December 12, 2018 Page 7C
RepOrter
By Richard Dumas
forsyth@mymcr.net
In its fourth year of existence,
the Mary Persons wrestling
program could be in the midst
of a transition year in 2018-19
after the graduation of some of its
inaugural team members.
Third-year MP head coach
Barron Hamlin said the Bulldogs,
who lost nearly a dozen seniors to
graduation, has only a handful of
returners this season. But Hamlin
said youth is not a bad thing
because a promising 10-member
freshman class could lead to big
things for MP in the future.
Hamlin said of his freshmen
contingent: "It's new competition
for them on varsity, but it's going
to serve us well next year. The
kids will be able to get some mat
time and will continue to grow as
wrestlers and show some results"
Without question, MP's top
returner is senior Brycen Young,
who has competed in the individ-
ual state competition in each of
the past two years. Young is one
of just two current MP wrestlers,
along with fellow senior Covi
Zellner, who were on the Mat
Dogs' first-ever team in 2015-16.
"Brycen is my Top Dawg right
now" Hamlin said. "He has to
step into a bigger leadership role
this year"
Hamlin said he expects Young,
who finished last season with a
42-11 record in the 152-pound
division, once again to be among
the top wrestlers in the state in
his weight class.
"He is the only person that
will stop himseW,' Hamlin said
of Young. "I think he's got all the
tools. He's one of the best ones
I've coached"
The squad's other two seniors
are Zellner, who will compete in
the 220-pound class, and wres-
fling newcomer Austin Mock, an
MP baseball standout who will
wrestle in the 160-pound class.
Hamlin said of his seniors:
"Covi's finally getting his chance
to come out and step out on the
mat and see what he's got. And
Austin Mock, he's a new guy.
He's a baseball guy. He's a good
athlete, takes coaching real well.
Austin has stepped out and really
surprised us"
Junior team members include
a pair of returners: Keller Smith
(138 pounds) and Travis Webb
(195 pounds) while varsity
sophomores include: Tyler Nor-
sworthy, Dante Olivieri, Noah
Thompson and Peyton Ward.
Joining the nine upperclassmen
are 10 freshmen, most of whom
were on the Monroe County
Middle School squad a year ago,
including the team's lone girl,
Cassidy Holland.
Hamlin said he anticipates his
varsity team will be even larger
in the coming years thanks to the
sport's growing popularity at the
middle school level.
"We've doubled in size for the
middle school program from
last year, which is great because
it only helps to feed into us for
the high school" HamlJn said.
' nd having so many freshmen,
those were
the freshmen
from eighth
grade last year.
They've just
filtered in. It's
going to take
some time to
catch back up,
but I think the
success that
we're going to
have is start-
ing early at the
middle school
level."
Hamlin said
he credits
new c-team
MP Varsity Wrestling Schedule
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME
Dec. 12 Upson-Lee Home 5 p.m.
Dec. 14 John Smith Mountaineer (JV Only) Away 5 p.m.
Dec. 20 East Hall Christmas Away 10 a.m.
Dec. 29 Harlem Bulldog Bash Away ]0 a.m.
Jan. 3 Monticello/Perry Home 5 p.m.
Jan. 8 Walnut Grove Away 5 p.m.
Jan. 11-12 Area Duals @ Perry Away TBD
Jan. 22 Monticello Away 5 p.m.
Jan. 23 Jackson/Rutland Home 5 p.m.
Jan. 25-26 Burnt Mountain Classic Away 5 p.m.
Feb. 1-2 Area Traditionals @ Perry Away TBD
Feb. 8-9 State Sect. Traditionals @ WL Away TBD
Feb. 13-16 State Traditionals @ MaconAway TBD
coach Douglas
Fletcher with
the expanding
interest in the
program.
"Coach
Fletcher is
a special ed
teacher at the
middle school,
and he's piv-
otal;' Hamlin
C-Team Wrestling Schedule
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME
Dec. 12 Upson-Lee Middle Home 5 p.m.
Dec. 19 Jasper County Middle Away .5 p.m.
Jan. 3 Jasper County Middle Home 5 p.m.
Jan. 8 Walnut Grove Middle Away 5 p.m.
Jan. 23 Henderson Middle Home 5 p.m.
Jan. 25 Area Tournament Away 5 p.m.
said. "He's my
go-getter. He season has ended, he hopes that Hamlin said despite having such
gets those kids involved at the several MP gridiron players join a young team in 2018-19, he's still
middle school level. The reason the wrestling squad and fill in the targeting a move into third place
we have a big group this year is few weight gaps the squad pres- this year.
because he went out and did a ently possesses. For MP to com- "I think we can compete with
little 'recruiting; and it showed, pete with the top squads in its Upson-Lee this year" Hamlin
He'S my guy. He's helped me while area, including perennial powers said. "We lost last night (Nov. 27),
I'm still doing football. He's come West Laurens and Perry, the Mat but we had some weight dasses
in and basically nm practice for Dogs can't afford to forfeit weight forfeited. The ones that we did
me and been a big help to getting classes. While MP placed fourth win, I think we're gonna have,
us started" in its area in 2017-18, narrowly and the ones that we lost, we're
Hamlin said now that football behind third-place Upson-Lee, gonna get better"
MONROE COUNTY
MIDDLE SCHOOL 2018-
19 WRESTLING TEAM:
Pictured on the front row
from left to right: Amorion
Johnson and J. T. Hollifield.
Pictured on the middle
row from left to right: D.J.
Guice, Jacobi Jones, Landon
White, Colby Hubbard,
Braydan Funck, Tanner Law-
rence, Colin Welsh and Ea-
son Farmer. Pictured on the
back row from left to right:
Konner Clark, Ja'Quez Ow-
ens, Derrick Parker, Amelia
Jones, Coach James Shan-
non, Lucas Wells, Coach
Douglas Fletcher, Van Tane,
Ava Hill, Cheyenne Ward
and Malaki Knight. Not
pictured: Rachel Henderson,
Emily Oden, Leighton Judd
and Thomas McCollum.
LADY DOGS
Continued from Front
terms of football. You're not
leaving the court.' I'm just
trying to get them to under-
stand that you can't take plays
off, you can't take seconds
off, because the bali's gonna
keep bouncing. And they
don't understand that because
they haven't played enough
basketball:'
McElhaney will rely heav-
ily in 2018-19 on a trio of
seniors, center Anna Hight-
ower, center Auyonis Avery
and shooting guard JaDasha
Owens. Hightower is perhaps
the squad's most reliable de-
fender, top screener and most
experienced player, Avery is
the team's biggest post pres-
ence and perhaps its most
capable rim protector, and
Owens is one of the team's
best shooters.
The Lady Dogs will also
feature six juniors, led by
third-year starting point
guard Taylor Buffmgton per-
haps the team's most danger-
ous long-range shooter and its
most consistent ball-handler.
Other juniors who will receive
playing time include: forward
Kate Wilson, wing Khada-
jah Bradley, shooting guard
Precious Gaines, forward
Rebekah Brown and wing
Tysheeka Hart. McElhaney
said Bradley and Wilson are
two of his top hustlers, always
willing to do the dirty work
like taking charges or diving
on the floor.
Two sophomores, guards
J'Mya Mann and Victoria
Vining, and one freshman,
forward Tatiyanna Brown,
will also be counted on for big
minutes. Mann, a first-year
starter, might be the team's
most gifted all-around player.
"Mann is actually a basket-
ball player" McElhaney said.
"She sees things. She might be
the best ball-handler we have.
You can tell she's been playing
a long time. But she doesn't
work hard enough. She'll take
plays off. I track loafs, and
she's the leader in loafs. I get
on her about it all the time.
The game ain't gonna stop
because you're tired"
MP'S only real chance to
win in the early season came
last month when the Lady
Dogs dropped a 34-32 contest
against FPD in Stratford's
season-opening tournament.
Bufflngton came up just short
on a game-winning three-
point try, hitting the front
iron on a shot that was several
inches from being perfect.
McElhaney said currently MP
is just focusing on getting its
first win before it re-sets its
pre-season goals.
"You always want to be bet-
ter than your last (season)"
McElhaney said. "We've got to
get one first before we get to
four, which is more than last
year. We still have a chance to
do something, but we've got
to fix a lot of mistakes"
McElhaney said he's trying
not to harp on errors in what
is thus far a winless campaign,
but instead choosing to focus
on what his girls are doing
well to keep the team's morale
from being sunk.
"I have to have reasonable
expectations for what's about
to happen. And I do" McE1-
harley said. "I don't expect
for us to win 20 games, but
I do expect us to play hard
and try to get better each
and every day in practice or
games. I can't just hound on
the things we did wrong. I
have to find some of the good
things because they're going
to continue to hear bad, bad,
bad from everybody else. So
you don't want them to get
accustomed to that. You don't
want them to get used to that
because they'll start believing
and accepting that. They'll
start thinking, 'We're sorry.
We'll just lay down: You don't
want them to get into that
mentality."
e
signs
Georgia
A Stratford Academy senior with Monroe County roots signed a letter
of intent to play golf on scholarship for Georgia State on Nov. 14. Will
Chambless is the son of Mark Chambless of Culloden and Linda Chamb-
less, and the grandson of Roger Chambless and the late Ann Chambless
of Forsyth. Chambless thanked his friends, family, teachers and coach
Cater Pierce for their help in developing his game. (Photo/Terry Sowell)
