Newspaper Page Text
Houston ©mly TJmmtal
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 24, 2006
The Home Journal's
SANDLOT
ON DECK
High school
Football
Today
■ Warner Robins at Camden
County, 7:30 p.m.
■ Brunswick at Northside, 7:30
p.m.
Saturday
■ Houston County at M.L. King,
7:30 p.m.
High school
Basketball
Today
■ 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 com
pete at the local tourngments.
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.
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.
Waterford to hold Junior
Golf Clinic
Waterford Golf Course will
hold a Junior Golf Clinic Monday-
Tuesday. 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.
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 cheerlead
ing 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).
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 tele
vised live on GPB, along with
all 10 semifinal games from the
Georgia Dome Dec. 8-9.
Landings to hold golf
tournament
Landings Golf Course will
hold a two-person scramble
Sunday at 2 p.m. The cost is $5
for members and $lO for non
members. You can also make
your own team or be paired
with someone. Gift certificates
will be awarded as prizes. Sign
up is not necessary. For more
information, contact Bill Goggin
at 923-5222, Ext. 4 or via e-mail
at bill@goggingolf.com.
Beans proving to be quite the road warrior
By MA TTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Houston County High is indeed
trying to make 2006 a dream sea
son in football. After the No. 4
seed from Region 1-
AAAAA bested the
Region 4-AAAAA
fMMUpn champion Newman
High Cougars 35-
Hointon County 21 on the road last
at M.L. King, weekend, the Bears
Saturday, 7:30 now se t their sights
P m - on M.L. King as the
next obstacle in the
GHSA playoff march.
But again, as the last team from
its region to qualify for the postsea
son, Houston County must go on
the road. The meeting with the 9-1
M.L. King Lions, the No. 2 seed of 2-
AAAA, is Saturday in Dekalb County.
The road, though, has been quite
Demons, Wildcats to butt heads
■ I
m . ■***■■■" ■■■*< - <.#* '-*o*
ENI Gary Harmon
Warner Robins’ Jeremy Grant (20) goes head-to-head with a Mundy’s Mill defender as Demons quarterback Mark
Wright Jr., looks on, Saturday in McConnell-Talbert Stadium.
Prospects look good
for Lady Bear repeat
SEASON
PREVIEW
HOUSTON COUNTY
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
When a high school team
wins a region sports cham
pionship, it stands to reason
that seniors had the most to
do with it. That means the
following year will be one
of rebuilding and/or reshuf
fling of the lineup.
Not so with Houston
County High and its girls
basketball crown won in
2006. Yes, Sid Baxley had
three contributing seniors,
two of whom signed papers
to play college basketball.
But with the 2006-2007
campaign fast approach
ing, experience abounds in
the Bear Den, including the
valuable experience of get
ting through the Region 1-
AAAAA with the first-place
trophy.
In fact, Baxley should have
Sports
Travel to M.L. King knowing they’re undefeated out of town
kind for the 7-4 Bears, a team that
has not lost away from McConnell-
Talbert Stadium all year.
M.L. King, on the other hand,
hasn’t lost but one time, that
being a 17-6 defeat at the hands
of Stephenson High. It’s a loss,
though, that determined the 2-
AAAAA championship. Since then,
M.L. King has had four games and
has given up just 16 points. Its last
two games were shutouts, includ
ing a 28-0 first-round blanking of
Bradwell Institute.
“It’s probably the fastest foot
ball team we’ve seen all year,” said
Houston County head coach Doug
Johnson, who highlighted four
juniors, running back Cordellaro
Jones (No. 2), receiver/defensive
four starters on the court,
but one of those, Hannah
Channell, is right now sit
ting out while recovering
from a knee operation back
in the spring. The coach also
has most of his bench back,
which makes the prospects
for a repeat in the region
look pretty good.
Candice Clark was the
leader of the 2006 Lady
Bears, but she signed to play
at Brewton-Parker College.
Lauren Campbell was part
of a deep front court, and
Syliva Tammenin provided
depth at guard. That was
the senior class, and while
they were all quality play
ers, they didn’t leave Baxley
with any big holes to fill.
“It seems like we’ve gotten
better by leaps and bounds,”
he said.
Senior Brittany Torain
started every game last year
and every game as a sopho
more at point guard. Baxley
said she is probably the best
outside shooter for Houston
County, plus she handles the
basketball well and hustles
on defense.
back Daniel McKayhan (No. 4),
receiver Lyndon Leslie (No. 20) and
receiver Sean Smith (No. 6) as espe
cially fast. “They’ve been in the
playoffs several times, so they’ve
been around it.
“We’re going to have to play real
well. We’re going to have to over
come our speed to catch up to their
speed. Our kids are going to have to
play smart.”
In looking at the 2-AAAAA region
as a whole, Johnson said Stephenson
has had a good team for several years
and M.L. King reached the state
semifinals in the Georgia Dome two
years ago.
“It’s another road game for us,
which has been good td us so far,”
said Johnson. “I hope our kids stay
^ r? ' 1
n JH .4 Jr
‘«Mll HHbJf
ENI Gary Harmon
A Houston County player goes after a rebound during practice at the school
Thursday.
The rest of the return
ing starters are juniors,
Tonia Williams and Janesa
Johnson.
“Tonia was our MVP last
year,” said Baxley. “She’s a
big girl, but she handles the
ball like a guard. She’s going
to score a lot, get a lot of
rebounds and block a lot of
shots.
“Janesa for the last year
and a half has been our best
defensive player. She can
also score and handle the
ball. Physically, she’s very
strong.”
Baxley has some other
senior players, Bethany
Crenshaw and Tiara Bivins,
in competition for start
ing jobs. Cierra Boyd and
Channel Crosskey are other
players who were a part
of the squad last year and
whom Baxley is confident in
focus. I don’t like the Saturday game,
which would be a little tougher than
a Friday night, but that’s just what
we have to do.
“For our kids we have to control
the football like we’ve been doing
and not give up the big play. They
have a big-play offense.”
And wouldn’t you know it, but it’s
another one of those wide spread
out offensive attacks for Houston
County to defend. That’s the way it
was at Newnan and in two region
games against Colquitt County and
Tift County.
“They will go get under center
some and run the football,” said
Johnson. “We feel like they are
going to try to spread the field and
See ROAI), page iB
By MA TTIIE W BRO WN
Journal Sports Writer
Warner Robins High foot
ball has gone to the ends of
the state and back two times
JL« *5
Warner Robins at
Camden County,
today, 7:30 p.m.
fresh off a GHSA Class
AAAAA first round vic
tory against Mundy’s Mill
at home this past Saturday,
must go all the way to the
southeast corner of Georgia
on Friday for second round
action against the fleet-foot
ed and No. 3-ranked Camden
County High Wildcats.
While most of the 5A classi
fication resides in and above
Atlanta, a lot of the power
in football for the class is in
Camden County and Warner
Robins’ Region 1-AAAAA.
Camden owns a 5A state title
from 2003, while this year
there is only one blemish on
a 10-1 record. That blemish
is all because of one point
to a loss against a team not
even from Georgia. Aiken
High of South Carolina beat
the Wildcats 20-19 on Sept.
15.
In eight games
See HEADS, page zB
to contribute big this year.
“We weren’t predicted to
win the region last year,”
said Baxley. “We had to go
down to Tifton and win
those three games in a row.
It was a tough road. We were
exhausted after the region
championship game. But we
knew we had it in us.
“Now we know we can
make that road a little
See PROSPECTS, page iB
SECTION
B
already
in 2006.
What’s
one more
trip just
short of the
Sunshine
State?
The 7-4
Demons,