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iHnusimt Ihtiig THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2006 The Home Journal’s SANDLOT SCOREBOARD High school Volleyball Tuesday ■ (Match 1) Houston County 25, Butts County 8; Houston County 25, Butts County 6; (Match 2) Houston County 25, Ola 11; Houston County 25, Ola 10 (Note: Wins were 30th and 31st for Lady Bears. See Friday's Houston Daily Journal for a complete writeup.) ON DECK High school Softball Today ■ Northside at region tourna ment in Lovejoy, matchups and times to be determined ■ Coffee at Houston County, 5:30 p.m. Friday ■ Northside at region tourna ment in Lovejoy, matchups and times to be determined Saturday ■ Northside at region tourna ment in Lovejoy, matchups and times to be determined ■ Warner Robins at Lowndes and Valdosta, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.. respectively ■ Westfield at state tourney at Southern Pines Complex in Dublin and versus Stratford to start, time to be determined High school Cross country Today ■ Perry at Northeast Invitational, 4:30 p.m. Saturday ■ Warner Robins and Northside at Westover Invitational, time to be determined High school Volleyball Today ■ Morrow and Warner Robins at Houston County, 5 p.m. High school Football Friday ■ Stratford at Westfield, 8 p.m. Central at Perry, 7:30 p.m. ■ Stockbridge at Northside, 7:30 p.m. ■ Houston County at Lowndes, 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. In addition, coaches are also needed. Call 929-1916 for more information. Registration begins for Upward Basketball Registration has begun for the 2006-2007 Upward Basketball season. The cost per child is $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). THIS WEEK 10 years ago ... Westfield’s Lady Hornets fell in the Georgia Independent School Association’s state tour nament, but not without a fight. The team lost its opener, fell into the losers’ bracket but then won four straight before falling in the Elite Eight round. Loss smarts but Lowndes leaves little time to dwell By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Houston County High may be coming off the worst foot ball loss in school history. Not from a margin stand point, but from an emotional one. What would be a great cure for all the heartache of last Friday would be a win this Friday. Only, the Jm Houston County at Lowndes, Friday, 7:30 p.m. Bears must go up against the two-time defending Class AAAAA state champions on their home turf. Houston County’s 10-9 loss to inter-county rival Warner Robins High last weekend at McConnell- Talbert Stadium was typical of the closeness of Region 1-AAAAA contests held on that day. Lowndes High, the ' W fWpifWi The Panthers work out at practice at the school Monday. They will host Central Friday. Perry hosts Central in its first taste of sub-region By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Perry High School wasn’t the only football team from the 4-AAA south sub-region to give Jackson High, a favorite to win the north sub-region, fits in the month of September. After narrowly escaping Perry with a one-point win (28-27) on Sept. 22, Jackson had to use a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Central High of Macon 22-10 this past Friday. Everyone stays within its own An insincere apology lo poor Brave fans Dear Readers: I must apologize for erring so badly. I pre dicted the Atlanta Braves would finish 82-82. Alas, I was wrong. They ended their season 79-83 and 18 games out of first place. How could I have been so wrong? I knew their pitching wasn’t going to hold up, but I couldn’t have anticipated the number of blown leads. One of the Braves broadcasters said John Smoltz could have been in the running for the Cy Young award if the bullpen hadn’t blown six leads. He finished the season 16-9 with a 3.49 ERA. After Sunday’s game, Chipper Jones said that the Braves were a Sports Bears’ foe on Friday, defeat ed Coffee County High 7- 0 in what Houston coach Doug Johnson labeled a pure defensive struggle. “It was a close football game,” he said. “Both of them moved the football a little bit, but not a lot. It was like it was with us and Warner Robins. Lowndes played extremely well on the defensive side. “I think everybody’s pret ty similar (in 1-AAAAA). Somebody’s going to get a break or two here and there. You have to hope you are on the right side of those breaks.” Lowndes certainly had more chances in the Coffee contest. The Vikings recov ered a fumbled punt return on the CC 14-yard-line only to have the Trojan defense hold them out of the end zone. Also in the first half Coffee intercepted a pass on its 2. See TIME, page iB Inner workings sub-region for the next five games before the state tournament play in round. For the Panthers and head coach Andy Scott, the first game holds meaning in a separate set of stand ings is this Friday at home with those same Central Chargers. Just like 2-2 Perry, Scott said Central went through a tough non-region Joe Sersey Journal Correspondent John Schuerholz said in an arti cle by Mark Bowman, “A number of players have said to me, it’s a great stimulus for going forward with a very vivid memory of this bad feeling.” They should have had those feel ings during the season and maybe they would be in the playoffs. Schuerholz made it clear he doesn’t want to experience any B BBfc. i® :^# ~ ~ IBPi “ ENI/Gary Harmon The Bears warm up for the Demons this past Friday. This Friday presents another big challenge as they travel to Lowndes. Central at Perry, Friday, 7:30 p.m. better team than their record, but I say that a team is only as good as its record. For the first time in 16 years, the Braves are not in the post season. It’s their first losing sea son since 1990. slate of opponents early in 2006 and owns a record not quite indicative of how good that team can be. “It was a situation where they should have won (the Jackson) ball game,” said Scott, whose own team came within a failed two-point conversion of possibility upending Jackson. “They were up 10-7 in the fourth quarter and Jackson returns (a punt) on them and scores one late. Central played them real well, defen sively held them real good. They lost more of this season and plans to spend the off season making nec essary adjustments. I suggest scrapping his bullpen and starting over. Keep Bob Wickman. He con verted 18 of 19 save opportuni ties after coming over from the Cleveland Indians. His ERA was 1.04 during that stretch. The Braves were 45-50 pre- Wickman, and 34-32 post- Wickman. Compare that with Oscar Villarreal going 0-for-4 in save chances, and the relief staff as a whole was 44-77. The pitching staff needs a major overhaul. Smoltz is getting closer to AARP membership. His last four starts showed he still had the goods. He was 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA. See BRA VE, page iB to a very good Westside team and a pretty good Henry County team and a real good Jackson team. To be 1-3, I still think (Central’s) pretty good.” Central’s tendency to play good football teams week after week is no new trend this year. The Chargers moved down to Class AAA from Class AAAA and had the likes of Warner Robins and Northside on their schedule. See FIRST, page zB WF earns 3 thirds, a second at invite Special to the Journal Westfield’s cross country team trav eled and competed at a meet at Trinity Christian Monday. For the Hornets and Lady Hornets var sity squads, that resulted in third place finishes for each. It also represented a third place fin ish for Westfield’s junior varsity girls and a second place for the junior varsity Hornets. Individual medalists for Westfield included: Ellen Grier - 10th for the JV girls; Caroline Amos - sixth for the JV girls; Barrett Stanley - eighth for the JV boys; Jimmy Mehserle - fifth for the JV boys; Leigh James-Artigas - seventh for the varsity girls; Mallory Eubanks - second for the varsity girls; and Jacob Pamellwho defended last year’s title and won the invitational for the varsity boys. SECTION B ENI Gary Harmon