Lookout Mountain, GA – The Piedmont College men’s soccer team fell in their USA South Quarterfinal round matchup Saturday dropping a 1-0 result to Covenant College on the road. The loss ends the Lions’ 2014 season at 7-12 overall and is the third straight year that PC has been eliminated from the USA South postseason in the quarterfinals.
Entering the match as the #7 seed, Piedmont created eight chances in the 90 minute match while Covenant took 15 shots, eight in the second half alone. However, it was a first half score by the Scots that proved to be the difference as Snoopy Davidson added to his conference-leading numbers with a goal in the 18th minute of play.
Davidson scored off a cross from Joel Frieson which evaded Piedmont keeper KENNETH HEARN who made nine saves on the afternoon to keep the Lions in the match. Later in the first half, Piedmont thought for a moment to have equalized, but KOFI BATES’ shot in the 37th rattled off the crossbar and out of danger without entering the goal for a 1-1 scoreline.
The match stayed 1-0 in favor of the Scots who had three corners in less than a two minute span to end the first half putting pressure on the Piedmont defense. After the intermission with Covenant up 1-0, Piedmont would get another golden opportunity to draw level as MATTHEW METZGER’s shot in the 48th forced Covenant keeper Daniel Kubin to come up with a big save and keep the Scots out in front.
A shot by Piedmont’s KELLER STREET in the 67th minute would be the Lions’ final chance to tie as they would be held without a shot the rest of the way. With the 1-0 result, Piedmont is eliminated from the USA South postseason while Covenant moves on as the #2 seed to take on the 3rd seeded Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan College who needed OT to decide a 3-2 contest with Averett University.
Metzger led the Lions with his three shots with one of those finding the frame. Five other Lions accounted for one shot each. Hearn ended the day with one goal allowed and nine saves while his counterpart Kubin needed only make the lone save on Metzger’s chance in the second half.
As a result the loss, Piedmont will wrap up their 2014 season with a 7-12 overall record. The Lions put up a 4-6 record in USA South play during the regular season and finished in the USA South standings in 7th place of 11 teams.
Greensboro, N.C. – After being selected to finish third in the preseason conference coaches poll, the Lions Cross Country team rose to the occasion and exceeded expectations Saturday taking home second in the USA South conference championship meet. The women’s team, despite racing with only three of their top five runners, were able to finish in fifth place and have finished in the top five in each league championship since joining the USA South in 2012.
For the men, two individuals finished inside the top seven earning first team all-conference honors with Cody Parker finishing 4th overall in 27:59.93 while Bryce Thorson was 7th with a time of 28:46.99, marking a new personal record for Thorson as he cut 34 seconds of his previous PR set at Maryville earlier this season. Thorson has improved by 2:43 throughout the season from his 8k time at the Truett McConnell Invitational through the conference meet.
Just behind Thorson in 8th place was Cory McClung with another personal best running 29:09.44 and following him was teammate Esteban Salazar in 9th, shaving eight seconds off his lifetime best set in the team’s last meet at Berry, with a 29:21.51. Alec Jameson came in 13th running under 30:00 for the first time as he crossed the line in 29:43.32, 37 seconds faster than his time at the Berry Invitational which was his personal best at the time. McClung, Salazar and Jameson all earned second team all-conference honors finishing between 8th-14th.
The men’s team set the school record with the fastest team average time ever at 29:00 and had all five Lions across the line under 30:00 for the first time. Rily Passini also set a new lifetime best in the championship meet finishing 29th with a 32:41.32, cutting 1:28 off his personal record as he has taken almost seven minutes off his time from the first 8k of the season.
On the women’s side, Carrie Ruis paced the women and finished as a first team all-conference selection coming in 6th with a 25:33.58, shaving five seconds off her personal record set at the Berry Invitational two weeks ago. Ruis was followed by freshman Ashley Brunner who earned second team all-conference, just one spot outside of the first-team selections in 8th place, running a lifetime best 25:49.08, moving into fifth in the Lady Lion all-time record book in the 6k.
Senior Rachel Tolliver finished her final conference meet in 24th place crossing the line at 27:40.82 while freshman Tiffany Murillo finished 61st with a time of 32:16.45, setting a new record for herself by 1:54. Fellow freshman Andrea Bell ran her first conference championship in 34:09.44.
For seniors Bryce Thorson, Alec Jameson and Rachel Tolliver this marked the final conference championship of their career with all three finishing faster than they did a season ago at the USA South Championship. In total at the USA South Championship meet, 8 Piedmont cross country athletes ran personal bests, five on the men’s side and three on the women’s. Twelve of thirteen athletes set new personal bests during the 2014 season under first year Head Coach Jeff Jenkins.
While most people in Habersham were settling in for a night of election watching or celebrating the end of those dreaded commercials, officials in Demorest were learning that the investigation into the missing money from the city coffers revealed that the amount of money missing is actually $598,000. “Due to the diligence of the accounting firm of Duncan and Kitchens, we now know that the funds began missing in 2009 and continued until May of 2013, when they stopped.” Austin went on to say, ” I am pleased that we have a distinct starting point and ending point. Our investigator is making good progress in his work, he reports daily to our city attorney, who in turn reports to the council.” Duncan and Kitchens, is the Clarkesville accounting firm hired to dig into the city books.
Originally Demorest revealed that $222,000 was missing from the fiscal year 2012. In September of 2014, another $53,661 was added as missing from 2013. Additionally in September, Mayor Rick Austin anounced that the GBI, which had been handling the investigation was unable to place the investigation in action due to the other pressing needs across the state. The investigation remains open with the GBI, but the Demorest City Council members invoked section 2.16 of the City Charter that allows the City to open and manage their own investigation. Mike Eason, a former GBI veteran of 30 years, was hired. Mayor Austin said, “I take this very seriously along with my fellow council members. This money belongs to the Citizens of Demorest and we will get to the bottom of this and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, the perpetrator or perpetrators.” The investgation is expected to draw to a close in 2014.
Habersham Central High School’s first Habersham Raider Cycling Team took the Georgia State Championship Team Trophy. Coach Kim Cantrell was excited about the team’s accomplishments, ” We are so very proud of our Raiders for winning the Team State Championship Trophy! 16 riders from Habersham gave their all this season.”
The event was held at the University of North Georgia, Gainesville Campus on Sunday, November 2nd. Top performers for the Raiders were Brooke Cantrell, who placed 5th overall and Mary McCay who finished 4th overall for the season in Junior Varsity girls. For the Varsity girls, Kate Holbrook placed 2nd overall. Dylan Turner Cantrell brought in a 3rd place overall in the state for the Varsity boys.
Scarlett Mayes had consistent 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the last two races of the season which helped push the Raiders to wins at both Heritage and UNG College, Gainesville.
The team is coached by Kim Cantrell and Richie Nichols.
Habersham County is on target to exceed its 2010 General Election voter turnout. Habersham County Elections Supervisor Laurel Ellison says, if voting continues as it’s now going, the county could post a 55% voter turnout. That’s 5% higher than four years ago.
“It’s been busy today,” Ellison says. “Our phones have been ringing pretty good this morning.”
Many of those calls are from voters wanting to know where to vote. Ellison says voters in Baldwin, Demorest and Mt. Airy must vote at their city precincts. Voters in Alto and Cornelia must vote at the Habersham South precinct. Voters in Clarkesville must vote at the Habersham North precinct. Voters who live outside city limits must vote at their assigned precinct at either Habersham North or Habersham South. For precinct locations and addresses and for information on who to contact if you don’t know your assigned precinct click here.
Ellison says 5,463 voters cast ballots during early voting in Habersham; 790 received absentee ballots. Of those absentee ballots 675 have been returned and Ellison says more are expected today. All totaled, over 6,100 registered voters – or 31% – already have voted in Habersham.
Polls close at 7pm. If you’re in line at your precinct by then you will be allowed to vote. Ellison says she expects people will be lining up at the polls to vote last minute so make your plans accordingly.
Now Habersham will bring you up to the minute election results throughout the evening.
Fresh off the heels of a jaw-dropping, ratings grabbing tightrope walk in Chicago, aerialist Nik Wallenda says he’s planning his next major stunt for northeast Georgia’s Tallulah Gorge next year. Wallenda says he wants to re-create his great-grandfather’s famous high wire walk across the gorge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the event. Karl Wallenda was 65 when he walked across Tallulah Gorge in 1970. He did two headstands on the high wire during his skywalk. His grandson Nik says he hopes to re-create the walk just as his grandfather did it, headstands and all.
Nik Wallenda successfully completed a death-defying high wire walk 600 feet above downtown Chicago on Sunday. The nickel-wide steel wire he traversed was stretched between two skyscrapers. Wallenda completed the feat in just under seven minutes, walking part of the way blindfolded. He did the entire skywalk without a tether or safety net.
Nik Wallenda’s walk was televised live by the Discovery Channel Sunday night. It aired in 220 countries and is that cable network’s most-watched telecast so far this year. Discovery says an average of 5.8 million viewers tuned in to the full telecast, while 6.7 million people watched as Wallenda walked blindfolded.
Wallenda also set two Guinness World Records during his Chicago skyscraper walk Sunday; one for highest blindfolded tightrope walk, the other for the highest incline tightrope walk. During the skywalk the 35-year old Wallenda had to overcome a steady eight-story incline in the wire while battling 30 mph Chicago winds.
Karl Wallenda in one of two headstands he performed while skywalking across Tallulah Gorge on July 18, 1970.
The seventh-generation aerialist is a member of the famous Flying Wallendas which was founded by his great-grandfather Karl in the 1920s. Karl Wallenda walked a quarter of a mile across a 700-foot deep section of Tallulah Gorge on a high wire on July 18, 1970. It’s the kind of stuff legends are made of and around Habersham County Karl Wallenda remains a legend. Flyers and newspaper clippings of his walk “Across the Awesome Gorge” are posted on the porch outside the Tallulah Point store in Tallulah Falls. Locals still remember that day.
Mark Watson of Clarkesville was 16-years old. His father, Earl, was a Clarkesville fireman and also served with the Civil Defense. The elder Watson was posted inside the gorge to keep onlookers out and he brought Mark along with him. Mark Watson says he watched Wallenda’s skywalk from down below. “It was total amazement,” he recalls. “I remember it being so quiet while he was walking. All we heard was the whisper of those with two-way radios talking.” Watson was among 30,000 people who witnessed Karl Wallenda’s historic skywalk across Tallulah Gorge.
Mark Watson of Clarkesville was 16 years old when Karl Wallenda walked across Tallulah Gorge. He was among the 30,000 people who witnessed it live.
Mark Watson is now 60 years old but he says the sights and sounds of that day never left him. He still recalls a rather strange conversation he overheard on one of those two-way radios. Watson says he heard a man say he was staying close to his wife because she had said, “…if he (Wallenda) fell, she would jump.”
This was Mark Watson’s view of the famed Wallenda walk from the base of Tallulah Gorge.
It’s that element of danger that heightens the interest in such daredevil stunts. Watson experienced the thrill once before and says he’d “love” to see it again. He says he’s excited by the prospect of another Wallenda skywalking the gorge and adds, if it happens, he wants to stand where he stood before, at the base of the gorge looking up from below.
Tourism officials in Rabun County have been quietly planning a 45th anniversary commemoration event for some time. They’ve even posted an event page to Facebook promoting it but, so far, nothing official has been decided. Tallulah Gorge State Park manager Danny Tatum says no applications or contracts have been filed with the park or the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and that would have to happen before a skywalk takes place. Though it’s still not definite Nik Wallenda will walk the gorge the fact that he’s gone on record worldwide announcing his intentions to do so is a hopeful sign.
Tallulah Gorge is 1,000 feet deep at its greatest depth and is two miles long. While it mostly lies in Rabun County, part of the gorge runs through Habersham.
Tatum says, personally, he’d like to see it happen. “”It would be something to see historically. It would be something to talk about for years and years and years. It would be good for the state park.”
It also would be a huge boon for local tourism. Unofficial estimates of the proposed three-day commemoration event put the number of potential visitors in the hundreds of thousands. At least one Habersham County official has engaged in informal talks with Rabun County. County Commissioner Andrea Harper says Habersham needs to prepare for the possibility that the county and its cities could be overrun with tourists looking for places to stay, eat and shop. While that would be good for local businesses she says it would be bad for Habersham County if it’s not prepared.
The attraction to next year’s – more probable now than before – event lies in nostalgia and danger. Karl Wallenda died eight years after conquering Tallulah Gorge. He fell to his death while performing a skywalk between two buildings in Puerto Rico in 1978. He was 73. His great-grandson now carries on his legacy.
On Sunday Nik Wallenda told the television audience watching his Chicago skyscraper walk, “You guys watching think I’m crazy, but this is what I was made for.” And right now, Tallulah Gorge appears to be what Nik Wallenda is preparing for. Wallenda says he’s working on his headstands, getting ready for what just might be another legendary Wallenda walk “Across the Awesome Gorge.”
Aerialist Nik Wallenda set two world records during a skywalk between two skycrapers in Chicago on Sunday, Nov. 2. (Photo courtesy of the Discovery Channel).
Karl Wallenda was 65 when he skywalked across the Tallulah Gorge. His great-grandson Nik will be 36 next year.
Karl Wallenda in one of two headstands he performed while skywalking across Tallulah Gorge on July 18, 1970.
This was Mark Watson’s view of the famed Wallenda walk from the base of Tallulah Gorge.
Posters and newspaper clippings of Karl Wallenda’s Tallulah Gorge skywalk on July 18, 1970, adorn the walls on the back porch of the Tallulah Point store on old Hwy. 441 in Tallulah Falls.
Newspaper clippings and flyers are posted behind plexiglass on the back porch of Tallulah Point store on old Hwy. 441 in Tallulah Falls.
This publicity photo of Karl Wallenda was used to promote his historic Tallulah Gorge skywalk on July 18, 1970.
There were leftover tickets?
Mark Watson of Clarkesville was 16-years old when he saw Wallenda walk across Tallulah Gorge.
Today, Mark Watson is 60 and says he would love to relive the excitement of that day.
Mark 2:5, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.'”
Jesus was teaching in a house in Capernaum. The people wanted to hear him so much there was no room to get in and it appears the house was surrounded by people. Four friends of a paralytic man carried him on a stretcher to be healed by Jesus. When they got to the house, they realized there was no way they were going to get in through the front door because of the crowd.
Mark 2:4, “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.”
If you have ever cracked walnuts, you know how hard it is to get through the outer shell. We keep working at it because we know inside the hard shell is a wonderful tasting nut. We wouldn’t worry with it if we didn’t have the belief that the nut was inside.
This guy’s friends not only loved him and wanted for him to be healed, but they believed he could be healed. If I could make a YouTube video of the event, I would titled it “Faith in action.” When they realized they couldn’t get in the house, they climbed up on the roof and dug a hole large enough to then lower him down through the hole. Can you imagine what was involved in the doing so?
There are times when we have to carry the load. We have to have faith for our friends and family. Sometimes, a person cannot do it alone. Do you realize the faith of our friends can change our circumstances? Prayer is important – yes! But there are times when your friend needs more than your prayers, he need s to see your faith in action. Maybe he needs you to fast for him. Maybe she needs you to invest money in what she is trying to do. Whatever the situation, as Christians, we have a responsibility to show our faith for someone else’s need.
When Jesus sees our faith in action, He will move mountains for our friend.
Voters in two cities in Habersham go to the polls today to decide whether to allow Sunday alcohol sales within their city limits. Baldwin has liquor by the drink and package sales referendums on its ballot. Demorest voters will decide whether to allow package sales on Sunday.
If approved by voters, package sales of beer and wine would be allowed within city limits on Sundays between the hours of 12:30pm and 11:30pm.
Liquor, beer and wine could be bought by the drink on Sundays in Baldwin if voters approve that referendum.
Baldwin and Demorest voters may cast ballots in all city, county, state and federal elections at their city voting precincts.
The Baldwin Precinct is located at the Baldwin City Police Department, 155 Willingham Ave, Baldwin, Ga. 30511
The Demorest Precinct is located at the Demorest Fire Department (City Council meeting room), 125 Ivy Street, Demorest, Ga. 30535
If you live in Habersham County and are wondering where to vote, read on…
Election Day Voting Precincts
City voters in Baldwin, Demorest and Mount Airy must vote at their city precincts.
The Baldwin Precinct is located at the Baldwin City Police Department, 155 Willingham Ave, Baldwin, Ga. 30511
The Demorest Precinct is located at the Demorest Fire Department (City Council meeting room), 125 Ivy Street, Demorest, Ga. 30535
The Mt. Airy Precinct is located at Mt. Airy City Hall, 869 Dick’s Hill Pkwy., Mt. Airy, Ga. 30563
City voters in Cornelia and Alto must vote at the Habersham South Precinct located at the Cornelia Depot, 102 Clarkesville Street, Cornelia, Ga. 30523.
City voters in Clarkesville must vote at the Habersham North Precinct located at the Ruby C. Fulbright Aquatic Center, 120 Paul Franklin Rd, Toccoa Hwy, Clarkesville, Ga. 30523.
County voters who live outside city limits must vote at their regularly assigned precinct either at Habersham North or Habersham South (see above for location).
If you don’t know which precinct you’re assigned to, call 706-839-0170 or go to www.mvp.sos.ga.gov.
To review the ballot for the general election click here.
