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2B ♦ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2006 PICTURE From page iB early start to the playoff scene with region playoff games on Nov. 10. Undefeated Northside is a shoo-in to host a Region 4-AAAA playoff game despite what might happen in the Eagles' meeting at Westside-Macon on Nov. 3. Who could be making the trip to McConnell- Talbert Stadium for that Nov. 10 contest? How about a rematch with North Clayton, a bunch that gave Conrad Nix’s team fits back on Sept. 21? In that A sub-division of 4-AAAA, there exists a four team battle for third and fourth place. North Clayton is currently tied with Mt. Zion-Jonesboro for third place at 2-2. In a tie for fifth place and one game behind at 1-3 are Jonesboro and Lovejoy. CLEATS 10-25 (WHO VO YOU LIKE \ I, IP THE I *EI?IEE> 7 J f Jj Play Better Golf with JACK NICKLAUS G;eJi R|o4y/ Foi Iteer Season r a 11? feffri jALe r^sy WirsßHi. Remington 710 Package a 7mm Remmington 300 Winchester Vy-* ! MUST SHOW THIS AD 1 L _. _ ______ « - J Select Boots & Clothes 70% OFF Treestands Starting at $59" Heritage Gun Safe $099" (30 x 60 textured green, fire ratedl 90 Days Same As Cash. In Store Financing. Store Hours 603 Watson Blvd. 8:30 am - 6:30 pm Warner Robins Mon. - Sat. 922-0851 CHUCK S bait&tackie GJJJANMAWXj Griffin High, like Northside, is standing in control of its sub-region at 5-0 with Riverdale in sec ond at 4-1. Northside is taking this weekend off as it looks ahead to facing Robert Davis’ high scoring Seminoles. Westside has just one loss the entire season, and in that game the Seminoles gave Baldwin all it wanted before falling 27-24. Perry High School can’t worry too much about last week’s resounding loss at the hands of defending Class AAA state champion Peach County. The Panthers are still in a fight to play at home for the Region 4-AAA play-in round. First, Perry needs to dispatch of struggling Southwest-Macon tonight at home. Up next will be Northeast-Macon, which beat Central-Macon last week to break a third-place tie in the south sub-region. (O 2006 Bill Hinds Dim by Universal P f ess Syndicate T S' 8 f BA«BALl / WHICHEVER TEAM \ | / AltmP BASEBALL m EASILY Tf?UMPEP BY - ( YOU POU'T LIKE J | LKE YOUP \J | V HAVE HIS> ow OPIUIOM J / \ ! ' ~ NASCAR This Week for the latest news and updates That game, too, is at home. Back-to-back wins for the Panthers would mean a fourth home game in a row, which would be a contest for a third straight trip to the state playoffs. Again, for those who like to look ahead, if that play in game took place tonight, the Panthers would see a former region rival. Mary Persons High, which brought in Rodney Walker as head coach before the season, is in third place in the north sub-region at 2- 1. But second place isn’t out of the question for the Bulldogs. Tonight, Jackson and Spalding play in Griffin to break a first-place 3- 0 tie. Mary Persons faces Henry County as well. If Spalding loses to Jackson and Mary Persons wins, the Bulldogs would have a chance to take second place when they play Spalding next weekend. SPORTS HANDS From page iB a whole lot of different looks. They don’t stunt a great deal. They are well coached on defense and fundamentally sound. “Probably the best part of their game is their kicking game. The kicker and punter (Charlie Edwards) is one of the best I’ve seen in high school. He was the difference in the Houston County game. That’s a third of the game, and one we have to do a good job against to keep from los ing field position every time you have a kick or punt.” Using such athletes as Israel Troupe (committed to the University of Georgia), Tift County’s passing game relies mostly on YAC, which is a short way of saying yards after the catch. Most times Troupe and his teammates catch short outside tosses behind the line of scrimmage and make the big gains from there. “We just have to be very disciplined on defense,” said Way about limiting the YAC. “We don’t play a whole lot of man coverage. As a rule we are a zone defense. We have to stay in our zone and keep everything in front of us. When they throw it out there, they are going to complete some, and we have to come up and make sure tackles and cut down on the yards after catches.” Houston County’s defen sive line had success putting pressure on Blue Devil quar terback Sean Baxley with a couple of sacks. That hap pened despite the fact that most of the Tift plays are run out of the shotgun. Way said the Bears have the personnel up front to do that, more so than probably the Demons have. “I don’t know how much pressure we’re going to be able to get on him without having to stunt and blitz,” he said. “Some of our front guys aren’t the quickest in the world, so we may have a tough time getting pres sure without sending extra people.” 103006 by Kiag Fe«Urcs Syndicate Inc World right* reaerveeTl Your Ftimd m Gmrgiu! Georgia House of Representatives District 146 Experienced Leadership Proven Results Larry is a Conservative Voice in the Legislature! Larry is for Affordable, Accessible Health Care! Larry is Moving Education Forward! Larry works to Lower Your Taxes Every Day! 2006 "They give the Illusion that they throw It all over the Held." - Warner Robins head football coach Bryan Way Those extra people will have their hands full contain ing big running back Kaream Hess. He’s another vital part of the Blue Devil offense in a number of ways. “They give the illusion that they throw it all over the field,” said Way. “(Hess) has carried the ball quite a number of times on the little counters they run and the option pitch. He’s definitely one that catches your eye.” On the other side of the ball, Warner Robins will throw the same kind of offense at Tift Houston County used last week. The Blue Devil defense is loaded with returning starters, and it showed early against the Bears. Houston, though, stuck with the game plan, and the offensive line eventually asserted itself. Way said his offense has certainly had its struggles in the first halves of recent games, but picked things up in the second half. “We sure would like to start better than we have the last two weeks,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to get out there and panic. This is our eighth game, and in the previous seven, six have been pretty close. I think we are going to get after them and do what we do. “They are pretty stout on defense against the run, and they have good athletes in the secondary. I think we can throw the ball on them a little bit. We will have to to keep them off balance. The last couple of weeks our throwing game’s been 0.K., and we will have to continue to execute it to move the football.” Warner Robins’ last two wins were come-from-behind efforts at Valdosta (from 10 points down to 21-17 win) and the Coffee County game Vote HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL on Saturday. The final score was 24-7 with 21 of the Demons’ points coming in a 35-second span of the second half. “It was a hard-fought game,” said Way. “Coffee is a very talented team. I think physically they are the most talented team in the region. To our kids’ credit they hung in there and hung in there, scored a touchdown to go up 10-7 then had those two freak plays where we scored 14 points without the offense stepping on the field. “So you look at 24-7 and say, ‘Boy, we really killed them.’ It was anything but. Our kids are still excited about it, and hopefully that carries on to this Friday” The coach uses the word “freak” to describe a couple of defensive plays that led to those 14 points, but even good luck and fortune such as that requires some work. “We had some guys make some plays,” said Way. “Justin Cowart made a tre mendous individual play on the interception, and he hit the quarterback, the ball popped up, and Thomas Bruce scooped it up and ran it in. We had to make plays, but that’s not the type of plays you count on happen ing all the time.” Even with Valdosta still sitting in the region base ment at 0-4, the Wildcats are not out of the playoff race with two games remaining. On the same note, Warner Robins may be in first place, but isn’t making any post season plans yet with three games left. “We’re happy to be where we are,” said Way “But we understand we have three tough games to go. We’re definitely taking them one at a time. If we continue to play well and catch some breaks like we’ve been, we have a chance to win them all. By the same token, we have a chance to lose them all. “There’s no telling what kind of record it’s going to take to just get in the play offs, to be fourth. It’s excit ing for our fans, and our kids have enjoyed it.” 00039747