Former English soccer star Steve Heighway will conduct a coaching symposium for area coaches at Georgia Southern University today.
Heighway played for the Liverpool Football Club during the 1970s. He is now the director of the Liverpool Academy, a state-of-the-art training facility that provides instruction to some of the most talented young players in England.
The symposium at Georgia Southern will feature two separate clinics: The University Team Clinic — Heighway will give a demonstration of coaching at the collegiate and elite levels from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. at the Georgia Southern soccer stadium.
He will spend an hour with the men’s team and an hour with the women’s team. Due to NCAA rules, this clinic is for observation only.
The Coaching Education Clinic — Heighway will give a demonstration of coaching at the high school and select player levels from 7:30 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. at Paulson Stadium. During this session, he will interact with coaches and answers questions regarding coaching and player development.
In the event of rain, both clinics will be conducted in Hanner Fieldhouse.
There is no fee for either clinic, but space is limited, and advance registration is required. Any coach who does not register in advance may not be admitted.
The general public will be allowed to watch both of the clinics from the bleachers.
For more information, contact Andrew Hansen at ahansen@georgiasouthern.edu or (912) 681-0261.
Screven soccer is
one win from state
Haley Iten scored twice to lead the Screven County soccer team to a 4-0 win at Lincoln County Tuesday.
The Lady Gamecocks improved to 11-3 overall and 5-1 in Area 4 A-AA. Randi Brown and Megan McGuire added one goal apiece, and Andrea Crews had one assist. Screven can secure a trip to the state playoffs with a win in its regular-season finale Friday at Jefferson County.
SEB boys
tennis tops Metter
The Southeast Bulloch boys tennis team won at Metter 5-0 Tuesday to improve to 6-4 overall and 2-0 in Region 3-AA.
Singles winners for the Yellow Jackets were Toby Sanders (6-2, 6-0), Jon Martin (6-2, 6-0) and Aaron Groover (forfeit). Sam Dickerson and Brooks Edenfield won at No. 1 doubles, 6-2, 6-2, and Brandon Sellers and Will Jones won at No. 2 doubles, 6-0, 6-3.
The SEB girls fell to Metter, 5-0, and are 6-3-1 overall and 0-2 in the region.
The Yellow Jackets will face Westside-Augusta at the Newman Tennis Center in Augusta Friday around 3:30 p.m.
Screven tennis sweeps Swainsboro
Both Screven County tennis teams picked up 5-0 wins at Swainsboro Tuesday.
Winners for the Lady Gamecocks (10-3, 4-0 Region 3-AA) were: Carly Bess Williams (6-4, 6-3), Whitney Waters (6-0, 6-0), Kate Blackburn (6-0, 6-1), Natalie Hunter and Carter Mills (6-1, 6-0) and Katherine Wells and Evan Sheppard (6-2, 6-1).
Winners for the Screven County boys (8-5, 4-0) were: Eric Boddiford (6-1, 6-0), Kyle Reynolds (6-0, 6-0), Bo Evans (6-0, 6-1), Samuel Woods and Adrian Graham (6-0, 6-1) and Zachary Parker and Hunter Sommers (7-5, 6-2).
The Gamecocks host Effingham County today at 4 p.m.
BA’s Rocker
shoots a 71
METTER — Bulloch Academy junior Mark Rocker fired a one-under par 71 to win low-medalist honors Monday at a multi-team golf match at Willow Lake Golf Course.
As a team, the Gators finished third. Gator senior John Dempsey shot a personal best 85. Host David Emanuel won the match with a 310.
Bulloch Academy travels to Waynesboro Thursday for a multi-team Region 2-AA match at the Waynesboro Country Club.
SEB girls
fall at Calvary
Kacey Jones recorded 12 saves for the Southeast Bulloch girls soccer team in its 2-0 loss at Calvary Day Tuesday. The Lady Yellow Jackets (7-5-2, 4-3 Region 3-AA) conclude the regular season with a 7 p.m. home game against Savannah Country Day Thursday.
SEB Hall of Fame Info
Southeast Bulloch will be inducting new members into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 14th at the SEB Middle School cafeteria at 7:30 pm. Call Bobby Costlow at 842-2131 for more information and to purchase tickets.
Portal baseball
falls to Calvary
The Portal baseball team Portal lost to Calvary Day 10-3 at home Tuesday. Senior Tagg Lanier had two doubles for the Panthers, who travel to Tattnall County for a 4 p.m. game today.
Relay For Life
softball tournament
A softball and half-rubber ball tournament will be held Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7 at the Screven County Recreation Complex to benefit Relay for Life.
Live entertainment, a dunking booth and concessions will all be part of the event which begins at 7 p.m. on Friday. All proceeds will go to Relay for Life. Admission is free but donations will be gladly accepted.
GSU to host Pro-Am
Georgia Southern Golf and Forest Heights Country Club are teaming up to host the Georgia Southern Pro-Am Golf Tournament, Monday, April 9, at the Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro with proceeds to benefit the GSU Golf program.
All are invited to this event with teams consisting of four golfers and a professional playing in the scramble format. A limited number of spaces are available.
Participants will receive: Green fee and cart, a Georgia Southern golf shirt, an opportunity to meet the GSU golf team, refreshments, cocktail hour, dinner after play, raffle gifts and awards for the winning teams.
For more information contact GSU head golf coach Larry Mays by phone at (912) 852-3769, or by e-mail at lmays@georgiasouthern.edu.
Local track meet to be held April 14
The Statesboro-Bulloch County Parks and Recreation Department and Subway will host a local track meet for ages seven to 14 on Saturday, April 14, at the new Georgia Southern University track and field complex. Check-in will begin at 7:45 a.m. on the day of the meet, followed by a 9 a.m. start.
The meet is free for all participants and will consist of track and field events including the 50-meter dash, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter run, 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run, standing long jump, running long jump, high jump, softball throw and shot put.
Those wanting to participate can pre-register at the Honey Bowen Building on Fair Road or by logging on to www.bullochrec.com by Monday, April 9. Late registration will be taken at the event starting one hour prior to and up to 15 minutes before the 9 a.m. start time. The first 250 children to register will receive a free t-shirt at check-in.
Students who are currently participating in a school track program are not eligible to participate in the Subway Local Track Meet.
For those who qualify, a district track meet will take place on April 28 in Swainsboro, and a state track meet will be held May 11-12 in Carrollton.
For more information on the event, contact Ronnie Melton at SBCPRD at (912) 764-5637 or visit www.bullochrec.com.
Tech tops Eagles
Georgia Tech scored five runs in the sixth inning to pull away for a 10-2 win over Georgia Southern, Tuesday night in Atlanta. The Eagles (16-13 overall) dropped their fourth straight.
Making his first start in more than a month, Josh Lairsey was touched for four straight singles to start the game.
Lairsey (0-1) struck out a season-high five batters, but was charged for five runs on seven hits and walked three. Relief pitchers Burt Barto and Mike Chiciak each struck out two batters in an inning of work.
The Eagles close out the Georgia Tech series today at 3 p.m. The game will be televised on SportSouth.
Replay now
permanent in NFL
PHOENIX (AP) — Replay is here to stay in the NFL.
Or at least as permanently as any rule can be in pro football.
League owners voted 30-2 on Tuesday to make the video replay system a permanent officiating tool. All but three stadiums will be equipped with high-definition equipment and will be recabled before the upcoming season, at a cost of as much as $300,000 per club. The stadiums being replaced in Irving, Texas, Indianapolis and East Rutherford, N.J., will not get the updates.
‘‘It’s a long time coming,’’ said Atlanta Falcons general manager Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee that recommended the change. ‘‘It made sense to us this year to do it. Instant replay is an accepted part of the game. It’s what we are. There was not really much discussion about it.’’
Cincinnati and Arizona voted against the proposal, as they nearly always do on replay issues.
The owners also voted unanimously to allow a second interviewing window for assistant coaches on Super Bowl teams who are in the running for other head coaching jobs. Previously, only during the week after the season ended could an interview be conducted.
The coach’s current team would have to grant permission for the second interview, which would take place during the bye week after the conference title games.
‘‘We wanted to make sure that coaches on Super Bowl teams didn’t feel it was a disadvantage,’’ McKay said.
One proposal was defeated. Defenses will not be allowed to have a coach-to-player communications device similar to what quarterbacks use. McKay said owners and coaches were concerned about who would be allowed to wear the device with defenses using multiple formations, and the possibility that more than one player could wind up on the field with such a device.
‘‘Conceivably, we’ll bring it up again,’’ McKay said. ‘‘We haven’t see its last discussion.’’
San Francisco withdrew its proposal to make defensive pass interference either a 15-yard penalty or a spot foul, depending on the severity of the infraction.
McKay was not optimistic that the recommendation to move the kickoff for overtime from the 30-yard line to the 35 would pass Wednesday. He said some people were concerned about the effect on the return game, and that a group of owners would favor a mandatory two-possession overtime in which each team gets the ball once.
That has not been proposed, however. Nor has any system similar to the college overtimes, or a continuation of the game from where it ended after four quarters.
‘‘I’m bothered by the stats with respect to overtime,’’ McKay said, citing a significant spike since 1997 in how many teams won overtime games after also winning the coin toss. That percentage went from 55.9 from 1994-97 to 64.6 for the next four seasons. And after it dropped to 60 percent for 2002-05, it went up to 63.6 last season.
‘‘We’re a league that tries to balance the field and clearly the field is not balanced with respect to overtime with the kickoff.’’
The owners also will vote on Tampa Bay’s proposal to use instant replay for all penalties except holding; increasing the number of players suited up for games from 45 to 47; and instituting 5-yard penalties for players who spike the ball on the field of play. Spikes in the end zone after scores would be allowed.
Tennessee 98, Mississippi 62
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — To beat Tennessee, Mississippi needed to play a near-perfect game.
Instead, Candace Parker and the Lady Vols did.
With Parker dominating at both ends and the talented Lady Vols getting contributions from almost everybody else on the roster, they rolled over the Rebels and into their 17th Final Four 98-62 on Tuesday night.
By winning the Dayton Regional, top-seeded Tennessee (32-3) moves on to play either Purdue or North Carolina in the national semifinals in Cleveland on Sunday. LSU (30-7) and Rutgers (26-8) meet in the other game.
Parker scored 24 points and had 14 rebounds, but she dictated the game in many ways. She hit 10 of 14 shots from the field and also had three assists, three steals and five blocked shots in a virtual highlight film of a game.
She might have posted even gaudier numbers if coach Pat Summitt hadn’t rested her at the end of the first half and for the final 12:10 of the game.
Heighway played for the Liverpool Football Club during the 1970s. He is now the director of the Liverpool Academy, a state-of-the-art training facility that provides instruction to some of the most talented young players in England.
The symposium at Georgia Southern will feature two separate clinics: The University Team Clinic — Heighway will give a demonstration of coaching at the collegiate and elite levels from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. at the Georgia Southern soccer stadium.
He will spend an hour with the men’s team and an hour with the women’s team. Due to NCAA rules, this clinic is for observation only.
The Coaching Education Clinic — Heighway will give a demonstration of coaching at the high school and select player levels from 7:30 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. at Paulson Stadium. During this session, he will interact with coaches and answers questions regarding coaching and player development.
In the event of rain, both clinics will be conducted in Hanner Fieldhouse.
There is no fee for either clinic, but space is limited, and advance registration is required. Any coach who does not register in advance may not be admitted.
The general public will be allowed to watch both of the clinics from the bleachers.
For more information, contact Andrew Hansen at ahansen@georgiasouthern.edu or (912) 681-0261.
Screven soccer is
one win from state
Haley Iten scored twice to lead the Screven County soccer team to a 4-0 win at Lincoln County Tuesday.
The Lady Gamecocks improved to 11-3 overall and 5-1 in Area 4 A-AA. Randi Brown and Megan McGuire added one goal apiece, and Andrea Crews had one assist. Screven can secure a trip to the state playoffs with a win in its regular-season finale Friday at Jefferson County.
SEB boys
tennis tops Metter
The Southeast Bulloch boys tennis team won at Metter 5-0 Tuesday to improve to 6-4 overall and 2-0 in Region 3-AA.
Singles winners for the Yellow Jackets were Toby Sanders (6-2, 6-0), Jon Martin (6-2, 6-0) and Aaron Groover (forfeit). Sam Dickerson and Brooks Edenfield won at No. 1 doubles, 6-2, 6-2, and Brandon Sellers and Will Jones won at No. 2 doubles, 6-0, 6-3.
The SEB girls fell to Metter, 5-0, and are 6-3-1 overall and 0-2 in the region.
The Yellow Jackets will face Westside-Augusta at the Newman Tennis Center in Augusta Friday around 3:30 p.m.
Screven tennis sweeps Swainsboro
Both Screven County tennis teams picked up 5-0 wins at Swainsboro Tuesday.
Winners for the Lady Gamecocks (10-3, 4-0 Region 3-AA) were: Carly Bess Williams (6-4, 6-3), Whitney Waters (6-0, 6-0), Kate Blackburn (6-0, 6-1), Natalie Hunter and Carter Mills (6-1, 6-0) and Katherine Wells and Evan Sheppard (6-2, 6-1).
Winners for the Screven County boys (8-5, 4-0) were: Eric Boddiford (6-1, 6-0), Kyle Reynolds (6-0, 6-0), Bo Evans (6-0, 6-1), Samuel Woods and Adrian Graham (6-0, 6-1) and Zachary Parker and Hunter Sommers (7-5, 6-2).
The Gamecocks host Effingham County today at 4 p.m.
BA’s Rocker
shoots a 71
METTER — Bulloch Academy junior Mark Rocker fired a one-under par 71 to win low-medalist honors Monday at a multi-team golf match at Willow Lake Golf Course.
As a team, the Gators finished third. Gator senior John Dempsey shot a personal best 85. Host David Emanuel won the match with a 310.
Bulloch Academy travels to Waynesboro Thursday for a multi-team Region 2-AA match at the Waynesboro Country Club.
SEB girls
fall at Calvary
Kacey Jones recorded 12 saves for the Southeast Bulloch girls soccer team in its 2-0 loss at Calvary Day Tuesday. The Lady Yellow Jackets (7-5-2, 4-3 Region 3-AA) conclude the regular season with a 7 p.m. home game against Savannah Country Day Thursday.
SEB Hall of Fame Info
Southeast Bulloch will be inducting new members into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 14th at the SEB Middle School cafeteria at 7:30 pm. Call Bobby Costlow at 842-2131 for more information and to purchase tickets.
Portal baseball
falls to Calvary
The Portal baseball team Portal lost to Calvary Day 10-3 at home Tuesday. Senior Tagg Lanier had two doubles for the Panthers, who travel to Tattnall County for a 4 p.m. game today.
Relay For Life
softball tournament
A softball and half-rubber ball tournament will be held Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7 at the Screven County Recreation Complex to benefit Relay for Life.
Live entertainment, a dunking booth and concessions will all be part of the event which begins at 7 p.m. on Friday. All proceeds will go to Relay for Life. Admission is free but donations will be gladly accepted.
GSU to host Pro-Am
Georgia Southern Golf and Forest Heights Country Club are teaming up to host the Georgia Southern Pro-Am Golf Tournament, Monday, April 9, at the Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro with proceeds to benefit the GSU Golf program.
All are invited to this event with teams consisting of four golfers and a professional playing in the scramble format. A limited number of spaces are available.
Participants will receive: Green fee and cart, a Georgia Southern golf shirt, an opportunity to meet the GSU golf team, refreshments, cocktail hour, dinner after play, raffle gifts and awards for the winning teams.
For more information contact GSU head golf coach Larry Mays by phone at (912) 852-3769, or by e-mail at lmays@georgiasouthern.edu.
Local track meet to be held April 14
The Statesboro-Bulloch County Parks and Recreation Department and Subway will host a local track meet for ages seven to 14 on Saturday, April 14, at the new Georgia Southern University track and field complex. Check-in will begin at 7:45 a.m. on the day of the meet, followed by a 9 a.m. start.
The meet is free for all participants and will consist of track and field events including the 50-meter dash, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter run, 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run, standing long jump, running long jump, high jump, softball throw and shot put.
Those wanting to participate can pre-register at the Honey Bowen Building on Fair Road or by logging on to www.bullochrec.com by Monday, April 9. Late registration will be taken at the event starting one hour prior to and up to 15 minutes before the 9 a.m. start time. The first 250 children to register will receive a free t-shirt at check-in.
Students who are currently participating in a school track program are not eligible to participate in the Subway Local Track Meet.
For those who qualify, a district track meet will take place on April 28 in Swainsboro, and a state track meet will be held May 11-12 in Carrollton.
For more information on the event, contact Ronnie Melton at SBCPRD at (912) 764-5637 or visit www.bullochrec.com.
Tech tops Eagles
Georgia Tech scored five runs in the sixth inning to pull away for a 10-2 win over Georgia Southern, Tuesday night in Atlanta. The Eagles (16-13 overall) dropped their fourth straight.
Making his first start in more than a month, Josh Lairsey was touched for four straight singles to start the game.
Lairsey (0-1) struck out a season-high five batters, but was charged for five runs on seven hits and walked three. Relief pitchers Burt Barto and Mike Chiciak each struck out two batters in an inning of work.
The Eagles close out the Georgia Tech series today at 3 p.m. The game will be televised on SportSouth.
Replay now
permanent in NFL
PHOENIX (AP) — Replay is here to stay in the NFL.
Or at least as permanently as any rule can be in pro football.
League owners voted 30-2 on Tuesday to make the video replay system a permanent officiating tool. All but three stadiums will be equipped with high-definition equipment and will be recabled before the upcoming season, at a cost of as much as $300,000 per club. The stadiums being replaced in Irving, Texas, Indianapolis and East Rutherford, N.J., will not get the updates.
‘‘It’s a long time coming,’’ said Atlanta Falcons general manager Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee that recommended the change. ‘‘It made sense to us this year to do it. Instant replay is an accepted part of the game. It’s what we are. There was not really much discussion about it.’’
Cincinnati and Arizona voted against the proposal, as they nearly always do on replay issues.
The owners also voted unanimously to allow a second interviewing window for assistant coaches on Super Bowl teams who are in the running for other head coaching jobs. Previously, only during the week after the season ended could an interview be conducted.
The coach’s current team would have to grant permission for the second interview, which would take place during the bye week after the conference title games.
‘‘We wanted to make sure that coaches on Super Bowl teams didn’t feel it was a disadvantage,’’ McKay said.
One proposal was defeated. Defenses will not be allowed to have a coach-to-player communications device similar to what quarterbacks use. McKay said owners and coaches were concerned about who would be allowed to wear the device with defenses using multiple formations, and the possibility that more than one player could wind up on the field with such a device.
‘‘Conceivably, we’ll bring it up again,’’ McKay said. ‘‘We haven’t see its last discussion.’’
San Francisco withdrew its proposal to make defensive pass interference either a 15-yard penalty or a spot foul, depending on the severity of the infraction.
McKay was not optimistic that the recommendation to move the kickoff for overtime from the 30-yard line to the 35 would pass Wednesday. He said some people were concerned about the effect on the return game, and that a group of owners would favor a mandatory two-possession overtime in which each team gets the ball once.
That has not been proposed, however. Nor has any system similar to the college overtimes, or a continuation of the game from where it ended after four quarters.
‘‘I’m bothered by the stats with respect to overtime,’’ McKay said, citing a significant spike since 1997 in how many teams won overtime games after also winning the coin toss. That percentage went from 55.9 from 1994-97 to 64.6 for the next four seasons. And after it dropped to 60 percent for 2002-05, it went up to 63.6 last season.
‘‘We’re a league that tries to balance the field and clearly the field is not balanced with respect to overtime with the kickoff.’’
The owners also will vote on Tampa Bay’s proposal to use instant replay for all penalties except holding; increasing the number of players suited up for games from 45 to 47; and instituting 5-yard penalties for players who spike the ball on the field of play. Spikes in the end zone after scores would be allowed.
Tennessee 98, Mississippi 62
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — To beat Tennessee, Mississippi needed to play a near-perfect game.
Instead, Candace Parker and the Lady Vols did.
With Parker dominating at both ends and the talented Lady Vols getting contributions from almost everybody else on the roster, they rolled over the Rebels and into their 17th Final Four 98-62 on Tuesday night.
By winning the Dayton Regional, top-seeded Tennessee (32-3) moves on to play either Purdue or North Carolina in the national semifinals in Cleveland on Sunday. LSU (30-7) and Rutgers (26-8) meet in the other game.
Parker scored 24 points and had 14 rebounds, but she dictated the game in many ways. She hit 10 of 14 shots from the field and also had three assists, three steals and five blocked shots in a virtual highlight film of a game.
She might have posted even gaudier numbers if coach Pat Summitt hadn’t rested her at the end of the first half and for the final 12:10 of the game.
