In keeping with tradition, Houston County High girls soccer
will be a favorite to finish in the top four of its region and participate in
the GHSA state tournament during the 2013 season.
Two significant reasons head coach Sid Baxley is confident
this string will continue are also in the future plans of the growing women’s
soccer program at ABAC in Tifton. Striker Jasmine Johnson and sweeper Hanna
Wilkes commemorated their decision to sign scholarship papers with the Tifton
junior college team Friday with family, coaches and teammates at Houston County
High.
“They’re just carrying on a long tradition of successful
soccer players,” said Baxley. “Jasmine’s started for four years and scored a
lot of goals. Hanna is a defensive presence and a real good communicator, and
has been a good leader in the early part of (spring) practice.”
Among those in attendance was Golden Stallions head coach
Jimmy Ballenger, who has plucked former Lady Bears in the past like Krista
Whitley, a member of his 2012 team.
“Hanna is a fantastic young lady,” said Ballenger. “Not just
anybody can play at ABAC. They have to be a good soccer player, but also an
academic student. Hanna fits that mold. We look for her to start right away.
She’s strong. She’s going to be an excellent defender for us.
“Jasmine, obviously her No. 1 attribute other than being a
fine young lady and a good student is that she’s extremely fast. You don’t find
that every day. We want her to score goals.”
“When she doesn’t run past the ball, she can get out in
front of everybody and have a lot of one-on-one opportunities with the keeper,”
said Baxley. “Anytime you get one-on-one you have a good chance of scoring.
That’s her forte, using her speed to get out in front.
“(Hanna) is physical and has good size. She’s also pretty
smart. The other day she’s on one side of the field and I hear her yelling with
the person on the opposite side of the field to help out. It’s great to have
somebody in the back who can see the whole field and communicate in a positive
way and get the other girls to react.”
Ballenger also has had Northside’s Kellie Starvetsky and
Warner Robins’ Alex Clark as ABAC players. In recruiting his current team
members, he’s had a look at future prospects like Wilkes and Johnson in action.
“When I talk to (Baxley), he tells me about the players,”
said Ballenger. “He’s very honest with me, forthcoming. I’ve been watching
Jasmine and Hanna both for three years now.
“One of the biggest things I see coming out of high school
straight into the college level is the speed of play. They will adjust to it.
Every year I have freshmen who are so talented, but they go through the ups and
downs of making freshman mistakes. As they go from freshman to sophomore year,
they will become more experienced players. That’s something you can’t get
except through playing.”
The ABAC women had a 12-8 record last fall. The Stallions
defeated Middle Georgia in a play-in match for the GCAA playoffs by penalty
kicks, but then lost to Georgia Perimeter in overtime. For the first time in
school history, ABAC had a women’s soccer All-American player in freshman
Nikita Morris, who set the school record by scoring 34 goals.
Morris is a native of England, and Ballenger hopes both she
and Johnson can tally 34 goals each.
“Jasmine is hopefully going to compliment Nikita and work
together,” he said.
When Wilkes and Johnson are at ABAC, there is the chance
that the Stallion athletic program will offer four years of eligibility in
either the NAIA or NCAA Division II. Ballenger said for that to happen ABAC
must offer 10 total varsity sports; currently there are six. He said the plan
in the near future, as soon as the next school year, is to add men’s and
women’s cross country.
“There’s been some talk of a men’s soccer program,” he said.
“We offer four-year degrees, however we don’t have enough four-year degrees.
Business and education are what we would really need. So we are stuck in a
two-year conference, but we hope in the next two to four years to be in some
four-year conference.”
“I’ve said this 100 times that we’ve been to the state
playoffs 15 years in a row,” said Baxley about the outlook for Lady Bears
soccer. “We want to make it 16, and we want to get past that first and second
round (of state), get to that third round where we haven’t been in a while.”
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