Lady Pirates Down Blountstown

By Clint Cox
The Sneads Lady Pirates rallied for a 3-2 win over the visiting Lady Tigers of Blountstown on Tuesday night. Blountstown jumped out to a 2-1 lead before Sneads fought back to win the final two games to claim the victory. In game one Sneads jumped out to an early 4-2 lead with Ashley Smith serving. Blountstown battled back and tied the game at 9-9 and then took the lead at 13-12. The Lady Tigers led 15-13 and then pushed to lead to 18-15. Meagan Smith came up with a kill and Tiffany Guerra served up a couple of points to tie the game at 19-19. Blountstown pushed their lead back up to three points after a long grueling point. Trailing 22-19 Sneads battled back with a kill by Kara Alford and got a couple of service points from Ashley Smith. Meagan Smith then tapped over a shot and the game was tied at 23-23. The game was then tied again at 24-24 and 25-25. Blountstown took the final two points to claim a 27-25 win.
Game two went the way of Sneads early on as they took a 9-1 lead. Blountstown battled back to make it 9-6. Sneads responded with two points as Bridgette Dawson served but once again the Lady Tigers fought back to make it 11-9. Sneads got hot with Tiffany Guerra serving and pushed their lead to 16-10. Meagan Smith the got back to back kills to make it a 20-13 lead. Ashley Smith served up an ace and then recorded a kill to help Sneads to a 24-17 lead. Kara Alford tapped one over for the final point and a Lady Pirate 25-18 victory. Game Three again saw Sneads jump out to an early 5-1 lead but Blountstown rallied to tie the game. Sneads went back up 11-6, only to see the Lady Tigers rally to tie the game at 15-15. Meagan Smith got a couple of late kills and Dawson served up a couple of points to take the lead but it was not enough as Blountstown rallied to tie the game at 23-23 and then captured a 25-23 win to lead 2-1.
Game Four was nip and tuck early on and then Blountstown surged to a 7-3 lead. Sneads kept battling and stayed close, in part on 3 points served up by Dawson. But Blountstown maintained a 3 to 4 point lead until the Lady Pirates finally made their run. Trailing 16-14 Ashley Smith went to the service line and reeled off 10 straight services points, including several aces. When the smoke from Smith’s serving arm cleared, Sneads led 24-16. They went on to a 25-18 win to tie the match at 2-2. The fifth and final game was all Sneads as Meagan Smith recorded 3 early kills. Dawson made a couple of nice digs and Ashley Smith had a tap over and a kill to lead the Lady Pirates to a 15-9 win and a 3-2 match victory. The district win over Blountstown improved the Lady Pirates regular season record to 3-0 and they will host Vernon on Thursday in another district contest.

Friday Night Football Preview – 9/11/09

Marianna (1-0) at Graceville (0-1) 7pm – Marianna is coming off a 26-6 win over Cottondale while Graceville fell to Northview (Bratt) on the road by a score of 34-16. Graceville has a history of playing Marianna very tough and they’ll look to Leron Hoover to bull his way over the ‘Dogs. Marianna will try to get R.J. Bowers and Tre Jackson untracked early to set the tone. It should be another classic Jackson County matchup in G’ville.
Radio: WJAQ 100.9 FM and WFBU 94.7 FM

Cottondale (0-1) at Franklin County (0-1) 6 pm – both teams lost their season openers and will try to avoid going 0-2 to start the season. In the Hornets loss to Marianna they showed they have have some offensive weapons in Nick Jackson and Dominique Webb. Cody Saye and Ronnie Dixon look to be the headhunters on defense. While Franklin County is a long way to go, the Hornets have a good shot at getting their first win of the season.

Baker (0-1) at Sneads (0-1) 7 pm – The Baker Gators fell to Class 4A Crestview in a big way (35-0) in their opener while Sneads fell to Blountstown 27-7. This game is the district opener for both squads and each team hopes to start the 8 team district race on a positive note. Baker is coming off a 6 win season and a district runner up spot. The Gators always seem to have a solid team so this will be a tough outing for the Pirates. But Sneads has the Gators at home and hopefully that will play into the Pirates favor.
Internet: www.psblive.com

Bulldogs Prevail Over Hornets

By Clint Cox

The Marianna Bulldogs broke open a close game against the Cottondale Hornets in the third quarter and went on to prevail by a score of 26-6. For 2 ½ quarters the Class 1B Hornets gave the Class 2B Bulldogs all they wanted and then some. After a scoreless first quarter the Hornets took a 6-0 lead with 7:11 left in the second quarter on a 14 yd pass from Nick Jackson to Dominique Webb. Cottondale had put together a textbook drive, going 77 yards on 11 plays in just over five minutes. The only miscue was not being able to make the two point conversion run.
Marianna came right back with their own textbook drive, marching 65 yards on 7 plays. The drive culminated with the Bulldogs getting a 45 yard scoring run from R.J. Bowers to tie the game with just under three minutes to play in the first half. A bad snap on the extra point kick attempt resulted in the game remaining tied 6-6, and that score held at the half. The second half started with Marianna taking possession and marching right down the field. After picking up only two first downs in the first half, the Bulldogs picked up three first downs on this second half opening drive. Marjean Dean capped off the 65 yard drive with a 13 yard run to score with 8:55 left in the third quarter. Ryan Rudd added the point after kick and Marianna took a 13-6 lead.
Cottondale, who had played turnover free football in the first half, had a pass picked off by Marianna’s Fidel Montgomery five plays into their first possession of the second half. Their second possession of the half ended in a fumble that was recovered by Marianna’s Dean. That gave the Bulldogs excellent field position at the Hornet 47 yard line. Three plays later Tre Jackson bolted 38 yards for a Bulldog score. The extra point kick failed, but Marianna’s led grew to 19-6 as the third quarter came to a close. Both teams traded punts to begin the fourth quarter and the Hornets committed their third turnover when Montgomery picked off his second Hornet pass of the night. That set up a late Bulldog score as Bowers took it in from 40 yards out and Rudd added the point after kick to make it a 26-6 game.
Marianna was led in rushing by Bowers with 135 yards and 2 TDs and Jackson with 96 yards and 1 TD. Cottondale was led on the ground by Webb with 42 yards and Jackson with 35 yards. Marianna (1-0) will travel to Graceville on Friday to take on the Tigers while Cottondale (0-1) will travel to the coast to battle Franklin County.

Lady Pirates Post Wins Over Marianna

By Clint Cox
The Sneads Lady Pirates volleyball squads flexed their muscles this week in the opening of the 2009 volleyball regular season with impressive wins over Marianna at three different levels on Monday night. Of the eight games played during the evening, Sneads claimed victories in seven of the contest.
In varsity action the Lady Pirates went to work quickly against the Lady Bulldogs. With Ashley Smith serving, Sneads jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Marianna eventually narrowed the margin to 10-6 in favor of Sneads, but Kara Alford served up several winners as the Lady Pirates went up 13-7. From there Sneads outscored Marianna 12-3 to claim a 25-10 win. Game two saw Marianna take the early lead, going up 5-0. Sneads rallied though to tie the game at 6-6 and from that point it was a close battle right down to the final point. The two teams traded the lead back and forth until Sneads pulled away at the very end for a hard fought 25-23 win. That close battle seemed to take some of the wind out of Marianna as Sneads got out quickly to a 6-0 lead and lead 16-4 before Marianna began to fight back. The Lady Bulldogs outscored Sneads 9-6 over the next few minutes to make it a 19-13 game. But with Meagan Smith’s smashes and Ashley Smith’s serves, the Lady Pirates went on to a 25-15 victory to complete the sweep of the Lady Bulldogs.
In 9th grade action Sneads posted a 25-17 and a 25-15 win over Marianna’s 9th grade squad. And in JV action Sneads won the match 2-1, winning games two (25-17) and three (15-9). The Marianna JV claimed the lone win of the night in game one of the JV match. In that contest the Lady Bulldogs came away with a 25-20 over the Lady Pirates.
Sneads was scheduled to host Cottondale on Tuesday night but the games were postponed due to Cottondale’s coach being sick and unable to make the game. As this is a district matchup, the contest will be rescheduled for a later date.

Friday Night Football Preview – 9/4/09

Graceville (0-0) at Northview (0-0) 7pm – Graceville rallied for a tie in their kickoff classic against Sneads last Friday. This Friday they’ll make the long road trip to Bratt to take on the Chiefs of Northview. Treyshaun White and Leron Hoover will be the go to guys in this season opener.
Radio: WFBU 94.7 FM

Cottondale (0-0) at Marianna (0-0) 7 pm – Cottondale elected not to play in a preseason game or jamboree while Marianna struggled with turnovers in their two halves of play against East Gadsden and Liberty County. While the Bulldogs were without several starters in the jamboree, they best resolve their turnover problems or Cottondale will be poised to pull off the upset. The Hornets will look to Nick Jackson and Dominique Webb to help pull off the upset while Marianna will welcome the return of Tre Long, Tre Jackson and Marjean Dean to the Bulldog backfield.
Radio: WJAQ 100.9 FM

Sneads (0-0) at Blountstown (0-0) 7pm – Sneads ended with a14-14 tie against Graceville in their kickoff classic and open up down in Calhoun County against the Tigers. Both Blountstown and Sneads finished the 2008 season at 3-7 so both are hoping for a good start for the new season. Sneads will look to Mark Lawson to lead the way to a season opener win.
Internet: www.psblive.com

Pirates and Tigers Tie; Bulldogs Fall

By Clint Cox
Three of the county’s four varsity football programs took to the field last Friday night for their respective preseason outings. Sneads and Graceville did battle against each other in a Kickoff Classic format while Marianna played host to a jamboree and played a half against both East Gadsden and Liberty County.
In Sneads the Pirates hosted the Tigers in an all Jackson County Kickoff Classic and played to a 14-14 tie at the end of regulation. Given that it was preseason game, no tie breaker was played as both squads were ready to move on and begin preparations for their season openers this Friday. Sneads held a 7-0 halftime lead after senior running back Mark Lawson hauled in a 51 yard scoring strike from Terrance Green. Graceville got on the scoreboard in the second half when Treyshaun White picked off a Sneads pass deep in Pirate territory. Leron Hoover bulled his way across the goal line several plays later on a 2 yard run. The extra point conversion attempt failed and Graceville trailed Sneads 7-6 midway through the third quarter. Sneads got their own third quarter score as Lawson ripped off a 53 yard scoring jaunt to put the Pirates up 14-6. Late in the 4th quarter the Tiger defense forced a Sneads punt from deep inside Pirate territory. Graceville got the ball at the Pirate 27 yard line and with just over a minute to play Hoover scored his second TD of the night on a 1 yard plunge. Tiger QB Jacky Miles, just a freshman, then lofted a pass to Jamal Miller for a two point conversion to tie the game at 14-14.
In Marianna the Bulldogs had the turnover bug in both halves, first against East Gadsden and then again in the third half against Liberty County. In all the Bulldogs had four fumbles, an interception and a bad snap over the punter’s head that resulted in a touchdown. Marianna fell behind in the first half as the Jaguars scored on their opening possession. On Marianna’s opening possession, after being forced to punt, is when the miscue of the snap occurred. A Jaguar recovered the high snap in the end zone for a touchdown and the Bulldogs quickly trailed 13-0. East Gadsden then picked off a Bulldog pass on the next Marianna possession and cashed in on good field position with their third TD of the game, taking a 19-0 lead. Marianna finally caught a break when Tommy Stephens forced a Jaguar fumble and Dalton Bennett recovered. Hakeem Holmes entered the game at quarterback and provided some offensive spark to get the Dogs moving. Holmes then rambled his way 14 yards for a score midway through the second quarter. Ryan Rudd added the point after kick to make it 19-7. Marianna had one more possession in the half but a fumble ended that drive and left the score at 19-7 when the half ended.
After Liberty County downed East Gadsden 14-0 in the second half of action, they took on Marianna in the third and final half of the evening. The turnover bug was still with Marianna as they lost two more fumbles in the half and fell 14-8. Liberty County took the opening possession and drove the length of the field for a score. After a Bulldog fumble, Liberty County found the end zone again to take a 14-0 lead. Both teams traded fumbles over the next couple of possessions but Marianna got some new life with a 91 yard sprint by Charles Barnes for a touchdown in the second quarter. Barnes added a two point conversion run to make it a 14-8 game. The Bulldogs then executed an on side kick with kicker Rudd recovering the ball at the Jaguars 48 yard line. But Marianna could not capitalize and the clock ran out on their comeback efforts.