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2B ♦ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2006 ■ - aL ,ffi > dfljp* || ENI/Gary Harmon North side defenders bring down a Marist player during the Eagles’ state championship victory Friday night at McConnell-Talbert Stadium in Warner Robins. ,♦ -x ENl'Gary Harmon Northside warms up before the game. j " mSmk 1 'An ■ » S - ■* M .«mm'°*'* , I * i , ■:•*&:*• ■ ' . *,. > ; ~/' „ . ;, x .... ' ' ../ - , .-, J , ENI/Gary Harmon Northside defenders stack up a Marist player. TIME From page iB “I’m just thankful to be a part of (the championship). God has blessed us with great young men and a great leader in coach Nix. I’m just humble to be a part of it.” “They are proud to be a Northside Eagle,” said Nix about all of his former play ers. “They are proud of this group. Everybody’s a part of it. That’s the thing about the Northside family. There are a lot of other guys who contributed to it.” “I hope there’s many more to come,” said Jordan. ■ When spring practice, voluntary summer work outs and finally fall prac tice all started and ended, perhaps nobody outside of the Northside campus knew whom Tijuan Green was. Well, 1,614 rushing yards, 174 receiving yards and 23 total touchdowns later, sev eral people will be talking about him through next spring and summer. Green added three touchdowns, including a 29-yard catch from quarterback Marques Ivory, to his amazing post season against Marist. “I think Tijuan had over 1,000 yards in the last four games,” said Stewart. “The line did a great job for him. The good thing about the line is we are only losing two (seniors). We’ll have a lot of people back.” “He’s just now starting to figure things out,” said Respert, who is the running backs coach, about Green. “He’s only been a running back less than six months. He’s got a lot of improve ment he can do. As great a running back as he is right now, he can be much, much better.” There was an endorsement for Green for any kind of Most Valuable Player award in the championship game, but also one for the likes of Robert Crawford, Will Zunino, Jordan Dooley, Brett Moore and others who make up that Northside offensive front. “They played great. They controlled the game,” said Respert, once an offensive lineman on how the Eagle line played against Marist. “I thought if we were to give a game ball out, it would have go to the offensive line or Tijuan. They did an out standing job controlling the line of scrimmage, opening holes when we needed holes and protecting the quar terback when we needed to throw it.” Northside sneaked into halftime with a 9-6 lead after losing a fumble and throwing an interception in the end zone. Marist had a 6-3 lead until Ivory threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Nick Bass in the second quarter. It was all Eagles afterwards thanks in part, Nix said, to no turnovers in the second half. “They turned the ball over to us,” he said. “That’s the way we were able to main tain drives and score points. We had the ball more as a result of their turnovers.” ■ One week after having some difficulties containing the option offense of St. Pius X in a 20-17 semifinal win SPORTS L. ....4§Bi|| A ,^^Bp^||- a i J» J| .jriwT §Mr < 4M& ■■■■■■■■■PCPHHPs. j|^VHHI 4» *s* ENlGary Harmon Northside quarterback Marques Ivory tries to break away from a Marist defender. a wL nL fHP JT w * !m i. 4Mrk l l<W> A lUjt. j ‘X» V-Mt , V GMk ir -„ir“ ■m* A MP v VK#f «rs gk ,’T | ; SB*VMPR/4 ■\j ■ BCJBKy j /7 / + ."IH vjHrjKp V< .•‘.r ■W'Jf-. S' ■}%*?* x' ■ Vnfc, .’lyi . rl |-- :<^>--- fe^,, v Jn &ffi|fi|Ai9S r i rhß : i i>i% BbhßP| ; Jfc* * ! Cj'‘ ( f " -'C 1 *- S ' * s *«t>, ENI Gary Harmon Northside cheerleaders perform during the game. • fjjb jy _ jjHj i Iff ho ’jBL WJgr jHHgpyfr V| £ b . W .|PMP *■ ♦v JV 'SL HV : Wmw JL* t® ▲ m HHr +***.+■ •xssjgvi ' ’ ’ x>f ENI/Gary Harmon Northside marches onto the field. at the Georgia Dome, the Northside defense had no problems shutting down a similar attack run by Marist. The Eagles faced about 24 option dives and quarter back keepers and stuffed most of them on the line of scrimmage. Only one time did Marist break a big gain, and that was on a reverse in the first quarter. But even then Marist had to settle for a 43-yard field goal. Marist had three field goal tries in the first half, making two, but no touch downs. “We prepared hard,” said Nix. “We worked hard to get it done. I’m certainly proud of what the defense did. We turned it over in the first half, but settled down and did some good things.” Watching from the side lines, maybe it looked a bit easy for the Eagle defense. But what about the perspec tive from the field? “It’s always easy when you take care of your job,” said Jordan, who recovered two fumbles in the second half. “Everybody has a job to do. Coaches always tell us if everybody does their job, everything goes down pretty easy.” ■ Let us not forget the ultimate inspiration for Northside football the last two years. Before the 2005 season began, Chris Johnson, who at the time was about to start his sopho more year, was diagnosed with leukemia. Otherwise, he might have been among those causing chaos on the Eagle defense from an end position. “We made it real easy,” said Johnson about how his defensive teammates played. “I’m not complain ing. I thought it was going to be a closer game at the beginning, but we pulled it out in the end. We did what we had to do. We finally got us one.” Johnson has found the strength to be there on the sidelines for several games, like the semifinal game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and, of course, at McConnell- Talbert for the state champi onship. THE HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL “I’m proud of everybody,” said Johnson. “I didn’t get to play this year, but I’m just happy for everybody on my team, coaches, everybody who supported me out here. It’s a great feeling. “I went last year to the state (championship game in Statesboro) when we got beat, but this year we got it done.” And the efforts by the Northside community con tinue to help the Johnson family through Chris’ con tinuing battle with leuke mia, Several of the spectators wore shirts bearing No. 96, which is still recognized as Chris’ number on the Eagle roster and also a part of the team’s helmets. Also, the “Quarters for Chris” bucket campaign ran from opening day in September to this last home game as a way to raise finan cial support. “It’s a blessing,” he said. “They don’t have to be doing it. They’re helping me out with my medical bills. It’s a blessing. It’s all God’s work.”