Sports W eek
sect, on B Also Religion , Obituaries, Classifieds April 1 0, 2008
I ? i I
QEA photo
Local coach Isaac Pitts is the new AD and head boys coach
at Quality Education Academy.
Ready to
Work
Coach Isaac Pitts doing
double-duty at QEA
BY ANTHONY HILL
THE CHRONICLE
Local coach Isaac Pitts always seems to be on the go.
He has been in Georgia working on some things for his job
as athletic director of the Boys and Girls Club most of this
week. He spent most of last week with some of his AAU play
ers at a showcase event. When he wasn't dealing with that. Pitts
was looking over athletic schedules for the sports at Quality
Education, where he also serves as athletic director and basket
ball coach. ?
Pitts was hired as QEA's head boy's basketball coach and
athletic director during the first week of March. He's entering a
Simon Johnson
new area in athletics. Pitts has
never been an athletic director or a
head varsity coach. He's hoping
that his years of experience,
knowledge of sports and willing
ness to learn more will guide him
in his newest venture at the new
high school.
"First, I would like to give
glory to God," said Pitts. "This is
truly a blessing. I look forward to
the challenge and I give all the
praise and glory to God for this
opportunity. Mr. Johnson contacted
me about this opportunity, and I
thought it was a great one. This is
verv exciting for me."
QEA principal Simon Johnson added: "Coach Pitts was rec
ommended by someone. He then sent in the proper information.
We thought he would be a good fit for QEA. First of all, he
cares about the growth and development of kids. He's also got
a good understanding of basketball. He has a grasp of the talent
in the community too. All of those things played a part in hir
ing coach Pitts. I'm very confident that he will fulfill the
school's mission. I don't know if there's anything that can
make me more confident."
According to the school's website, the mission of Quality
Education Academy says that it ]s student-athletes learn to make
independent decisions with criti&il thoughts in an environment
which prepares them academically, socially, emotionally and
physically to live out their faith as servant leaders in every area
of society. The mission also states that athletics provide an
opportunity to grow in the manifestation of Godly character, as
the student-athlete faces situations within the team and within
competition that are representative of situations to be faced in
life.
"We are very excited about coach Pitts," Johnson said. "We
expect to be very competitive within the next three years. We're
See Pitts on B4
Local bailers make All-District
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
It was a good year for a
number of area *ballers, indi
vidually. Nearly 10 local prep?
bailers graced the North
Carolina Coaches Association
All-District team. The special
squad was released last week.
Mt. Tabor head boy's
coach, Andy Muse, was hon
ore<Tks the District 7 Coach of
the Year after guiding his
Spartans to the Final 4 this
past season. MtfSabor won 26
games, which was the most in
school history. Mt. Tabor also
won the Central Piedmont
Conference, the Frank
Spencer Tournament, the
Central Piedmont Conference
Tournament, the 4-A Western
Sectional and Spartan guard
C.J. Harris was named Player
of the Year of all districts.
The area boys to grace the
District 7 team were C.J.
Harris (First Team, Mount
Tabor), Kendall Smith (First
team, Glenn), Allan Jones
(First team, West), Mike
Grace (Second team. Mount
Tabor), Gabriel Lowder
Photo by Charlie Pfaff
Mt. Tabor rising senior CJ. Harris fights off West Forsyth's Chrishawn Rhyne last season.
(Second team, North Forsyth),
Kyle Boardman (Second
team, West Forsyth), Jarvis
Brayboy (Third team, Glenn).
"Our team had an out
standing year and C.J. Harris
and Mike Grace were a big
part of our success," Mt.
Tabor head coach Andy Muse
told The Chronicle. "CJ put
enough work in on the court
to receive the MVP. He was
also on the 4-A Western
Regional all tournament team
See Bailers on B2
Photo by Jeff Siner/Charkxte Ob?erver/MCT
Kansas' Darrell Arthur hugs Mario Chalmers (15) after the Jayhawks 75-68 win over the Memphis in the NCAA Men's
Basketball Championship.
I picked the Jayhawks weeks ago
I'm not one to brag about
much. But I must admit that
I've been bragging like crazy
about my extremely accurate
March Madness bracket (the
one that counted). Not only
did I pick the Final Four, the
championship game partici
pants and champion. I also got
the final score correct.
N^w that's something right
there. Yes, I predicted the
Kansas Jayhawks would beat
the Memphis Tigers 75-68
FROM THE
HUDDLE
weeks ago. The funny thing is
I even wrote a column stating
this was going to be the year
that I picked the champion
correctly.
I am feeling very good
right now. That was a great
game too. It was a hard fought
battle between two very tal
ented teams. Kansas held a
five point lead at halftime but
the Memphis Tigers rallied
back in the second half. It
looked like the Tigers were
going to win. but the tables
turned after Dorsey fouled
out. I remember telling one of
my homeboys to look at the
Memphis bench after that. The
Tigers were up by 7 or 9
points, but looking as if they
were down. Yet, Kansas play
ers still looked to believe.
And, Mario Chalmers hit that
three pointer with two seconds
left in regulation to force
See Hill on B4
A&T Aggies cruise to a sweep over Lady Rams
Photo by Michael Simmons
WSSU couldn't seem to catch fire from the plate against N.C. A&T over the weekend.
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
The North Carolina A&T softball team
used daunting combination of strong pitching
and unrelenting offense to dominate arch-rival
Winston-Salem State 19-1 at the Lady Aggies
Softball complex on Monday afternoon. The
Aggies also took advantage of some shaky
Rams defense as the game ended five innings
because of the 8-run mercy rule.
The win completed a three-game sweep of
the Rams in which the Aggies only allowed
them to score two runs on 11 hits. Aggies
freshman starter Jennifer Luper played a part
in that. She improved to 11-3 on the season
after pitching five innings, surrendering just
three hits, striking out four while not surren
dering an earned run. Luper has given up just
one earned run over her last 21 innings
pitched. Q/
Luper got a lot of help from sophomore
Bianca Alsobrook who went 3-for-4 with five
RBIs and two runs scored. Sophomore Tangie
Conover adcjed two hits, four runs scored and
three RBIs. Sophomore Yahamma White also
scored four times.
The win was the Aggies sixth straight. Over
those six games, they've outscored their oppo
nents 57-9 while holding their opponents to
just 24 hits over the same span. On Monday, it
took Luper just 45 pitches to finish off the
Rams. Thirty-six of those pitches were strikes.
Before Luper even took the mound, howev
er, the Aggies (18-11-1) had already grabbed
control of the game. Aggie senior Chaola
Simmons opened the game with a telling dou
ble in which two Ram fielders collided as the
ball bounced between them. The Rams (15-15)
fielding woes continued as White singled and
moved to third on an errant throw from center
field that allowed Simmons to score.
Conover continued to test the rattled Rams
defense by hitting a routine fly ball to center
that popped out of the fielder's glove for
another Aggies run and a 2-0 lead. Rams
starter Desiree Ramirez walked sophomore
Jessie Larson, and Larson and Conover
Ste Softball on B2