Spring Hill Principal Randy Hudson receives his award from Race Director Frieda Everritt at the awards ceremony at the third annual Turkey Trot.

The 2007 Tour de Georgia will start on April 16 and Peachtree City will be where this year's tour begins. A route has yet to be announced but 15 world class teams with 120 cyclists will be in town on that Monday, shooting for a chance to wear the yellow jersey.

There were four Fayette area teams in the state playoffs this year and two survived the first round.

Starr's Mill and Landmark Christian both won their first round games, while Whitewater and Sandy Creek were eliminated. The Panthers defeated Ware County 37-6, while the War Eagles edged out Social Circle 56-49. Whitewater was defeated by Brunswick 23-20 and Flowery Branch beat Sandy Creek 45-14.

Whitewater High School maintained its lead until the final minutes of the school's first-ever playoff game Friday night.

Class AAAAA

East Coweta Indians (6-4) @ Tift County Blue Devils (9-1)
Coaches: Danny Cronic (EC), Jay Wallks (TC)
Points for/against: 310/200 (EC); 207/124 (TC)

By BRIAN CHILDS
Special to The Citizen

Jon Bridges was determined to run his first marathon this year.

McIntosh swim team captain Nicole Roddenberry signed a letter of intent to attend and swim for the University of Miami,Ohio last week.

Starr’s Mill senior Brian Fletcher signed a letter of intent to attend and play baseball for Auburn University last week.

The McIntosh Chiefs wrestling team has hit the mats in preparation for another exciting season. The squad returns 11 lettermen who are very focused on improving on last year’s winning season. The returning lettermen are seniors – Landis Ford, Bryce Hughey and Brett Buehler; juniors Carl Scheumann, Matt Carroll, Jonathan Smith, Erik Willanzheimer, Richard Hughes, Jarrod Chamblee, Jesse Toscano and sophomore Jim Murrell.

The GHSA state cross country championships were held in Carrollton on Saturday and area runners did very well once again. Our Lady of Mercy’s boys and Landmark Christian’s girls won state championships in Class A, while Starr’s Mill’s Austin Enriquez and OLM’s Matt Lethbridge were individual state champions.

The high school football season came to an end for three local teams on Friday, but it goes on for four others who will represent their regions in the state football playoffs starting this Friday.

Steve Brown’s Picks:

Whitewater (7-3) vs. Brunswick (7-3)
How do you pick these games without some comparative data against common opponents? Brunswick lost three games against some strong South Georgia programs. Whitewater has been up and down, but they do have the home field advantage. Will Whitewater’s lack of post season play put them at a disadvantage? Brunswick’s defense has held the opposing offenses to seven points or less five times this year. Who is the hungriest team? I’ll take BRUNSWICK to vanquish by 3.

Stephen Sargent has always been a big man on campus. Standing at close to 7’ tall it is hard not to be. A large crowd turned out to see Whitewater’s center sign the first letter of intent to attend and play a sport for a college last Wednesday when Sargent signed with Virginia Military Institute.

Local teams had a good day at the state cross country meet in Carrollton on Saturday. The Our Lady of Mercy boys won the Class A state championship and Matt Lethbridge was the individual state champion in the race with a time of 16:31, while his brother Jake placed third with a time of 16:52. Landmark Christian placed second.

With their wins on Friday night, Whitewater, Starr's Mill and Sandy Creek clinched a spot in the state playoffs. Whitewater beat Northgate 41-27, Starr's Mill defeated Fayette County 42-14 and Sandy Creek handed Cedartown a 41-13 loss.

All season long we have been previewing which game is the biggest on that particular Friday night, but what game isn’t big tonight? Whether it is a rivalry game like East Coweta vs. Newnan, Fayette County vs. Starr’s Mill or Landmark Christian vs. Our Lady of Mercy, or just a game where the state playoffs hinge on a win like Sandy Creek vs. Cedartown or Whitewater vs. Northgate, the high school football season truly has saved the best for the last week of the regular season.

Beth Wiggins recently achieved a major milestone that most of us could not even fathom: she crossed the finish line at the 2006 Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii on October 21, with an overall time of 11:47:12.

On a day made for breaking records, that’s exactly what Fikadu Deme did at the 6th annual New Hope Harvest Day Classic 5K on Saturday morning, November 4th. Gorgeous blue skies and temperatures in the upper 30’s made for near ideal conditions for running and Deme took full advantage of the opportunity.

The 9-10 Brooks Bears Black team ended its regular season 9-0, scoring 264 points and only having 12 points scored on them. This “awesome group of athletes” as their head coach Mark Neal calls them is taking it all the way. They won their first round of the playoffs last Saturday and are heading for the championship game this Saturday. In the top row, from left, are Coach Chris Veer, Coach Chris Neal, Head Coach Mark Neal, Coach Don Allen, Kirk Bollinger, and Coach Robbie Baggett. Players are Hunter Sweatman, Kenneth Allen, Shawn Connaway, Alex Neal, Dylan Crozier, Jeremiah Woods, Ben Baggett, Matt Bollinger, Colton Stooksbury, Cooper Fisher, Cory Carter, Blair Davis, Chase Bayus, Chase Corbin, Jacob Edwards, Michael Clark, Austin Cobb, Ashley Sommerville, and Nick Fraser. Photo/Special.

Steve Brown’s Picks:

Fayette County vs. Starr's Mill
Starr’s Mill is having a wild season, but I think they have enough left to defeat Fayette County. It’s STARR’s MILL.

The Our Lady of Mercy boys won the region 5-A championship with a total of 18 points, while Landmark Christian placed second with 50 points. Mercy’s top five all placed within the top six.

Two cross country region meets will be held tomorrow and local teams and runners should do very well.

The Region 2-AAAA meet will take place at Sandy Creek High School with the girls running at 9 a.m. and the boys race starting at 9:45 a.m. McIntosh’s Emily Borsare and Starr’s Mill’s Austin Enriquez will be tough to beat in their races and both won the county meet, which was held on the same course, just a few weeks ago.

Both teams may be winless in the region, but that does nothing to dampen the enormity of when these two teams meet. There are other high schools and other teams in Fayette County now, providing some more rivalries, but nothing can compare to the first one, which is....

Sandy Creek’s fantastic volleyball season came to an end on Thursday night, while Starr’s Mill’s dream season will continue on to the Class AAAA state finals tomorrow.

The Fayette County Blue Devil 105lb Cheerleaders took first place in the UYFC 2006 Cheerleading Competition held recently at Salem High School.

Tomorrow night two local volleyball teams in two separate classificatons will be playing to make the finals on Saturday. A state championship is close for both of them. One team, Starr’s Mill, knows what it takes to win it all. The Lady Panthers won the state title two years ago. The other team, Sandy Creek’s Lady Patriots, know they just have to keep playing the way they are capable of playing.

After some not so good results the week before, Sandy Creek and Starr’s Mill picked up region wins on Friday, while Landmark Christian continued to roll in region play.

NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth visited Rinnai in Peachtree City on Thursday.

The Carrollton Last Chance Invitational was held on Saturday and cross country teams from all over the state attended, trying to get in shape for region meets and the state championships.