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Houston Italic 3jmmral
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 22, 2006
The Home Journal’s
SANDLOT
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ON DECK
High school
Football
Friday
■ Houston County at M.L. King,
7:30 p.m.
■ Warner Robins at Camden
County, 7:30 p.m.
■ Brunswick at Northside, 7:30
p.m.
High school
Basketball
Friday
■ Houston County at Glynn
Academy, time to be determined
Saturday
■ Houston County at Bradwell
Institute, time to be determined
IN BRIEF
Perry Youth Wrestling
Club sets registration
The Perry Youth Wrestling
Club will be hold registration
Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m. in the Perry
High School multi-purpose build
ing. All students ages 5-14 are
eligible. The cost is S2O which
includes a club T-shirt.
Also, each wrestler will be
required to purchase a USA
wrestling card on-line prior to
the first practice. The card is
$35. Cards can be purchased at
Team Georgia Wrestling at the
website www.themat.com.
The club will also be selling
wrestling singlets for S3O for the
ones who want to compete at
the local tournaments.
The club will meet Tuesdays
and Thursdays (practice begins
. Dec. 5). Any day that school is
closed due to inclement weather
or winter holidays, there will be
no practice. For further informa
tion, call Coach Randy Moss at
988-6291.
According to a release, “The
purpose is to teach fundamen
tals and give kids an introduc
tion to the great sport of wres
tling.”
Also, the club will hold a golf
tournament fund-raiser Dec.
16 at Perry Country Club and
the Perry Takedown Classic
Wrestling Tournament will be
held Feb. 10.
Racing Hall of Fame to
hold Christmas banquet
The Georgia Automobile
Racing Hall of Fame Association
will hold its inaugural Christmas
banquet Dec, 10 at 2 p.m. at
the American Legion located at
3914 Ewing Road in Austell.
The cost is sls, which
includes foot, festivities and
entertainment.
Reservations are a must and
must be made before Friday.
Send a check made out to
GARHoFA - along with the
names of those attending - to:
Susan Milam Morgan, 3071
Beaver Drive, Douglasville, GA
30135.
Also, according to a release
from the organization, everyone
is asked to bring an unwrapped
toy to be donated to Captain
Herb’s Toys for Tots.
Waterford to hold Junior
Golf Clinic
Waterford Golf Course will
hold a Junior Golf Clinic Monday-
Tuesday. Times are: 10-11:15
forages 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.
Westfield squad to
compete in tourneys
Westfield's competition
cheerleading squad will com
pete Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. in the
Heart of Georgia Cheerleading
Competition.
Westfield is also hosting the
event which will be held in the
Westfield gymnasium.
Also, The Georgia Independent
School Association state cheer
leading competition is Dec. 9
at 10 a.m. at Tattnall Square
Academy.
Westfield hopes to repeat as
state champs (it is the defending
champs for the past two years).
Warner Rollins girls finish second again
Special to the Journal
Warner Robins High
School’s swim team brought
home the second place tro
phy for the second straight
year at the Blue Devil Swim
Invitation Saturday in
Tifton.
In a field of 12 teams,
the Demonettes earned 92
points. They were just behind
Columbus High School
with 121. Both Northside
and Perry High school also
attended the meet (but no
scores were reported).
The Warner Robins High
School boys came in fifth
behind Northside-Columbus.
which won with 120 points
For the girls, Anne
Culpepper led the way with
18 points contributed. She
had two first-place finishes
and state cuts in the 200 and
500 free.
“Anne had an excellent
race,” said coach Barbara
Hawkins. “She executed her
turns and truly seemed to
glide through the water. “
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Northside defenders, including Abry Jones (97) bring down a Lee County during the Eagles’ state playoff win over
Lee County Friday.
Pirates sail into Eagle country
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Guess who is carrying the
banner in the GHSA Class
, AAAA foot
ball playoffs
HSg from Region
Am 3-AAAA?
it’s not
defend-
Brunswick at j ng sta te
Northside, Friday, champion
p.m. Statesboro
High,
knocked out in the first
round last week. It’s not
region champion Ware
County High, also eliminat
ed on the first day of com
petition.
It’s Brunswick High
School, the league’s No.
3 seed and a once proud
and mighty program that
is finally setting its Pirate
ships right after quite a few
years of struggle. The 8-3
Pirates have a big battle
on their hands, though, on
Friday against the No. 1
ranked and 11-0 Northside
High Eagles at McConnell-
Talbert Stadium.
After Brunswick played
Sports
Abigail Cunningham
earned 16 points for the
team and posted state quali
fying times in both the 50
free and the 100 back.
“It was an exciting race to
see Abigail,” said Hawkins,
“and Northside’s Ali Sapp
compete in the 50 free.
Abigail fought hard to win
the 50 free but she was just
out touched at the wall.”
While placing third, the
200 medley relay team
of Holly Odom, Brittani
Wharton, Culpepper and
Cunningham succeeded in
qualifying for state.
This same relay quartet
narrowly missed qualifying
in the 200 free by a little
more than a second but did
earn second place for 14 pts.
Also, Rachel Sundry had
a second and a fifth place
in the 200 IM and the 100
back to contribute 11 points
while freshmen Brittani
Wharton placed third in the
100 breast for six points.
Shannon Sulik earned
See SECOND, page iB
"They are pretty impressive... They
have some good players, good running
backs, a mixture of young guys and
older guys."
for the state championship
in 1999, not much has gone
right for the Pirates in the
21st Century. It all started
in the 2001 season, which
ended with a 57-13 drub
bing at the hands of Warner
Robins High.
2002 was a losing season
for Brunswick as well, then
the Pirates had just six wins
each over the next three
years. But after an 0-2 start
in 2006, which included a
25-13 opening day setback to
Ware County, Brunswick has
won eight of its last nine.
The loss was to Statesboro
38-21.
In a nip-and-tuck first
round game with Whitewater,
the Pirates won 23-20 for
their first postseason win of
the new millennium.
“They are pretty impres-
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Warner Robins co-captain Olen Harris and Abigail Cunningham lead the team Saturday
at the Blue Devil Invite.
sive,” said Northside head
coach Conrad Nix. “Coach
(Maurice) Freeman has done
a pretty good job of bringing
the program back to some
kind of credibility. They
have some good players,
good running backs, a mix
ture of young guys and older
guys. Their better athletes
are younger guys, then they
have the maturity there that
helps stabilize everything.”
Brunswick had a pair of
other down-to-the-wire
games with low scores that
were key in qualifying for
the playoffs. There was an
early 7-0 win against rival
Glynn Academy and a 9-
7 triumph at the end of
the regular season against
Effingham County.
Nix said Brunswick may
have taken Whitewater
lightly being that they were
playing a new school. The
coach even admitted that the
Wildcats from Fayetteville
looked better than he expect
ed to see.
“Whitewater jumped
out at the beginning, and
(Brunswick) didn’t panic
or anything, stayed pretty
focused, came back and won
it at the end,” said Nix. “It
was a big win. I’m sure it
gave them confidence and
motivation that they can
play with most people.”
Nix said the Pirates play
with an efficient passing
scheme and a stable, consis
tent overall game plan.
“What we’ve talked about
as a staff is that they pret
ty patient offensively,” he
said. “They don’t try to do
a bunch of wild stuff. They
stay with their plan, and it’s
worked for them.
“(On defense) they are the
same way. They do move
people around a little bit
depending on formation.
They do a good job of run
ning to the football with
See SAIL, page zB
SECTION
B
Is Hornets'
future now?
SEASON
PREVIEW
WESTFIELD (boys)
By MATTHEW
BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
What do you do with
a high school basketball
roster that has just one
senior?
Well, for starters you
can look forward to a cou
ple of good years in the
future.
But, to have those good
seasons waiting on the
horizon, things need to
happen in the present. At
Westfield Schools, that’s
the approach for the boys
basketball season of 2006-
2007 in which 6-5 Nash
Murph is the only hard
wood player with a 12
next to his name on the
Hornet roster.
Westfield’s work
towards a new direction
in basketball success
actually began last sea
son when Jake Walls had
his first season as head
coach. There were some
good moments here and
there, but Walls’ overall
objective was to create a
sound defensive philoso
phy.
“What we accomplished
last year was setting the
foundation for how we’re
going to defend,” said
Walls, who begins his sec
ond year with the basket
ball program on Dec. 2
at Mt. de Sales. “We had
a lot of young players,
started two freshmen in
the last game of the year.
Two freshmen starting a
varsity game is a very rare
thing. We taught them to
value defensive effort,
and I honestly think com
ing into this year that
has taken hold. It’s just
standard.
“That frees us up and
we can focus more on one
of our biggest problems,
and that was scoring.
We have to learn how to
manage a game offensive
ly, and we have to learn
how to finish shots and
score.”
Full-time practice
for boys basketball at
Westfield is just get
ting started, but Walls
already got a look at his
team’s potential during
summer camps. In two
See FUTURE, page iB