BCHS Sports

On Thursday, April 26, Banks County High School hosted the first round of state tennis tournament. The Lady Leopards defeated Pepperell High School 5-0. This win secured the girls an opportunity to go to the Sweet 16.

BCHS will compete at Westminster High School (14-4 season, 5-1 Region) against the Wildcats on Wednesday, May 2. This will be the second time the girls tennis team has made it to the Sweet 16.

"We have had a fantastic season and I am looking forward to playing more matches," said Coach Lisa Thomas.

In singles action, number one Kara Murphy defeated Courtney Minter 6-0, 6-1. Number two Macy Milford defeated Kailey Treglown 6-3, 6-1, and number three Lauren carter defeated Hannah Mathis 7-6, 6-4.

In doubles action, number ones Anna Gailey and Haley Hill defeated Caroline Holbrook and Breanna Landers 6-4, 6-4. Number two doubles Leia Rylee and Taylor Mullins defeated Keetra Murphy and Blair Addison 3-6, 6-0, 10-8 in a tie-breaker match.

On Thursday, April 19, the Banks County Lady Leopards Tennis Team competed in the region tournament at North Oconee High School. The team placed second in the region and will advance to the state playoffs.

BCHS played Elbert County in the first round and won 3-0, the Lady Leopards second match was against Hart County and BCHS won 3-0. The third match was against North Oconee and BCHS lost 0-3.

The Lady Leopards won two out of three matches placing them second in the entire region and gained home court advantage for the State playoffs. The first round of State playoffs will take place on Thursday, April 26 at the Banks County High School tennis courts.

"I am extremely proud of the girls, they have overcome a lot of different obstacles and continue to pull through every match. This is the fourth time the girls have made it to the State playoffs. We hope that our success continues and we are able to make it far in the State playoffs. I hope everyone can attend the match and show their support for the girls' tennis team," said Coach Lisa Thomas.

The Banks County High School Leopards took the final step to win the 8AA North Sub Region Title on Friday night against Union County. The Leopards won the first game of the double header 4-2 and clinched the number one seed in the region playoffs which begin on April 18 at BCHS. The Leopards dropped the second game 9-2 as the team played the full roster for experience.

Leading up to the sub region win, the Leopards defeated Rabun County with a three game sweep the previous week. BCHS took the first game 7-6.
Brenton Ruark, on two days rest, came on in relief of an injured Taylor Foster and pitched five innings while giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits. Ruark struck out seven and walked three to get the victory for Banks. The win gave the Leopards a 6-5 overall season record and a 5-2 in the Region 8-AA North.
Tyler Hellmeister led the Leopards at the plate hitting three of five including a double with three RBI's. [Full Story »] 

The Banks County Leopards held their annual basketball banquet on March 26 at The Grove Level Church in Maysville. The coaches, players and family members were in attendance as the awards were given for a successful basketball season.

Scholar athletes, Will Ledford, Gatlin Boswell, Graham White and Isaiah Smith, received a certificate for retaining an A average during the first semester of the school year.

Jonah Thomas worked hard all season long taking charges. Thomas set a new school record with 57 charges taken in the season. Coach Cleveland was so impressed he has started an new award in honor of Thomas's achievement this season called the Jonah Thomas Award and the first recipient of the award is Jonah Thomas. [Full Story »] 

The Banks County High School soccer teams celebrated senior night last week and are working harder and are more together as the season goes on. The Lady Leopards lost to East Jackson 1-9 and to Oglethorpe 1-5 last week. The Leopards pulled out a victory over East Jackson with a penalty kick and beat Oglethorpe 2-1.

"Tuesday, we lost to East Jackson but they girls played great,” Coach Lauren Calloway said. “They never gave up and are improving each day. We had a game last night with Oglethorpe and lost but the girls are improving every game and really coming together as a team. I am proud of the progress they have made."

Coach Michael Boomer said: " It proved to be a good week for the boys soccer team, we finally started playing as a team. We won on senior night against East Jackson with a shootout win. Adan Gonzalez saved four out of six shots in the shootout, and scored the winning penalty kick."

BCHS followed up with a two to one win over Oglethorpe.

"We started slow but after a few adjustments we shut everything down,” Boomer said. “Goals by Koewy Heu and Mark Loggins sealed this win for us,.

The Leopards have a junior varsity game and two region games after spring break. BCHS must win April 11, Wednesdays game against Rabun to qualify for the region playoffs.

The Banks County High School Leopard golf teams competed this week in two matches — on March 20 against Commerce High School and March 22 against Chestatee High School.

The men's golf team lost 178-198 to Commerce and lost 196-204 to Chestatee. The girls team won against Commerce due to a disqualification and won 91-100 against Chestatee.

Jack Gale shot a 46 for the lowest round of the year for any player on the men's team, Jeffrey Nicholson shot 49, Jarret Smith shot 50, Sam Hill shot 53, Tyler Crouch shot 55 and Taylor Wood shot a 59 against Commerce.

Taylor Wood shot 47, Jeffrey Nicholson shot 51, Jack Gale shot 52, Jarret Smith 54, Tyler Crouch shot 59 and Sam Hill shot a 65 against Chestatee. " The boys are steadily improving as the season wears on," said Coach Len Dalton.

Cara Gowder shot 40, Jody Milford shot 50, Kaitlyn Pole shot 54 and Kaitlyn Duncan shot a 55 against Commerce.

Cara Gowder shot 40, Kaitlyn Poole shot 51, Jody Milford shot 55 and Kaitlyn Duncan shot a 62 against Chestatee.

The team will be back out on the course on April 9th against Jefferson.

The Banks County High School boys tennis team played on the road in Fannin County last Tuesday and took a loss 3-2 for the second region match of the season. The girls team won 5-0 in Fannin County.

The highlights of the match were the play of junior Jake Schaefer and senior Jacob Blalock earning both of the wins for Banks County.

"It was really tough suffering our first loss of the season and it being a region match," said Coach Jeff Ravencraft.
[Full Story »] 

The Banks County High School Leopards had a weak performance on Saturday at the Eagle Invitational held by East Jackson. However, Makayla Hewell set a new school record in the 3200 meter run. The Leopards rebounded at the Oglethorpe County meet this past Tuesday.
BCHS was represented by only three girls at the meet and finished 4 out of 5 with 34 points.

Maggie McCoy finished fourth in the 200 meter dash and first in the 400 meter run. Carli Broome finished first in the 800 meter run. Makayla Hewell finished first in the 1600 meter run and she also finished first in the 2300 meter which is another new school record at 12:51.87. [Full Story »]