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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL YMCA From page iB volunteers and the commu nity together under a com mon cause. HEALING From page iB putting on the GISA, 46- 14. Young reinjured the same ankle he sprained back on Sept. 1 at John Milledge. He had two touches against Tattnall Square, returning the opening kickoff about 40 yards and then suffering the injury on the second play from scrimmage. Jones said on Monday it is a high ankle sprain, and the preliminary plan is to hold Young out of the non region contest this weekend against Brentwood. That would give Young two weeks to heal as Westfield has a bye date on Sept. 29 before begin ning South Region play the following weekend against Stratford. As for Rowland, Jones said it’s possible he’ll be able to see action against Brentwood. Rowland, who came out in the second quarter against Tattnall Square and seen walking on crutches after halftime, had a strained ligament of some kind, according to Jones. Westfield has been the proverbial snake-bitten foot ball team with only three weeks gone in the regular season. In addition to the Young injury in the John Milledge game, the club lost senior Austin Madruga for the whole campaign. Young was able to play the follow ing weekend against Mt. de Sales, but sophomore Chase Ellis, part of a two-player rotation at quarterback, came out of that game early with a knee injury. Even without Young in the backfield, Westfield staked a 7-0 lead on Tattnall Square after a takeaway on defense in Trojan territory. But the home team didn’t ACTION From page iB second half. “You can’t ever bring a loss back (the follow ing week),” said Scott, remembering how last year Perry lost to Mary Persons but came back to upset Washington County. “At the same time you can learn from it and continue to get better. We played a lot bet ter against Dougherty.” Jackson is also 1-1, having opened its season against the 5A classifica tion. The Red Devils beat Union Grove 22-21, but lost to East Coweta 31-19. “I don’t know how good a match-up it is,” said Scott. “They are a whole different type of team than we are. They are more of a spread it-out, throw-it-around type team. We try to play that physical game, run the ball and things like that to be successful. “They have (athletes) all over the field. They return 10 starters defensively, so they are going to be real CLEATS r AE'VE UEEP EVERY vAEE 'N /MICHAEL, ivHEH YOU COME OUT\ | |f( GO AWAYI J - —1 AWP EOMJI IM Yd-R HCURE POE \ J/ CP THE BATHROOM LEAVE THE I 5 V ' C/tNc,-/ |S CUR PAPEE-AIEPIAUE EOlp AHP I \ POOR CPEH AUP THE UP UP. /g / ~P PST. HE ETUI EOT OLE HOLE TO GO. / | \ / MAYBE HE P LET \ LtV-. | Mo/ Bmi/O “ill JILL 11// L. IL “The YMCA is a great place for families to gath er. “As the YMCA grows stronger, it will be an even greater asset to the com munity.” "We're not going to lean on that. Wfe can't. Wte just have to go on, and whoever conies in has to step It up and play well." - Westfield headfootball coach Ronnie Jones score again until after the visitors ran off 40 in a row. “I don’t think it did any thing,” said Jones about the possible impact of the inju ries on the Hornets’ effort. “You still have kids whom you’ve worked with all week to try to get out there and do their job. Injuries happen to everybody. When you put somebody else in those positions, you expect them to do their jobs just like the ones who were in there first. “We’re not going to lean on that. We can’t. We just have to go on, and whoever comes in has to step it up and play well.” Jones and the Hornets were only looking at a 12- point halftime deficit (19-7), which is closer than any of Tattnall Square’s previous opponents were at inter mission. Westfield has the takeaway, saw the Trojans botch two PAT tries and held them out the last time they had possession. However, the way Westfield approached the second half indicated to Jones that the team felt it was down by much, much more. “We got beat by a better football team, but I thought we quit a little bit in the third quarter,” he said. “I don’t think we played very hard after halftime.” Trojan quarterback Brett Layson added to that by running an option play 71 yards for a touchdown on the first snap of the half. So much for being down good. Offensively they are going to line up four wides and throw it everywhere. They have a quarterback who is a three-year starter who can put it on a dime.” Jackson is also trying to stock some Southeastern Conference schools with its talent. John Keye, a 6-6 receiver, has committed to the University of Kentucky. Neland Ball, also standing at 6-6 and playing defen sive end, has committed to Georgia. “No doubt about it, they’re going to be real good,” said Scott. “We are going to try as much as we can to mess them up as far as our coverage, try to rush as many people as we can in certain situations. “It’s kind of a guess ing game. If you bring everybody, you don’t have enough in coverage. If you have too many in coverage (the quarterback) stands there all day and throws it. We will mix things up as best we can.” With Perry’s wishbone rushing attack, Scott said a major key in the game is ball control on offense. For more information on how YMCA members and program participants, Civic or Church groups, or busi nesses can provide volun teer labor or supplies, con tact Mercer at 922-2566. by 12. “That’s when leadership has to step up,” said Jones. “It’s not just that one play. We just didn’t play well in the second half at all. You can say they were better than we were, but a lot of it was sloppiness and a lack of intensity.” The 1-2 Hornets will look to get back even with their only non-region game against a Class AA school. Under Perry native and former Westfield assistant Bert Brown, Brentwood is coming off a 34-7 loss at John Milledge. Considering the success, though, Brown has brought to Brentwood, Jones does not consider this a break in Westfield’s schedule. “Brentwood is always in the top half of AA when they get to the playoffs,” said Jones. “(Brown) runs our offense, so he probably knows us better than any body. They moved the ball on John Milledge and fum bled a couple of times inside the 10 and had an intercep tion. It sounded like our John Milledge game at the end. “They have some young people, but so do we right now. We have to go to there place, and it’s going to be tough. We have to play a complete ball game, and I told them we have some kids who have to play hard er than they are right now. Don’t ever give up. That’s how I want our kids to feel. I want our kids to play a little harder.” “The best place to play defense is on the sidelines,” he said. “If our offense can go out there and manage the clock, we are going to be a lot better.” As high school football followers whose teams are in a sub-divided situa tion knows, the end of the regular season is actually the start of the playoffs. Region 4-AAA will have such a scenario the top four teams from each sub region will play each other (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3) with the winners advancing to the state tournament. It’s not out of the ques tion that, regardless of Friday’s outcome, there will be a rematch on Nov. 10. “I hope we only have to play Jackson once,” said Scott. “You definitely don’t want to play a team like that twice. We probably get to see the best team from that side of the region, and it will get us ready for our side.” After Jackson, Perry faces another school from the north sub-region, Henry County High. SPORTS Weaksml ACC good for Georgia Tech? By Adam Van Brimmer Morris News Service ATLANTA - Atlantic Coast Conference pundits talk fer vently about the talent in a league they consider peren nially underrated. April’s NFL draft validated their claims. Twelve of the 32 first-round picks played for ACC teams - the most from one league in NFL history. The top overall pick, defen sive end Mario Williams, starred at North Carolina State. Those departures created a vacuum, however. Three weeks into this season, the sucking sound is drowning out all the pundits talk. North Carolina State lost to Akron and Southern Mississippi. Virginia got hammered by Pittsburgh, struggled against Wyoming and lost to Western Michigan. North Carolina lost to Rutgers at home. Boston College squeaked past Central Michigan and needed overtime to defeat Brigham Young. Maryland gave up 28 points in the first quarter of a hum bling loss to West Virginia. Florida State rallied late to beat Troy and is averag ing just 49 rushing yards per game. Those struggles lead to the inevitable questions. Slow start? Or down year? And how good is the league’s Dunn deserves recognition for his play as well as charity work If Warrick Dunn could write his own newspaper headline, it might read: “Dunn dominates on field, too.” After all, he is the league’s f Adam Van Brimmer Moms News Service payments on new homes for single mothers through his Homes for the Holidays program. And last year he helped raised $8 million for Hurricane Katrina survi vors. Those good works will occu py the headlines this week as Dunn’s Atlanta Falcons get ready for Monday night’s game in New Orleans. As tired as Dunn professes to be about reading about his benevolence, that’s how it should be. Charity trumps rushing yards every time. Warrick Dunn the human itarian has made a bigger impact on people’s lives than “W.D.” the football player ever could. Nearly 60 single mothers live in new homes thanks to him. His Homes for the Holiday program is a trib ute to his mother, Betty Smothers, who raised Warrick and his five sib lings all by herself in Baton Rouge. She always dreamt of own ing her own home. Tragically, the Baton Rouge police offi cer was killed in the line of duty before she could move into one. But just as he’s helped others surmount obstacles, {02006 by King Fe*ure* Syndicate Inc Worid nghu rtwvtd Building lives, families, andcommume^^m weakness for Georgia Tech? “We definitely believe with the talent we have on our team we have a chance,” Yellow Jacket fullback Mike Cox said. “With no one domi nant team in the conference, we feel like this is our year.” The Yellow Jackets have been one of the few impres sive ACC teams in the season’s early weeks. The Jackets open conference play against Virginia Thursday with a 2-1 record, their lone loss coming to No. 12 Notre Dame. The difference between Georgia Tech and most of its ACC brethren is experience. The Yellow Jackets have vet erans at every offensive posi tion as well as on the defen sive line and at linebacker. Their peers, meanwhile, are breaking in new players at key positions. Virginia and North Carolina have new quarterbacks. Maryland has a veteran trigger man in Sam Hollenbach but nothing but youngsters to throw the ball to. The NFL draft gutted the defenses at Virginia, NC State and Florida State. The Wolfpack and Seminoles com bined to send six first-round ers to the NFL. The losses have led to loss es, or at least struggles, and have frustrated some coaches to the point of excuse mak ing. headlines should also high light how he, too, has per severed. Dunn is often frustrated that his mama’s boy reputa tion -- underscored by his 5- foot-9, 190-pound frame and good-natured personality extends to the football field. When Tampa Bay drafted him out of Florida State, the Bucs paired him with Mike Alstott, a 250-pound bruiser. When the Falcons signed him as a free agent in 2002, coach Dan Reeves drafted T.J. Duckett, another quar ter-pound battering ram, a few weeks later. Yet two weeks into this season, the 31-year-old leads the NFL in rushing yards. He is tied for third in attempts. “W.D” is one of the NFL top backs, if not THE top back. But mention his name in casual conversation, and you are more likely to hear how nice a guy he is than how his production rivals that of the Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson and the Seahawks’ Shaun Alexander. Dunn gets bogged down disproving skeptics. He has heard every criticism in his 10-year career: He’s not durable enough to be a sea- leading rusher. Y e t Dunn also hap pens to be football’s leading humani tarian. For 10 years he’s made down These Homes are quality built all brick homes. We have 3 & 4 bedroom homes starting a! 131 900 Homes have features '. "■ 'jtfffijfe... such as custom cabinets fireplace sod sprinkler system Sr Builder is giving aSS 000 bonus if you contract on one of our ||? last 2 completed homes and close within 30 days We have a new loan p-ogram available to use that is a 100 : loan with i .->Ac& ddflL. no PMI nformation Center open daily Mon Thur fri 12-6 HSSgMHnB weekdays Sat 11-5 Sun 1-5 Stop by and visit with Karen or give her a call at 954-HOME (4663) Located on the Perry Parkway right across from the new Court House. Coming Soon Another CARTER-WILKES S/D REMINGTON CHASE CONSTRUCTION, INC. me. j & (4781971-2115 331 Margie Drive, Warner Robins, GA. 31088 Disclaimer: Bonuses based on certain completed homes only Loan program based upon credit and may not apply to aU purchasers WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 ♦ NC State coach Chuck Amato alluded to the Mid- American Conference allow ing its schools to recruit non-qualifiers following the Wolfpack’s loss to Akron, a MAC team. Non-qualifiers are student-athletes who don’t meet the NCAA’s ini tial eligibility requirements. They can attend college as freshman but cannot practice or compete in football nor can they receive an athletic scholarship. The ACC pro hibits its schools from taking these players. “Do you know what kind of players non-qualifiers are? They are inversely propor tional to what their grade point-average is,” Amato said. Given a chance to clarify his statements a day later, Amato refused. “I don’t think anything’s easy,” he said. “It’s all hard.” Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey insists his team real ize that. But he said there’s nothing wrong with his play ers seeing opportunity in the rest of the league’s strug gles. It’s bad “only if you let it affect your play,” Gailey said. “There is nothing wrong with being confident and excited, as long as you don’t get lack adaisical in your preparation or believe this isn’t a hard week.” ture back; he’s too small to pick up that tough yard on third or fourth down or on the goal line; he’s too shifty to wear down defenses over the course of a game. All fallacies, said Falcons offensive coordinator Gregg Knapp. Knapp is the first man to believe Dunn could be an every-down back. He calls Dunn “by far the best ver tically challenged running back with an ability to run between the tackles.” Knapp said Dunn’s con version rate on third and fourth down with less than two yards to go is 100 per cent over the last two sea sons. It is no coincidence that Dunn has posted his best career rushing numbers in his two seasons under Knapp. “His knowledge of the run game and how he fits in the hole is a knack a lot of guys will never acquire,” Knapp said. “It’s just a natural feel he has.” So go ahead, praise Warrick Dunn the humanitarian this week. Just don’t forget to cheer for W.D. the football player Monday night. 3B