Spartan Spam 5-6-05

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Barney Atwater" <bsatwater@hotmail.com>
Date:  Fri, 06 May 2005 11:38:21 -0400

>>>SPARTAN BOOSTER #258
>>>FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2005
________________________________________________________

>>Weekend sports calendar:

>Friday, May 6
6:00pm GACS Annual Celebration Dinner; Gwinnett County Civic Center
6:30pm Varsity girls soccer: GACS at Lovett; third round of State Tournament
Varsity girls track & field: Class AA State Meet; Albany GA  [link to
schedule below]

>Saturday, May 7
Varsity girls track & field: Class AA State Meet; Albany GA [link to
schedule below]
2:30pm Varsity boys soccer; Savannah Christian Prep at GACS; third round of
State AA/A Tourney

Here is the link to the GHSA website for schedule for the girls State Track
Meet at Albany GA:
http://www.ghsa.net/index.php?well_id=2&url_publish_channel_id=564

Directions to all sports’ AWAY games are at this GACS website:
http://gacs.pvt.k12.ga.us/Dream%20Weaver%20Webs/Athletic%20Director/Opponent%20Direction%20Template.dwt
______________________________________________________

>>SOCCER

>No. 6 Lady Spartans play No. 1-ranked Lovett tonight in AA/A State Tourney

>Regular-season opponents meet again in playoffs
By ROBERT HADDOCKS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Troy Bendickson has it all broken down.

The Greater Atlanta Christian coach has watched the film from the 4-2 loss
to Lovett over and over. Two of Lovett's goals were flukes, and No. 6 GAC
controlled play for much of the game, he said. So, Bendickson and his girls
have no fear of their rematch with the No. 1 team in Class AA in today's
quarterfinals.

"The girls are really excited about it," he said. "In the beginning of the
year, they wondered why I put Lovett on the schedule; they dominated AAA.
Now we know why we put them on the schedule. It's going to help us [today]
just because we know what we're facing."

Bendickson is not the only Region 8-AA coach taking that stance. Wesleyan
and Providence Christian also face teams that beat them this season. No. 3
Providence hosts No. 4 Pace, which beat the Stars 3-2 in March. No. 9 Last
month, Wesleyan lost to eighth-ranked Holy Innocents' 2-0.

"This is a great opportunity to redeem our only loss of the season," said
Jonny Williamson, Providence coach. "This will be a good test of how much we
have improved since our last meeting."

...Bendickson gets a second look at Molly Lester, the Lovett midfielder who
was selected as the Class A/AA year player by the Georgia Soccer Coaches
Association. Lester, a sophomore, and the Lovett forwards have great speed,
but the Spartans can stick with them.

"I think we have the matchups to do that," said Bendickson, who is making
his first state playoff appearance since taking over the girls' program
three years ago.

Pace will have the unenviable task of matching up with Providence, which has
scored 21 goals in two playoff games. Sarah Jordan and Elizabeth Franklin
have been on fire, combining for 16 goals in the two games. Lizzie Hamersly
has moved from midfield to sweeper, but, a strong passer, she's still
capable of getting the offense started, Williamson said.

"It took part of the season for Elizabeth and Sarah to start working well
together, but now that they have our offense has really come together,"
Williamson said.

Bendickson, an assistant with the GAC boys during their 2000 championship
season, believes his girls can win it all even though the brackets "did not
fall our way," he said.

"Nobody really wants to face Lovett, but out of all the teams remaining, we
want to face them the most because we know what to expect," Bendickson said.
"We won't be surprised by anything. We know what kind of talent we're going
against and what kind of effort we have to put forth. We just feel like
we're ready mentally. I feel like we're sitting right where we want to sit,
especially if we can get past this game, we feel real good about our shot."

Directions to Lovett School:
Take I-85 South to I-285 West to Paces Ferry Road and turn left. Cross the
bridge over the Chattahoochee and the school will be on the left just after
the green steel bridge
OR
Take I-85 South to I-75 North to exit #255 (Northside Pkwy/Paces Ferry) turn
left go to
the first light and turn left under I-75. Go to the next street (Paces
Ferry) turn right and the school is 1.6 miles on the right just before the
green steel bridge.  Please come out and support your Lady Spartans.

>#5-ranked Spartans have rematch with #2 Savannah Christian Prep

>Coach Thom Jacquet reports:
The boys' varsity soccer team will play tomorrow (Sat.) at 2:30 up on the
hill against
Savannah Christian in the state quarterfinals.  This promises to be a great
game so come
out and enjoy an afternoon of great soccer.

The Spartans beat Savannah Christian 4-0 early in the season. The Raiders'
record is 17-2 and are ranked No. 2 among Class AA/A teams.

>>TENNIS

>Spartans play No. 2-ranked Darlington in State quarterfinals

Our varsity tennis teams will play at home on Monday, May 9, with the girls
playing Darlington at 2:15pm, and the boys' matches vs. Darlington will
follow the girls'.

The Spartans and Lady Spartans defeated top-ranked Walker and Lovett in the
second round earlier this week to reach the quarterfinals.

>>BASEBALL

GAC parent Mark Wood reports on the Spartan team website
http://eteamz.active.com/GACSpartanBaseball/

>SPARTANS EARN PLAYOFF BERTH

The Spartans made the most of the Senior Day festivities [Wednesday] as they
captured the #4 playoff seed in dramatic fashion with a 1-0 win over Lumpkin
County at Hester Field.

Sophomore Landon Bennett threw a complete game shutout, limiting the Indians
to 5 hits, walking 3, and striking out 6 in a very impressive performance.
Defensively, the Spartans were sharp the entire day, with the highlight
being a very nice short to second to first double play in the third inning
to kill an Indian rally in the making.

Offensively, the Spartans made the most of their 2 hits. With the score
knotted at zero, the Spartans came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth
and Senior Jason Cunningham delivered a lead off single to right field.
Senior Chase Curth was inserted as a pinch runner for Cunningham. Curth
stole second base, and advanced to third on a sacrifice by Scott Fambrough.
Daniel Kytle was struck out next and David Shida came to the plate with 2
outs and a very important run only ninety feet away. With the count at 0-2,
Shida turned on an inside fastball and delivered an RBI single to left field
to plate the winning run for the home team.

Last and certainly not least, the Spartans celebrated Senior Day after the
game [Wednesday]. Jason Cunningham, David Shida, Jeff Ordner, Chase Curth,
Andrew Brush and Daniel Kytle were honored for their contributions to
Spartan baseball. Thanks to all of these boys for their hard work and
committment that have resulted in yet another post season appearance for the
GACS program.

...According to the GHSA website, the Spartans, as the #4 seed from Region
8, will travel to Calhoun (#1 seed Region 6) on Friday, May 13 to begin the
2005 playoffs.

>Coach Mike Mitchell reports:
The JV baseball team completed their season yesterday with a strong
performance
in a 6-1 win over Holy Innocents'.  The win avenged a loss to them earlier
in the
season.  Brent Burrows and Mark Edwards did a great job pitching as they
allowed
only 3 hits and one run in the game.  Michael Carothers led the offensive
attack with
two hits and Ian Graham had 3 runs batted in with a two-out double off the
left field
fence in the first inning.

FINAL REGION 8-AA STANDINGS
SCHOOL  REGION RECORD
Buford       16-2*
Wesleyan   15-3*
Providence 14-4*
GACS         11-6*
Dawson Co 10-7
Lumpkin Co  9-9
Union Co     4-13
East Hall      3-10
Banks Co     0-14
Rabun Co    0-14

*Qualify for Class AA State Baseball Tournament

>>GOLF

>Spartans will be at State golf tournaments on Monday

Katie Tufts, Rebekah Osteen, Lisa Licata and Kim Moore play the Creek course
at Hard Labor Creek State Park on Monday in the Class AA State Tournament.

The Spartan boys golf team, which won the Region 8-AA tourney last week,
will play Monday at the Class AA State Tournament, at the Rocky Creek Golf
Club in Vidalia. The team includes Blake Joiner, Chris Gilbert, David
Thompson, Ben Hailey, Patrick Howard, and Pavle Potparic.

>>FOOTBALL

Spring football practice completes its first week today. Practice ends next
week with the Varsity & JV Red & White game; May 13; 6pm at Stadium.

>2005 Varsity Football Schedule

Aug. 19 Open Date
Aug. 26 Westminster at GAC
Sep. 2  GAC at Dawson Co.
Sep. 9  Wesleyan at GAC
Sep. 16 GAC at Banks Co.
Sep. 23 GAC at Blessed Trinity
Sep. 30 Rabun Co. at GAC
Oct. 7  GAC at Union Co.
Oct. 14 Lumpkin Co. at GAC
Oct. 21 GAC at Buford
Oct. 28 East Hall at GAC
Nov. 4  State Playoffs begin