Sunday's Daily News 'n Notes: Mercer Tennis Classic; Falcons, Macon TD Club honorees, welcomes David Greene; Scoreboard
Sunday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
Wildcard entrant Stewart wins the Mercer Tennis Classic
It was clear pretty early that it might take a little awhile.
And the championship of the Mercer Tennis Classic took three sets, which was fine for the onlookers if not stressful for the participants.
But Katerina Stewart started picking up steam and momentum for a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2 win over Shelby Rogers on a sunny Sunday at Mercer’s Leroy Peddy Tennis Center.
Rogers, perhaps the best player all week, took some control of the first set only for Stewart to rally back and actually lead 6-5 lead, and go up in the tiebreaker. Rogers, of South Carolina, then took over the tiebreaker to win the first set.
That was enough for Stewart, who was all but a wall of defense from then on out, not allowing Rogers to get big momentum-turning shots and eventually force an error.
Rogers struggled more in the third set as Stewart kept control.
"The first set, I was able to fight back and almost take it," Stewart said in a release. "Then I saw she might have some kind of condition, so I just stick in there and thought I might have a good chance."
Stewart took home a check for more than $12,000 with the win.
Shaub pretty sharp in Falcons home loss
Matt Ryan knows the feeling: play pretty well and throw for a lot of yards and lose.
Matt Schaub completed 39 of 52 for 460 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough as Seattle held on for a 27-20 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Seahawks led 24-0 at halftime, but the Falcons came out sharper and started to rally. They pulled within 10 on a 1-yard pass to Austin Hooper with 3:08 left, and added a field goal with 1:17 left. But they were unable to snag the onside kick.
Atlanta was outrushed 151-69, and Russell Wilson was an efficient 14 of 20 for 182 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Julio Jones caught 10 passes for 152 yards, Devonta Freeman eight for 63.
Big-picture evaluation to begin
TD Club taps players from Westside and Jones County
Three players will be honored Monday night by the Macon Touchdown Club.
Westside’s Victor Dixon Jr. is the back of the week after completing 18 of 22 for 291 yard and single-game school record seven touchdowns in the win over Kendrick.
Jones County defensive end Nathan Seiy is the lineman of the week after three tackles, one assist, a tackle for loss, a caused fumble, and a sack in the win over Eagle’s Landing.
Westside’s Diego Pedraza is the special teams player after hitting on seven of eight PATs.
Legendary Georgia quarterback David Greene to speak at Macon TD Club
For Georgia fans, the Bulldogs stepping on Tennessee’s face with a hobnail boot will forever seem just like a few weeks ago.
The engineer of that unforgettable win is now 37 years old, and David Greene is Monday night’s speaker at the Macon Touchdown Club.
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.
Howard is the team of the week. Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl president and CEO and Georgia Sports Hall of Fame member Gary Stokan is next week’s speaker, followed by Paul Johnson, Jeff Monken, and West Alabama’s Brett Gilliland.
Greene was a redshirt freshman when he was named the starter before the 2001 season, and forever ingrained himself in Bulldog lore by leading Georgia over No. 5 Tennessee by dropping a short pass to Verron Haynes in the end zone, inspiring legendary announcer Larry Munson to come up with the never-truly-explained, “We just stepped on their face with a Hobnail Boot and broke their nose.”
Greene completed 59 percent of his passes at Georgia for 11,528 yards, 72 touchdowns and 32 interceptions. He is currently second on the program’s all-time list for passing yards and touchdown passes. He was the SEC freshman of the year in 2001, SEC championship game MVP in 2002, All-SEC in 2002 and 2003, and Citrus Bowl MVP in 2004.
The Bulldogs went 8-4, 13-1, 11-3, and 10-2, winning three of four bowl games and ending the 2002 season among the nation’s top three teams.
Greene was drafted in the third round of the 2005 draft by Seattle, and went on to join New England, Kansas City, and Indianapolis before retiring in 2008 without having played in an NFL game.
The father of three has been married for more than a dozen years and has been a partner, along with former Bulldog and fairly regular Touchdown Club speaker Matt Stinchcomb, in the insurance brokerage and risk management company Seacrest Partners based in Atlanta.
Monday Morning Quarterback
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Scoreboard
College
Soccer
The Bears set a single-season program record for wins, and they finished the regular season 10-0 at home. They’ll play at home again when they host Western Carolina in Southern Conference Tournament play on Nov. 3.