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Four-way tie?

January 25, 2008

dchamplin

I’m slated to cover Russell County at Dothan boys basketball tonight. If Russell County pulls the road win, there will be a four-way tie in that Class 6A area with Enterprise and Northview. All four teams will be 3-3 in area play.

Dothan is the only team in that area with a road win, as Dothan won at Russell County earlier this year. If RCHS pulls the win tonight, supposedly it’s going to be a coin flip to determine area seedings. So if Dothan loses, it could find itself in first place as of right now to fourth place and traveling to Seale (where RCHS is) for the area tournament.

You hate to see seedings get decided by a coin flip. That’s how Ashford and Daleville decided its area title as both teams had identical records and split, but in the case of a four-way tie, there’s really nothing else you can do.

So I’ll be interested to actually see if Russell County can win and create some chaos.

Caught some AISA action tonight

January 18, 2008

dchamplin

I’ve long thought our best chance at a state title in the Wiregrass was the Barbour County boys in Class 2A. I might be wrong - Abbeville Christian could bring home a title in AISA Class 1A. At that level, there aren’t many players like Tommy Wojtala and Chase Smith.

Wojtala scored 33 points in ACA’s 75-63 win over Ashford Academy. He could have scored 50 had he shot more in the first quarter at the rate he was going. All but six of his points came in the second and third quarters to extend the lead.

The big shot of the night came at the end of the third quarter as Ashford Academy whittled a 20-point lead down to 9. He took an inbounds pass with 2 seconds left, threw it up from 3/4 of the court away, and drilled it. That was the backbreaker, as Smith heated up in the fourth quarter and iced the game. Smith scored 28.

Ashford Academy was a more physical team, but couldn’t match up late in the game stamina-wise. James Gardner is a ninth-grader with a good looking shot who could grow up to be one of the better players in AISA.

But I do know one thing, Moses Knight over at Abbeville sure could use a sharpshooter like Wojtala.

Here’s the game story from ACA’s big win.

Here’s a game I’d like to see tonight

dchamplin

Northside Methodist plays Chilton Christian Academy not here, not there, but at a neutral site in Montgomery at Calvary Christian.

These two have battled it out in ACEAA and are perhaps the top two teams. NMA beat CCA in two straight championships in 2005 and 2006, but things got testy last year. It’s fair to say that both teams have a heated, very heated rivalry that stretches even to the fans.

Last year, Chilton won its semifinal game in the state tournament. Before NMA was going to play, during warmups, NMA players and coaches said a CCA coach taunted one of NMA’s players. NMA won its semifinal, but ACEAA officials decided not to play the championship game and declare the two co-champs out of safety fears.

There had been plenty of events, numerous technical fouls between the schools in recent games, and plenty of fan interaction that wasn’t so christianlike, so I’m told.

I wrote a long follow-up to that a couple of days later that I wish I could find online, but it may have expired. It was almost a year ago. NMA players spoke in great detail about the event, as well as coach Mike Johnson, so I got some pretty good stuff.

It’s a shame that it had to end like that, but it did. The two teams decided to play at a neutral site this year and, even in Montgomery, it should be a packed house. If it were in Dothan, I’m certain we would be covering it tonight.

It sounds like a good rivalry and I hope it stays clean tonight. NMA always has a good team and I’m certain it could beat some teams in our coverage area in the public school system, but AHSAA won’t let their schools play AISA or ACEAA schools. ACEAA and AISA teams can play each other and ACEAA teams can play public schools in other states.

Wicksburg, Houston County take it down to the wire

January 15, 2008

jjohnson

I saw a really good game Tuesday night between Wicksburg and Houston County. Both teams displayed plenty of heart, poise and big-time performances.
In the end, it was Wicksburg holding tough to take it, 59-56.
Most impressive to me was the way the Panthers’ reserves played after big Clay Craig fouled out following a technical with over three minutes left in the third quarter, and center Robert Anderson picked up his third foul moments later.
While Wicksburg doesn’t have a lot of experience coming off the bench, the ones inserted held their ground against a more athletic Lions team.
And senior point guard Blake Wallace, the quarterback of the football team, really showed his leadership down the stretch. Against some really aggressive Houston County pressure, Wallace was able to drive through the traffic often and take it strong to the basket.
This one could have gone either way, as was the case when Houston County took a one-point win over the Panthers several weeks back.
Like Wicksburg, the Houston County players showed a lot of poise in hanging tough and having a chance to win all the way to the end.
Both teams are tied for the area lead, and it will be interesting to see which one emerges as the area champ.

Basketball story of the year

January 14, 2008

dchamplin

Look no further than what first-year coach Chad McKnight is doing at Dale County.

The Warriors have always had a few talented players on the roster, but haven’t been able to generate any success. McKnight, a successful girls coach at Geneva County for several years, instilled confidence into the program that it hadn’t seen in a long time. The starting five, with forwards Chris Henderson and Xavier Hightower and guards Greg Henderson, Louis Mays and Trey Merritt, is one of the better starting fives in the area. Chris Henderson, a senior, had 19 points and 20 rebounds as DCHS erased an 8-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Abbeville in a game I covered last week.

Henderson is usually the go-to guy, but Merritt hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime. Even in losses last year, Henderson gave the opposition all kinds of problems. Now, the whole team is causing havoc for its opponents.

Dale County hosts Headland Tuesday in a game that could determine the area championship. Both teams have one loss in the area, though Headland beat Dale County recently in Headland.