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The Home Journal’s
SANDLOT
ON DECK
High school
Softball
Today
■ 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
Cross country
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
Today
■ 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.
BRAVES CORNER
METS 8, BRAVES O
(Game 2)
METS 4, BRAVES 1
(Game 1)
Mathematically, the Atlanta
Braves are not eliminated from
playoff contention. Mentally,
the Atlanta Braves eliminated
themselves Wednesday at Shea
Stadium.
The Braves managed just one
run in 18 innings against two
middling Mets lefties, and New
York took two in one day from
Atlanta, the worn-down club that
was enduring its third double
header in the past five days.
Best case, Atlanta could have
won two games Wednesday
and whittled San Diego's wild
card lead to four. Now, though,
the Braves are looking at the
doomsday scenario. They were
down 6 1/2 games immediately
after the day’s second loss, and
they could have fallen seven
games back with a Padres
win late Wednesday against
, Colorado.
Oliver Perez, winless in his
past seven starts with a 10.34
ERA, threw a five-hit shutout in
the second game, an 8-0 Mets
victory. Braves youngster Kyle
Davies (2-5), going on three
days’ rest, gave up two in the
first and then four more in the
sixth to give the absent Atlanta
offense no chance against
Perez (3-11).
IN BRIEF
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
clinic 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 informa
tion.
FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 8, 2006
Demons, Eagles move forward ... and back
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Whether it’s week 2,
or week 4, or week 5, or
week 9, or week 10, it’s not
likely to matter to the fans
of Northside and Warner
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Joumal/Matthew Brown
The Demons take a break during a recent practice. They will play host for the city
championship today in McConnell-Talbert Stadium.
Westfield preps lor Mount de Sales
Do so without Madruga who is potentially gone for the year
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Westfield, aiming this sea
son to win the first GISA
%
Mount de Sales
at Westfield,
today, 8 p.m.
The senior
fullback/linebacker suffered
a torn ACL while trying to
make a tackle in Friday’s
season-opening loss at John
Milledge Academy. It was
after an interception thrown
by the Hornets.
“He was running up the
sideline, and I was trying to
cut him off,” said Madruga
about his pursuit of the
Trojan return man. “He
slowed down and tried to
cut inside. So I slowed down,
and somebody just blindsid
ed me from the right side.
My left knee went out.
“It was excruciating at the
time. It’s not bad now.”
Madruga was at Westfield’s
practice Friday walking on
Robins high school’s foot
ball teams. The crowd will
be there, the anticipation
of arguably the state’s top
rivalry will be there, only
the stakes of a sub-region or
region championship will be
absent.
his own
power,
but with
a notice
able limp.
Earlier that
day he had
the knee
examined
and learned
AAA south
region foot
ball champi
onship, will
have to do so
without All-
State candi
date Austin
Madruga.
that the
ACL was completely torn.
“I might be able to play
with a brace on it,” said
Madruga. “But I want to
play college. So I might just
go ahead and get the sur
gery. I haven’t decided yet.
“It’s the most awful feel
ing I’ve ever felt. I spent
so much time during the
offseason.”
“It hurts because he’s
such a good player,” said
Hornets head coach Ronnie
Jones. “But you have nine
football games left. I told
the kids somebody else has
to step it up.
“I hate it for him because
he’s worked hard. Nobody
seems to know why things
happen. We have to put it
behind us and go to work.”
One of Jones’ points of
concern in the preseason
Spoils
Leap year
% h
MADRUGA
It’s something the Demons
and the Eagles knew was
going to happen well over
a year ago when the new
classifications of Georgia
high schools that would take
effect in 2006 were released.
So instead of playing for a
was the injury factor and,
being a small school, how
one player going out could
cause ripples throughout
the lineup. That concern
is now reality at Westfield,
and while the game plan
won’t change, Jones said it
might be a case of more than
one player filling Madruga’s
roles.
“I don’t want to name
names, but we will have to
move some people around,”
he said. “It may be two or
three people playing some
fullback. We may not know
all the answers by (tonight).
It may take a couple of
weeks.”
Westfield’s first game with
out Madruga is tonight at
Marvin Arrington Stadium
against Mt. de Sales, which
also opened the new cam
paign with a loss (41-0 to
First Presbyterian Day).
“They got behind real
quick, and FPD throws it
about every down,” said
Jones. “We don’t, so we
really didn’t get a whole lot
out of that film. (MDS) had
to do some throwing that
See PREPS, page iB
sub-region or region title,
a favorable position in the
state playoffs and even a No.
1 ranking in the state, coach
es Conrad Nix and Bryan
Way can only look at their
annual clash at McConnell-
Talbert Stadium as another
step in the developmental
process of
their respec
tive teams.
For sure,
Sept. 8 is
the earli
est date in
a season for
a Warner
Robins-
Northside
game. Nix
and Way
can’t help
but feel that
81
i.
Northside at
Warner Robins,
today, 7:30 p.m.
things are a bit different this
time around since people are
still getting used to the fact
that the new gridiron cam
paign just started.
“It’s a little different
around school, that’s for
sure,” said Way. “The atmo
sphere surrounding the
game, to me anyway, is a lot
different than it normally
is. Usually it’s kind of a cli
max to the regular season.
Everybody’s looking forward
to the last game.
“Now it’s upon us early. All
of our focus last week was
on Parkview and theirs was
on Houston County. Now we
have to switch gears and
tram in the Northside week,
which you usually prepare
for a little along the way.”
“Playing at the end of the
year gives you a lot of ben
efits,” said Nix. “It primes
everybody for that last game.
The big thing as far as the
football team’s concerned is
you will be as good as you
will be at the end of the
year, unless you have some
injuries. Those guys will get
"Now it's upon us early. All of our focus
last week was on Parkview and theirs
was on Houston County. Now we have to
switch gears and cram in the Northside
week, which you usually prepare for a
little along the way/'
- Warner Robins head football coach Bryan Way
On polls, The Crocodile
Hunter, liger and the Mets
If the federal government
ever outlawed the use of
the word “hopefully,” about
every high school football
coach I’ve ever worked with
Matthew Brown
Journal Sports Writer
line in the Houston Daily
Journal football edition.
■ Big news this week:
Ohio State head coach Jim
Tressell says in a press
conference that he voted
Texas, his Buckeyes’ oppo
nent this weekend, No. 1
in the coach’s poll. USA
Today responds by saying,
“No you didn’t.”
So what is going on here
with these polls? Are the
head coaches - and their
poll is the only one the
BCS can use - turning over
the duty of sending in this
all-important vote to some
their execution down well,
get some experience. That’s
what will be lacking in this
game.
“I would expect both of
us to be better by the end
of the year. I hope we are,
anyway. It’s still going to be
exciting and a competitive
atmosphere.”
That’s not to say there
aren’t any interesting issues,
plots and sub-plots sur
rounding. this year’s game.
Did Warner Robins make
a major statement in its first
game back in the 5-A clas
sification? It was only a 30-3
win against Parkview, own
ers of four state champion
ships, in the Georgia Dome.
“It didn’t surprise me that
(the Demons) won,” said
Nix, who was at the Dome
Saturday. “I don’t know that
I was expecting that margin
a score. They pretty well
dominated. I don’t think
Parkview was ever in the
contest.
“Warner Robins impressed
in all the areas. I don’t grade
it like they might, but the
offensive and defensive lines
did a good job. The execu
tion in the passing game was
good. Special teams play was
good.”
The Northside coach even
saw some new wrinkles in
the Demon offense, such as
wing formations, the shot
gun and other things he
expects will stretch out his
defense.
“We got up to a quick
lead and got a little con
servative,” said Way about
the Parkview game. “Our
defense was playing really
well, and we didn’t want
to have any turnovers. We
got caught with bad field
position a couple of times,
so we tried to pound it out,
get some breathing room
See MOVE, page iB
low-level intern in the SID
office? Forget about try
ing to modify or tweak the
whole Bowl Championship
Series process, the major
reform is needed in the vot
ing.
If the coaches really leave
it up student helpers, we
could end up with a poll
that looks something like
this:
1. Ohio (not the Buckeyes,
but the Bobcats), 2. .
Houston (I thought it said
Texans. That’s Houston’s
nickname, isn’t it?), 3.
North Dakota (Hey, it said
ND. That’s the first thing
that came to mind.)
You get the idea.
■ God bless the soul of
The Crocodile Hunter.
I admit that Steve
Irwin’s Animal Planet
show isn’t my usual choice
for television viewing. But
it’s always fun when he
appears on another show
- even a few sports shows
- or commercial.
First I heard that Irwin
had died, then the details
slowly started flowing in.
See BROWN, page iB
wouldn’t
know
what to
say.
But you
know the
old adage,
where
there’s
a will ...
there’s
a head-
SECTION
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