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Houston Italic 3jmmral WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2006 The Home Journal’s SANDLOT 'iitt biwih nwir’" 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. “ Hpggj BjL dßf , ./ % H ’ ' • ft fpfl Vi m . V * } B * - SBBf ~ xZ. v'w >'* ..« “ j . JMB »• c_£ jfl* _ . —— ~—. £. üb*i 1 I—— : £s ssi S Vi-T W ~ ™ XI ENI/Gary Harmon 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- . I te|| r 4g^B 88. * 4 Jl 1 111 Br% WMM Bi ms «B ’it* iDbbg. k' * v'll' i * jgttw, • t | A .', VB Submitted 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