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♦ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2006
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ENI/Gary Harmon
/A Coffee runner tries to elude a tag-along Bear, among others, Saturday in McConnell-
Talbert Stadium.
BEARS
From page iB
down to Lowndes last Friday
and also knocked off the
Vikings.
But the Bears don’t exactly
enter postseason on a great
note. With a playoff berth
already secured, Houston
lost at McConnell-Talbert
Stadium on Saturday to
Coffee County High 28-21.
Newnan has won seven of
its last eight games after
an 0-2 start. When the two
teams open the GHSA tour
nament in Coweta County
tonight, it will be the first
ever meeting between the
Bears and the Cougars.
But Houston head coach
Doug Johnson has seen the
Newnan program up close
before. He was an assistant
for Warner Robins in 1981
when the Demons beat the
Cougars in Newnan for the
state championship.
Newnan also has a win at
McConnell-Talbert against
Northside in a recent post
season match-up.
Johnson’s scouting report
of the 2006 Cougars sounds
a little like Tift County or
Colquitt County. It also
sounds like he’s talking
about the basketball team
because this combination of
numbers keeps coming up:
6-7.
“Coach (Robert) Herring
and them have done a good
job,” said Johnson. “I think
they got beat in the play
offs last year by Camden.
They’ve had a long histo
ry of great teams, of being
in the playoffs and playing
well. It will be nothing new
for them.”
Houston County is back
in the playoffs after miss
ing out by a slim margin in
2005.
The Cougars are 7-3, and in
those seven wins they aver
age 37.7 points on offense.
“They are a wide-open
offense,” said Johnson.
“They have a great quarter
back who is about 6-7. He
stands in the pocket back in
the shotgun. We’ve knocked
down a few passes this year,
BROWN
From page iB
“We have a quarterback.
He just needs a little season
ing,” my buddy replies.
From all the pr.eseason
hoopla, I was led to believe
Stafford was coming to
Georgia already spiced up.
My point is, folks, don’t tell
me how great a player is,
no matter what position it
is, before he’s ever played
a game - not just a spring
game - in a Bulldog uni
form.
Finally, I can sit here and
tell all of you I like the way
Stafford plays the game. I
like the way he takes off
with the football. He’s not
a speed demon, but he has a
big frame and he hustles it
down the field.
I’ll even make a compari
son right now. Since he wears
No. 7, I saw some shades
of another No. 7 of football
lore. John Elway, maybe.
Most importantly, in this
game, Stafford and the
Bulldog offense kept things
fairly basic. Maybe that’s
the way it’s been done all
but this kid - we watched
him last Friday - he tends to
throw over you.
“In their scheme, where
he’s almost in the shotgun
every play and he drops a
couple of steps, it’s hard to
get pressure because they do
a great job of knowing where
their hot route is. Even if
you get people to him, he can
still throw it over you.
“Plus he has some great
players with him. He has a
great receiver, No. 2, and the
running back’s a really good
player. The tight end is 6-7.
It may be the most athletic
football team we’ve played
all year.
“It’s a little bit differ
ent (from Colquitt or Tift)
because of (the quarter
back). His height gives him
such an advantage. He can
find receivers. They got him
about six yards deep, then
he drops two or three more,
so as you rush you’re trying
to get 10 or 12 yards. He gets
hit some, but he usually gets
the ball away.”
On the defensive side,
Newnan does tend to give
up some points, a 10-game
average of about 20. Johnson
said the Cougars have had
the misfortune of playing in
some situations with heavy
rain involved. He said it
shouldn’t take away from
what he sees on the films as
far as athleticism goes.
“Two of the losses they
had were in pouring down
rain,” said Johnson. “They
gave up some points because
they had turnovers that
were pretty close.
“Defensively, I would call
them sound. They run a 50
with good-looking kids, pret
ty big and think. One defen
sive end is about 235, the
other is about 220, big rangy
kids. The two linebackers
are about 220 each. The sec
ondary does a good job, and
I’m sure they see the pass a
lot in practice.
“The big key for us is we
do have to control the foot
ball. If we can control it like
we did against Colquitt, it
will keep that offense from
being on the field. And we
need to create some turn-
season. Maybe you’re hear
ing that the Georgia offense
has been too predictable.
I’ll steal a few lines from a
sports movie to answer that.
Let Auburn see all our plays
beforehand. It doesn’t mat
ter what you do, but how
you do it.
You stand in the batter’s
box against Nolan Ryan, or
Randy Johnson, or Roger
Clemens, you know what’s
coming. Sometimes that
knowledge doesn’t do you
one bit of good.
You really have to cred
it that win to the Bulldog
defense. Again, I don’t think
it was any mystery what
Auburn had in mind. Tra
Battle, Charles Johnson,
they all just got in the right
place to make the right
plays.
And now Richt can get his
head off of some people’s
chopping block. He doesn’t
want to make any staff
changes, which is his pre
rogative. It was also his pre
rogative to not add any more
points late in Saturday’s
game, even with the ball so
deep in Auburn territory.
Quite frankly, I’ve never
overs, some interceptions or
fumbles or something to get
the ball bouncing our way.”
The turnover-margin
favored Coffee County
when the Trojans ended the
Houston regular season with
the loss in Warner Robins.
In particular, Coffee inter
cepted a pass late in the
third quarter with Houston
ahead 21-20. The football
was inside the Trojan 10, but
the visitors used big plays to
get to the other end and
score the game-winner.
Johnson said Coffee had
two weeks to prepare for
this contest and used them
to implement new never
before-seen schemes. What
the Bears couldn’t have been
prepared for was a big pass
ing game from the run-ori
ented Trojans, but quarter
back Daniel Anderson had
three touchdown passes.
“They added two new
blocking schemes that we
feel hurt us,” said Johnson.
“If they had only a week, I
don’t think they could have
gotten that accomplished.
They added what we call the
backdoor pass out of the veer
that they had not thrown all
year.
“We knew it was going
to be a tough ball game no
matter what. Coffee is 8-2
now, and in the only two
games they lost, turnovers
killed them. Going into that
game, they had 27 turnovers
total, and we only had eight.
Then we had one and they
had none.”
But all 32 teams (one of
which is not the defending
champions, Lowndes) go
back to 0-0 this weekend.
Johnson has been telling the
Bears the old “anything can
happen” story and that this
year’s championship will be
decided by who gets on that
five-game roll.
“I don’t think in 5-A right
now there is one dominant
team,” said Johnson. “Last
year, Lowndes, we played
them, and I didn’t see any
one being able to beat them.
This year I don’t think
there’s a team that strong ...
one that’s way better than
everybody else.”
seen a quarterback take a
knee on fourth down. Richt
certainly isn’t one to rub
anything in anyone’s face.
Maybe he believes there is
a point when you have a big
enough lead. Me, I would
have called for a least a
field goal, maybe give Andy
Bailey a chance to get his
own groove back going.
I must stand corrected
on a point I made a couple
of weeks ago. The NCAA,
back in April, ruled that,
because of the 12-game
schedule, teams with a 6-
6 record would be eligible
for bowls. I must have
missed that memo, because
I thought Georgia’s win
against Western Kentucky
(I-AA) would not count.
A moot point now, because
the Bulldogs aren’t going to
finish 6-6.
Here’s an historical point.
1973. That’s the last season
in which Georgia lost to both
Vanderbilt and Kentucky. It
never happened under Ray
Goff. Never happened under
Jim Donnan.
But in 1973, Georgia beat
Auburn and Georgia Tech ...
and Tennessee.
SPORTS
Hendrick ponders another title
Special to the Journal
Car owner Rick Hendrick
is poised to win his fifth
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
championship. Jimmie
Johnson has a 63-point, lead
heading into Sunday’s sea
son finale at the Homestead-
Miami Speedway and all he
needs is to finish 12th or
better to clinch the title.
Hendrick already has four
championships with Jeff
Gordon and one with Terry
Labonte. He talked recently
about what it’s like to be
one of the most powerful
car owners in NASCAR:
Question: What are the
challenges of staying on
top of the Bport?
Hendrick: I think just
trying to keep everybody
together. When you have
success, you’ve got teams
that want to gain or grow
and you have a lot of people
offering your folks opportu
nities. You can’t have one
crew chief and one car chief.
You’ve got a lot of people
that are car chiefs that have
gone on to be crew chiefs
other places and good top
mechanics that havf gone
on to be car chiefs at other
spots. The real critical
thing is to keep everybody
together.
Question: How difficult
will it be to deal with the
Car of Tomorrow?
Hendrick: I think next
year is going to be an unbe
lievably up and down year.
There will be so many vari
ables coming in - the Car of
Tomorrow, the standard car,
new teams, trying to figure
out this car, no testing. You
have to maintain your fleet,
YEAR
From page iB
heading into the final quarter. Taylor
County then held on in the fourth.
“I liked the way we moved the ball on
offense and got it inside,” Mobley said in
regard to how his Demonettes did overall.
“We need to work on playing better defense
(however).
“It was a good opportunity for the girls
SENIOR
From page iB
Hal Baker from Bonaire
and David smith of Warner
Robins. Those two are
paired up and battling in
the championship flight.
They shot a 70 the first day,
two under par. Still that got
them only up to 26th - and
tied with 10 other golfers.
Also, Ron Baggett and
Eddie Wiggins of Warner
Robins - teamed up togeth
er - are also contending
in the championship flight.
They shot an even 72 the
first day and are in a tie for
38th.
CLEATS
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build a new fleet and merge
them in. It’s going to take
more manpower at a time
when more teams are start
ing up. It’s going to put
a lot of stress on every
body. Then we’ve got a new
motor too so we’ve got to
deal with that. So we have
to run two parallel motor
systems and two parallel
car systems and integrate
it in. It’s going to be a chal
lenge for the guys that have
been here, but for the new
guys it’s really going to be
a dogfight.
Question: Are you con
cerned about the num
ber of full-time teams
next year and the fact
some good teams won’t
qualify for races?
Hendrick: Yeah. I’m in
the automobile business,
so I look at the economy
as a whole. If one piece
of the economy struggles,
it’s going to affect every
body sooner or later. When
you’ve got this many teams
trying to show up to race,
some good teams aren’t
going to make it and some
good sponsors could end up
leaving the sport. I think
next year is going to be
the biggest shake out that
we’ve seen. I think we’ll see
a lot of people that won’t be
there in ‘OB that are there
in ‘O7 because it’s going to
be a very, very competitive
deal and it’s going to be a
lot of pressure.
Question: What do
you think of Jimmie
Johnson’s approach
and attitude toward the
Chase this year?
Hendrick: I think Jimmie
has taken the same approach
Hendrick: I think Jimmie
has taken the same approach
to get some experience before the regular
season starts.”
Which is slated to be Saturday when
they travel and compete in the Griffin
Invitational (through Tuesday - with
Sunday off).
Leading Warner Robins’ effort Tuesday
was Kittery Maine, Cherie White - both
fresh from fast-pitch - and Liza Gaines.
Maine scored 24 points, White 10 and
Gaines 8.
Warner Robins’ boys did not play.
Two-time former champi
onship tandem Bill Ploeger
of Columbus and Spencer
Sappington of Alpharetta
are among three teams
to fire opening rounds of
seven-under 65 for a one
stroke lead.
William Lepley of
Alpharetta and Miles
Vickery of Canton and
Kingsland-duo Carl Wade
and Danny Daniels join
Ploeger and Sappington are
the others at the top of the
leader board.
The championship flight
will be playing all three
rounds at the course at
Lakes at Laura S. Walker
and the first through
(c) 2006 Bill Hinds, Dist by Universal Press Syndicate" '
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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
that we’ve all taken here.
You can’t do anything about
this Chase deal. It’s the
luck of the draw. You run
so good the first race then
get wrecked, then you come
back and have a cut tire in
the last race last year. You
win four races in the Chase
one year and you don’t
win it. I try to tell Jimmie
this: You won Daytona, the
Indy race, the All Star race.
Every guy that would take
that in a career and you’ve
done it in a year and you led
the points. You can’t let this
championship thing eat you
up. He and Chad (Rnaus,
crew chief) last year, we met
off-season and spent a lot
of time talking about this
(being) not life-threatening.
We want to be here for 10
years. You guys are young.
You’ll be the guys to beat
every year, but in order to
do that we can’t let the
pressure get to you. So we
started the year with a dif
ferent attitude.
Question: How have
you managed the. ups
and downs in the Chase
this year?
Hendrick: I’m not mak
ing light of the champion
ship, but I look at life a lot
different now. It’s not life
threatening. We do the best
we can. You can’t control
it. It’s one of those things
where you’ve got to have
good luck. You do the best
you can. Yeah, I’d like to
win seven or eight cham
pionships, but hopefully
we can get that 150th win
this week and just make the
guys as good as they can be
and be competitive.
- compiled by Don Coble
fourth flights will play at
Okefenokee Country Club.
The low 48 teams based
on combined handicap index
comprise the championship
Flight.
The remainder of the
field was determined by lot
tery and flighted by team
handicap index. Only the
competitors in the champi
onship flight are eligible for
the overall title.
Entries were open to male
amateur golfers who are at
least 55 years old, members
of a GSGA member club
and residents of Georgia.
The maximum handicap
differential between part
ners was six strokes.
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