BCHS Sports

The Banks County varsity Lady Leopards have competed and won against three tough opponents this week, Oglethorpe 74-25, Fannin 42-38 and Jackson 58-45.

The varsity Lady Leopards have won the last five games and are 7-1 on the season with the only loss coming from the Habersham Central Raiders on the road. The Lady Leopards beat Fannin County for their first regional contest on the road.

"It's the first time we have beaten Fannin and we did it at Fannin,” said head coach Jerry King. “Not only a historical night for us but we did it the hard way, riding over the mountain and in their gym. They are a scrappy bunch and got in our heads late but we were able to hold on for the win. It's great to start the sub region with a win!" [Full Story »] 

The Banks County High School varsity wrestlers won the King of the Mountain tournament this past weekend in Towns County. The tournament consisted of 20 teams from Georgia and North Carolina.

The Leopards finished in first place with a score of 225, Lumpkin County finished second with a score of 197.5 and Cherokee, N.C. finished third with a score of 197.

Tournament Champions from BCHS are Mason Patton, 120 weight class, Francisco Hurtado, 126 weight class, Wes Faulkner, 152 weight class, Hayden Dilbeck, 160 weight Class.

Finishing in second place from BCHS was Philip Dean from the 195 weight class. Finishing in third place was Taylor Wood, 106 weight class, Eli Smallwood, 170 weight class and Matthew Dilbeck, 182 weight class.

The Leopards will wrestle at home on December 6th and at the Choo Choo Classic in Morgan County this weekend. The next home match will be December 13.

The Banks County High School boys’ basketball team helped out over the Thanksgiving break at the Get Real Ministries Grace Point sports complex. The team helped unload a transfer truck from the Feed the Children international charity.

Founded in 1979, Feed The Children is consistently ranked as one of the largest international charities in the U.S., based on private, non-government support. Feed The Children is a Christian, international, nonprofit relief organization with headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that delivers food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to individuals, children and families who lack these essentials due to famine, war, poverty or natural disasters. [Full Story »] 

The Banks County High School Wrestling program hosted it first ever tournament on Saturday November 19 in the high school gym. Named the D. Marlow Duals, the event featured a tournament hosting area high schools to compete on four mats.

"We, as a staff, want to thank Dennis and Debbie Marlow for the work they put in years ago that afforded us the opportunity we have today," said head wrestling Coach Kasey Hanley.

Banks County faced East Hall in round one of the tournament and came out on top 59-18. Round two saw the Leopards against East Jackson and BCHS came out with another victory 70-12. The third round was against Elbert and the Leopards were the winners in that contest which put the Leopards in the finals.
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The Banks County High School basketball teams got started on their season this past week with a trip to Elbert County. The varsity teams played a scrimmage game to get the teams up to speed and so the coaches could see how well the teams have improved since starting practice.

The varsity girls easily won the contest 53-38. The Lady Leopards led the game in all four periods. BCHS was up 16-2 at the end of the first period.

The Lady Leopards led 30-11 at the half, out scoring their opponent 14-9 in the second period. BCHS lead the third period 37-24. Elbert Xounty mounted a come back outscoring the Leopards 13-7 but it wasn't enough. [Full Story »] 

The Banks County Leopards will face another tough opponent in the first round of the AA playoffs. The Adairsville Tigers are 9-1 on the season and are hungry for a win in the playoffs. It has been seven seasons since their last appearance in the state playoffs.

The Tigers have 23 seniors on their team and some pretty good talent. Senior Tail back Mike Upshaw has rushed for over 1500 yards this season. The only loss on the season for the Tigers came from the game against Pepperell (7-3 Overall , 5-0 Region), a 7A-AA team who will play Elbert in the first round of the playoffs.

The Leopards will have to be multi dimensional to beat the Tigers. The will bring a good running game and some of the passing game the Leopards saw last week with North Oconee. The Tigers hold on to the ball exceptionally well and the Leopards are going to have to force turnovers to win the game.

Special teams will need to step up to put a stop to the 15-20 yard average return on kickoffs by the Tigers. Adairsville has also held its opponents to an average of less than 11 points per game with the exception of Armuchee scoring 20 points.

The Banks County High School cross county teams completed their season this past week at the Region 8-AA meet.

The runners had a great year with multiple records being set on the school course, coach Kelly McDuffie said.

"What a wonderful year,” the coach said. “With half of the team being new, we were not sure what to expect. Five of the new runners were freshmen and the team had only two seniors competing this season. Anything could actually happen. They stepped it up and were only one spot from the state tournament. There are more exciting times to come.”

The school record was broken by three runners and set by Makayla Hewell at 20:30.

The Lady Leopards finished fifth in the region with 134 points.

For more details, see this week's issue of The Banks County News.