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HMnustmt Patly djourturl WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2006 The Home Journal’s SANDLOT ■BIWT" ' ON DECK Major League Baseball Today ■ Atlanta at New York, 1:10 p.m., TBS High school Softball Today ■ Perry at Americus, 6 p.m. ■ Northside at Jones County, 5:30 p.m. Thursday ■ Sherwood at Westfield, 4:30 p.m. ■ Central at Perry, 5 p.m. ■ Stockbridge at Northside, 5:45 p.m. Friday ■ Houston County and Warner Robins at Evans tournament in Augusta, teams and times to be determined ■ Perry at Tiger Town Classic in Adairsville, teams and times to be determined Saturday ■ Houston County and Warner Robins at Evans tournament in Augusta, teams and times to be determined ■ Perry at Tiger Town Classic in Adairsville, teams and times to be determined High school Volleyball Today ■ Houston County at Pace (versus it and Greater Atlanta Christian), 5 p.m. Thursday ■ Perry at Warner Robins, 5 p.m. High school Cross country Thursday ■ Northside at Peach County, 4:30 p.m. Saturday ■ Westfield at Sherwood, 10 a.m. ■ Northside and Warner Robins at Two-mile Invite in Cochran, 9:30 a.m. ■ Perry at Tift Invite, 9:30 a.m. High school Football Friday ■ Warner Robins at Northside, 7:30 p.m. ■ Mount de Sales at Westfield, 8 p.m. ■ Dougherty at Perry, 7:30 p.m. Saturday ■ Windsor Forest at Houston County, 7:30 p.m. IN BRIEF Tickets on sale for Demons-Eagles game Reserve seat ticket sales are currently on sale for the Warner Robins-Northside game Friday. Reserve and general admis sion tickets are on sale - unless and until they run out - are being sold at Warner Robins. Reserved seat tickets are $8 and advance general admission tickets are $7. PY competition cheer squad to hold clinic Perry .High School’s Competition Cheerleaders will be sponsoring a one-day cheer clinic for children 4 years old to sixth grade Sept. 16. It will be held in the high school’s multipurpose gym. The cost is $35, with a $5 discount given for each additional family member. The cost includes an event T-shirt, drinks and snack. Registration and pictures for those below third grade will be from 7:30-8:15 a.m., with the clime running from 8:30-11:30 a.m. A performance for the par ents is slated for 11:30 a.m. Registration and pictures for those third-sixth grade will be from 7:30-8:15 a.m., with their clinic running from 8:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. A performance for those parents is set for 12:30 p.m. E-mail mlangston@hcbe.net or jmashburn@hcbe.net for an application or more information. Lady Bears volleyball team reaches a milestone Win over Luella marks first ever ‘Area’ victory Special to the Journal Houston County’s varsity volley ball team won its first ever Area matches Saturday as the Lady Bears traveled to Luella High School and played a quad match. The Lady Bears won the first of the day against host Luella in two games 26-24 and 25-13. Head coach Tony Jones said he felt the play was balanced and that i,'- WmmjF **• - •• . • £-14, , «-~r ,'a»- 4£j3s^^^^KoKitsgg&R ENI/Gary Harmon Houston County defenders group tackle a Northside runner during their meeting Friday at McConnell-Talbert Stadium. The Bears will host Windsor Forest Saturday. HoCo attempts new heights By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Anyone attending Saturday’s Houston County High foot ball game against Windsor Forest might want to bring a stepladder along ... if you have ft_ mF3 Windsor Forest at Houston County, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. anything to say to the visiting Knight players. When coaches talk about size advantages in football, they usually mean weight and strength. This Windsor Forest club from Savannah is coming to McConnell- Talbert Stadium not only with some bulk, but a good deal of height as well. “Two years ago they made the playoffs and got beat out by Lowndes,” said Houston head coach Doug Johnson WRs' cross country teams finish 1 -2 at Wildcat Invitational Special to the Journal Warner Robins’ girls and boys cross country teams competed in the Wildcat Invitational Saturday in Valdosta and came away quite well. Overall, the boys finished first and the girls finished second. “This was the first look at some of the teams in the new region,” said head coach David Erpelding. “I was very pleased with the performances of both teams. “We still have our work cut out for us but it felt good to perform well the first time around.” The boys finished with 47 points. Tift Sports r~ b f E^ | LADY^^ he was pleased with the win. “It was a huge relief to finally get the first Area win,” he said. “I "They are tall. That worries us a little bit. They've had a little success in years past. The kids believe they have it going in the right direction." -Houston County headfootball coach Doug Johnson about the Knights’ recent history. “Last year they didn’t make the playoffs but had a pretty good football team. (Region 3-AAAAA) has that tiebreaker deal where sometimes teams get put out that probably shouldn’t. “(Allen Cartwright) feels pretty good about the group he’s got this year. They didn’t play last weekend, so this will be their first game. They have a big group of kids. The size concerns us.” One offensive tackle for the Knights reported ly stands 6-6, weighs 340 pounds and moves well for that size. Then there’s a County had 85, Valdosta 92, Berrien County 117, Cairo 149, Lee County 159, Coffee County 161, Bainbridge 240 and Fitzgerald 397. Individually, Marc Kushinka led the way. He was second overall, finishing in 18 minutes. Karl Burkhardt was just behind him and in third with a time of 18:18. Jeffery Nakayama was eighth at 19:08, Asif Bader 16th at 19:53 and Cameron Luck 18th at 19:55. For the girls overall, Tift County was first with 53 points. The Demonettes were second with 56. Bainbridge was third with 84, Lee County was fourth with 91, Valdosta fifth with 160, Cairo Match 1 - Houston County 26, Luella 24, Lady Bears 25, Luella 13 Match 2 - Union Grove 25, Houston County 16, Union Grove 25, Houston County 16 Match 3 - Houston County 25, Mundy's Mill 18, Mundy's Mill 25, Houston County 23, Houston County 30, Mundy's Mill 28 6-5 tight end who catches the football well, a 6-2, 245- pound middle linebacker and a defensive backfield all over six feet. “They are tall,” said Johnson. “That worries us a little bit. They’ve had a little success in years past. The kids believe they have it going in the right direc tion.” Windsor Forest presents a two-back offense, running either pro twins or an I for mation. The Bears expect to see a lot of basic traps and sweeps and a fresh rotation of tailbacks and fullbacks. “They have four or five felt we were close last year but just could not close the deal; this year’s team has been focused on finishing a match. The Lady Bears fell in the second match to Area leader Union Grove two games to none and by the same score, 25-16. “(I) felt this is one of the best teams on our schedule and we played well,” said Jones. “The score does not indicate how closely we played them. “We had several long rallies that could have gone either way, on Saturday they went Union Grove’s running backs they play,” said Johnson. “They run hard. They’re hard to tackle. We will have to keep them from getting anywhere. “They don’t try to run too much stuff. They keep it simple and do what they do well. “They like to throw it up to those receivers who are fairly tall. They have a lot of speed and a lot of things that can hurt us. They seem to have some really good athletes. “Defensively, they run a 4-3 with four secondary guys who are as good-looking as anyone we’ve seen. All of them can run. We were look ing in one book, and he lists nine guys as college pros pects. He feels he’s got some pretty good players.” What Johnson sees as the most important match-ups for the Bears against the Knights are the same ones that worked against them See HEIGHTS, page jB sixth with 189, Berrien County seventh with 210, Coffee County eighth with 213 and Fitzgerald ninth with 325. Brittney Stewart, in what will not doubt be the first of many, finished first with a time of 20:05. Danielle Atkins was third with a time of 20:22, Brittney Hill 6th at 23:32, April Meeks 22nd at 25:45 and Becky Atkins 24th at 25:52. In other note, Erpelding wanted to make known, Caroline Mauldin of Huntington Middle School and in the middle school two-mile race, was first. Her time was 14:55. It was her sec ond win of the young season, said Erpelding. way. When we left the court the ladies really wanted a rematch, hopefully for the Area Championship.” The squad rebounded to win the final match of the day. That was against Mundy’s Mill and came in rather “dramatic fashion,” Jones said. The Lady Bears needed three games and the scores were 25-18, 23-25 and 30-28 (normal match is 25 - win by two). “(I) felt this was a match we should have easily won,” he said. “(But) we were tired and got sloppy in the sec ond game. See MILESTONE, page 3B Perry finds no rest from its 'labors' By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer It’s Labor Day. There was only one thing for the Perry High football Panthers to do: Get to work. Going from one state champi ons h i p con tender to another to another, there is no break time in what Andy Scott and the Panthers are try ing to build in the 2006 season. After a frustrat ing road loss on Friday to Hawkinsville, ranked No. 2 in Class A, Perry will now host last year’s runner-up team in Class AAA, Dougherty High, on Friday. It’s that level of the postseason, the last pos sible game that decides it all, that the Panthers strive to reach. Dougherty hosted Peach County in Albany last December only to fall to Perry’s top rival in Region 4-AAA. Scott was.at Hugh Mills Stadium for that con test and saw a talented Dougherty Trojans club that was about to lose a senior class 36 strong. “I think that’s kind of a misnomer as far as the number of players they have returning,” said Scott. “We saw them play Northeast (Macon) Saturday, and they are very good.” In fact Dougherty earned the No. 7 preseason rank ing in AAA. It is also a pro gram that has more state See LABORS, page jB Ayer, Clark come in second, third in Jasper tourney From staff reports Slim pickens? Not real ty Dane Clark and Buddy Ayer from the Perry Horseshoe Pitcher’s Club both competed at the Pickens Open in Jasper Saturday with the first placing third and the sec ond coming in, well, sec ond. Ayer pitched in the D Class and finished the day with a 3-3 record. One other competitor did like wise, but Ayer got him on ringer percentages. Ayer’s was 19.16. The other pitcher, Lee Howington, had an 18.75 ringer per centage. Which means See JASPER, page jB SECTION B mjgs& Dougherty at Perry, Friday, 7:30 p.m.