The Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves have been, and still are one of the most successful baseball teams in the majors. From 1991–2005, the Braves were one of the most successful franchises in baseball, winning 14 straight division titles.
With the end of a decade looming, as well as the career of well known manager Bobby Cox, the Braves are trying to get back on track and regain their former dominance. With the help of veterans such as Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson and Billy Wagner along with young phenoms such as Jason Heyward, Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens the Braves seem to be on the verge of recapturing their former greatness.
Bobby Cox has been with the Braves for almost three decades, with achievements such as winning the 1995 World Series, ranking fourth on the All-time Managerial Wins list, and ranking first in ejections with 157. On September 23, 2009, Cox signed a one year contract extension through 2010, and on the same day announced that 2010 will be his final year as manager. He also announced that he agreed to stay on as an advisor for baseball operations for the next five years after he retires. Leading the Braves to another outstanding season, he is one of the leaders for Manager of the Year.
Jason Heyward is the rookie right fielder for the Atlanta Braves, who literally showed up with a bang. In Heyward’s first career at bat, he hit a three-run homerun off veteran pitcher Carlos Zambrano. Heyward became the fifth player in Braves history to hit a home run in his first Major League at bat, and has not shown any sign of slowing down. When Bobby Cox was asked how he felt about “J-Hey”, he quickly responded saying, “I can't say enough about the kid. It's fun to watch him play. He's got winner written all over his face.”
In the late 90’s, the Braves had one of the best pitching trios in the Major Leagues. With John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, the Braves dominated the league and represented the N.L. making five World Series appearances. In present day, the Braves are showing signs of a new dominating pitching rotation with veterans Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson, along with young guns Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens. With this all star cast, the Braves are looking to bring back their past and return to the Playoffs and even the World Series.
Currently, the Braves N.L. East rival Phillies have clinched the Division Title giving the Braves one final chance to get to the playoffs. This one final chance is in the N.L. Wildcard, where currently the Braves are one game ahead of the Giants. With only a few weeks left in the season, and their All-Star third baseman Martin Prado out, the Braves have to get it together before their playoff dreams disappear.

Ryan Free

Grizzles Chew up Bruins

The Grizzles improved to 2-0 Friday night dominating Northwest Whitfield 18-0. Grizzly coach Al Morrell said, “It’s a big win to have over one of the best teams in the region.”

The Grizzly offense struggled most of the game scoring only one touchdown, committing 12 penalties for 90 yards, and losing 3 fumbles. However, the Bruins offense was just as bad committing 15 penalties for 100 yards, missing three fields goals, allowing two punts to be blocked, and losing a fumble. In fact Whitfields first drive was executed so poorly that on the second play they botched the snap and committed a safety giving the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead.

The two teams competed for field position until Whitfield fumbled the ball on a punt return giving the Grizzlies the ball which put them into field goal range. Grizzly kicker Tyler Hamilton made a 47-yard field goal to give the Grizzlies a 5-0 lead.

The Bruins finally made a big play late in the second quarter when Bruins running back Alex Heard broke a 77-yard run before being tackled at the 7-yard line. However, penalties and plays resulting in negative plays pushed them back and the drive ended with a missed field goal.

The play that clearly gave the Grizzles all the momentum was the blocked punt in the third quarter. The Bruins offense drove the ball into Grizzly territory but were stopped immediately and forced to punt. The Grizzly special teams came up huge when Blake Dorris blocked the punt giving Keith Woods the opportunity to grab the ball and run it in for the touchdown.

The Bruins still showed signs of life in the fourth quarter when they drove into Grizzly territory again. But the Bruins again shot themselves in the foot with an offensive pass interference penalty which stopped the drive dead.

Grizzly coach Al Morrell said, “The offense was the story last week, this week was the defense’s turn.”

The only offensive touchdown of the game came when Grizzly running back Jay El-Amin broke a 65 yard run for a touchdown giving the final score of 18-0.

By:Hunter Williams

Lady Grizzlies Come Out Growling

“We will be very successful,” says senior Leeann Garrett about the upcoming Creekview Grizzlies softball season. True to her promise, it was a weekend of success for the Creekview Grizzlies softball team! It all began with the Friday night games that were delayed 45 minutes due to the terrible weather. But that did not stop the Lady Grizzlies from winning both games that evening. After battling through the second game, the girls came out with an exciting finish and won four to one against Alexander.

Following the banner win Friday night, the girls returned to Sandy Plains with renewed determination. Confident they would do well during the day’s competition, they met that goal as only the Creekview Grizzlies could. Winning the first two games against Pope and Kell, the Grizzlies were pumped and ready for their last two games against Lassiter and Sequoyah. During the game against Lassiter, the girls were shown that they are not totally undefeatable after a 5-2 loss.

This small set back was not enough to stop the girls from winning against their rival team, Sequoyah. From beginning to finish the Grizzlies were in it to win it. They did not let one game bring them down; instead they came ready to win against Sequoyah. This reflected in the final score 6-1.

After a long tournament the Grizzlies finished with five wins and one loss, while battling through good teams and unpredictable weather. If this tournament season opener is an indication of how well the girls play as a team, Creekview students and families can look forward to cheering this remarkable team on once again in this year’s State Championship!

By: Amber Herrington

Picture by Scott Martin

Rushing is the Key

Many fans thought the loss of Grizzly running back Hunter Livingston would prove to be an overwhelming loss downgrading Creekview’s most feared weapon on offense. The run game.
However, that did not prove to be the case Friday night against Sequoyah as the Grizzles were able to rush for over 300 yards. The Grizzlies decided to use the running back by committee system. This proved to be a very good strategy as all backs seemed to have fresh legs throughout the game and had huge success.

The rushing was the biggest reason that the Grizzlies were able to come back from a 10 point deficit. “The turning point of the game,” coach Morrell says was when “quarterback Cody Allen broke a quarterback draw for 36 yards breaking several tackles in the process.” Later in the same drive, running back Jay El-Amin rushed for an eight yard touchdown to make the score 10-13 Sequoyah. The Grizzlies clearly regained the momentum after their first touchdown of the game. On the Chiefs next possession they went three and out ending the 3rd quarter. The Grizzles immediately started the fourth quarter strong with a seven play drive finished by El-Amin’s second score giving the Grizzles the lead of 17-13. This would ultimately end up being the final score.

“It’s a big win but it’s a long season,” Grizzly coach Al Morrell said. The excitement in Coach Morrell’s eyes was evident when talking about his ever improving running backs saying that he was, “Very proud of their performances.”

The unsung heroes of the game though are really the defense. They were able to stop Sequoyah quickly and efficiently throughout the second half giving the Grizzly offense multiple opportunities to make up the gap. The play that sealed the win for the Grizzlies also came from, who else, the defense. Near the end of the fourth quarter, the Chiefs started their last drive and hope for victory. The Grizzly defense, however, came up with what was arguably the biggest play of the game as they stripped the ball from the chief’s quarterback, sealing the Grizzly victory.
By: Hunter Williams

Lacrosse

Creekview offers a variety of sports that students participate in, including soccer, football, basketball, and so much more. So what about lacrosse? At Creekview, many students play the sport of lacrosse in intramurals through recreation clubs. Lacrosse is offered at most schools across Georgia, but it has not appeared on the Creekview scene yet. Many of the students are wondering why a team hasn’t been started, and what exactly does it take to start one? There are many reasons: among them being that the county does not have enough funds for a lacrosse team.

In the county, Etowah and Woodstock have lacrosse teams. Why, you may ask? They are self-funded sports. So why can’t Creekview have a self-funded lacrosse team? Well they can, but the cost of one season would be around eight hundred dollars per player. This would pay for the coaches, referees, uniforms, equipment, transportation, and so on. If the money is not enough, the lack of facilities is a challenge. Lacrosse would be considered a spring sport. In the spring, Creekview offers golf, soccer, baseball, track, and tennis. Creekview already has a hard time providing facilities for the soccer teams, and it is pushing the team to use the field at Creekland. Adding lacrosse into this mix would just be a mess. Plus, creating a new facility for practicing lacrosse would be tricky and the money would be coming out of the players’ pockets.

Since the school first opened, lacrosse has been becoming bigger each year. This year, around seventy students said they were interested in lacrosse. There are many different ways to get more students involved in lacrosse. For example, Etowah started a lacrosse club in 2005 with around 150 students. Within a few years, lacrosse became a sport. It is not impossible for lacrosse to become a sport at Creekview, but it will take time.

“We want to provide what students want to do,” Charlie Beverly, the athletic director for Creekview, replied.

Who knows, maybe in a few years Creekview will have a state-bound lacrosse team.

By: Paige Amoss