The Forest City Gun Club Juniors (FCGC) youth shooting team successfully defended their title and their home turf winning the 2020 State Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) State Championship over the weekend of June 6-8 at Forest City Gun Club. The team is comprised of girls and boys from middle school, high school and college from across the Savannah area schools.
They base the top prize (champion) of High Over All (HOA) team on the Top 5 scores for each team in all 3 disciplines, skeet shooting, sporting clays, and trap shooting. To show the extraordinary depth this season, the Forest City Gun Club Juniors had 10 different shooters contribute at the Varsity level.
Skeet:
Jake Summerford 100, Ella Whitley 99, Jackson Schaaf 98, John Neely 98,Will Rambo 97
Sporting Clays: Jake Summerford 97, Dawson Williams 97, Rich Pazderski 96, Mitchell Kent 95, John Neely 93
Trap: Pete Hodge 98, Rich Pazderski 98, Dawson Williams 97, Jackson Schaaf 96, Harrison Scott 96
The Forest City Gun Club Juniors team finished with a 1455/1500 to beat the 2-time defending National Champions from Lake Oconee by 10 targets.
At the Collegiate level, for the Forest City Gun Club Juniors, Colin Davis was the individual Collegiate HOA and Douglas Williams was the runner-up. Gracie Whitley was Collegiate Ladies HOA!
Skeet
On the skeet field, the Forest City Gun Club Juniors had 39 different 25-straights on Sunday! All total, the team had 29 shooters post a score of 90 or better.
The Forest City Gun Club Juniors Rookies (5th grade and below) dominated the Skeet field, winning the top 3 individual places and running away with the Top Squad Award. Lucas McKenzie shot 90 and Marshall Kent and Grady McKenzie shot 85s. You read that right.
More of the same for the Forest City Gun Club Juniors at the Intermediate-Entry level with the team of Jack McKenzie (92), Sam Anderson (90) and Jim Reynolds Morrison (84) taking the First Place as a Squad. Jack finished 2nd and Sam finished 4th individually.
In Intermediate-Advanced we took 3rd Place as a Squad with Drake Cooper (94), Abi Pazderski (93) and Jackson Ezelle (90).
The Forest City Gun Club Juniors, Junior Varsity squad finished 4th with Sam Connor (95), Owen Haas (93) and Walker Brooks (93).
In what is hard to believe, the Forest City Gun Club Juniors, Varsity Skeet team
came in 2nd place with a score of 297/300. Jake Summerford shot 100 straight for a 4-way tie for first and ended up second after a 12 round shoot off. Ella Whitley shot 99 and John Neely shot 98 (as did Jackson Schaaf). The winning squad from Central Georgia shot 299/300.
Ella Whitley won a shoot off for 3rd Place Ladies. Jake Summerford made the All-State Team and Ella Whitley made the All-State Second Team.
At the Collegiate level, Colin Davis also shot a 100 straight to win, Douglas Williams shot 99 for a tie for a second and Gracie Whitley shot 98 for 4th.
Sporting Clays
On the beautiful North Course, the Forest City Gun Club Juniors had an exceptional day Saturday.
The Varsity Team of Dawson Williams (97), Jake Summerford (97) and Rich Pazderski (96) took First Place as a team. Dawson and Jake tied for 2nd with several others and ended up in 4th after a shoot off. Both of them made the First Team All-State Team and Rich Pazderski and Mitchell Kent (95) made the Second Team.
Collegiately, Douglas Williams was the champion with a team high 98 and Colin Davis finished 2nd with a 95.
The Intermediate-Advanced Team of Drake Cooper (90), Abi Pazderski (88) and Jackson Ezelle (73) claimed Second Place. Drake was the I-A Champion and Abi finished in 6th Place. Abi also finished 3rd overall in the Ladies division as an 8th Grader!
Once again, the Intermediate-Entry team of Jack McKenzie (79), Sam Anderson (79) and Jim Reynolds Morrison (76) topped the podium, with Jack and Sam tying for 4th individually and Jim Reynolds 8th.
What about those Rookies? Yes, they won again with Marshall Kent (71) winning individual honors joined by cousins Lucas and Grady McKenzie. The future is bright at Forest City.
Trap
The Forest City Gun Club Juniors had 15 shooters over 90 on the Trap Field Saturday. Colin Davis finished 2nd at the Collegiate level with a 97.
Peter Hodge (98) and Rich Pazderski (98) led the way for our Varsity team, tying for a 2nd place with 4 others. Pete finished 2nd and Rich 3rd after a long shoot off. The two of them combined with Dawson Williams (97), Jackson Schaaf (96) and Harrison Scott (96) to take Second Place. Pete and Rich made the All-State first team. Dawson Williams made the second team.
The Junior Varsity Team of James Daters (91), Walker Brooks (87), Owen Haas 
(87), Gaines Scott (87) and Rutledge Missroon (81) finished 5th Overall in the first SCTP tournament for 4 of them.
Abi Pazderski (94) finished second in the Intermediate-Advanced Division and Drake Cooper (90) tied for 5th. Abi also finished 4th in the Overall Ladies Division.
And what about those Rookies? They finished a clean sweep by winning the Trap contest by 45 targets led by Lucas McKenzie (79) and Marshall Kent (78) who finished 1st and 2nd individually joined by Grady McKenzie, June McKenzie and IV Fetterman.
Super Sporting
There is also a 50 bird Super Sporting added event which the Forest City Gun Club Juniors shot on Friday. While not part of the overall championship race, it is a fun event for the kids.
John Neely (48) finished in 3rd Place overall at the Varsity Level. Gracie Whitley (47) and Douglas Williams (47) tied for 2nd Collegiately.
Drake Cooper (46) finished 2nd at I-A, followed by Abi Pazderski (45) in 3rd.
Sam Anderson and Jack McKenzie (Mutt and Jeff) tied for 2nd in I-E with a pair of 42s.
The Forest City Gun Club Juniors has Rookie shooters. Marshall Kent won with a 39 and Lucas McKenzie was right behind him in 2nd with a 37. Together with Grady and June McKenzie they made it a Grand Slam!
The Forest City Gun Club Juniors had their best State Scholastic Clay Target Program Tournament ever this year, and everyone agrees that the win is a combination of hard work by our shooters and great coaching by our dedicated coaching staff.
Next stop is the Junior US Open Sporting Clays tournament in Georgetown SC this coming weekend, June 12-14 and then on to the Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championships in Ohio in July.
