"More On Jackson County Basketball "

Simply Put

Last week I wrote about how the Jackson County girl’s varsity basketball programs recorded an outstanding year as three advanced all the way to the Regional Finals and one program, Cottondale, made a trip to Lakeland for the FHSAA Final Four. Well guess what? The boy’s varsity basketball programs were not going to be outdone and sent three of their five county teams to the Regional Finals as well.
The Graceville Tigers represented the county in Class 1A. The Tigers got out of the gates slowly this year but as the season wore on, they got better and better each week. Under first year Head Coach Mike Carter the Tigers avenged two regular season losses to Malone by beating the Blue and Orange Tigers for the District Championship. They posted playoff wins against Laurel Hill and Paxton before falling to The Rock in the Regional Finals. They finished 16-12 on the year and look for the Tigers to be a force next year as they were really young this season.
The Cottondale Hornets were the Class 2A representative for the county and they too started a little slow. Like Graceville, the Hornets were young and inexperienced at the beginning of the season with only two seniors. But once 2009 arrived the Hornets caught fire and reeled off a string of victories under Head Coach Chris O’Bert. The Hornets captured the District Championship with a win over Bozeman and they got a first round playoff win against Freeport. Their 72-70 triple overtime win over Baker in round two was as good a high school game as I have seen this year. Although they fell to Franklin County in the Regional Final, they finished 19-11 on the season. They’ll be even better next year.
The Marianna Bulldogs are the Class 3A representative and they posted another fine season under Travis Blanton, the reigning senior head basketball coach in the county. After losing some outstanding seniors from last year, Blanton found a way to steer the Bulldogs to another 20 plus win season. They beat Chipley for the District title and then manhandled South Walton and Pensacola Catholic in the first two rounds. Last Saturday night they beat powerhouse Jacksonville Ribault to earn a return trip to Lakeland for the Final Four. The 1976-77 and 1977-78 Bulldogs were the last Marianna teams to make back to back trips to Lakeland. Blanton, a Bulldog basketball alumni, has now racked up 82 wins in the last four seasons.
On top of those three teams, both Sneads and Malone had solid seasons as well with both finishing with winning records and Malone making the playoffs. So, four of the five boy’s teams made it to the playoffs, three made it to the Regional Finals, one is headed to Lakeland and all five posted winning seasons. Like I said last week, Simply Put, that’s Jackson County Basketball.
From the front porch: Coach said the mighty oak tree was once a little nut that held its ground.