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ißoustcm ißaiijj TJmmtal 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 jfiH W 'it' Irlafe. H * | WU t : w al ? 1 smJ*mi i '8 f y mS BI Jl| 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 B