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2B ♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2906 i L f\l m _,,K;'&f gjffr 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.” W JBS 1 .■av.Mi.rtiwr-i... hm- ■ n« ii ib i • 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 ; jjltieck out our NASCAR page each week foa SB£ the latest news, updates CLEATS H-22. f HUT-1 PX I m-2] \ V MOT-3! J I'-*3 /wE'RE MOVING PEE^\ { TO CENTER. WhO J V WAtIT!. TO OB’/ 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 \ < , jj -Vw* 1 (c) 2006 Bill Hinds. Dist by umvrsaffWSss indicate I www gocomics-con EURE VOU ALL f AGREE PROM MV lAGT I OOTIPG THAT I WOOLP BE LOUfrV QUftgTEKEACK universal Press Syncicale j 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. __ ( &ORRY. \ I GOALKEEPER J www gocomicscmi e-mail Cleatsmail@aol comj \ /bOW ABOUT J / OKAY, I'M A l l BAILEY? J I LOOKING [ V / \BETTEIt/ e-mail Cleatsmail@aol com ||