By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

Jemison’s boys tennis team finished third in the Class 4A state tournament last week, matching the program’s best performance in Coach Benton Morton’s 10 years.

JHS also finished third in the state at the 2007 tournament.

The Panthers finished ninth in 2009 and sixth in 2010, and posted last week’s impressive finish because of the performances of both a dependable group of seniors and younger players that will carry the team in the future.

“It was amazing to make it to state,” Coach Benton Morton said. “We will lose five seniors this year: Cole Thompson, Drew Posey, Jordan Jones, Taylor Long and Nick Long.

“They have been great players and leaders for this team. We have a great bunch of sophomores and freshmen to fill their shoes.”

Jake Long was the state runner up in the No. 6 singles position, and teammate Andrew Morton made it to the semifinals.

Long and Morton also reached the semifinals as the No. 2 doubles team.

Thompson and Nick Long reached the semifinals in the No. 3 doubles position.

The Panthers finished 14-4 overall, with losses coming against Oneonta (who finished No. 2 in Class 4A), St. James (No. 4 in 4A) and Pelham (No. 2 in 6A).

From Staff Reports

The Alabama High School Athletic Association has postponed all upcoming playoff events until Monday, May 2, Executive Director Steve Savarese said in a Thursday release.

The postponement will affect Thorsby’s baseball team, which was scheduled to begin a second round playoff series Friday.

The postponement of events resulted from the devastation left by the storms that raced throughout Central and North Alabama Wednesday and left many schools damaged and without power.

The Class 6A, 4A and 5A state tennis tournaments currently underway at Mobile and Montgomery will continue as scheduled and will be completed Friday.

Jemison’s boys tennis team is competing in the 4A tournament in Mobile.

The decision was made according to the AHSAA Championship Interruption Policy established by the Central Board of Control.

“We think it is important at this time to allow all our students, teachers and families to concentrate their efforts toward the more immediate needs caused by this catastrophe that has affected so many,” said Savarese.

Contests will resume according to each individual sport format.

An outline of each sports playoff revised schedule is as follows:

•Track and field: All section meets will be Monday and Tuesday, May 2-3, with qualifiers advancing to the state meet Friday and Saturday, May 6-7.

•Soccer: For Class 6A, the first round will be played Tuesday, May 3; the second round on Friday, May 6; and the third round, Monday, May 9.

For Classes 1A-4A and 5A, the original schedule will be followed with first-round games, Tuesday, May 3; and second-round games, Saturday, May 7.

The state tournament will be held May 13-14 at Huntsville as scheduled.

•Baseball: Second-round series will be played Monday, May 2, with a third game Tuesday, May 3, if needed.

The third round will be played Friday and Saturday, May 6-7, as scheduled. If the third-round series involves a team that cannot complete its second-round series by the end of the day Tuesday, the third round series will be played with two games, Saturday, May 7, and a third game if needed on Monday, May 9.

Thorsby will visit Horseshoe Bend for games at 3 and 5:30 p.m. Monday and 3 p.m. Tuesday.

•Softball: Area tournaments may be played between Monday, May 2, and Saturday, May 7.

•Golf: Delayed section golf tournaments will be rescheduled beginning Monday, May 2, based on golf course availability.

Sub-State tournaments will be played as originally scheduled unless affected by the delayed section tournaments.

The revised golf tournament schedule will be posted on the AHSAA website when confirmed.

From staff reports

Jemison’s boys tennis team won at Shades Valley, 8-1, on Wednesday.

“We played pretty well today, as good as we’ve played all year,” JHS coach Benton Morton said after the match.

For most of the Panthers, it was their first time to compete on clay courts, but they performed well.

Singles winners were: Drew Posey, William Morton, Taylor Long, Andrew Morton and Jake Long.

Doubles winners were the combinations of Posey/Jordan Jones, Andrew Morton/Jake Long, and Cole Thompson/Nick Long.

From Staff Reports

Jemison’s boys and girls tennis teams both recorded 9-0 wins over Holtville on Friday.

Boys winners included: Cole Thompson, Drew Posey, William Morton, Taylor Long, Andrew Morton, Jake Long, Jordan Jones and Nick Long.

Girls winners included: Brooke Bice, Anna Davenport, Macey Thompson, Marissa Jones, Haley Smitherman, Carley Pate and Tiffany Griffin.

By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

Jemison’s boys and girls tennis teams improved their playoff chances with shutout wins Thursday over Brewbaker Tech.

Both sets of Panthers won 9-0.

The win improves the boys to 10-2 on the season.

JHS is locked in a three-way battle with Dadeville and St. James for the two area positions that will qualify for the sectional tournament.

Jemison defeated Dadeville, 5-4, on March 3, and Dadeville defeated St. James by the same 5-4 score.

Another area match awaits on Friday, as Holtville visits.

It’s a home match but, like Thursday’s matches, will be played at Clanton City Park.

Jemison scheduled some of its competitions for Clanton this season because of uncertainty about the resurfacing of the Jemison City Park courts.

The courts have been resurfaced—for the first time in coach Benton Morton’s 10-year tenure. The Panthers played their first matches on the new surface on March 3 against Dadeville.

The improvements to the park also include new restroom and concession facilities.

Morton said the upgrades provide extra motivation for the players—and could mean larger home crowds.

“It’s going to be nice for the younger kids especially,” Morton said. “A big thanks to the city council.”

Jemison’s next match on the new surface will be April 14.

The JHS girls, meanwhile, improved their record to 3-9 with Thursday’s win.

Still, the Panthers have a chance to finish second in the area and earn a berth in the sectional.

Thursday’s girls singles winners were: Brooke Bice, Anna Davenport, Macey Thompson, Marissa Jones, Haley Smitherman and Carley Pate. Doubles winners were the combinations of Bice and Smitherman, Davenport and Tiffany Griffin, and Thompson and Jones.

The boys singles winners were: Cole Thompson, Drew Posey, William Morton, Taylor Long, Andrew Morton and Jake Long. The doubles teams of Posey and Jordan Jones, Andrew Morton and Jake Long, and Thompson and Nick Long were also victorious.

From Staff Reports

Jemison’s boys tennis team improved to 4-0 with a 6-3 win at Thompson on Tuesday.

Singles winners were William Morton, Taylor Long, Andrew Morton and Jake Long.

Doubles winners were the combinations of Andrew Morton and Jake Long, and Cole Thompson and Nic Long.

Jemison’s girls lost, 0-9, to fall to 0-4.

The Panthers boys visit Dadeville at 3 p.m. Thursday, while the girls will return to action on March 7 at Oneonta.

From Staff Reports

Chilton County’s girls and Jemison’s boys tennis teams won Thursday as the two county rivals squared off at Clanton City Park.

The CCHS girls won, 6-3, and the Jemison boys won by the same score.

Jemison’s boys winners were: Drew Posey, Taylor Long, Andrew Morton and Jake Long; and the doubles teams of Jake Long/Morton, and Cole Thompson/Nic Long.

Chilton County’s boys winners were: Nicholas Lyn and Rhett Russell and the doubles team comprised of the same two players.

Chilton County’s girls winners were: Laura Evans, Anna Adams, Anna Bearden and Mary Kelley; and the doubles teams of Evans/Krissi Jones and Bearden/Kelley.

Jemison’s girls winners were: Haley Smitherman and Carley Tate, and the doubles team of Macey Thompson/Marissa Jones.

Chilton County’s boys are now 1-1 on the season, the CCHS girls 2-0, the Jemison boys 3-0 and the Jemison girls 0-3.

Jemison’s boys tennis team won its first two matches of the season, 7-2 against Thompson on Thursday and 6-3 at Moody on Friday.

In Thursday matches, which were played at Jemison, JHS winners included the doubles teams of Drew Posey and Jordan Jones, Andrew Morton and Jake Long, and Cole Thompson and Nic Long; and Posey, Taylor Long, Morton and Jake Long in singles action.

On Friday, winners were Posey, Taylor Long, Morton, and Jake Long, and the doubles teams of Jake Long and Morton, and Thompson and Nic Long.

Jemison’s girls lost their first two matches, 9-0 to Thompson and 2-7 to Moody.

First-year player Haley Smitherman and the doubles team of Macey Thompson and Marissa Jones were winners against Moody.

By Stephen Dawkins

Andrew Morton comes from a family that includes a father that is a tennis coach and three older brothers who play the sport. Jake Long didn’t pick up a racquet until the fifth grade.
Morton plays aggressively, relying on powerful groundstrokes. Long’s approach is based more on accuracy. Morton is taller with dark hair; Long’s is blonde.
You get the idea.
Jemison’s No. 3 doubles team has many differences but has enjoyed success because Long and Morton, above all else, are close friends that play unselfishly.
“They have cooperation, chemistry,” Jemison coach Benton Morton said about the North Chilton Advertiser’s Boys Spring Players of the Year. “Neither one of them is trying to outdo the other.”
Long and Andrew Morton, both eighth graders, have gone a combined 92-5 in doubles and singles matches in their two-year varsity careers and this past season led the Panthers to their seventh consecutive state tournament appearance under Benton Morton—and scored all of their team’s points in the tournament.
The two started playing together in the fifth grade. Long had never played before and was invited down to the city’s courts one day after school by Andrew Morton, who participated in the varsity team’s daily practices, though not necessarily by choice.
“Andrew, bless his heart, he had to come out there after school because I was his ride home,” Benton Morton said.
Long tagged along occasionally at first but then regularly by the time he and his doubles partner were sixth graders.
They played their first competitive matches together as seventh graders and haven’t looked back.
“We’re best friends,” Long said about the duo’s success, “so we’re able to communicate out there.”

By Stephen Dawkins

Jemison’s boys tennis team on Thursday advanced to state for the seventh consecutive season, and missed winning the sectional by one match.

Jemison’s No. 1 doubles team, Brandon Jones and Cole Thompson, fell to their St. James counterparts in a match that, if it had turned out differently, would have given Jemison the sectional championship.

Jones and Thompson were already playing above their heads: they finished second in Class 4A, Section 2 after coming in as the No. 4 seed.

“Cole and Brandon played the match of their lives,” Jemison coach Benton Morton said.

Jemison wound up finishing behind St. James, 53-48, in the tournament played at the O’Connor Tennis Center in Montgomery.

Jordan Jones and Drew Posey, meanwhile, won the No. 2 doubles championship, and Jake Long and Andrew Morton won the No. 3 doubles position.

Long and Morton also won the No. 5 and 6 singles spots, respectively.

Long and Morton are now a combined 54-0 in regular season and sectional matches over the past two seasons. They are 26-1 in doubles matches, with the loss being a default against St. James in the 2009 sectional—a loss they avenged on Thursday.