch due to the bat changes.
But I think it equalizes the teams more and make us, as coaches, have to strategize and manufacture runs and not lean on the threerun HR like we did in previous years. The most important aspect of the game is the mental aspect. Being able to overcome all of the adversity and failure in a baseball season is huge.
At the end of the day, both had qualified for the state track meet in field events. After making sectionals by qualifying at the region track meet, the top eight qualifiers in each event at sectionals moves on to state. Although a little nervous, Folsom hit the height on his first attempt, setting a mark that is a personal best and a fourth-place finish. The all-around athlete is described as an asset anywhere he plays.
Coming off of a disappointing finish in the triple jump, Greene was determined to do better in the long jump. Greene will return as the quarterback of the Red Raiders football team and hopes to attend college on an athletic scholarship.
The girls and boys track teams have successfully ran at a number of meets, including one in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They had been a tough opponent all year. The Lady Tigers finished second in the region track meet. Burks qualified for state in the m run and long jump. Wynn is going to state in the high jump, and the Lady Tigers 4 x m relay team also qualified for the trip to Albany.
McMillan recorded five tackles total, four solo and one assist including one for a three yard loss , for Team Nitro. But it was a blessing that I could be on the sideline with him for his last high school game.
I told him that on each level he has to reset his goals to meet higher. His work ethics will have to increase from high school to college to hopefully NFL. Every great thing that you hear about it is true. They treat us players like kings during the week. It was an experience that I will never forget.
Nitro lost to Team Highlight. He had an assist and broke up a touchdown pass in the third quarter. They need to have a plan for life. The excitement of the new stadium has expanded well beyond the small Bacon County community as 92 coaches have applied for the position of head coach. We feel we have some good candidates. Many true fans feel the inspiration of a new stadium could bring a spark to the team. It is the only home field any member of a Raider team has ever played.
They closed the books on playing at that location on November 1, on a cold rainy night. They, however, went out winning. They defeated Atkinson County When the Raiders take the field next season, they will be under the leadership of the 24th coach in Bacon County history.
Raider fans are looking forward to the first game. Most have faith that the new combination will launch their team into many winning seasons in the future. New school, new stadium, and new coach, how can they not succeed?
Bacon County high School. Could the new school, new stadium, and new coach set the stage for the dawning of a new era in Bacon County football? Each is located on the end of their prescriptive wing.
The middle school is located on the north and the high school on the south end of the expansive new school. Located on the campus, just yards south of the high school is the new football field. The stadium will feature home side bleachers that are almost twice the height of the current site. Raider red chair back stadium seating will occupy the center of the bleachers with reserved seats and total seating for home and visiting fans.
There will be no bad seats on the home side, says Cohen. The bleachers are located from the 30 yard-line to the 30 yardline. In addition to the entrance from the main highway, a back exit will be added to Townsend Road where it intersects with Radio Station Road. The rear of the home side bleachers faces the highway, so the board is planning on putting a screen on the back to make it more attractive from the road.
Changes in region and division as well as due to graduation have impacted Charlton County. Coming off of an uncharacteristic season, McWhorter was unsure of what to expect from the season. Nobody wanted to have another year like that again, especially the veterans.
We worked hard over the offseason going through summer workouts and camp. Having the starting role for a little bit at the end of the season was a fun experience as a sophomore.
And as each year passed I could feel myself getting better each year. Charlton County is a great place and a great community to play high school football. The coaches were really supportive and helped me Ware dominated every phase of the football game blanking Charlton, The Indians learned the power of resilience, earning a road victory against an upstart Bradwell Institute and then experienced its second loss of the season in a battle against traditional South Georgia power Fitzgerald.
Sitting as the Indians went into region play, Charlton County started to show signs of life, winning five region games and setting up a showdown on November 8 against Irwin County.
Irwin County was considered one of the best teams in Class A this year and handed the Indians a heartbreaking loss, forcing the Indians to become road warriors for the Class A state playoffs. Harrington threw for 1, yards this season and also handled the punting duties. Lee returned to the lineup for the Indians after the midway point of the season.
In six games played, Lee rushed for yards and scored 14 touchdowns. As an offense, we built great chemistry with each other and were comfortable with what our plan was as a team. Charlton posted a first round win at Commerce which set up a trip across southwest Georgia to number one seed Seminole County. The Indians absolutely shocked everyone in the state, including themselves, shutting out the Seminoles, The next week Charlton got a chance that most.
Irwin County was the only thing that stood between Charlton and going back to the Georgia Dome. We had been tested during the playoffs, having to play on the road. Lee rushed for yards on 26 carries, scoring four touchdowns, the last one to retake the lead late in the fourth quarter.
I-rwin was on the ropes but still punched in another score in the final seconds of the game. Playing every minute and second of a great 48 minutes, the Indians blocked the extra point, securing a victory and a trip to the Class A Public School title game at the Georgia Dome.
Later the Indians would learn that their opponent would be Marion County, who was the team that put Charlton out in the second round the previous year. Sophomore running back Andrew Lee helped out our offense a lot with our game plan going into the game. And our defense stepped up big to the challenge of playing a team as good as Irwin, and we were really determined and focused on.
We had a really focused and determined. The Indians prepared and boarded the buses for the trip north to Atlanta on Friday morning. Walking the field and getting dressed in the locker rooms was almost unreal.
Since the teams had played before, a twitter and social media war ensued during dome week. Marion County tied the game in the second. Wells nailed punt after punt, forcing the Indians deep into their own territory. One of those punts put Charlton in such a hazardous field position, Marion was able to record a safety in the third quarter for a lead. The Eagles put the game away in the fourth quarter, scoring their only touchdown.
It was the eighth time that Marion had held a team to a touchdown or less this season. Marion has only been playing football for eight seasons. Charlton will return several underclassman at key positions on both sides of the ball. This senior group that I have had this year, they have worked hard their entire careers, and I am so proud of them to see how they got here this year.
ITG Look for the ball; chances are, she is somewhere around it. Lee and her youngest sister, who is now playing. In her first recreation league game at 10 years old, Lee blistered the nets for 19 points, much to the surprise of her parents and the referees. Lee had never played organized basketball until that day. The following season playing softball, Lee recalled her first big hit during the game that would determine who would play in the state playoffs.
With her team two runs down with two runners on base, Lee hit a triple to the left field fence, scoring the two runs, and then scoring the go-ahead run moments later on a base hit.
Coming up in the recreation leagues had a. This season, her 11andyear-old basketball team made it to the state finals. In a game with the Toombs County Bulldogs, Lee made the most memorable shot of her young career. With the score tied and only three seconds left to play, she took an inbound pass and tossed up the winning shot to make it In her 11th grade year, Lee averaged 18 points per game for the Herons to go with seven rebounds, three steals, and two assists per contest, and an 81 percent average from the free throw line.
Brantley County went on to win the region championship in , and Lee was named to the second team AllRegion squad.
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