A Look Back In Sports for 2024
It was a big year for local sports in 2024. From Area and Region Championships to State Titles, local athletes showed that they are some of the best in the state. These are the top stories from 2024 in chronological order.
TCHS Wrestling
In January the Toombs County High School wrestling team competed at Jeff Davis High School in the GHSA State AA Dual Championships. The Bulldogs had a great showing over the multiday event, walking away as State Runner-ups.
They first defeated North Mur ray 51-18 in their opening match of the tournament. Toombs won all but three of the weight classes in the match.
Toombs faced off with Jordan in the next round, and again rolled to a win. They beat Jordan 51-24. Toombs won all but five matches in their dual against Jordan.
That set up Toombs in the semifi nals against Union County. This was a much closer match, but Toombs took the win, 45-33.
That put TCHS into the final to take on Rockmart. Toombs gave it their all, but fell short, 55-21.
Dabvn Wadley got the first win for the Bulldogs in the second match of the finals when he pinned his op ponent at 144 lbs. Gailian Wilds
picked up a win by pin at 165 lbs., and Brock Nobles won his match, 7-5, at 285 lbs. The only other win for Toombs came at 126 lbs. by Dylan Vetter by pin.
State Individual Wrestling
There were three local wrestlers
that came home as individual State Champions from the State Tradition- al Meet in February.
For Vidalia High School at 165 lbs., Deuce Hightower came home as the State Champion. Hightower had
TCHS Baseketball In State Championship – Dominic Eason slams one down over a Westside player off an alley-oop from Jesus Quintero in the second quarter of the State Championship Game.
Photo by TCHS
TCHS Wresting Team – The Toombs County High School Bulldogs wrestling team took 2nd place in the GHSA State AA Duals last week.
Photo by TCHS continued from page
a bye in the first round. In the second, he won his match by pin to move into the semifi nals. He won the next match by a 7-0 decision to make it to the Cham- pionship Match. In that final match Hightower won a 9-4 decision over Brady Robinson of Landmark Christian.
For VHS at 190 lbs., Jack Godbee also came home as a State Champion. Godbee also had a bye in the first round, and in the second he took his match by pin. In the semifinals God bee won by pin over his opponent to move into the Championship Match. In the finals, Godbee won by sudden victory over Tyler Malone of Rockmart. The final overall score of the match was 6-4.
Ronald Pointer from VHS came in second place at 175 lbs. He had a bye in the first round and then won by major decision in the second round. He took a close match 10-7 in the semi- finals, but in the finals, Pointer fell by pin to Nahzie Turner of Rock mart.
The Bulldogs of Toombs had one wrestler that brought home a State Championship. Toombs also had two wrestlers finish in third place and two more in fourth place in their weight classes.
Dabvn Wadley brought home the State Title at 144 lbs. He had a bye in the first round, and then his next match by pin. Wadley won his semifinal match in a close 4-2 decision to get to the finals. In the Championship Match, Wadley defeated Paxon Legatt of Union County 7-3 to bring home the title.
Toombs also had two wrestlers come in with a third place fin ish with Wyatt Bunch taking third at 113lbs. And Tyson Brantley fin ishing in third place at 138lbs.
RTCA State Champions
The Robert Toombs Christian Academy Lady Crusaders basketball team won the GIAA State A Championship. RTCA defeated Crisp Academy in the Final 4 at Brewton-Parker College, and then traveled to Columbus and beat Fullington Academy to bring home the State Title.
Ini the Final 4 matchup against Crisp Academy the Lady Crusaders got into some foul trouble in the first half with Bree Wimberly having to sit out most of the half. With that, Crisp was in front 11-6 at the end of the first period. In the sec – ond, Meredith Durden and Kylie Acosta rallied to close in and take the lead late in the first half. At halftime, the two teams were tied, 14-14.
In the second half, the Lady Crusaders began to pull away from Crisp, and they went on to win the game, 43-22.
In the State Championship against Fullington Academy at Columbus State University, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, nerves got the better of both teams, but in the second half, it was a barn burner that came down to just one point in the final seconds of the game. It was low scoring in the first half with Ful lington leading just 7-2 at the end of the first period. In the second, RTCA began to show some like as they came back and tied the game at 11-11 with two minutes on the clock. RTCA took their first lead, 15- 13, with just 9 seconds left and held that score at halftime.
In the third quarter, RTCA went on a run as they pulled out to a 2415 lead, and they led 29-20 at the end of the third period.
But in the fourth, The Fullington Lady Wildcats hit two threepointers to start the fourth quarter, to bring it back to a 29-26 lead for RTCA. It was 29-28 with 6:40 to play, and then with 6:14 on the clock Fullington went ahead, 30-29.
With 4:30 to play, Fullington hit a three to lead 36-34, but a nice pass by Maddie Joyner to Emmie Davis tied the game at 3636. With just 1:50 left in the game Wimberly put RTCA up 42-41, but Fullington tied the game with 50 seconds to go. Ansley Akins hit a crucial free throw with just 18 seonds left to give RTCA the 43-42 lead, and the Crusader defense did the rest, as RTCA held on to win, 43-42.
Coach Jake Wilkinson stated, “They got up big and they are a really good team, but we just found a way to win. Akins works so hard on those free throws, and it paid off today. Our defense is what we feed off, and they did a great job for us. We got big plays from our bench today again, and wow here we are, State Champions. Just a great day to be a Crusader.”
RTCA was led by Wimberly with 15 points, Akins added 10 including the winning free throw, and Durden scored 8 in the win.
MCHS State Runner- Ups
What a year it was for the Lady Eagles basketball team of Montgomery County
High School! They had a record setting season in which they finished with a record of 30-2, and as the State Runner- Ups. But they ran into a buzz saw in the finals against a private school that this school year would have been playing in a different title game.
The Montgomery County High School Lady Eagles played for the State Championship at the Coliseum in Macon against a private school, Greenforest Christian Academy, out of Decatur. Greenforest, the #1 team in the state, was full of international players, including two 6’4” girls and one 6’6” girl. The height of Greenforest was too much for MCHS as they fell in the Cham- pionship Game. MCHS played a good game and kept it close but were just outmatched.
MCHS kicked off the scoring with a three-pointer by Trinity Wideman from the wing, and then a three from Marley Bell put MCHS on top 6-0 early. And by the end of the first period, the Eagles were on top, 8-5. In the second, Greenforest took the lead and were on top 14-10 with just 1:40 on the clock. Amire Banks closed the lead to 1412 with just 37 seconds left, and that was the score at the end of the first half.
Early in the second half, Wideman hit an- other three to put MCHS back on top, 15-14. Bell increased the lead to 1614 with six minutes to go, but their 6’6” center tied the game at 16-16. Greenforest went back in front with a put-back after another rebound. Their center then started to take over the game as they pushed their lead to 20-16.
MCHS kept fighting and they tied the game at 22-22 after another three from Banks with just 1:40 left in the third period. But at the end of the third Greenforest was in the lead, 26-22.
In the fourth, Greenforest began to pull away as they led 32-22 with six minutes to go. MCHS closed it back to 34-28, but down the stretch the Eagles had to try to foul to get back into it, and Greenforest made their free throws on the way to a 39-28 win.
Bell led the Eagles of Montgomery with 13 points, with Banks adding 7, and Wideman 6. MCHS finished the season with a record of 30-2 in one of the best seasons in school history.
TCHS State Runner- Ups
The Toombs County High School Bulldogs Basketball team fin ished their season as the State Runner-up with a record of 29-3 and made history at TCHS as the first team to ever play for the State Basketball Championship.
RTCA Lady Crusaders State Champs – (L to R, Front): Madaline Wolfe, Meredith Durden, Kylie Acosta, Emmie Davis, Bree Wimberly, Rachel Threlkeld, Ansley Akins, Savannah Moore; (Back): Back Row- Becky Pittman(Assistant Coach) Jayden Butterworth, Autumn Moore, Julia Yacovella, Kailen Brantley, Maggie Bowers, Leighton Williams, Ella Newton, Madalyn Joyner, Hannah Williams, Head Coach Jacob Wilkinson. Not pictured Morgan Lynn(Assistant Coach).
Photo by Mike Branch
