Sunday's Central Georgia Daily News 'n Notes: Mercer Tennis Classic, Macon TD Club, Falcons-Giants, United, Hawks, college XC, football
Sunday’s Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
The Daily Scoreboard is here today.
SUNDAY
Scores
College
Soccer
W-Western Carolina 1, Mercer 0
Volleyball
Mercer def. Western Carolina 26-28, 25-17, 25-21, 17-25, 15-13
Day 1 of qualifying done at Mercer Tennis Classic
The Mercer Tennis Classic wasn’t very old when things got interesting.
Teenager Hailey Baptiste knocked off Chanel Simmonds, the top-ranked player in the qualifying draw, in three sets to open things up a little.
Baptiste is a high-school senior from Washington D.C. who turns 17 on Nov. 1.
There is a 32-player qualifying draw which will lead to four players joining the main draw.
The No. 2 seed in qualifying also went down, Anna Danilina losing the first set to Salome Devidze and then retiring. And No. 3 Chieh-Y Hsu lost in two to Paula Cristina.
Wildcards Andie K. Daniell and Peyton Stearns won first-round qualifying matches. Daniell faces Baptiste next.
Players must win three qualifying matches to make the main draw. Action resumes at 10 a.m. Monday at Mercer’s Leroy Peddy Tennis Center.
Falcons, Giants both need wins
One has a quarterback nobody is trying to run out of town, the other one does. That’s the top storyline when 2-4 Atlanta faces the 1-5 New York Giants in a game that will be outviewed by, well, along on Monday night.
Manuel ready for 'Truck Driver' return
Are there financial benefits to cutting Freeman?
Coleman bummed about Freeman's status
Falcons must tend to 'Barkley Rules'
Macon TD Club honors pair
The Macon Touchdown Club has picked a Cav and a Greyhound as players of the week.
Mount de Sales quarterback Dexter Williams is the back of the week after running 19 times for 191 yards and three touchdown, and completing 5 of 7 for 73 yards while also catching a TD pass in the rout of FPD.
Jones County standout Jadarien Boykin is the lineman of the week after racking up 14 tackles, half for loss, and six sacks plus three QB hurries in the homecoming win over Eagle’s Landing.
There were no special teams nominations.
Samford’s Hatcher the Macon Touchdown Club speaker
Samford head coach and Maconite Chris Hatcher is Monday night’s speaker at the Macon Touchdown Club.
Mount de Sales is the featured high school. Jim Donnan is next week’s speaker.
Hatcher is in his fourth season at Samford, and is 25-18 after Saturday’s 35—28 win at Furman. He is 146-75 in 19 seasons at Valdosta State (76-12), Georgia Southern (18-15), Murray State (27-30), and Samford.
The Mount de Sales grad led Valdosta State as a player, passing for 11,363 yards and 121 touchdowns, earning the Harlon Hill Trophy – Division II’s Heisman – in 1994.
He returned to VSU as head coach and led the Blazers to the Division I national title.
Samford was a top-10 FCS team until losing to Mercer, and the Bulldogs have struggled since then but are 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the Southern Conference, tied for fourth.
The Bulldogs trying for the fourth straight winning season under Hatcher.
Samford has several Central Georgians on the roster: freshman kicker Mitchell Fineran of Peach County, freshman wideout D’Marcus Crawford of Putnam County, and sophomore wideout Will Bazemore of Mary Persons.
The club meets at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth, in the Rumford Center, at 304 Pierce Ave. It starts at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and the program to begin around 7. Cost is $30 for non-members, who needn't be accompanied by a member.
United win final home game of the regular season
Atlanta beat Chicago 2-1, and clinched a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League tournament.
Young goes off as Hawks thump Cleveland
Trae Young made shots, made passes, and made plays in Atlanta’s 133-111 win at Cleveland.
(High school teams: Send schedules and results – with game details, first and last names, and records – to centralgasports@gmail.com)
Around Central Georgia
Georgia College’s women were fourth and the men sixth in the Bobcat Cross Country Invitational Saturday. men were fifth. UNC Pembroke won the men’s race and Florida State the women.
FVSU’s men were 17th. Middle Georgia State’s women were 13th, Wesleyan 15th, and FVSU 19th.
Wesleyan’s Katherine Neal wo the women’s 6K in 18:16.4. …
Mercer is the sixth seed in the Southern Conference women’s soccer tournament, and visits third seed ETSU on Oct. 28. Early-round games are Wednesday.
Football updates
Georgia
Georgia Southern