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PAGE 12 FEW From page 7 I think we got better to ward the end of the year, and that's what you al ways hope for. "You hope to win the re gion; we didn't do that. We haven't accomplished that in the last two years. For four or five years straight we won the region. You want to win it all, but get ting to where we got to is an accomplishment." Jones pointed out that one of the big reasons it's hard to compare one year to another is that a school always loses a se nior class. Westfield had just 10 on last year's ros ter, but with this program losing one player actually means losing an offensive and defensive starter. The Hornet coaches are going to work with the players available to them with the same expectations of be ing the best team they can l?e. And if that happens Westfield will find itself playing for the state cham pionship. Jones said that's always going to be the tar get as long as he leads the Hornets. The planning for the 2006 season began once that last buzzer sounded in Macon in November. Right away Jones could see where the nucleus for success this year would lie: in the of fensive backfield: "The thing I'm most ex cited about is we have two backs," said Jones. "Aus tin Madruga, our fullback, has actually gained weight but lost baby fat. This will be his third year (as a start er). He's 220 pounds. He's got his 40 down to a 4.6. He looks so much quicker than he's ever looked and certainly a lot stronger. "We have Zach Young back who ran for us at one of the halfbacks. The other was Andrew Arnold, the senior we lost. Zach, it was his first year being a ‘OS From page 2 in 2005, though Westfield wasn’t by any means going to let this school dictate a final score. Oh, the visitors won 23-7, but it wasn’t sealed until the speedy Carl Robinson scored a 74-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Antwan Hamilton, 109 yards rushing. Bran don Anderson, 102 yards rushing. Warner Robins 52, Hardaway 7. When is Oct. 21 go ing to get here? Mary Persons appeared to have handed Perry a serious setback. The 7- back and he might have been the hardest runner we had. He is about 170 pounds." It seems like the whole Westfield running back crop is. gaining weight. Jones said usually the big gest he puts in there is 140 to 150 pounds. Trent Usher, a junior, looks to be the other halfback this season, and he registered 195 pounds on the scale. "On the line on offense, Jeremy Rowland, who played a lot of guard, is back," said Jones. "We have Ryan Campbell, who played a lot of guard, back. We have Daniel Payne, who played some offensive tackle, and we have Matt Mcßride, who did not start on offense but got some playing time at tackle. That's where we feel our strong points are." The concerns lie with the quarterback position and the overall depth. One injury, Jones said, could shake up the lineup sig nificantly, like with a tight end moving to tackle. With a limited number of coaches, practice time is divided between offense with everyone involved and defense with every one involved. "I have three or four guys ... we're still waiting for somebody to step for ward," said Jones about the quarterback battle. "All of them are getting better, but somebody has to get a lot better. I have two sophomores and two juniors working there, and some of those guys may have to go (to another po sition) once we find a cou ple we can depend on. "At wideouts we do have Tanner Williams back, an other senior. One of our most important positions is our tight end. I would think Nash Murph is our leading candidate right now. Some people are still pushing for those jobs." Whoever does become 3 loss to the Bulldogs wasn’t for the faint of heart, or it was just what the doctor ordered to those who love punishing defense. Did Houston County play? Yes, and beat Liberty County 12-8. Must have been a bad night for cell-phone reception, though. Week 6, Sept 23 The week actually started on Thursday with Warner Robins cruising one more time, 42-0 over Westside in Macon. Stop the presses, though, we have quite an upset. Somebody went to the House of Pain in Sandersville and beat down those Wash ington County Hawks. Well, it wasn’t a beat- “You want to win it all, but getting to where we got to is an accomplishment.” - Westfield headfootball coach Ronnie Jones the starting quarterback, his job will be to direct the wing-T offense. Jones ex pects to run a lot of power sets with his big backs, though there may not be as many wide-open type runs due to a lack of quick ness. In other words, look for long, three-yards-and a-cloud-of-dust drives. "More important than running hard is blocking," said Jones. "The wing-T of fense is fun to me because you have to block. Every body knows they get to carry the ball close to the same amount. Holding the ball is more important, and more important that this is blocking. "In our offense, we're going to pass it about the way it's gone the last 13 years. In an average ball game we'll throw it 12 or 14 times according to what the defense is giv ing us. We're not going to be a drop-back team but a play-action team. It doesn't take a great arm, but it does take a smart individual to make good decisions and good play action fakes. Not that we throw deep a lot, but we like to keep people off of us and throw the deep ball occasionally." On the defensive side, again most of these offen sive starters have key roles in keeping the opposition off the scoreboard. The lineup, Jones said, will be a multiple 50 front with perhaps two of the best linebackers in the state in Madruga and Campbell. Madruga actually played defensive end when the Hornets had a split look. Rowland, a senior, gives the front line a 185-pound nose guard, and Payne, at 240 pounds, and Mcßride, at 255 pounds, return as the defensive tackles. John Blount is a returning se nior strong safety, and Young will join him in the secondary. "I think we have six people on defense who have started," said Jones. "I probably feel better de fensively than offensively. Coach (Jamey) Watson is our defensive coordinator, and I don't know what I'd do without him. "I think any good defen sive team that we play is not all about stunting. You're going to make a big play every now and then, but for us it's all about reading and learning, reading your keys and do ing the things you're sup posed to do, not just tak ing off for the football. "Those are the kind of teams we like to play against. The ones we don't like to play against are those that do a good job reading and finding things." Tyler Brooks, a good athlete from the baseball team, is working out to be the Hornet punter and displaying some good hang time. Jones said the kicking game is a project in the works. Joel Revis, a sophomore, is in line to handle the Hornet place kicks. Jones said it's go ing to be a matter of a lot of practice for them to get better. Here is where things re ally get different from Westfield and GISA sea sons overall of the past several years. In football only, there are now two regions for Class AAA, a north and a south region. Four teams from each re gion will compete in the state tournament. So gone for now are the days of mainly four-team down, it was only 28-27, but Perry had just beaten the No. 7 team in the state and may have sent early visions of Valdosta dancing in Rick Tomberlin’s head. Part II of the rivalry trilogy in Houston County went to Northside, 27-0, against the Houston Bears. Basically, the Bears managed just 117 yards against an Eagle defense that was just getting warmed up. Speaking of upsets, though, the Westfield club had about enough of taking things on the chin. First Presbyterian Day journeyed down from Macon to Perry only to get stung and stung some more 41-31. SEPTEMBER 1,2006 regions and a guaranteed spot for at least one post season contest. For the Hornets, a member of the seven-team south region, their main competition comes from Deerfield- Windsor, First Presbyte rian, Southland and Strat ford. There are six schools in the north, including de fending state champion Riverside, George Walton, John Milledge and Tattnall Square. "There's going to be some good teams, for the first time in a long time, who are not going to make the playoffs," said Jones. "Es pecially when you look at our side. Once you get to those region games, that's six important games. It hasn't been that way be fore. It's usually two or three. "I guess it's better. Teams that make the playoffs are going to be the teams not only good, but real lucky. You may have a week there (before) where you could afford to sit some body out, but this year you may not be able to do that." Can Westfield be one of the lucky four? The sched ule for the south region also includes Pinewood Christian and Sherwood Christian, and the Hornets don't want to disregard them though they don't have the playoff history. Jones can testify that the dedication among the Hornets is there. Back dur ing the summer volunteer weight program, he made the weight room open for 33 possible days. Knowing everyone likes to take vacation time when school is out, all he asked for was for each player to lift 20 out of those 33 days. Well, the number may be 15 or may be 20 out of the 50-player roster, but Jones said it that many Hornets, an unofficial school re cord, only missed six of the 33 open days. Week 7, Sept. 30 Again, Oct. 21, Oct. 21, we want Oct. 21. Northside 41, Hardaway 0 For Warner Robins, Anderson scored four touchdowns in a 48-21 win against Central- Macon. The real fun was at the Panther Pit. Hay ward - maybe it was by design or maybe it was some great improvisation - took off run ning while a lot of the opposing players from Spalding stood and watched. It was a 35-yard touchdown for the quarterback and a 27-6 win for the still rolling Panthers. See ‘OS, page 15