Newspaper Page Text
2B
♦ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2006
TOPSoccerama
The Central Georgia Soccer Association held its annual
TOPSoccerama event Wednesday at the CGSA fields.
TOPSoccerama, according to a release, Is a program
designed to meet the needs of children ages 4-19 with
physical and/or mental disabilities. "The program focuses
on player development rather than competition,” the
release reads.
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BIGGEST
From page iB
Over the past decade,
numerous football players
left the Peach program and
excelled at the major college
level. Some of those even
made it all the way to the
National Football League.
But teams do change from
year to year. Perry already
this season played the 2005
Class AAA runner-up from
Daugherty High and won.
The look of Peach will cer
tainly not be the same as it
was in 2005, but the overall
caliber of their players hasn’t
dropped off too much.
“They lose Henton and
Slaughter, but they still
have a great number of play
ers,” said Scott. “They have
the transfer, (Bryan) Ellis,
at quarterback, and he prob
ably does a little bit bet
ter job of reading coverages
than Henton did. Henton
was a better athlete, but I
think (Ellis) is just as good
a thrower.
“Defensively, they are
going to be big, fast and
REUNION
From page iB
we honored (the team) in 2001,
we decided to do it again,” Perry
athletic director and football head
coach Andy Scott said.
The festivities will begin with a
reception in the teams’ honor at
5 p.m. in the school cafeteria fol
lowed by a tour of the new Perry
High School buildings, a short pro
gram and each will receive a 1956
memory booklet complied by Perry
coach Dickey Erwin. Tickets and
a game program will be provided
mean. All those things we
are going to have to try to
contain.”
Ellis leads Region 4-AAA
with 1,552 passing yards (89-
for-131) and with an average
of 258 yards per game. He
has 13 touchdown throws
to just one interception.
His favorite target is senior
Udom Umoh, who is also a
region leader in catches (31),
yards (500) and touchdowns
(seven).
Mareo Howard, who was
the Trojans’ featured run
ning back as a sophomore,
has come back this year to
lead the league with 112
yards per game, 672 rushing
yards and 10 touchdowns on
the ground.
“They are doing a real
good job of formation adjust
ments,” said Scott. “They do
a lot of motion and a lot of
shifting, things to try to get
the defense out of position.
We just have to do a good job
of recognizing what they’re
doing.
“The biggest thing is we
have to take away the big
play. We have to make sure
they earn everything they
to the Peach County game at 7:30
p.m., where the team will be recog
nized during halftime.
“It has been (almost) 50 years
since that Nov. 9 night (they) cap
tured the 2B West sub-region cham
pionship by defeating Wrightsville
19-0,” Scott said. “This was the
first sub-region championship won
by a Perry football team. This hap
pened after (Perry) only played
football for three years. (That
team) will always that distinc
tion.”
The season didn’t get off to a
stellar start for Perry, however, as
the Panthers opened with a 2-4
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Attendees and volunteers see how high they can flip a giant soccer ball.
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LEFT: Clint McDowell ,
shoots toward the L
goal while Enoch
Felder looks on.
RIGHT: Tyler
Emmerman tries to
bowl over giant pins.
BELOW: Children
huddle around a giant
ball.
BELOW RIGHT:
Volunteer Gretchen
Moch helps a hard
charging Matthew
Buskins dribble a ball. £]
BELOW FAR RIGHT:
Kelly Shepherd
maneuvers a ball
around cones.
get.”
Then there are those
“mean” people on the Peach
defense, led by tackle Dion
Armstrong.
“They have two defensive
linemen who are both great
players,” said Scott. “They
have some young second
ary players, but they can fly.
They pretty much dominate
everything. They are so big,
it’s difficult to run the ball.
It’s going to be a good test
for our young offensive line.
“We just have to try to
get between them and the
ball. It’s going to be difficult,
whether we put two, three,
four or five guys on one guy.
But at the same time, we
have to be sure we do what
we need to do.”
Scott hopes it doesn’t
come to a point where Perry
has to rely on the passing
game to move the football.
The pass is something the
Panthers have used spar
ingly and strategically the
last couple of games with
the running game already
established.
“The keys to winning for
us surround the kicking
start.
Perry defeated Manchester
27-19 and Montgomery County
20-7, while the Panthers lost to
Hawkinsville 12-6 in the season
opener, Cochran 12-7, Terrell
County 26-7 and Warner Robins
25-6.
But that all changed with home
coming.
The Panthers (6-5) shutout
Vidalia 21-0 to close out strong the
last four regular games, as Perry
outscored its opponents 121-7 to
claim the subregion.
The Panthers defense, which
allowed a stingy 11.2 points a
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game, playing good defense
and trying to control the ball
on offense,” said Scott. “If
our offense can stay on the
field, we have a chance.”
Peach County has many
individual region leaders
(which can be found on
georgiaregionstats.com). As
a team, the Trojans own
the highest scoring offense
at 36.5 a game, the most
productive with 424 yards
a game and the stingiest
defense at 8.3 allowed.
The Panthers, though,
take first place in two rather
important lists, most rush
ing yards (215) and fewest
rushing yards allowed (46)
per game.
The totals are 1289 for
(with 16 touchdowns) and
275 against (with four touch
downs).
Scott does want to clear
up that what fans are see
ing in the Panther backfield
isn’t an I formation, but a
variation of the wishbone.
“We’rejust standing Kenny
(Davis) up,” said Scott. “It’s
what people would call a bro
ken bone. All you’re doing is
removing one running back
... they’re still offset. If you
put the other one back, it
would still be a bone set. We
stand Kenny up to allow him
to see.”
Davis is seeing well enough
to lead the team with 513
rushing yards and tie with
quarterback Casey Hayward
with seven touchdowns on
the ground.
There’s another Davis
causing a lot of problems to
Perry opponents, Kanorris
Davis on the defensive line.
Scott said a number of play
ers on defense, from Robby
Taylor to Stephen Calhoun
to Zetavius Cheatham, are
having good seasons in terms
of numbers and effort.
Kenny Davis will help out
the defense at linebacker,
and he’s the only player to
see any extensive action on
both sides of the football.
Players like Kanorris Davis
and Calhoun often played
in the wishbone backfield
last year, but have stayed on
defense all season.
“That’s a big deal for us,”
said Scott. “We try to play
kids on one side of the ball
so they’ll be able to play four
game for the season, pitched three
shutouts capped by 15 scoreless
quarters.
Perry followed the Vidalia
win with a 47-7 rout of Wilcox-
Central, a 34-0 shutout of
Treutlen County and the shut
out of Wrightsville.
The Panthers lost in the first
round of the state playoffs to Lyons
16-0.
Surviving team members are
Jimmy Beatty, Ed Beckham, Gene
Ford, Johnnie Gallemore, Bobby
Horton, Tommy Kersey, C.J. Story,
Trent Turner, Richard Waddell,
Rudolph Adams, Robbie Beeland,
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
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straight quarters. We’ve
played team whose kids get
tired. Our kids don’t get
tired. We push them hard in
the weightroom and in prac
tice to make sure we’re well
conditioned.”
This especially helps the
linemen, Scott said, who
can take a breather and,
as a group, get some extra
instruction on the bench to
prepare for the next series.
In simple terms, this Perry-
Peach battle is between the
top two teams right now in
the south sub-region of 4-
AAA.
The winner goes to 3-0
with two games remaining
before the region playoff.
But in a rivalry like this, it’s
not that simple.
“This is the biggest foot
ball game in the history of
Perry High School,” said
Scott. “If we can beat Peach,
it will be a springboard for
the rest of the year and this
program. That’s one thing
that’s always stood in the
way of Perry becoming a
successful football program.
This is a wall we need to
break through.”
Stewart Bloodworth, Bobby Brock,
Larry Brown, Perry Culpepper,
Terry Griffin, Charles Harrison,
Johnny Mobley, Bill Hunt, Stanley
St. John, Pierce Staples, Jimmy
Crowe, Malcolm Crook .team man
ager Larry Walker, head coach
Herb St, John and assistant coach
Tom Chandler.
Deceased team members are
Roy Henson, David Moulder,
Philip Boyer, Wallace Bozeman,
A 1 Evans, Bryant Scruggs, Jimmy
Wilson, Tommy Sandefur, Francis
Marshall, manager Hugh Lawson
and team phsyician Dr. Gene ‘Papa
Doc’ Weems.