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FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006
The Home Journal s
SANDLOT
ON DECK
High school
Softball
Today
■ Northside at Brookwood
Invitational (through Saturday),
times and teams to be deter
mined
Saturday
■ Northside at Brookwood
Invitational (through Saturday),
times and teams to be deter
mined
High school
Cross country
Saturday
■ Northside and Warner Robins
at Mercer Invitational, time to be
determined
High school
Football
Today
■ Perry at Henry County, 7:30
p.m.
■ Houston County at Warner
Robins, 7:30 p.m.
IN BRIEF
WR Rec to begin
basketball registration
The Warner Robins Recreation
Department will begin basketball
registration Oct. 21. It will be
held from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at the
department’s office- off Watson
Blvd.
Fees are as follows: $25 for
city residents, SSO for county
residents and SBS for out of
county residents.
Participants must be at least
5 by Dec. 31 in order to partici
pate in the basketball program.
Registration will continue until
filled, during regular business
hours, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-
Friday.
Booster clubs to hold
4 quarters for cancer
Warner Robins and Houston
County's booster clubs will
be heading a fund-raising
effort sponsored by the Rally
Foundation called 4 quarters
4 cancer at today's game. All
money collected will go directly
to funding research to cure and
prevent childhood cancer.
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 11-18) 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
today. 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
Saturday. 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.
Museum to host Georgia
Invitational golf tourney
The 17th Annual Museum of
Aviation Foundation Georgia
Invitational Golf Tournament will
be held Thursday-Friday at the
Pine Oaks Golf Club at Robins
Air Force Base.
The total value of prizes and
giveaways is more than $30,000.*
Golfers receive a commemora
tive 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
calling the Museum of Aviation
at 478-923-6600 or by emailing
june.lowe@museumofaviation.
org or marylynn.harrison@mus
eumofaviation.org.
Warner Robins versus Houston Count)
For Demons game has turned into ‘a nice rivalry’
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Warner Robins vs. Northside has
for years carried the label of the
“city championship” game for high
school football.
In the 19905, along came Houston
County High School. The Bears
have had their share of winning sea
sons and playoff appearances, but
always seem to come up short when
paired up with the two long-time
established programs nicknamed
the Demons and the Eagles.
Houston County already took its
stab at the Northside Eagles in week
No. 1 of the 2006 season and came
up short yet again. However, with
a three-game winning streak, the
Bears may be feeling as good as ever
about finally knocking off a county
foe.
Warner Robins High and Houston
County each enter Region 1-AAAAA
competition this weekend against
each other at McConnell-Talbert
Stadium. For the last two seasons,
this was an opening week non
region showdown with too-close-for
comfort results. One of those was a
tied score in 2004, the same year the
Demons went on to win the Class
AAAA state championship in the
rookie season for head coach Bryan
Way.
“It’s developing into a nice rival
ry,” said Way, whose team just
stopped a little two-game skid with
a rout of Beach High at home. “A
lot of our kids went to middle school
with their kids, and probably in a
For Bears it’s more momentum in a tough region
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
No football team in Region 1-
AAAAA may be carrying more
momentum into the first weekend of
region competition than the Houston
County High Bears.
In a feat that might be as unheard
of as beating the Miami Hurricanes
in the Orange Bowl, Houston County
went to the Big Orange Jungle, the
home stadium of Parkview High
School, and staged a come-from
behind victory over the powerful
Panthers.-
The Bears wasted no time upon
returning home from this win, not
to celebrate, but to prepare for
the Warner Robins High Demons.
This is the third of three big inter
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The Bears warm up for their game against Berkmar Sept. 15.
Local pitchers finish third in Dallas tourney
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Sports Editor
Dallas proved to be just a
bit too big for three mem
bers of the Perry Horseshoe
Pitcher’s Club.
That would be Dallas,
Georgia, not Texas (but you
probably figured that).
The trio, Mary Ann Gibbs,
Dane Clark and Chuck Poole,
competed this past weekend
in the Dallas Fall Fling. All
Sports
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The Demons warm up prior to their game against Beach this past Friday.
lot of cases are pretty good friends.
During the game it’s a very heated
rivalry, not so much after the game
and the rest of the year. It’s a little
county rivalry crowds that files into
McConnell-Talbert Stadium year
after year, and this year it’s the
Houston-Warner Robins matchup
that carries the greatest implica
tions.
According to Bears head coach
Doug Johnson, who was hired to
build the program at Houston
County High after his years of assis
tant experience at both Warner
Robins and Northside, the games
between the Demons and the Bears
usually end up fairly close. In fact,
Houston is the only team Warner
Robins didn’t beat (the game was a
tie) during its state championship
run in 2004.
“I think it’s a good rivalry for us
and them,” said Johnson-. “We end
three came in third.
Gibbs pitched in the A
Class and finished the day
with a record of 3-2. She
just missed second on ringer
percentages. Hers was 48.40
while the competitor finish
ing ahead of her had one of
53.60. Gibbs connected for
121 ringers out of 250 horse
shoes thrown.
Clark pitched in the B Class
and also had a record of 3-2.
different than the Northside rivalry
in terms of, I guess, animosity.
“It’s always been a close game the
last six or seven years, as long as
up sharing middle schools, so a lot
of the kids know each other. So I
think it means a lot more to (the
kids) because some of them are still
good friends. That makes it more of
a rivalry, too.
“I think when you start talking
about programs around the state,
it’s one of the top-notch programs.
When you mention (Warner Robins),
everyone knows, in sports in gener
al, it’s a real top-notch program.
“We have used a lot of stuff I
learned there. I have change some
stuff, but there’s a lot of stuff we
still do from way back when I was at
Warner Robins, and I worked with
coach (Conrad) Nix (at Northside)
for three years. He taught me a lot
of football. I still use a lot of stuff
He had a ringer percentage
- no need for a tie-breaker
here as the two competitors
above him finished 5-0 and
4-1, respectively - of 35.71.
He connected for 85 ringers
out of 238 shoes thrown.
Poole pitched in the C
Class and finished with a
- you guessed it - record of 3-
2. His ringer percentage was
33.48. He had 77 ringers out
of 230 thrown.
ENI Gary Harmon
Lady Bears volley squad
rolls to two more wins
Special to the Journal
«
Houston County’s volleyball team traveled to Perry
High School Tuesday and continued its winning ways.
The Lady Bears beat LaGrange High School two games
to none, with scores of 25-6 and 25-8. And then they
defeated the Lady Panthers by the same amount - 2-0
- with scores of 25-15 and 25-17.
As far as the first match, Houston County head
coach Tony Jones said the Lady Bears played well and
See WINS, page iB
SECTION
B
I can remember. They have a good
football team, and it’s a very impor
tant game. We have to be ready
See DEMONS, page iB
from there, too.”
Houston County (3-1) will go into
Friday’s clash having done one game
better overall than the 2-2 Demons.
The win against Parkview was the
third in a row for the Bears. Warner
Robins started the season with an
upset of its own against Parkview
in the Georgia Dome, but lost two
in row with only seven points com
bined.
“Coach (Bryan) Way had a tough
schedule,” said Johnson. “Central
Gwinnett is a really good football
team. He played Northside second,
which a very top-notch team. He’s
only had one team that I thought,
Beach, was a team they felt pretty
sure they would beat. We both felt
like we had one team we had a
chance to beat and everybody else
was going to be 50-50.”
A “50-50” team, Johnson said, is
one you can beat if you play well,
but won’t if you don’t play well.
In 1-AAAAA, that will be the case
each week until November. He said
some regions have those “breath
ers” mixed in with the tough teams,
and as a coach you try to space out
the hard games to where you didn’t
have them on consecutive week
ends.
“You are going to be susceptible to
injuries,” said Johnson. “If you play
the easy teams, you can use your
starters a little bit, then get them
out to protect them from injury. But
if you play tight ball games every
week, you have to play everybody
the whole ball game. The hitting is
really hard. It takes you a day or two
to get over that.”
The coach said Houston was feel
ing the bruises after the Parkview
game to the point that one of his
running backs, Eric O’Neal, was
not taking any hits in practice
this week. It’s just for the sake of
rest, the coach said, and he along
See BEARS, page iB
ENI/Gary Harmon