Brantley County leads state with six two-person teams in May 9 final tournament
HARTWELL — Brantley County’s Eli Crawford and Kolby McLeod made history for the BCHS Bass Fishing program winning the final qualifying event here at Lake Hartwell.
The duo pulled in five bass April 11 totaling 17 lbs., 3 ounces to place first in the field of 221 teams, the highest finish in program history, and earn a spot in the Saturday, May 9 championship set for Milledgeville’s Lake Sinclair. They edged out the runner-up team from Jefferson High School by three ounces.
The Crawford-McLeod team gave Brantley County a state-leading six teams who qualified for the finals, surpassing the four in 2025. Qualifiers were held February 7 at West Point Lake, March 7 at Clarks Hill and at Lake Hartwell.
The January 31 opening qualifier at Lake Seminole was cancelled due to weather.
Crawford and McLeod will be joined by the teams of Haden Hickox and Brysen Chancey (first qualifier), Brooks Anderson and Ryder Mercer (first qualifier), Saybree Niece and Waylon Thomas (second qualifier), Ryder Todd and Conner Wages (second qualifier), and Randy Johns and Jesse Miller (second qualifier).
The duo of Niece and Thomas held the previous best finish by BCHS teammates placing fifth at Clarks Hill totaling 16 lbs., 12 ozs.
The Crawford-McLeod recorded the third-highest weight total of the three qualifiers. A Toombs County duo landed 19 lbs., 1 oz. at Clarks Hill to finish first while a Buford duo boated 18 lbs., 1 oz. at West Point for a firstplace finish.
The team of Anderson and Ryder placed 44th in the final event landing five bass weighing 10 lbs., 4 ozs. Niece and Thomas were one spot back with their five-catch limit totaling 10 lbs., 2 ozs.
Hickox and Chancey toand taled 7 lbs. for their fivecatch limit to finish 102nd. Owen Wildes and Alex Keen placed 109th with three bass weighing 6 lbs., 8 ozs.
Ayden Schmitt and Jayden Swain placed 132nd with a total weight of 3 lbs., 13 ozs. for three bass. There will be 113 teams from 54 schools participating in the state finals with 53 schools having less than BCHS’s six teams.
Six teams
Brantley County Four teams
Greenbrier, Prince Avenue, Mary Persons, Pike County, Coffee Three teams
Buford, Fellowship Christian, Effingham County, South Forsyth, Ware County, Jefferson, LaGrange, Thomas County Central, Lee County, Oconee County, Marist, Two teams
Central, Callaway, Temple, Perry, Houston County, East Laurens, Glynn Academy, Veterans, Swainsboro, Mount Zion, Appling County, North Oconee, Colquitt County, Jeff Davis, One team
Jackson, Northgate, Heard County, Lowndes, Lumpkin County, West Forsyth, Harris County, South Paulding, Toombs County, Morgan County, Benedictine, Pierce County, Ridgeland, Alexander, Hart County, Villa Rica, Newnan, Tift County, Lambert, South Effingham, East Coweta, East Forsyth, North Hall, Jackson County, Model Loganville
