Cross Country

From Coach Jim Norton, Cross Country - Oglethorpe held the Patriot Races Invitational on Thursday Oct. 25^th. It was the last race before Region, which is this Thursday starting at 4:30pm.

 

Fifteen teams came to participate with around 300 total runners. Rockdale County won the boys race while Jefferson won the girls race. Oglethorpe placed 6^th in both races ahead of key region opponents like Social Circle, Washington-Wilkes, Greene County. The top finisher for the boys was Sid Wightman who finished 3^rd overall with a time of 17:41.

 

Oglethorpe will hope to finish in the top 4 in Thursday’s (November 1st, 4:30pm) Region Championships in order to punch it’s ticket to the State Meet in Carrollton.

Varsity Football

OC vs. Greene Co – I haven’t seen all of the Patriots football games at Patriot Stadium, but Friday night was the first time I’ve seen 106 points scored there.  Unfortunately for OC, they came out on the short end of a 56-50 slugfest against Greene Co.

Team Captains
 

        The key to the game, at least for the Patriots, were first half fumbles.  OC fumbled the ball three times in the first half, which allowed the Tigers to score twice.  Were it not for these two scores OC would have won by a touchdown.

        The other notable characteristic of the game was how both teams handily defeated the other’s defense.  Greene usually broke for big plays through OC’s defense while OC’s offense was more measured moving the ball down the field.  That’s not to say that OC didn’t have big plays.  Fullback Tanner Bowman had several good runs up the middle for big yardage, while both quarterback Kendrick Presley and running back Anthony Thornton had big gains and touchdowns throughout the game. 

Anthony Thornton

        Greene Co scored first at the 9:45 mark but didn’t make the extra point.  They tried an onside kick but it fell short of the required 10 yards and OC got their first possession near the fifty yard line. The Patriots drove the ball down the field.  After drawing the Tigers off side (something the Patriots managed to do several times all night) Presley gave the ball to Thornton who ran in from the 13 for OC’s first score of the game.  Kenneth Cinereski got the ball on a fake PAT and put two more points on the board for OC, thus making the score 8-6.

        Less than a minute later Greene would put their second touchdown on the board and successfully convert for two points.  OC would answer with another touchdown but twenty seconds later Greene would take the lead again with a touchdown of their own.  At the end of the first quarter the score was 21-15 Greene.     

Tanner Bowman, hard yardage.

        The second quarter is where we really hurt ourselves with two fumbles that allowed Greene to put points on the board.  Nevertheless, OC put two more touchdowns on the board and both teams went to the locker room with the score 41-29.  One highlight for OC was an interception late in the half Cinereski that stopped a scoring opportunity for the Tigers.

        The third quarter saw a game more in line with what a football game should look like.  Both teams’ defense stiffened which allowed only one touchdown each for the third quarter. 

Touchdown

        OC managed to score twice in the fourth quarter to Greene’s one touchdown bringing the game to just six points difference.  OC’s last touchdown came with 2:25 left in the game.  Despite several onside kick offs Patriot head coach Larry Milligan couldn’t find another couple of minutes in his bag of tricks and the clock ran out with Greene in possession. 

        This loss forces OC into a must win situation against both Washington-Wilkes and Rabun, OC’s last two opponents of the season, if OC expects to make it to the play-offs. 

        OC (4-4, 2-3) take on the Tigers of Washington-Wilkes (7-1, 4-1) next Friday night at home.  As a reminder next Friday is Senior night and all the seniors will be honored at half-time. 

        You can see all the pictures here:    http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8730964

         

Update

Week Off – I went on a fishing trip the weekend of the Social Circle game in which our Patriots enjoyed a 49-21 win.  I seem to have become an expert at catching large stingrays rather than large edible fish.  Nevertheless, a good time was had by all and the old saying about a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work still applies.

Working hard, or hardly working. 

If you scroll down you will find stories about the middle school football game and the varsity football game.  I learned last night that the middle school came out on top in their region, so congratulations are in order for a fine 6-1 season.

Varasity Football

OC vs Jefferson = About all that can be said about Friday night’s game is that no one came away hurt.  Oh there were a few bruises and minor things but nothing serious as OC came away on the short end of a 43-0 victory for the Dragons.

Team Captains

It’s not that the Patriots made a great many mistakes like they did at the first of the season, it’s just that when you are facing the 8^th ranked team in AA and a passing quarterback headed to a Division 1 school, well, the outcome is not surprising. 

On the night OC’s Kendrick Presley was 2 for 5 passing with one interception and OC had 8 first downs.  OC did entice Jefferson off sides a couple of times at opportune moments.  The fact is, OC has gotten pretty good at that. 

The interception that wasn't.

OC (4-3 overall, 2-2 region) faces Greene County (2-5 overall, 2-2 region) next Friday night at home.  

At present OC is tied for 4^th in the region with Rabun County and behind Jefferson, Washington-Wilkes and Union County.   OC’s last three games; Greene Co, Washington-Wilkes and Rabun Co, are must wins if the Patriots want to get to the playoffs. 

You can see all the pictures from the game here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8720034

Middle School Football

OCMS vs. Hebron -  I got to the school to do some pictures for the seniors on the varsity team an discovered there was a middle school football game scheduled for Thursday afternoon.  The middle school Patriots was hosting the Hebron Lions.  I learned that the middle school had only one and was at the top of the mark in their region. 

I left at halftime, when the score was 40-0.  But I got some good first half pictures which you can see here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8719357

Athletic Boosters

Athletic Booster Club Meeting - The Oglethorpe Athletic Booster Club had it monthly meeting Monday evening.  Topics of discussion included girls JV and varsity basketball, wrestling and golf.

        Old business discussed was the baseball team raffle fundraiser.  For ten dollars (see any baseball player or coach if you want a ticket) you buy a chance a winning one of the following: 

5-day Carnival Caribbean Cruise for 2 – Dates TBD by winner

Best Buy – Canton 50 inch LG HDTV TruSlim Frame TV

Brian McCann Autographed Game Jersey

Brian McCann Autographed Mizuno Catcher’s Mask

Georgia Tech vs. Georgia Football Tickets (4) – November 24, 2012

New York Giants vs. Atlanta Falcons (4) – December 16, 2012

Buster Posey Autographed Game Bat

Best Buy – Canton – ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF7007

Pitch Rite Conditioner Trainer – Southern Athletic Fields

$300 Titan Team Sports Gift Certificate

The fundraiser is facilitated by Georgia Dugout Club.  The athletic boosters keep $7 of every ticket sold.  You’re in competition with other schools for the same lottery but your raffle ticket money stays at the school.  The drawing will be held on November 24, 2012 and can be viewed at www.georgia dougoutclub.org/index.php

The middle/high school fundraising golf tournament is just around the corner.  It will be held at Jennings Mill Country Club on Saturday, October 20, 2012.  It will be a Lauderdale/best ball format.  The entry fee is $70 per player that includes lunch.  This is the golf team’s main yearly fundraiser.  Last year the varsity golf team tied for third in the state AA tournament. This year, with the new region alignments, the Oglethorpe golf team stands a good chance of winning the state championship. 

There is now a large ice machine installed in the gym.  This is something that has been needed for a long time.

Varsity wrestling Coach Justin Cordell requested from the boosters a set of 20 wrestling singlets and ten sets of headgear.  Normally, wrestlers buy their own singlets.  But several of the team’s tournaments require as many as five bouts in a day.  In order to reduce the possibility of skin problems, Coach Cordell wanted spare singlets for wrestlers to change into halfway through a wrestling tournament.  Coach Cordell also requested 10 sets of wrestling headgear.  Coach Cordell said his wrestling team is growing and he needed the extra headgear to have enough for the new wrestlers.  It was also revealed that Coach Simpson at the middle school was looking at as many as 50 wrestlers this year.  The headgear and singlets Coach Cordell asked for would belong to the school.  The boosters approved the request.

Head girls varsity basketball coach Steve Williamson requested funds from the booster club to pay for 30 new warm-up shooting shirts for both the varsity and JV girls and travel bags for the girls.  Coach Williamson said that many of the gyms the girls play in are cold and the shooting shirts will help them warm-up before the game.  The shirts and travel bags would belong to the school.  The boosters approved Coach Williamson’s request. 

Head cross country coach Jim Norton discussed lodging funding for the cross country team if they qualify for state, which Coach Norton thinks will happen. 

To give you an idea of the expense of fielding sporting teams for Oglethorpe, the wrestling singlets, for example, cost $70 each.   The headgear is $30 each.  Basketball’s request for the girls came to $46 each for 30 girls, which totaled almost $3000 just for two sports. 

Sports cost tons of money, and it takes dedicated people to help. For you middle school parents, the booster club supports all middle school sports, too.  Please come to the next meeting and get involved.  Your support will make OC sports better.  The next meeting will be Monday, November 12, 2012. 

 

       

       

Cross Country

From Coacn Norton:  The Cross Country teams have had a good couple of weeks. On Thursday, 9/27, they travelled to Riverside Military to face off against a very solid region opponent. In very hot conditions, the Patriots squeaked by Riverside, beating them by a mere 2 points. Despite the victory, Riverside will be a very real threat to the Varsity boys’ team at the Region Meet on November 1^st.

On Saturday 10/6, OC travelled to Winder-Barrow to participate in the Winder-Barrow Invitational. The Patriots came away with their first trophy of the season, placing second in the girls’ race. The girls were led by Sarah Chastain and Jordan Pringle who both got medals for finishing in the top 10. Freshmen Vivi Diaz and Jojo Diaz both had personal bests to help the team. The Varsity boys also had some good performances on a tough course with Sid Wightman and Quinton Nash leading the way to an 8^th place finish amongst 15 teams. The JV boys also did well finishing 5^th amongst 11 teams.

In the picture (left to right): Jojo Diaz, Natalie Doker, Sarah Chastain, Brianna Basinger, Jordan Pringle, Vivi Diaz