Sunday's Daily News 'n Notes: HS playoff updates; another good Henley outing; Mercer Tennis Classic; big days for Bryant, Callaway; oh, the Falcons; and more

October 26, 2020 Central Georgia Sports Report

Sunday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media. Updates will be noted, so check back.

The only place to find out who’s playing who in the GHSA and GISA softball and volleyball playoffs is here, in Coverage.

Russell Henley strong tournament

Russell Henley was hot on Saturday, and he stayed pretty warm Sunday in the Zozo Championship in Thousand Oaks, Cal.

He kept rising on the leaderboard and finished tied for third with a 19-under 269, only four shots behind winner Patrick Cantlay.

Henley turned in his second straight bogey-free round of the tournament, with six birdies. His 63 on Saturday tied for the second-best score of the tournament, and was his best round of the young season.

Henley was tied with Bubba Watson, and is up to 15th in the FedEx Cup ratings.

The Bermuda Championship is this week followed by the Vivant Houston Open, and then the Masters Nov. 12-15.

Mercer Tennis Classic get the best for final

(Mercer Tennis Classic release)

If there was any doubt who the two best players all week in Macon were, the lucky souls watching live in Macon while social distancing and the hundreds tuning in on the USTA love feed will tell you it was American Cici Bellis and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. The two squared off for the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic on Sunday and a close tough match was on tap.

Bellis won 6-4, 6-7(4) 0-0 (ret).

Bellis took control in the eighth game of the opening set as she kept moving Kostyuk off the court in a set where there were more service breaks than holds. An emotional Kostyuk committed three unforced errors towards the set, while Bellis rarely showed any emotion.

Kostyuk decided to up the aggressiveness in set No. 2 That meant taking chances and deeper balls to see how Bellis would react. It seemed to pay off for Kostyuk as she flew out to a 5-2 lead. Bellis wasn’t about to give in. She changed the pace on some backhands to again force errors from the 18-year old. Bellis went up 5-6 before Kostyuk calmed down to win a tight tiebreaker.

The brief third set ended when Kostyuk was forced to retire with cramps.

Bellis credited being more aggressive with the win and it's her first ITF win in almost four years.

“There wasn’t much between us out there. I tried to be super aggressive and that paid off,” she said. “Everyone is so good at this level and it’s a few points that make the difference.”

Kostyuk had been great all week and has been hot since tennis resumed over a month ago. The 18-year old from Ukraine upset the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals and took out a tough customer in Magdalena Frech from Poland on Saturday.

Since tennis resumed in 2020, Kostyuk reached the third round at the US Open, falling in three sets to Naomi Osaka, qualified for the French Open and reached the quarterfinals in doubles at Roland Garros.

The Mercer Tennis Classic was the first USTA Pro Circuit event being held in the U.S. since professional tennis came to a halt in March.

Alumni Update

A pair of NFL rookies from Central Georgia had burly – albeit somewhat unexpected – Sunday as assorted issues thrust them into starting roles.

Harrison Bryant of John MIlledge was huge in Cleveland’s wild 37-34 win over Cincinnati.

Bryant got the start and caught two straight TD passes from Baker Mayfield, of three and six yards, on a four-catch, 56-yard day. His scores helped Cleveland tie the game twice en route to a last-minute win.

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Warner Robins grad Marquez Callaway, an undrafted free agent, got his first NFL start for New Orleans, which beat Carolina 27-24.

Callaway caught eight passes for 75 yards, with 10 targets, to lead the Saints in both categories. He hobbled off after an injury with about seven minutes left in the game, but reported he was fine.

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Around/About Central Georgia

Macon TD Club welcomes ex-Tech great and current assistant Choice

Former Georgia Tech star running back and current assistant Tashard Choice 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.

Tattnall is this week’s featured high school.

Choice graduated from Lovejoy, accounting for more than 2,100 yards in offense and 17 touchdowns as a senior.

His college career began at Oklahoma, and he was listed to start as a redshirt freshman, but a hamstring injury slowed him down and opened the door for Adrian Peterson, who went on to become a Heisman finalist. Choice played sparingly, and got a medical hardship at the end of the year.

He played behind P.J. Daniels in 2005, and took over as starter for 2006 and 2007, becoming the first Jacket with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He made second- and first-team All-ACC, made three conference all-academic teams, and was honorable mention All-America by Sports Illustrated.

Choice ran 697 times for 3,465 yards in his 46-game college career, with 28 touchdowns. The fourth-round draft pick in 2008 played three-plus seasons with Dallas, part of a season with Indianapolis, and parts of three seasons with Buffalo. He had 372 carries for 1,579 yards and 10 TDs in 88 games during a six-year NFL career.

His coaching career promptly started, and he joined his alma mater’s staff when Geoff Collins took over.

Players of the week for Oct. 16 games: Central’s Maurice Elder is the back after going for 300 yards and four touchdowns on 26 carries in the win at Mary Persons.

Jones County’s Daniel Scott is the lineman after 10 tackles, half for loss, and two QB pressures in the win over Stockbridge.

ACE’s Kaylun Palmer is the special teams choice after racking up 142 yards in return yardage in the win over Wilkinson County.

Players for Oct. 23 games: Back Jalik Taylor of Centra ran 24 times for 170 yards and was 12 of 20 passing for 141 yards and three touchdowns, along with a conversion and two tackles in the Chargers’ win over Upson-Lee.

Lineman Coleman Cauley of FPD had 16 tackles, one for loss, in the Vikings’ win over Tattnall.

Jones County kicker Evan West was perfect on seven PAT tries, averaged 47 yards punting, and had three touchbacks in the win over Locust Grove.

Alumni Update

Around/About Georgia

One-minute defense collapses in Falcons’ heartbreaker

Gurley ‘mad as hell’

But the real blame …

Former Bulldog broke hearts

Why no runoff?

The good and bad

When scoring is not good?

Miracle needed, miracle delivered