By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

The Morgan County Middle School Bullpups track squad had a number of team members place at the region track meet, while the team finished fourth overall against the field.
Taking first place in the long jump was Davon Gibbs with a leap of 15'9.'' Gibbs also place second in the high jump with 4'8." Tywan Goodman took second in the triple jump and Colt Simmons finished second in the 1600 meters. Simmons also took third in the 800 meters.
Taking fourth for the Pups were Trey Rollins at Discus, Markell Holiday at 110 meter hurdles and the 4X100 relay team of Rollins, Simmons, Gibbs and Alex Baldwin.
Placing fifth were Zach Stone in the 3200 meters, Melvin Davis in the triple jump, Trey Rollins in the 200 meters and the 4x400 relay team of Rollins, Simmons, Jake Williams and Gibbs.
Rollins also took sixth place in the 100 meters.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

The Bulldog soccer team has never won a state playoff game, but they're hoping this year's the year as they welcome Westside to Madison Thursday at 6 p.m.
Westside comes into the game with a 12-4 record and a second place finish in Region 7 behind eighth-ranked Aquinas.
"They've got a pretty good record," said Bulldog Head Coach Chip Meyer. "They come out of Augusta so we know they played a tough schedule and had to face Aquinas."
"They pretty much play the game the same way we do," Meyer said.
 The Bulldogs, meanwhile, cruised through region play this season. Not allowing a goal in region play until the Greene County Tigers scored right before half-time during Morgan County's 6-1 win last Wednesday to finish region play undefeated.
Zach Yost, Jacob Connelly, Sean Caple, Justin Rivers, Dylan Davis and Mason York all scored goals in the win for the Bulldogs.
Despite giving up their first goal in region play, Meyer said he was glad to get the win and finished with an unblemished region record that earned them a first round home playoff game for state.
"I'm very happy with it," Meyer said.
While the boys get set to take on Westside the girls will get set to take on Jefferson County on Friday at 5:30 p.m., also in Madison. That game will mark the first time in program history that the Lady Dogs will host a state playoff game.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

As baseball season at locals schools is winding down, it's just starting up for the Morgan County Parks and Recreation Department where the new season gets underway on Monday.
According to Recreation Department Director Bill Wood, about 400, including boys, girls and adults, are set to participate this year in baseball or softball programs, a number he said is consistent with years past for the county.
"It's about the same," Wood said of program enrollment. Although, he said there is some minor fluctuation among the various age groups.
On Monday, games for boys nine years old and up will be held at Municipal Park. Games for younger boys, all girls and adults will be held down the road at Heritage Park.
The Recreation Department is just finishing up soccer season which saw over 300 kids participate, Wood said, so the work flow for the department will remain at about the same pace.
"It's all steady," Wood said.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

Just like last year Andrea Ross qualified for state discus competition.
Ross, however, wasn't the only Lady Dogs track team member that turned in a good performance at the region track meet on Saturday and Monday at East Jackson.
Sarah Mullins took fourth place in the region 800 meter race, Alex Adams took fifth in the 3200 meters and Brittany Hill finished fifth in the long jump.
"I thought the girls came out and performed well," said Bulldogs track coach Charlemagne Gibbons. "They're a young team and they've got a bright future."
The boys team, meanwhile, will head to East Jackson for their own region track meet on Friday.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

The Diamond Dogs travel to Fannin County on Friday afternoon for a 1:30 p.m. game with the Rebels in the opening round of Region 8-AA playoff action.
The Dogs still qualified for their region tournament despite dropping some tough games to region foes of the likes of North Oconee and Oglethorpe in recent days.
After being in the mix for second place not long ago, the team will have to settle for a four seed in the south sub-region regular season and hope to earn more respect with a good region tourney outcome where anything can happen.
The JV Dogs, meanwhile, had a tough week last week. After putting together some impressive win streaks not long ago, they dropped contests with Eastside, 6-3, and Rockdale, 13-2.
"In the end we gave them too many runs via errors," said JV Dogs Head Coach Josh Reeves of the Eastside loss. Reeves said the game was competitive throughout and he thought some of his players played well in the effort.
"J.R. Messer, Brian Green and Michael Meadow hit well for us and Drew Stapleton pitched a solid game."
Against Rockdale, the JV Dogs were short-handed, but they still gave a good effort.
"All of my guys are hard workers and they stepped up to the challenge." Terence Harper went 1-2 in the loss with a run scored.

By Greg Sullivan
Sports Editor

The Morgan County High School men's golf team finished their season Monday at the Gold Creek golf club in Dawson County for their region tournament finishing eight strokes out of second place.
A second place finish would have sent the team to the state tournament.
According to Coach Tom Duff, the team's low scorer Monday was Zach Bryant, followed by Conner Perry and Dylan Bushway.
The young team improved throughout the course of the year, but now the young team's future looks especially bright, said Duff.
"This year was what we would expect from two freshmen and two sophomores," he said. The team expects to have Morgan County Middle School eighth grader Andrew Phillips join their team next year, which Duff said he believes will give the team another boost.
"With what we have coming back, and no seniors, we should fair quite well in our new [Class] AAA regions next season," Duff said.