Newspaper Page Text
Utrusimt Paily
FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 22, 2006
The Home Journal’s
SANDLOT
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ON DECK
High school
Softball
Saturday
■ Valdosta at Warner Robins.
11 a.m.
High school
Cross country
Saturday
■ Westfield at Tiftarea, 9 a.m.
High school
Volleyball
Saturday
■ Houston County at Raider
Rally at Southeast Whitfield, 8
a.m.
High school
Football
Today
■ Beach at Warner Robins, 7:30
p.m.
■ Northside at Jones County,
7:30 p.m.
■ Houston County at Parkview,
7:30 p.m.
■ Westfield at Brentwood, 7:30
p.m.
■ Jackson at Perry, 7:30 p.m.
IN BRIEF
Registration begins for
Upward Basketball
Registration has begun for the
2006-2007 Upward Basketball
season. The cost per child is
$65. After Saturday, the cost
goes up to $75. Where you sign
up and register is where you
practice and play the games.
You may register at the follow
ing locations in Warner Robins:
Second Baptist at 2504 Moody
Rd (923-7101), Friendship
Baptist at 1322 Feagin Mill
Rd. (953-9509) or Shirley Hills
Baptist at 615 Corder Rd. (923-
5571).
Museum to host Georgia
Invitational golf tourney
The 17th Annual Museum of
Aviation Foundation Georgia
Invitational Golf Tournament will
be held Sept. 28-29 at the Pine
Oaks Golf Club at Robins Air
Force Base.
The two-day tournament,
according to the release, is the
largest outing in Middle Georgia
and is made up of three sepa
rate rounds - one that Thursday
and two Friday - with separate
prizes for each round. The total
value of prizes and giveaways is
more than $30,000. Foursomes
will compete in a “scramble”
handicapped format. Tee times
are noon on Thursday and 8
a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Golfers receive a commemo
rative golf shirt, a Thursday night
traditional “Plantation Supper,”
luncheon buffets and a barbe
cue awards dinner. The single
player fee is $250. Sponsors
and players can sign up by call
ing the Museum of Aviation at
478-923-6600 or emailing june.
lowe@museumofaviation.org or
marylynn.harrison@museumofa
viation.org.
Perry’s boys track team to
sell Fair tickets
The Perry High School boys
track team will be holding a
fund-raiser. The group will be
selling a three-day student pass
(ages 1W8) for the Georgia
Nationa Fair. The tickets are for
gate admission and cost $lO (a
savings of $8).
The pass is good for Oct. IQ
-12. Tickets can be purchased
at the Perry High School front
office. The last day to buy will be
Sept. 29. Money raised will help
buy uniforms and equipment for
the team. Contact Cassandra
Dixon at 988-6299 for more.
Houston County YMCA to
hold spruce-up day
The Houston County YMCA
has set a spruce-up day for
Sept. 30. During that time will
get together to update the inte
rior of the building. The time will
be from 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and
the organization is looking for 50
volunteers to help out.
A continental breakfast will
also be provided.
The facility is located on the
corner of Moody Road and State
Road 96.
Call 922-2566 for more infor
mation.
HoCo volleyball squad adds 2 more wins
Beat Perry, Mary Persons
Special to the Journal
Rodney Dangerfield could
relate.
Houston County’s volley-
ball team,
according to
head coach
Tony Jones,
has the most
wins in the
state in the
AAAAAclas
sification.
Following
a victory
over Perry
and Mary
Persons
Tuesday at
home, the
Lady Bears
are now 24-5
(7-1 in Area
2-AAAAA).
Do you
think that
would earn
them some
respect in
regard to a
spot in the
> E
lady/^
*t
Match 1 - Mary
Persons 25,
Houston County
22; Houston
County 25, Mary
Persons 16;
Houston County
26, Mary Persons
24
Match 2
- Houston County
25, Perry 9;
Houston County
25, Perry 16
rankings? No.
Mary Persons hasn’t had
that problem. They, accord
ipg to Jones, have been in
the top 10 more times than
Rodrigues catches on quick at wide receiver
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Jacobi Rodrigues is doing
his best to make the football
coaches at Northside High
School look like geniuses. A
quarterback who has great
running tendencies and ath
letic instincts should have no
problem playing wide receiv
er in his senior season.
Three games, 15 catches
and three touchdowns later,
Rodrigues is getting this
catching the football instead
of throwing it thing down
just fine.
“I’m enjoying it,” he said.
“We’re passing it to me
when we need to, getting
good plays and moving the
ball down the field.”
As a junior in 2005,
Rodrigues was Conrad
Nix’s starting quarterback
for a team that went 14-1,
the one loss coming in the
Class AAAA state champi
onship game. He was 76-
for-145 passing with 1,247
yards and eight touchdowns.
There were also five passes
intercepted.
On the ground, Rodrigues
was just as potent a threat
with eight rushing touch
downs and 301 net yards.
Not that the Eagle offense
was in dire need of a change
in the offseason, but Nix
still seized on an opportu
nity to get more athletes
on the field. Enter junior
Marques Ivory, an imposing
figure who already imposed
on his coaches his ability to
play the leadership position
on offense.
Rodrigues had no prob
lem whatsoever going to
the other end of the passing
game. The results so far have
been 230 receiving yards
The football state of Georgia will long remember Russell
According to some armchair
analysts I often pay some
attention to, Georgia’s cur
rent streak of shutouts will con
tinue through the rest of this month
against Colorado and Mississippi. I
wouldn’t mind if it lasted all the way
to the first weekend of December.
The 18-0 win at South Carolina
and the 34-0 blanking of Alabama-
Birmingham was, in my mind and
in the minds of many others in the
Bulldog Nation, an ongoing tribute
to the legacy of The Bald Eagle.
Sports
none. Yet Houston County
has beaten them twice now.
The first time, earlier in the
season, was the first time in
Lady Bears history, the sec
ond, Tuesday, was to prove
the first was no fluke.
The Lady Bulldogs didn’t
think so, mind you. They
were probably thinking
revenge and a 25-22 win in
the first game more than
likely added fuel to that
fire.
But, Houston County ral
lied to win the next game 25-
16 and then won the third
and deciding match 26-24.
“Once again,” Jones said,
“solid defense put them in
contention. And then down
the stretch our front row
had some very key blocks
and kills.”
Prior to that, the Lady
Bears beat Perry 25-9 and
25-16.
“The Lady Bears played
well and earned the victory
through spot serving and
superior defense,” Jones said
of that matchup. “Nicole
Williams has had the hot
hand on serves as of late. In
game two she served for 11
points - two of them aces.”
See WINS, page iB
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Northside’s Jacobi Rodrigues takes a snap during the preseason against Perry. A quarterback turned wide receiver,
he so far has caught 15 passes and scored three touchdowns.
and one touchdown catch
in each of Northside’s three
winning efforts. He has an
average of 76.7 yards per
game, mainly due to a 140-
yard performance in week
1 against Houston County,
It’s been a while
coming, but here’s
another “God
bless the soul of
...” Football in the
state of Georgia
will long remember
the contributions
and the personality
of Erk Russell.
I admit that I
was not a heavy follower of Georgia
football as a child, and the name Erk
Russell didn’t enter my own per-
i
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and 15.3 per reception.
“I’m just helping my team
win,” said Rodrigues. “It’s a
lot of running, but you have
to do it in order to win.”
As noted earlier, Rodrigues
did his fair share of run
sonal household until he established
the program at Georgia Southern
University in the mid-1980s and
started winning one I-AA national
championship after another. Yes, how
funny was it that Georgia Southern
was going to play Furman, out of
South Carolina, in Tacoma, Wash.?
As the new Eagle dynasty grew, I
eventually learned about Russell’s
prior tenure as defensive coordinator
at Georgia. He made the Junkyard
Dawgs world famous, and he didn’t
mind splitting his own hairs (what
Matthew Brown
Journal Sports Writer
ning as a quarterback, but
a receiver is running off the
ball on every snap. While his
running has picked up, his
responsibility load dropped
dramatically. A quarterback,
after all, is responsible for
SECTION
B
what all 10 guys are sup
posed to do on every play.
“When you play quarter
back, you’re supposed to
know it,” said Rodrigues.
“A receiver more or less is
See CATCHES, page iB
little he had) on one of his own play
ers’ helmet.
So do I have an Erk Russell story
to share? Why yes I do.
I attended my first Georgia
Southern football preseason media
day at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro
in 1993. Most of the interviews took
place outside in the courtyard of
the Lumpkin Building. Of course
the field and the stadium seats are
right there, and I couldn’t help but
notice, with all the activity going on,
See BROWN, page iB
Houston
County’s
Catherine
Goodman
and Nicole
Williams
go up for a
block dur
ing the Lady
Bears’ game
against Perry
Tuesday.
ENI/Gary Harmon