Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Mousimt ©aily TJmmtal SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 The Home Journal's SANDLOT ■WtWK'ffim- ON DECK High school basketball Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl at Houston County Today ■ Girls final: North Clayton versus winner Warner Robins- Campbell (Friday), 7 p.m. ■ Girls loser game 7 versus win ner of game 5 (for third place), 4 p.m. ■ Girls loser game 5 versus winner game 6 (for fifth place), 1 p.m. ■ Boys final: Winner between Perry-Warner Robins (Friday) and Hawkinsville-Houston County (Friday), 8:30 p.m. ■ Boys game 11, teams to be determined (for third place), 5:30 p.m. ■ Boys game 3 winner versus game 6 winner (for fifth place). 2:30 p.m. ■ Boys game 3 loser versus game 6 loser (for seventh place), 11:30 a.m. IN BRIEF YMCA has job opening for fitness director The Houston County YMCA is now accepting resumes for the position of full-time Fitness Director. Qualified candidates possessing a strong desire to build a quality program, man age their own department and be part of the national and local YMCA movement may submit their resume to Jim Mercer. CEO at jmercer@hocoymca.org. Salary and benefits are com mensurate with experience, education, certification and a proven track record. Resumes will be accepted until Jan. 5, 2007 with the position start date to be mid-to-late January. Red Cross to hold inagural bowling tourney The Houston-Middle Georgia Chapter of the American Red Cross will hold its inaugural "Roll into the New Year" Bowling Tournament Jan. 20, 2007. The tournament will be held at the Gold Cup Bowling Center on Russell Parkway and will start at 10 a.m. and last until 1 p.m. According to a release from the American Red Cross, "Everyone is encouraged to participate regardless of bowl ing experience, as this will be a scratch tournament." The entry fee is $l5O for a six-person team. It includes pizza and soda. Registration will be available on the day of the tournament. Visit www.middle georgiaredcross.org for a regis tration form or call 923-6332 to sponsor the tournament. Museum to host its annual walk/runs The 11th annual Museum of Aviation Foundation marathon, half marathon and 5K run/walk will be held at the Museum of Aviation Jan. 13, 2007. All three courses are USA Track and Field certified and all threes are also run on Robins Air Force Base. Runners and walkers whose registrations are postmarked by Jan. 5, 2007 are guaranteed, according to the release, a "quality colorful long sleeve shirt on race day." Entry fees are SBO for a relay team. S4O for the marathon. S3O for the half marathon and $lB for the 5K run/walk. A variety of trophies/awards will be offered. The start time for the marathon and half mara thon is 8 a.m. The 5K run/walk will start at 8:15 a.m. To regis ter or for more information gall Race Director John Hunter at 478-926-6686 (day) or 478-953- 5335 (evening) or email him at hunterjh@cox.net. Or, contact June Lowe or Mary Lynn Harrison at 478-923-6600 or email MaryLynn.Harrison@m useumofaviation.org. On-line detailed race informa tion can be found at httpY/robin spacers.org or www.museumofa viation.org. Bears' Johnson picks up 2 honors Local players selected for All-Star event From staff reports The Georgia Athletic Coaches Association announced this week coaches and players selected to play in the annual All-Star foot ball game As expected, Houston County had its share of play ers. In fact, you could say Houston County is even call ing the shots. That’s because Bears head G fctf; , ENI/Gary Harmon Perry’s Akeen Felder drives to the basket in the Panthers’ Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl game against Hiram Thursday at Houston County. Peppy rallies past Hipam By JOE SERSET Journal Correspondent Perry trailed Hiram 29-26 in the first half but came back to win 59-54 Thursday night to advance to the second round in the boys’ bracket of the Houston County Bear Brawl. For the first five minutes of the first quarter, Perry looked like it was going to have an easy night. The Panthers jumped to a 13-3 lead, but the Hornets outscored the Panthers 9-4 in the final three minutes to pull within five, 17-12. Perry took off again in the opening two minutes of the sec ond quarter, registering a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 12 points, Campbell dominates Lady Panthers By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Campbell High’s girls basket ball team, a strong favorite not only in a holiday tournament but in the entire 5A classification come the postseason, proved it was worthy of all the praise by opening the Chick-Fil-A Bear Brawl with a 71-35 win against Perry High Thursday at Houston County High School. Perry’s Lady Panthers, on an Sports coach Doug Johnson will be the head coach of the South squad. Opposing him on the North side will be Woodstock head coach Mike O’Brien. The game is slated for Dec. 29 at Memorial Stadium in Columbus. Kick-off is set for 2 p.m. Representing the local area on Johnson and staff’s (one of the assistants is Warner Robins head coach Bryan 24-12. “We had to make an adjust ment to their press,” said Hiram head coach Markus Hood. Hiram did and reeled off 17 points in the final six min utes while Perry managed only one field goal in that time. The Hornets’ Arsenio Nuckles hit a 3-pointer with less than a minute left in the half to give his team the lead 29-26. Ashley West basket, enjoyed one lead of 4-2 before the turn over bug bit and bit hard. Skeet Ragin blocked a Campbell shot and Ashley Roberts and Beße Brown each had steals for Perry in the first quarter, but Way) squad will be Bears tight end Ben Collins and running back Eric O’Neal. Warner Robins’ play ers selected are offensive/ defensive linesman Robert Luciano and lineback er, defensive back Bryan Buford. Northside will send Jacobi Rodriguez (listed on the roster as a quarter back) and Deonta Jordan See PLATERS, page jB “We have to mature a little as a basketball team,” said Perry head coach Bret Hardy. “We have to understand that when we get a lead, we can’t be careless or force shots.” Perry went one for eight from the field during Hiram’s run and was out rebounded 10-5. “We didn’t make any adjust ments during the half,” Hardy said. “We set more high ball screens for Casey (Hayward) in the second half. He’s so good with the ball; we wanted to get it to him.” Before the game, Hardy said that Hayward might not even play because of an injury See RALLIES, page iB ‘iff 6>E7A£. 'W 1 Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl Perry boys 59, Hiram 54 none of it would lead to scoring. Campbell, meanwhile, used three turnovers in a row to run off 11 straight (13-4). The period ended with the Lady Spartans from Smyrna up 21-7. West had 11 points for Perry, including a basket in the second quarter that made the score 29- 13. But Campbell followed up with two more takeaway scores to lead by 20, 33-13. The half ended with the score 49-18. See DOMINATES,page iB Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl Campbell 71, Perry girls 35 Special to the Journal Being Georgia Athletic Coaches Association coach for the All-Star football game wasn’t the only acco lade the Johnson, Houston County’s athletic director and head football coach, picked up recently. He was also honored by the Atlanta Area Officials Association Dec. 10 as High .School Coach of the Year. Each year the associa Miller, Jackson lead Demons past Westside By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer It’s a blessing Chip Malone may hope extends well beyond the Christmas season: two seniors adept at handling a basketball Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl Warner Robins boys 56. Westside 42 Westside’s Seminoles had a 19-16 lead against their former region rivals. Westside led by as many as five in the third quarter until Kenny Willis hit a game tying 3- pointer (21-21). By taking a long rebound and running the floor after a missed 3-pointer, and by breaking down court on a made basket, the Seminoles had their last significant lead at 29-25. With two minutes to go in the third quarter, Warner Robins penetrated from both the baseline and down the middle to go ahead 33-31 going into the fourth quarter. Mark Wright Jr. and Willis both pen etrated on the baseline to tie the game, and Wright scored again on an assist from Laron Scott. Jackson, after getting two assists late in the first quarter, added three assists in the fourth. He found both Kenny Fluellen and Miller inside for lay-ups, putting the Demons up by seven, 45-38. With Miller and Jackson both on the floor at the same time, Warner Robins was able to run its offense and take time off the clock. Miller’s defense led to a steal and score for the first double-digit lead at 51-40. The Demons had some terrible field-goal droughts in the first half. See DEMONS, page lB North Clayton routs HoCo girls By JOE SERSET Journal Correspondent North Clayton defeated Houston County 48-22 in the second round of the girls’ •# Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl North Clayton girls 48, Houston County 22 Everybody had relaxed. We lost by three, four and five points. I had to strap on my tennis shoes and show them I wasn’t relaxed.” Houston County made only five field goals in the entire game, but actually led 5-4 midway through the first quarter. The Lady Eagles hit three 3-pointers in the quarter and led 11-8. See ROUTS, page iB SECTION B tion recognizes one high school varsity-level coach and one North Georgia Football League coach, in addition to awards given to individual officials. This is the latest in a long line of prestigious recogni tions awarded to Johnson. He has been named region coach of the year 11 times and he was the Region Athletic Director of the Year in 1997 and See JOHNSON, page jB in the clutch moments of a tight contest. Pierre Miller, the start ing point guard, and Xavier Jackson, his able backup, controlled the pace of the fourth quar ter Thursday, allowing Malone’s Warner Robins High Demons to take a 56-42 opening round win against Westside-Macon in the Chick-Fil-A Bear Brawl held at Houston County High School. After a putrid first half in terms of scoring, bracket in the Bear Brawl. Because of a first round bye, North Clayton need ed only that one win to qualify for the champion ship game. North Clayton entered the game having won four straight after losing its first three. Lady Eagles coach Kimleon Turner said of his team’s poor start, “We had to rediscover our character. “We have to play defense.