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PAGE 14 DEMONS From page 9 Dewayne Jackson is a se nior and Brandon Jordan is a junior, all have done good things and have been com petitive. None has a solid lock on who's going to be the guy. It may be that we play all three of them. "Our tailbacks have a tendency to carry the ball a lot. That may be a good thing if we can keep a fresh body in there." The Demon backfield isn't all about the tailback. Se nior Ryan Powell returns at fullback with fellow senior Jeremy Grant in line as the backup. Way said Grant may have the best "natu ral" speed and quickness on the team but does lack in game experience. "Antwan Hamilton is back as our wingback, and he is probably our most dependable receiver," said Way about the other end of the passing game. "He runs great routes, has ex cellent hands. At split end, we have three guys we feel good about who will all play: C.J. Jackson, Michael Proulx and Laureal Rich ardson. "They're all good-sized kids with good speed and hands. "Our backs catch the ball well. Jacob Vargas and Justyn King play at tight end and do a good job EAGLES From page 13 as exciting and ex plosive. There were times, as with the playoff win against Rome High, when Northside was all about its defense with a 10-2 final score. There are just as many familiar names back for 2006 as those who moved on to play college football. The defensive front, just like its offensive counterparts, has the most holes to fill with Sam Robinson, Omar Smith, Sante Jones and Eric Manns all gone. But Northside can boast among the top players in the state at linebacker and in catching the football." Everything on offense will come down to the 'hogs' up front, and a rushing attack needs a line group that will create space down after down. Warner Robins has two returning starters up front with a lot of new blood mixed in. "They've shown a lot of improvement, but they still have a lot of improv ing to do," said Way. "We have Robert Luciano who anchors the bunch. He's a three-year starter at center. They look to him for lead ership and stability." Lee Hoph, a senior, is the other returning starter. Brian Buford is also a se nior with some experience filling in at guard. Looking at the defensive side of the football, names like Antonio Felder on the line and Dominique Dav enport and Maurice Gray in the secondary stand out from last season, then you remember that they are now in the college ranks. Then some other names come to mind when think ing about big-play per formers, and these players will be in the red and white uniforms one more yean "Coming in, just looking across the board, you could say we have some experi ence at all three levels," said Way. "Our leading tackier from the last two years is back. Brian Buford the secondary. "We lost some good guys, guys who were really strong, not only physically but mental ly as far as being de termined to win and do good," said Nix. "We have some good players back, and the coaches have done a really good job bring ing them along. We're not going to be quite as big and strong and physical as we have been, but we have guys who run to the ball pretty well. "It's going to be dif ferent as far as the dominant guys we had. Robinson, Smith, Mann, those type guys." Again, just like with the offensive front, has averaged over 100 tack les the last two years. He makes all the other players out there better. "Roderick Rose is back for his third year starting, so we expect good things out of him. Justin Cowart started for us at defensive end and Jordan Sanders split time at defensive end. We don't have much expe rience at defensive tackle, but we have four bodies we feel will do a good job: Brian Lawson, Ivory Pettis, Decardo Pettis and Thomas Bruce." Helping Rose and Buford at linebacker are Luke Waller and Josh Laurit sen, two seniors promoted from the special teams unit. Other names to look out for there are Andrew Jones and Josh Palmer. "In the secondary, Laron Scott was a starter last year and probably our best ath lete," said Way. "Xavier Jackson played a lot of good football for us and he's back at free safety. "Tim Green is a senior who's battled injuries his whole time here. We planned on him being an outstanding player, even as a sophomore. He's missed a large majority of the last two seasons with injuries. He's healthy now and has had a good camp." Other safety candidates for the strong side are Ryan Reid (Willie's brother), putting together a new defensive front takes time to get all the techniques down. With coach Kevin Smith leading this group, Nix said they are progressing well, but it will take game experience to see how far they have come. "Whether they can play and take blocks on from bigger, stron ger guys, that's going to be a big question mark," he said. While the defense is also missing Brian Holder and Antoine Rice, the foundation at linebacker is solid with Deonta Jordan while Mitchell Bell and Mario Armstrong give Northside two quality safety men. Ronald Moss and Darius Lane. "We're a 4-3 defense mainly," said Way. "We don't do a lot of stunting or slanting. We play basic football, try to keep them from running and make them one-dimensional, be that running or throwing. We're not real fancy, but we try to be aggressive and physical." Gray and Davenport cer tainly gave Warner Robins the threat of the intercep tion if the front line shut down the running game. Way still feels he has strong athletes in the secondary, and he gives a lot of credit to coach Richard Hodges for teaching them how to make those takeaways. Davenport was the De mon punter last season for the first time. David Clark, the only freshman on the 2005 roster, emerged as a solid placekicker with just two field-goal misses all year. Way said his kickoffs in practice are going to the end zone, and Clark is also in the mix for punter. As of the second week in August, no one - not even the University of Georgia - has called Way with an offer to switch schedules. Following Parkview in the Georgia Dome, is the game of all games in Geor gia as Warner Robins faces Northside. This time it's a non-region game as the "Those are guys who will definitely have to make plays," said Nix. "Deonta's go ing to make plays, no doubt about that. He is as good a linebacker as there is in the state. I just hope he doesn't get frustrated ... he's used to’playing with those guys up front. Not having quite that dominant guys up there, we talked about not getting discour aged when things are tough and he's not getting help around him. "I think he'll be fine at some point in time. The bad thing is we have to start out the shoot with Houston County and Warner Robins." Jordan is finding himself in another role for the Eagles as a fullback on offense. In the Eagle defense, Nix has another long time assistant in Kev in Kinsler handling the schemes, sets and personnel alignments. Nix said he likes the base five-man front, but that most offens es don't allow you to stay like that. "We're more of a 4-3 off the five-man front with a four-deep sec ondary," said Nix. "Guys really have to focus and do their job. It's like a puzzle. Ev erybody has to mesh together. You can't leave running lanes. We have to squeeze to the ball, and hope- SEPTEMBER 1,2006 Eagles are still in AAAA. The non-region slate also includes Central Gwinnett and Beach High of Savan nah. Sneak a peek at the end of the schedule as there are the two-time defend ing 5-A champions from Lowndes. To make that game a possible region title game, the Demons only have to go through Houston County, Colquitt County and Valdosta. Way admitted that Hous ton coach Doug Johnson would know more about the 1-AAAAA power houses than him in any advanced scouting re port. Any coach in Geor gia, though, knows about the legacy of all of these schools. "(Lowndes) is doing something right down there," said Way. "Coach McPherson does a great job. At Valdosta you have (Rick) Tomberlin coming in, and his record speaks for itself. Valdosta is still Valdosta. Colquitt, Coffee, Tift and Houston ... you better be ready to play ev ery week. "Who's going to be the best team out of the crowd? Who knows? I hope we are. Five out of the seven teams in the region have won state championships, and three of the five have won multiple champion ships." fully we'll be strong enough to do that." As Nix mentioned, Northside starts play with two county ri vals. The Warner Rob ins game is early this time around because the Demons are in the 5-A classification for the next two years. Region 4-AAAA for the Eagles is still sub divided, and the only holdover from last year is Westside-Ma con. One interesting new comer is Baldwin, Northside's opponent last year in the Geor gia Dome's semifinal round. Dutchtown, Jones County, Stock bridge and Upson- Lee round it