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WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 8, 2006
The Home Journal's
SANDLOT
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ON DECK
Youth
Volleyball
Thursday
■ Warner Robins Recreation
Department volleyball champi
onship, teams and times to be
determined
High school
Football
Friday
■ Region 4-AAAA play-in game:
Mount Zion at Northside. 7:30
p.m.
■ Region 4-AAA play-in game:
Spalding at Perry, 7:30 p.m.
■ Westfield at Sherwood, 8
p.m.
■ Warner Robins at Lowndes,
7:30 p.m.
Saturday
■ Coffee County at Houston
County. 7:30 p.m.
High school
Cross country
Saturday
■ Houston County. Warner
Robins, Northside and Perry at
state meet in Carrollton, 9 a.m.
IN BRIEF
South Coast League to
hold tryout camp
The South Coast League of
Professional Baseball today
announced that its inaugural
tryout camp will be Saturday
in Bradenton. Fla. The camp
will be held at Robert C. Wynn
Field on the campus of Manatee
Community College, home
of the South Coast League's
Bradenton Juice. All participants
are required to pre-register for
the tryout. To pre-register, go
to http://www.southcoastleague.
com/tryouts.
The cost to tryout is S4O,
which can be paid by credit card,
check, or money order. South
Coast League uniform player
contracts - including the Macon
Music, which is part of the league
- will be offered on the day of the
camp to qualified participants.
In order to participate in the
camp, players must have prior
professional baseball playing
experience or have played at
least two years of college base
ball within the last three years.
Bradenton recently joined
Charlotte County, Fla., Albany,
Macon and Aiken, S.C. as the
fifth member of the SCL.
Directions from 1-75: Take Exit
217 (old No. 41). This is a west
bound exit onto State Road 70.
Take SR-70 to 34th Street West
(about eight miles). Turn left at
the traffic signal at 34th Street
West. Go south through the traf
fic signal at 57th Avenue West
and the field is on your left.
Waterford to hold Junior
Golf Clinic
Waterford Golf Course will
hold a Junior Golf Clinic Nov.
20-21. Times are: 10-11:15 for
ages 5-10; 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. for
those ages 11 and up.
The cost is SSO which includes
lunch for both day, prizes and
more. Visit the course to sign
up.
Prep Sports + to air
cheerleader competition
Prep Sports + announced it will
air the GHSA State Cheerleading
Championship Nov. 16 at 7:30
p.m., Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. and Nov.
19 at 12:30 p.m. on Georgia
Public Broadcasting.
The championships take
place Friday-Saturday atthe
Columbus Civic Center.
AAA state championship
to be televised
The GHSA announced
recently the AAA State Football
Championship will be televised
live Dec. 16 on Comcast Sports
Southeast. CSS is available in
5.5 million homes across the
Southeast. The game is sched
uled for 3 p.m. The class AAAAA
and AAAA finals will continue to
be televised live on GPB, along
with all 10 semifinal games from
the Georgia Dome Dec. 8-9.
Panthers' Taylor brings an ’old school' approach
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Even in the year 2006, there remains
room for old school, throwback football.
Robby Taylor, Perry High School line
backer, has heard those words used to
describe the way he goes
about his business while
playing defense for the
Panthers.
If being a throwback
means being reliable
in the clutch, then it
describes Taylor to a T.
Last Friday, when Perry
earned a much-needed
38-20 sub-region win
m
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j :■ J
TAYLOR
against Northeast-Macon
at home, it was a Taylor interception that
stalled a drive by the Raiders in the fourth
quarter.
If being old school means dedication to
team no matter what, then consider Taylor
an old-school football player. Whether he’s
100 percent or not, this senior is in full
gear on the practice field every day ready
to learn something.
Taylor has his eyes on several tar
gets these days, not just who happens to
See TAYLOR,page zB
Perry preps for Spalding
By MA TTHEWBRO WN
Journal Sports Writer
The winner of a GHSA
state football championship
may have to win five games
in the tour
nament, but
for teams
that come
from a
region like
4-AAA, the
playoffs in
reality last
&
Spalding at Perry,
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
six weeks long.
Perry High School ended
up in the realigned 4-AAA
region that contains 12
teams. That requires sub
divisions in the Georgia High
School Association, and it
puts the top four teams in
each sub-division in a play
in round to qualify for the
big state playoff bracket.
That week of do-or-die has
arrived for the Panthers,
which finished second in
the south-region at 4-1, 6-3
overall.
The second-place showing
keeps Perry at home and
at Herb St. John Stadium
for a fourth week in a row,
and the opposition, the third
place team from the north
sub-region, is a familiar foe
to head coach Andy Scott,
but with an unfamiliar look.
Spalding High lost last
Friday to Mary Persons High
19-18 in a game that could
have meant second place
for the Spalding Jaguars
See PREPS, page iB
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The Westfield Schools recognized senior athletes involved in fall sports at Marvin Arrington Stadium during
halftime of the Hornets’ football game Friday. Senior athletes on the softball, cross country, cheerleading and
football teams, along with their parents, were honored. They were: John Blount, Ryan Campbell, Matt Collins,
Ryan Kinsley, Austin Madruga, Nash Murph, Daniel Payne, Greg Pearson, Jeremy Rowland, Tanner Williams,
Zach Young, Morgan Irby, Jackie Izzard, Ashley Shuford, Ashley Griffin, Zack Hamsley and Kaitlin Chasteen.
Pictured are the Campbell, Kinsley, Murph, Pearson and family members.
Sports
* ; \ - T** * f:
ENI/Gary Harmon
Perry’s Robby Taylor (49) helps take out a Northeast runner during the Panthers’ win Friday.
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—■ ENI/Gary Harmon
Perry quarterback Casey Hayward hands off Friday in Perry.
Senior Night
SECTION
B
Rodriguez,
Ivory put
team first
Last Friday I watched
Marques Ivory carve up
the Westside defense
during Northside’s 27-7 win. •
I realized that Ivory had
come into his
own at quar
terback and
that Jacobi
Rodriguez is
the ultimate
team player.
Last season,
Rodriguez
spent most of
the time at
quarterback.
This season
i
•s>. i
f ■■
Joe Sersey
Journal
Correspondent
he is one of the premier receiv
ers in AAAA.
Last season, because he was
behind the center, he was “The
Man.” Look at his stats and
he’s still “The Man.”
This season, not including
the Westside game, Rodriguez
has caught 27 balls for 497
yards and six touchdowns.
He caught four passes Friday
night for more than 100 yards
and added another touchdown.
That means that Rodriguez
may have' given up one posi
tion, but he stars at another. He
is averaging almost 20 yards a
catch, which means he can get
downfield and get open.
More than that, Rodrigue;?
has good hands. I saw him
adjust his speed, stay focused
on the ball and battle a defend
er to make a catch in the sec
ond half.
The kid can play receiver, no
small achievement considering
Rodriguez didn’t play the posi
tion last year.
But his ability on the field
isn’t what impresses me the
most. In this age of me first
athletes, Jacobi Rodriguez put
the team first. That makes him
a great player and better per
son.
Rodriguez is a junior with one
more season to play. Because he
was willing to change positions,
he may have helped himself to
a college scholarship, but more
importantly, Rodriguez helped
his team.
This is the best Eagles team I
can remember.
Granted, Rodriguez isn’t the
only weapon. Nick Bass can get
open and make tough catch
es and Tijuan Green proved
against Westside that he can
run inside or outside and be
successful. I
While I was watching Friday’s
game, I was struck by Ivory’*
poise. Twice he escaped th*
Seminoles’ rush and
touch passes downfield to wide--
open receivers. \
Ivory had a breakout
See TEAM, page zB