TIFTON —
The mercury is dropping, but the stakes are getting hotter for three Tiftarea teams as they seek to continue their seasons this Friday as the state playoffs roll on. The Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes see their second week of win or go home while the Class A dance kicks into gear Friday with the Irwin County Indians staying in Ocilla and the Turner County Rebels making a short road trip.
Fitzgerald (9-2) goes to The Reservation to battle the Vidalia Indians (11-0). The Canes survived a fierce attack by the Northeast, Macon, Raiders, 35-19, in their first round game and Vidalia made the Westside Patriots of Augusta think they were not very sweet with a 57-0 pounding.
The teams had a series against each other from 1936-1941 and played another pair of games in 1998 and 1999.
One more win gives Fitzgerald their ninth consecutive year of 10 or more wins. The Indians aim for their first quarterfinal appearance since 2003. Last meeting: 14-7, Vidalia, in 1999.
Turner County (6-4) also will be riding the buses, as they make the short trip to Vienna to play the Dooly County Bobcats (8-2) at Bobcat Grove. With the new format of Class A state tournaments, divided into public and private schools and using power rankings to determine seedings, both schools were off last week. Turner’s last game, a 30-20 win over the Clinch County Panthers, allowed them to slip into the playoffs. Dooly demolished the Schley County Wildcats, 48-0.
The Rebels have the slight advantage in the series, 10-9, but have lost five of the last seven between them. Last meeting: 27-6, Dooly, in 2009.
Irwin County (7-3) gets the lone home game for Tiftarea schools, when Indian Field is lit up for their game against the Trion Bulldogs (8-2). The last game for each school saw them at nearly completely opposite ends of the state. Trion defeated the Whitefield Academy Wolfpack, 16-7, at home while 320 miles away, Irwin outlasted the Charlton County Indians, 55-34, in Folkston. Not surprisingly, the two have never met on the gridiron before.
Other state games involving area schools:
Charlton County (5-5) at Marion County (8-2)
McIntosh County Academy (9-2) at Brooks County (11-0)
Early County (8-3) at Screven County (10-1)
Mary Persons (9-2) at Cairo (9-2)
Thomas County Central (9-2) at Northside, Warner Robins (11-0)
Warner Robins (9-2) at Harris County (7-4)
East Coweta (5-6) at Camden County (10-1)
Colquitt County (8-3) at Newnan (9-2)
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Fitzgerald’s Larry Stewart (7) seeks an escape route as a trio of Northeast Raiders converge during last Friday’s first round game. Eddie Senkbeil/sgasports.net
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Identity Theft: Do all you can to protect your credit, debit cards
Pictured are a couple of skimmers, used here on an ATM machine and gas pump. The devices usually fit right over the original card reader or key pad, but are loose when tugged.
It's summertime and there may be only two words on your mind – road trip. As we hit the roads this summer for vacations we all make stops at the gas station and the ATM.
Continued ...
Unfortunately, so do identity thieves. They set up machines called skimmers on gas pumps and ATMs that are designed to fool you and benefit them. The devices read your debit or credit card and record the number, which the thief can collect by retrieving the skimmer or even remotely using a smartphone and a wireless Internet connection. The information will then be used to create a duplicate card bearing the number, but a different name. - Tift Sheriff’s Office investigating scam
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Fields played, coached three eras of basketball
Imagine a player averaging 29 points per game for a career and receiving no college scholarship offers. That happened to Dona Fields.
Fields, as Dona Gaskins, is easily Berrien High's all-time leading scorer. She scored her 1,000th point as a sophomore and during her last three seasons was the Rebelettes' leading scorer in every game. She received no college attention, no offers. - Kilgore resigns baseball post at ABAC
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Fields played, coached three eras of basketball
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