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2B
♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2906
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A Perry
player
goes
in for a
layup
during
practice
at the
school
Monday.
ENI/Gary
Harmon
PANTHERS
From page iB
and played real good
defense. If we don’t do that,
then we’re going to strug
gle.”
Willis is an example of a
player with the right skills
but whom Hardy is trying to
get more work out of on the
defensive end.
Cameron Felder at point
guard, Antonio Hubbard at
a wing, and Roderick Jones
in the post are other pro
jected starters for Hardy in
the early stages of the sea
son. Askew is also slated for
a post position, and he is the
only mainstay of the group.
“We're going to go way
down on the bench,” said
Hardy. “We have some guys
who haven’t played a whole
lot who need experience.
That’s our goal right now.
Get them some experience
and get them on the floor.”
Washington County High
COACH
From page lit
Bradley said she is excited
about her move to Perry and
the chance to jump up from
the AA to the AAA level of
state competition.
“We didn’t have a whole
lot of success (at Metter),
but we really didn’t have a
feeder program down there,”
said Bradley, who graduated
from Northeast-Macon. “We
had some years where we
had reasonable success. But
the lack of a feeder program
was the biggest issue.
“I think the competition
(here) is going to be better.
I see some of the girls who
come into the ninth grade
already have some funda
mental skills.
“That was the problem
down in (Metter). We had
kids come into the ninth
grade without any funda
mentals. You’re limited in
your numbers, you have to
play ninth graders on your
varsity, but you have to back
way up and start teach
ing fundamentals instead
of coaching a varsity team
where you just supplement
fundamentals.”
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ENI/Gary Harmon
A Lady Panther goes up for a shot.
School bested Perry in last
year’s region tournament
held at Southwest-Macon.
Washington County, how
ever, was put in a differ
ent region for the next two
years. What’s been added to
4-AAA, though, is enough
to call for two sub-divisions,
which is going to make the
task of returning to the
GHSA AAA playoffs a much
more difficult task.
“West Laurens plays good
basketball, Peach County is
always strong, and on the
other side, just watching
Jackson in football, they
have some athletes,” said
Hardy. “We’re just going to
play as hard as we can and
hopefully put ourselves in
a good spot going into the
region tournament.
“If we are a one or a two
on our side, we only have to
win one to get into the state
playoffs. Nos. 3 through 6
will have to play a play-in
game.”
The Panthers have an
On her first Perry roster,
Bradley sees about eight
players with solid talent and
potential to contribute on the
varsity level. She won’t nec
essarily use the word “deep”
to describe her bench, but
said there shouldn’t be any
situations where she has to
make a move out of panic.
“I look for there to be scor
ing throughout the lineup,”
she said. “We have eight or
nine varsity players who are
going to see action. We are
strong in the post, not size
wise, but we use what we
have well.
“As far as guard positions,
we are going to be fine there.
We have four or five guards
who can rotate.”
As for a basketball system,
Bradley said what she does
is based on personnel. With
a lack of height, she said
the emphasis for the Lady
Panthers will be on man
defense and a fast-break
approach to offense.
“We may not beat every
team, but we ought to be able
to beat every team down the
court,” she said. “We have
some speed out there. These
girls hustle.”
Bradley may not have
a set starting lineup from
active weekend with a road
game at Dooly County on
Friday and a home rivalry
contest with Houston County
on Saturday. Before the cal
endar year 2006 comes to an
end, Perry will have its fill of
rivalry games with home at
home series against Warner
Robins High and Houston,
then the Houston County
Bear Brawl.
This will be the time
Hardy hopes to get all the
Perry High football play
ers who joined the team in
mid-November in the right
shape to make a run at
the likes of Mary Persons,
Southwest and Jackson in
early January.
“Mentally being pre
pared and having basketball
knowledge, I think they’ll
be O.K pretty quick,” said
Hardy. “Getting in the con
dition I want them to be in,
it’s going to be Christmas or
a little after before we can
run them enough to ihake
an impact .
the first game to the last,
but she certainly expects
to mark names like senior
Ashley West, junior Ashley
Roberts and junior Shay
Newberry often in the score
book. Junior Kim Burgess is
coming off a knee injury last
season and is working into a
strong post player.
Racheal Bass is a senior
transfer from Warner Robins
High with a good “all-around
game.” KeKe Releford is a
senior with good ball-han
dling skills.
Southwest-Macon had one
of the top girls squads in
the state, let alone Region
4-AAA, last year and was
in fact the only region team
Perry’s girls did not beat last
year. This year, Southwest
is still about the same, but
now it’s a sub-region with
newcomers West Laurens
and Central-Macon to go
with rival Peach County.
“I watched some tapes of
the games last year,” said
Bradley. “I think these girls
are going to react to whatev
er’s out on the floor. I don’t
think they are afraid of any
body. Win or not, we are
going to win the race down
the court. That has to be our
strong point.”
SPORTS
EAGLES
From page iB
“Defensively, they have
big front guys, a big nose
and a tackle. They not only
have physical lineback
ers but pretty large ones,
too. We’re obviously not
going to change anything
very much, but just prep
for what we think they’re
going to do defensively.”
The most glaring aspect
of this matchup that favors
the Eagles is the experience
deep in the playoffs. In fact,
while Habersham Central
went through its struggles,
Northside’s winning ways
include a current 12-game
winning streak and 26 wins
in the last 27 games.
Here’s another statistical
tidbit: The Eagles have lost
as many times in the last
four years (three) as they
did in all of the 2002 cam
paign.
“That is maybe of some
importance,” said Nix. “But
how you prepare yourself,
how you approach the game
is a lot more important.”
Northside approached the
situation against Brunswick
the right way, especially one
where it was told to start a
drive from its own 1-yard
line. The Eagles were ahead
by 18 points at the time
MONCRIEF
From page iB
passes?”
“Yeah,” he said gaily.
. “You mean other quarter
backs could lead their team
to the Super Bowl when
their offensive line doesn’t
block half the time?”
“Yeah,” he responded in
plain (K.D.) lang-uage.
“You mean other quar
terbacks could lead their
team to the Super Bowl
when their defensive backs’
idea of covering receivers
is going out to the park
ing lot and hoping, waiting
for the receiver to come to
them (playing off about 100
yards, in other words)?”
“Yeah,” he replied
as unmoving as a rock
(Hudson).
And on and on it goes,
me with sound reasons why
Vick is the man, him why
he isn’t.
OK, so maybe my “sound”
reasons don’t exactly fit
the definition to a “T”, but
they’re at least a lot sound
er than his and all these
others blaming the entire
collapse on Vick.
Jim Mora, who this column
is definitely not an endorse
ment for (I’ll never endorse
a coach who stands on the
sidelines smiling when the
other team is - a condition
noted over the course of the
past three games - making
him and his staff look like
amateurs), was criticized/
poked fun at for saying if
he had one player to start a
franchise with, it would be
Mike Vick.
Mora’s own father called
him a “coach killer” and
at least one media person
has said Mora would be the
only one in line on draft day
- if he were starting a fran
chise - but that’s not true.
I’m pretty sure it would be
every NFC and AFC coach
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CLEATS
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and had an interception by
Charles McKenzie that fol
lowed a pick by the vis
iting Pirates. One referee,
though, overruled another
by saying it wasn’t a touch
back, but a spot on the 1.
The Eagles proceeded to
go all the way down the
field 99 yards, put seven
more points on the board
and basically wipe out
Brunswick’s hopes along
with most of the third-quar
ter clock.
“I was proud of our guys
for executing the drive, eat
ing some clock up and end
ing it on a positive note,”
said Nix. “We started out
real strong (in the game),
then had some period of
time where we were not
hitting on all the cylinders
together, then we came
back and did a good job on
that drive.”
It really wasn’t anything
that new for Northside.
In the last five games, the
Eagles have scored from its
deepest starting field posi
tion.
In the Brunswick contest,
which ended with a 38-13
final, that drive showed the
team wasn’t merely inter
ested in getting away from
its own goal line.
“Hopefully most times
we’ll have that mindset,”
said Nix. “We’re not just
"There Isn’t
an NFL coach
out there that
wouldn't dream
of having Michael
Wick"
in the league. It would be
at least one more and I can
prove it.
Flashback to when the
Falcons played Pittsburgh:
Vick outruns the Steelers’
defense and picks up a first
down before being run out
of bounds on the Pittsburgh
side of the field.
As he’s coming back in
bounds, Steelers head coach
Bill Cowher makes it a point
of intercepting him - from
the side - patting him on
the butt and saying some
thing with a sort of chuck
ling look. Vick looks back
as if to say: “excuse me”
or “sir” to which Cowher
repeats - followed with the
same smile and chuckle.
So, Cowher is either A)
just wanting to pat Vick’s
butt or B) working on some
future stock options.
Is he prone to pat men’s
butts, to which he has a
whole team he could be pat
ting, or is he a smart busi
nessman thinking: “You
know. This kid may be a
free agent some day. I want
him to know I know he
exists.”
You know the answer.
Listen to your heart. There
isn’t an NFL coach out
there that wouldn’t dream
of having Michael Vick. The
way I see it, there is so
much untapped potential.
And they know it. And fur
ther you can say this only
about Michael Vick: Even if
his passing rating were to
reach zero he would still be
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THE HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
going to go out there and
make a few plays, but do
what our jobs call for and
Bcore some points.”
Junior tailback Tijuan
Green, with his 211 yards
rushing, went over the
1,000-yard mark for the
season. He had three touch
downs to give him a total of
14, and his average per run
is at eight yards.
“We’re extremely proud
of him,” said Nix. “He had
a fumble, and that was dis
couraging, but overall he’s
doing really well.”
Even without the long
drive, Northside set the
tone early against the
Pirates with its defense and
special teams pressure. The
defense, using pure speed,
set up a six-yard scoring
drive in the first quarter
by chasing a running back
all over the backfield and
finally forcing a fumble.
“That has to be our forte,”
said Nix. “We’re not real
big on defense, or offense
either. Hopefully we’ll run
around, get off blocks, play
our assignments and get
the job done.”
For the winner of
Northside-Habershafn
Central, it’s a trip to the
Georgia Dome in Atlanta
on Dec. 8 to take on either
Thomas County-Central or
St. Pius X.
a major psychological factor
to every team that had to
prepare to defend him.
But, enough of that.
Critics can counter every
thing I’ve said with num
bers and stats and criss
cross this with crisscross
that, completion this with
interception that, and on
and on.
I don’t care about all of
that. It’s personal for me.
I suppose I’ve been a
Falcon fan too long. I’ve
been conditioned to lower
my expectations, I guess.
While others are talking
rings, I’m simply looking/
watching for excitement.
I suppose it’s similar in
theory to NASCAR. Around
and around and around they
go, over and over and over.
If that’s all they ever did ...
zzzzzzzzz. (I prefer napping
during the commercials ver
sus the actual race. That
way I can catch up with a
whole day’s worth.)
But every now and then,
there’s the “big one,” the
wreck that takes out a
handful of drivers (hope
fully not mine) in extreme
fashion.
That’s why I like Vick.
A normal quarterback:
(Read as if Ben Stein were
the announcer) “He drops
back. He passes.” Or, “He
hands off.”
But Vick: “He’s rolling
right. No, make that left.
No, he’s going right again.
Now they’ve got him. No,
apparently they don’t. Now
he’s back in the pocket.
Now he’s out. Now he’s
going to pass. No, he isn’t.
Now he’s gone.” The big
one. And every now and
then we even get to see that
cannon.
Some prefer it by the
numbers - Xs and Os. I
don’t. I long for more. As
far as Vick, he’s No. 1 (not
that other signal) in my
book.
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