Year sees Knights come out winners

Evans High School's gymnasium doesn't have an official name attached to it, but the word "winner" seems to go along with the gym just fine.

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In the 2006-07 sports season, Knights fans saw win after win in the old but capable gym.

It all started with the Lady Knights volleyball team.

In her final year as volleyball coach, C.C. Armstrong led a senior-heavy Evans team to a record-breaking season. The Lady Knights won their first 14 matches of the year and went undefeated in Area 2-AAAA play. By the end of the season, the team claimed the school's first volleyball area championship and finished with a 30-3 record.

Senior Aidan Yeager led the Lady Knights at the front of the net and signed her way into Jacksonville University on a volleyball scholarship. Along with Yeager, Evans' senior volleyball stars included Mary Green, Katherine Hilson, Lauren Middleton, Rebekah Peters and Brittany Gray.

Also in the fall sports season, the Evans football team started out the year with wins over Harlem and Lakeside, but a heartbreaking 21-19 loss in the final seconds of the game at Greenbrier triggered a downward spiral that saw Evans lose six of its last eight games and finish the year with a 4-6 record.

Elena Hubbard, an Evans sophomore cross country runner, won the Region 3-AAAA girls cross country title in the fall, then beat all other Columbia County runners with a 15th place finish at the state meet.

Evans' softball team went 21-12 on the season, including a regular-season sweep over rival Lakeside.

Back in the gym, the wins continued to roll in as fall turned to winter. The Evans boys basketball team added to its home winning streak with an impressive 53-49 win over Savannah High School to begin the season. The Knights stumbled on the road with a surprise loss to Greenbrier in the first round of the Turkey Tip-Off Classic, but revenge came back twice as hard on the Wolfpack.

Evans defeated Greenbrier at Greenbrier on Jan. 12 with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from junior Jonathan Nicely. Exactly two weeks later, the Knights were victorious again when the Wolfpack came to Evans. The home team survived double overtime for a 54-53 Evans win.

The Knights went on to finish the year at 17-9 overall, and three seniors, Matt Clark, Wes Wuchte and Brandon Skinner, made commitments to play in college.

The Evans wrestling team saw a huge resurgence of interest in the 2006-07 season. A roster that hit the 40-member mark helped put Evans in contention with usual wrestling powers Lakeside and Greenbrier. At the Region 3-AAAA match at Lakeside, it was Evans' Trey Golston who stole the show. Golston took first place in the 285-pound weight class with a 33-second pin over Lakeside's Jacob Smith in the finals.

The winter sports season ended with four Evans swimmers bound for major college competition next school year. Seniors Martin Kata (Georgia), C.J. Hendry (Florida State), Josh Andrews (Georgia Tech) and Nicole Moody (Wingate) all made college commitments after a strong senior season.

In the spring, Evans' athletic program headed outdoors, where the girls tennis team turned in the upset of the season. The Lady Knights knocked off the Lakeside girls in region play to earn the top seed heading into the Region 3-AAAA tournament. The girls finished in fourth place in the region tournament and advanced to the state playoffs.

A less-than-ideal boys and girls soccer season did manage a few highlights in the spring. The boys soccer team finished the year with a 5-9-1 record, but the Knights grabbed a 2-1 win in penalty kicks against rival Lakeside on March 23.

The girls soccer team wrapped up the season at 11-6 overall, and junior forward Tarah Henderson scored 35 goals in only 17 games. Evans' girls finished third in the region and lost in the first round of the state playoffs.

Even in a season full of underachievement, the Evans baseball team still managed to put together a year that most high school teams would be proud of.

The Knights slumped below their standards with a 3-6 subregion record and a fourth-place finish in the regular-season subregion standings.

Evans still managed a 16-11 overall record, however, and a 2-0 sweep over South subregion top seed Wayne County in the first round of the Region 3-AAAA Tournament that ensured the Knights a return trip to the state playoffs.