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Barrow Journal Chris Bridges, Sports Editor 770-867-6397, phone 678-425-1435, FAX cbridges @barrowjoumal.com Success no surprise to this writer s I watched Georgia Tech put on a textbook dis play of offense this past Saturday, my mind thought back several years ago when I encour aged University of Georgia athletic officials to hire the man who was directing the Yellow Jacket offense. Paul Johnson, then head coach at Georgia Southern, was already known to those in football circles as a winner. He had posted two national titles in Statesboro at the Division I-AA level. He had previ ously helped Navy win as its offensive coordi nator. The same was done in the Land of Paradise at Hawaii. Johnson, as an assistant coach, also helped the legendary Erk Russell ini tially build the I-AA dynasty at Georgia Southern in the 1980s. A common thread is easily seen when looking at Johnson and his past coaching stops and it doesn’t take one of the detectives from CSI to figure this one out. After UGA decided to part ways with Jim Donnan (to be completely accurate, it was school president Michael Adams who made this decision), the search was on for a new head football coach. As is always the case, numer ous names were tossed around by fans. For me, the best choice was simple: Paul Johnson. One Saturday afternoon dur ing the time the search was going on a sports talk show out of Atlanta was debating the issue. I phoned in during the show and suggested Johnson’s name, who wasn’t even being mentioned. A co-host on the show, a UGA graduate by chance, said the school would, in all likelihood, consider Johnson because he would be com ing from a I-AA school and because of the triple option offense he ran. “All he has ever done is win football games,’’ I replied. At that moment, I was cut off and the conversation went no further. I thought about that phone call Saturday afternoon after Johnson and his coaching staff, many of whom coached with him at Georgia Southern and Navy and now Tech, made great halftime adjustments and proceeded to cut through the UGA defense like the proverbial hot knife through but ter. Time after time the Yellow Jackets made big play which would be followed by another big play. When all was said and done, the Yellow Jackets had rushed for more than 400 yards against a SEC powerhouse (so much for the triple option offense not work ing in “big time’’ college football.) Tech had also snapped a long los ing streak to its hated in-state rival and let it known things were going to be different from now on. Johnson becomes the initial first-year head coach at Tech to defeat UGA since Pepper Rodgers in the 1970s. Ironically, Rodgers ran a wishbone, option attack as his offense of choice. So as Bulldog Nation licks its wounds these weeks and tries to figure out what happened to its preseason No. 1 ranking by all those preseason magazines, the Georgia Tech football program is set to become a national player. I wonder what that Atlanta-based writer is thinking of Paul Johnson and his triple option offense today? For this writer, it feels good to be proven right. It’s not that I did anything, other than know a good football coach when I see one. In Paul Johnson, Tech certainly has a good one. chris bridges First & Ten Chris Bridges is sports editor of the Barrow Journal. E-mail comments about this column to cbridges @ barrowjournal. com. MIDDLE SCHOOL BASKETBALL Haymon-Morris still wears county crown BY CHRIS BRIDGES Winning the Barrow County championship is getting to be a hard habit to break for the Haymon-Morris Middle School girls basketball team. Coach Beth Parks’ squad captured the title for the second consecutive season with wins against county rivals Westside (32-27) and Russell Middle School (47-10.) In the opener against Westside, Haymon-Moris led 19-7 at half despite battle a case of nerves, Parks said. “Once the game got started and we settled down, I was very proud of how hard we played,” Parks said. Sherry Phommaly paced the team with 10 points followed by Tamaica Morrow and Molly Gregory with seven each, Morgan Thompson finished with six. Ashley Gunter led Westside with 11 points. The championship game was played three days later against Russell. Haymon-Morris took early control of the contest building a 32-4 halftime advan tage. Thompson was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points followed by Phommaly with 13. The win was a team effort as Morrow, J’nai Owens, Bronwyn Wade, Gregory and Lonia Muckle also contributed to the team’s scoring. See Repeat on page 3B BARROW’S BEST Haymon-Morris Middle School players and coaches celebrate another Barrow County championship. PREP BASKETBALL Off and running Connell’s WBHS team takes title at Tabo Tipoff BY CHRIS BRIDGES A dominating perfor mance by the Winder- Barrow High School boys basketball team Saturday helped cap a successful run through the Tabo Tipoff Tournament. The Bulldoggs defeated Collins Hill 75-44 to capture first place in the tournament hosted by Jefferson High School and emerged with a perfect 3-0 record in tournament play which stretched over several days. “Championship games are nor mally closer,” WBHS coach Eli Connell said. “We had been on the losing end in the title game for three years in a row so it was good to get this win.” The Bulldoggs had to do some adjusting early in the contest to try and negate the size of Collins Hill. Once Winder-Barrow moved to a zone in the first quarter, the tide began to turn, Connell said. By halftime, the Bulldoggs led 27-21. The second half was a domi nant one for Winder-Barrow as it put 48 points on the scoreboard. “We really had a strong showing in the second half,” Connell said. “If we continue to work hard we will be OK. That’s all we can ask for.” Shun Thurmond was the tour nament MVP and had seven points, seven assists and three steals in the title game. see Bulldoggs on page SB Coming up: •Tue., @ Salem, 6 p.m. •Dec. 12, ©Mon roe Area, 7 p.m. BATTLING FOR POSSESSION Winder-Barrow’s Henry Maxey (21) battles for control of the basketball dur ing last week’s game against Rockdale County. The Bulldogs have started the new season 3-1 overall. Coach Eli Connell’s team was sched uled to play Loganville High School Tuesday night and is now off until next Tuesday when the Bulldoggs travel to Salem High School in Conyers. WBHS will return home Dec. 12 to face old rival Monroe Area. Photo by Jessica Brown CROSS COUNTRY WBHS athletes earn All-Region status for efforts during 2008 HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING Mat Wildcats enjoy success during holiday competitions BY CHRIS BRIDGES A season which ended at the Class AAAA state meet has resulted in individual recognition for members of the Winder-Barrow High School cross country program. Amanda Cope was named first team All-Region 8-AAAA along with teammate Rebecca Gregory and Kalya Estes. Marie Lyle was named second team All-Region with Nicole Webb earning third team honors. For the WBHS boys. Josh Timms and Luis Jimenez earned second team All-Region honors while Cary Hughes was named to the third team. “We are very proud of our girls and boys team peformances,” said WBHS cross country coach Melissa Weinkle. “Both teams worked extremely hard throughout the season. To have five girls and three boys placed on the All-Region teams is quite an accom plishment.” Both WBHS teams advanced to the state meet this fall in Carrollton. The Lady Bulldoggs were second at the Region 8-AAAA meet in Carrollton while the Bulldoggs were third. They qualified for state on the basis of those performances. For Apalachee High School, Marquel Mosby was named second team All-Region for his efforts during the 2008 season. Mosby is coached by Bill Harrell. BY CHRIS BRIDGES New Apalachee High School wrestling coach Jim Stoudenmire knew his team would need some time to ease into the 2008-09 sea son. With several young wrestlers on the roster, Stoudenmire realized it might took a few matches to get up to full speed. It appears, however, the Mat Wildcats are perhaps ahead of schedule at this point. Apalachee competed in the Hiram Duals and Grayson Dual Tournaments during the Thanksgiving break and several wrestlers emerged with wins. Blaze Shaw recorded wins in six matches to help lead the AHS squad. Reaggan Perkins won her first match of the season as did A.J. Sims. Cody Boyle and Aaron Roberts posted three wins each. Before the break, Stoudenmire’s team competed at West Hall High School where Tony Hoard, Michael Newman and Cody Boyle all won three matches and Ben Knight, Christopher Newman and Roberts all posted two wins. The Mat Wildcats are preparing for the Jackson County High School Panther Invitational which will be held this Friday and Saturday in Jefferson. The event will be the largest tournament Apalachee has competed in to this point in the new season.