As the DeKalb County Tournament moves from Fyffe to the Coliseum the picture begins to come clear. What we're left with is a plethora of Sand Mountain prize fights to see who will be immortalized in DeKalb County history.
Southern Torch will not only have every Varsity Boys and Varsity Girls semi-finals/finals games for you, but the B-Team and JV Girls games as well...LIVE!
We would like to give a special thanks to Principal Ricky Bryant of Fyffe High School for working with Southern Torch to provide families, fans, and alums of DeKalb County with the ability to watch these games no matter where you are in the world!
Let's break it down.
Varsity Boys Semi-finals
#1 Geraldine Bulldogs (22-7) vs #5 Fyffe Red Devils (11-10)
It was business as usual for the Bulldogs on Tuesday night as they easily disposed of an overmatched Valley Head squad, 73-44. You've known the names for a few years now (Nelson, Harris, Forrester, Hollywood) and Coach Black is as big of a favorite in this tournament as his team's ever been. They'll look to exercise the demons of a Sand Mountain Tournament finals upset loss and return to the County finals on Saturday night.
The Red Devils turned in a gutsy effort on Monday night to come from behind in the closing seconds with a Dakota Newsome offensive rebound put back and 1 to upset the Collinsville Panthers. Coach Thrash and Co. are now above .500 on the season and will look to grind out another game and slow the pace against the Bulldogs. Will Brown (shoulder) will have to contain Zack Nelson to give the reigning County Champs any shot at a repeat.
Southern Torch Pick: Geraldine Bulldogs
Game Time: Friday at 6:00 PM
#2 Sylvania Rams (12-5) vs #3 Plainview Bears (14-8)
Sylvania will tip it off on Friday night with no shortage of confidence. The reigning Sand Mountain Tournament Champions will look to their MVP, Caleb Haynes, to dictate the tempo of this grudge match. An underlying question is whether or not the loss of assistant coach Roger Haynes to Hueytown have an effect on the psyche of the Rams?
Robi Coker's Bears took down his alma mater on Tuesday night as they ground up the Crossville Lions, 43-35. The strength of this Plainview team lies in their defense and size. The key question for Friday night is whether or not the man in the middle, Will Kirk, will be the enforcer in front of the rim, the same enforcer that led the charge when they snapped the Rams 10 game wining streak last Friday night.
Southern Torch Pick: Plainview Bears
Game Time: Friday at 7:30 PM
Varsity Girls Semi-finals
#1 Plainview Lady Bears (21-5) vs #5 Sylvania Lady Rams (6-14)
The Lady Bears look too strong to stumble here as they're coming off of a 36 point win against this same Sylvania squad just 6 days ago. The reigning County champs will look to once again up the tempo and create a chaos that consumes the game. The Lady Bears are just too good.
On the other side, these Rams do have two players, Frazier and King, that are as good as any duo in the region. In order to have a chance, they'll need to overcome the initial wave from the Lady Bears and not allow double-digit runs. If Frazier and King play to their abilities they may have a punchers chance...but the supporting cast will need to have career games in order to upset Lady Blue.
Southern Torch Pick: Plainview Lady Bears
Game Time: Thursday at 6:00 PM
#3 Ider Lady Hornets (10-8) vs #7 Geraldine Lady Bulldogs (8-12)
The Lady Hornets have been the Jekyll and Hyde of DeKalb basketball since the Sand Mountain Tournament, going 3-4 over their last 7. Rebounding will be the key as they take on a much more physical opponent that has proved they can upset a good team. If Ider can limit their turnovers and not allow second chance points they should win this one.
The Lady Bulldogs relisheded knocking their rival out of the tournament on Tuesday night sending the #2 seed Lady Lions home early. This is the last run for Rogers, Bearden and Young, so I expect them to impose their will after gaining some Uncle Mo on Tuesday night. The Lady Bulldogs will look to get physical in this one.
Southern Torch Pick: Geraldine Lady Bulldogs
Game Time: Thursday at 7:30 PM
