Newspaper Page Text
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FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 1, 2006
The Home Journal's
SANDLOT
ON DECK
High school
Football
Today
■ AAAAA quarterfinals: Houston
County at Roswell, 7:30 p.m.
(Note: Game will be held at
John McEachern High School in
Powder Springs - Cobb County.
Also, game is scheduled to be
broadcast on 103.9 FM.)
■ AAAAA quarterfinals: Warner
Robins at Norcross, 7:30 p.m.
(Note: Game is scheduled to be
broadcast on 99.9 FM.)
■ AAAA quarterfinals:
Habersham Central at Northside.
7:30 p.m. (Note: Game is sched
uled to be broadcast on 1350
AM. Also, the station will have
its tailgate show at 5:30 p.m. in
the parking lot of Chick-fil-A on
Watson Blvd. Pre-game show is
slated for 6:30 p.m.)
High school
Basketball
Today
■ Northside at Warner Robins,
4 p.m. (Rescheduled for Jan.
27, 2007)
Saturday
■ Westfield at Mount de Sales,
2 p.m.
■ Houston County at Perry, 6
p.m.
High school wrestling
Today
■ Perry at Southern Slam duals
(through Saturday), teams and
times to be determined
Saturday
■ Perry at Southern Slam duals,
teams and times to be deter
mined
■ Northside and teams to be
determined at Bear Duals at
Houston County, 9 a.m.
High school swimming
Saturday
■ Warner Robins at PACE
Invitational in Atlanta, 5 p.m.
■ Perry at Coffee County Trojan
Invitational, 8:30 a.m.
IN BRIEF
YMCA offers special
sign-up promotion
The YMCA is currently offer
ing a special promotion where
they are giving away one free
month of gym membership to all
new members.
The family fitness center
offers: gymnastics, jiu-jitsu, fit
kidz, dance, parent’s night out
and mother's morning out and
much more. A family member
ship consists of an SBS joiner's
fee plus the first month of S4B.
Under the promotion, you pay
SBS and your first month of ser
vice is free.
The offer will expire Dec. 31.
Perry Youth Wrestling
Club sets registration
The Perry Youth Wrestling
Club will be hold registration
Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the
Perry High School multi-purpose
building. 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 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.
According to a release, “The
purpose is to teach fundamen
tals and give kids an introduc
tion to the great sport of wres
tling.”
For further information, 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.
Demons on 'receiving' end of tough matchup
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
After having already taken
out one serious contender in
the GHSA
5A clas
sification,
Warner
Robins
High’s
reward is an
opportunity
M
Warner Rollins at
Norcross, today,
7:30 p.m.
at perhaps
the favorite in Georgia’s top
football echelon ... at least as
far as a nationally circulated
periodical is concerned.
Another way to say that is
that Warner Robins High, a
convincing 27-7 winner last
weekend at Camden County
High in the second round
of the state playoffs, now
draws Norcross High in the
quarterfinal round today in
Been there, done that
Would like to do it again ...
Bears chase second semifinal visit in school history
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
One more victory, and
Houston County High
School’s football Bears will
make their first appear-
ance in the
Georgia
Dome.
It won’t
be the
first time
Houston
County has
reached the
flt
mmrn
Houston County
at Roswell, today,
7:30 p.m.
semifinal round of a state
playoff. The year after the
Bears made it that far,
the Georgia High School
Association expanded the
playoffs to 32 teams and put
the final four of each clas
sification in Atlanta’s big
indoor stadium.
To get to the home of
the Atlanta Falcons, the
Southeastern Conference
championship game and a
pair of Super Bowls, Houston
County must go to the
Atlanta area to take on 11-1
Roswell High in the quar
terfinals of the GHSA 5A
tournament. Tonight’s game
is in a neutral site, John
McEachern High School
in Cobb County (Powder
Springs).
The Bears just returned
from a visit to the metro
area, as they had to go to
Lithonia for a second-round
game with M.L. King High.
Houston County was victori
ous in a shutout, 28-0. Even
in the first round the Bears,
which finished fourth in
Region 1-AAAAA to qualify
for the postseason, traveled
Braves should consider Glavine a priority
The probability/possibility
grows slimmer by the day,
but the Braves need to sign
Tom Glavine.
Glavine has reportedly said he
would like to finish out his career
with the Braves - or the Mets - but
as of Thursday, Atlanta was treating
him (his agent) the same way they did
when he left the first time. That is,
they’re leaving - if Associated Press
reports are correct - the airwaves
plenty quiet.
“He can’t even evaluate that they
really want him if he doesn’t have an
offer,” his agent Gregg Clifton was
quoted as saying Thursday.
After all the great seasons he had
with the Braves, I believe he should
end his career where it started. The
Braves will get a quality starter who
can still get people out.
Glavine’s brief stint on the DL last
season could never match the amount
Sports
Gwinnett County.
Norcross finished the reg
ular season ranked No. 1
in all of the state polls, and
USA Today placed the Blue
Devils at No. 19 in its latest
national prep rankings.
The winner gets a spot
in the semifinals, which
once again takes place in
Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on
Dec. 9.
“They are not No. 1 for
nothing,” said Warner
Robins head coach Bryan
Way. “They are very athletic
on both sides of the ball.
They have tall, rangy kids
who run well and make plays.
Probably the most impres
sive part of the offense is the
receiving corp. They have
three or four guys, 6-3, 6-4
type kids who catch the ball
well. Thqy spread you out
and do a good job of throw-
a ' ■’ , Bffs.,
ENI Gary Harmon
Houston County’s Don Jones (17) hands off to Jerome Gamboa during a practice at the school Thursday. The Bears
will travel and play Roswell today.
to a suburban town south
west of Atlanta, Newnan,
and won 35-21.
Roswell has the No. 2 seed
of Region 6-AAAAA, which
is sub-divided (Wheeler High
Joe Sersey
Journal
Correspondent
should try to find another catcher
who can hit but other than that, the
Braves look pretty solid going into
next year.
I’ll make this prediction now. If
the Braves resign Glavine and Greg
Maddux, they won’t win their divi
sion, but they will make the playoffs
as a wild card. And when they’re
knocked out in the first round of the
playoffs, it won’t hurt as much.
Did you know that the NBA season
"They are not No. 1 for nothing. They
are very athletic on both sides of the
ball. They have tall, rangy kids who run
well and make plays."
- Warner Robins bead football coach Bryan Way
ing it down the field.
“We will have to be really
disciplined and keep every
thing in front of us. If they
throw it underneath we will
have to react back up, make
good tackles and try to keep
them from hitting big plays.
The quarterback has thrown
for 1,800 yards and a bunch
of touchdowns.
“I think they are better on
defense. They haven’t given
up many points. We have
our work cut out for us.”
of the other sub-region had
the No. 1 seed and lost in
the first round to Peachtree
Ridge). The Hornets so far
have wins against Collins
Hill 31-28 and Brookwood
of time the current
batch of Braves hurl
ers have spent lan
guishing in pain on
the pine.
Atlanta has a
strong nucleus of
young and old play
ers and only needs to
shore up its pitching
staff.
They probably
Brooks Cunningham is
the player to highlight on
the Norcross defense. The
senior end, going into the
second-round playoff game,
already set the school record
for sacks in a season with
17. He has also piled up a
number of tackles-for-losses
and quarterback-hurries.
Way said Cunningham,
with recruiting interest
from Tulane and VMI, fits
the “tall and rangy” bill at
6-3 and about 240 pounds.
(Region 8-AAAAA champi
ons) 10-9.
Roswell’s history does
include a pair of state cham
pionships in 1968 and 1970
with current Southern
is at least a month longer that the
Major League baseball season, but
baseball teams play 162 games to bas
ketball teams’ 82?
Basketball is played indoors, so the
game should be restricted to days
when there’s snow on the ground.
That means the Atlanta Hawks would
only have to play four or five games a
season. Since that’s about their win
total each year, it works out well.
Baseball is a summer sport. That
means, the games shouldn’t be played
in the snow.
I suggest cutting the season to run
from May through August with the
playoffs during September.
If the brain banks that do the sched
uling would put some consideration
into what’s good for the sport and
not for TV revenues, they might start
the games when future generations of
fans can watch.
< See SERSEY, page zB
SECTION
B
But he’s not the only factor
to consider on the Blue Devil
defense.
“We will just have to try to
be physical with him ... stay
after him,” he said. “I don’t
know how many tackles the
middle linebacker has, but
he’s in on most of them.
They are all good enough
that you can’t overlook any
of them. You have to block
them the best you can.
“You may be able to double
team one guy here or there,
but you don’t have enough
people on offense to double
team everybody on defense.
We just have to keep them
off-balance as much as we
can, throw early in a series
on some running downs, run
our counters and that type
stuff.”
On offense, Way said
See DEMONS, page iB
Mississippi head coach Jeff
Bower and the starting
quarterback.
“They had a good chance
to be undefeated,” said
See BEARS, page zB
Eagle grapplers
open with split
From staff reports
Northside opened its year
on the wrestling mats with
a split-decision. The Eagles
beat Rutland 48-36 but fell
to Baldwin 45-31.
Despite the latter loss,
coach Dusty Dykes said he
thought it was a “good start
for our team.
“It is always good to get
the first match out of the
way,” he said. “It lets us
know what we need to focus
on at practice for our guys to
become better wrestlers.”
Winners for Northside
against Rutland were: Travis
Boyd in the 103-pound divi
sion, Adam Wright, 112
See EAGLE, page zB