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PAGE 8
REASONS
From page 3
would have won a game or two
because our region is so tough.
Everybody who gets in does a
good job."
Aside from Banks, Houston
graduated three starting mem
bers of the secondary. Brandon
Aikens and Hilton left two holes
on the offensive line, and Tariq
Polley was a defensive line starter
who signed to play junior college
football.
"In the spring we got a start on
(replacing these players)," said
Johnson. "We're still in the find
ing-out department. I think we'll
still be in that situation for the first
two or three ball games. You hope
by the third, fourth or fifth game
you have everything squared
away and hope you don't get in
juries that may set you back."
There's no need for the Bears
staff to find out what kind of
quarterback or running backs are
on campus. Martez King was the
pleasant surprise of 2005 by tak
ing over the quarterback job. The
offensive front has three veteran
starters in Ben Collins at tight
end, Reggie Smith at center and
Jimmy Bailey.
Believe it or not, a freshman was
able to make a splash on varsity,
that being 6-1 receiver Craig Pre
sley. Michael Gibson and Brian
Dyke are two other experienced
senior receivers who should fill
out the flanker corp. Johnson
doesn't want to leave out 209-
pound senior wingback Lydel
Jones and the strides he made last
year.
When Houston County hit the
field for a scrimmage against
Jones County on Aug. 18, senior
DJ Dodson found himself with a
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“Our kids have bought into our scheme.
We’re going to try to play fundamentally
sound football.”
-Houston County headfootball coach Doug Johnson
lot of carries with a lot of good re
sults. At 5-8 and 160 pounds, he
is the right compliment as a scat
back type to O'Neal and Jones
and their power running attack.
"Offensively we have a lot of
kids who have at least been on the
field," he said. "Sometimes you
have to make that group mesh.
We have a few new faces in there.
We hope they fit in.
"Defensively, we are really look
ing hard (at the secondary). We
moved a kid from offense, Ded
rick Early, who has done a great
job at comer so far. (Junior) Wes
Johnson has done a good job so
far."
Raiding other positions filled the
linebacker slots. Chris Prewett, a
junior, moves over from defen
• sive end as does former fullback
Anthony Harris, a 210-pound se
nior. Kyle Griffin is a returning
senior starter as is 225-pound se
nior Princeton Dean.
"Up front, (senior) Dexter Hol
man had a great spring," said
Johnson. "We have Jacob Walker,
a move-in who's looked good so
far. We really have 10 guys on the
defensive line who could play a
lot. Gavin Whitfield, Brandon
Craig, (senior) Chris Dilworth at
nose guard, Trenton Powell has
really come on.
"We feel good now, but you
don't know until you start play
ing. Kids who look good now
may not look good in that first
game or two. About every team
will still be shaking out some
things as the season goes on.
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"We still have a depth problem
we have to work on as far as our
crossover kids. But we feel good
at some spots. Martez is at quar
terback, and we have two good
kids behind him, Don Jones and
Jeff Thompson. Jeff's just a 10th
grader and we feel he has a good
future. That's a good position to
have some back-up."
King is running the wing-T of
fense with the adjustments the
coaches make as they do every
year. King never played the po
sition before 2005, which limited
what the coaches called as far as
multiple plays go. But Johnson
said now he is capable of much
more than his rookie season.
"He's more sure of himself,"
said Johnson. "He's a really good
athlete, which allows him to do
more. Our other kids allow us to
do more. Eric O'Neal has looked
real good so far.
"Different from last year, we're
hoping to be able to control the
football more to help our defense.
Some games we did 0.K., some
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games we didn't. I hope we can
be more versatile with the pass
ing game.
"I know everybody hollers
'Throw, throw, throw.' We do
try to throw some, but we know
you have to have people who
can throw and catch. We will prob
ably throw more this year. We're
in pretty good shape (at receiver).
We'll still be a basic run team ...
our main thing will be wing and
slot, the base formations we start
out of."
With more experience on the
front side of the defense, John
son is sticking with the same
scheme with adjustments made
game-to-game as they are need
ed. He knows, against a team like
Northside, the Bears have to be
prepared for a lot of spread of
fense based out of the I forma
tion. Later, Houston will go from
a primary passing team in Berk
mar to a run-oriented attack from
Parkview.
"We're not extremely fast on de
fense, which is not good," said
Johnson. "Our kids have bought
into our scheme. We're going to
try to play fundamentally sound
football. When we get to the re
gion, our league is a running foot
ball league. Tift County probably
See BEARS, page 13
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