Jalan Straughter played in the JSA Ballers Showcase Basketball Tournament this past weekend at the Walter Payton Center on the campus of Jackson State University. Straughter, a junior from Hunstsville, Alabama plays for the Rocket City Blackhawks AAU team. He is the son of Ken Straughter and the grandson of Ms. Dorothy Straughter and the late Inez Straughter all of Yazoo City.

John Blackledge Sports EditorI’m proud to say that I’ve been apart of print sports media and radio sports media in my ten years of covering sports. I’ve seen some great games over the years covering sports and watching different games. One common factor I’ve come to notice when watching different games is how a team composes themselves in defeat and victory.
You can always tell when a team is winning because they will be up whooping and hollering having a good ol’time. However, when a team is down it’s a look of defeat  while the dugout  or sidelines are so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
I’ve been on both sides of these scenes as a youth volunteer coach and a journalist. As a coach, one tries to find a way to bring some life to his team. Its easy when your winning because the team is up on a high, and they are ready to go whip somebody.
However, when a team is down its tough because everything you say to them goes in one ear and out the other. Being a coach I believe is one of the toughest jobs ever
Folks don’t realize all the time that is involved in getting ready for a game. Not only a game, but practice is another key essential in getting guys ready to play.
A team feeds off of a coach’s energy,   and when the coach is dead. The team will be dead on the playing field. That’s just how it is.
Even this year when covering games you know when a team is already defeated even if its close on the scoreboard,
Coaches can’t put effort in their players. Players have to give their own effort on their own accord.
It appears three teams will make the playoffs or already competing in the playoffs in Yazoo County.
The Benton Raiders are in a battle with Winona, and they are down in the series 1-0. They seek to battle  against Winona at their place on Thursday, which I hear is a tough place to play.
Yazoo City could be your Region 3-5A Champions if they beat Neshoba Central yesterday afternoon.
Yazoo County could have helped their own cause by defeating Cleveland in Region  
3-4A.
It’s time for players to realize coaches can’t win it for them only they can do that. Its your time gentlemen to get the job done.
John Blackledge is Sports Editer at the Yazoo Herald.
He maybe reached at 746-4911, by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or by  Twitter  
@ YZHeraldSports

Taylor Nash fields a ball Tuesday afternoon against Humphreys.By JOHN BLACKLEDGE
Sports Editor

The Yazoo County Panthers won a pair of games this past week against division rivals. On Tuesday, the Panthers beat Humphreys County 17-16 while on Wednesday night the Panthers beat Greenwood 17-9.
In Wednesday’s night game against Greenwood, the Panthers scored five runs in the top of the first. The Bulldogs added three to make it 5-3. In the second, the Panthers tacked on three more while the Bulldogs scored two to make it 8-5.
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Justin Chapman fires a ball to first base while Storm Davis watches on.By JOHN BLACKLEDGE
Sports Editor

It was a match-up of two of the premier teams in the MAIS Single A Classification between two bitter rivals the Benton Raiders and Tri-County Rebels. After a pitchers duel through seven innings, the Rebels came away with game one of the two game series beating Benton at home 5-1
After four innings of scoreless baseball, the Rebels got on the board first on a Ryan Cothern double to left field to make it 1-0 in favor of the Rebels in the fifth.
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