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Houston j@aily THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2006 The Home Journal’s SANDLOT 'm-mnwinffr" ON DECK High school basketball Friday ■ Northside at JB Hawkins tour nament, teams and times to be determined Saturday ■ Northside at JB Hawkins tour nament, teams and times to be determined High school wrestling Thursday ■ DEA and Mount de Sales at Westfield. 2 p.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.middlegeorgiared cross.org for a registration 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 marathon is 8 a.m. The 5K run/walk will start at 8:15 a.m. On-line detailed race informa tion can be found at http://robin spacers.org or www.museumofa viation.org. A $5 surcharge applies for reg istrations after Jan. 5, 2007. Race packets may be picked up at the Museum of Aviation Century of Flight Hangar on race day only between 6:30-7:30 a.m. A picture ID is required at regis tration/check-in. Award ceremonies start Jan. 13, at 9:30 a.m. in the Museum’s Century of Flight Hangar. To register or for more infor mation call 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. Perry eapns Beap Brawl title By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Kameron Felder may have walked away with the Most Va 1u a ble Player award, but there was more than one reason the Perry High School Panthers won the boys half of Houston County High’s Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl Perry 70, Houston County 50 basketball tournament. Felder did have a game high 16 points to join one of three Panthers in double figures Saturday as Perry tamed Houston County 70- 50 in an intensely played championship game. This was the third meeting in the month of December between the Panthers and the Bears, with each team winning the home at-home series games on their home floors. But Perry won the Bear Brawl rubber game after taking yet another rubber game against a county rival. The Panthers beat Warner Robins High (after a split of games played Nov. 28 and Dec. 14) in Friday’s semifi nals. “I think we beat two good basketball teams,” said coach Brett Hardy, who led Perry to the Bear Brawl championship in 2004. “We just played well (Friday) and we played well (Saturday). That’s a credit to our kids because last week both of them beat us.” Roderick Jones was behind Felder in scoring with 14 points, and Antonio Hubbard tallied 11. The balanced effort from Perry included eight points by Eric Askew, seven by Casey Hayward and six by Trey Smith. Houston County High did not get a player in double digits as high-point hon ors went to Vic King and Jon Nolton, each with nine. Ryan Stallings scored eight, Eric O’Neal seven and Craig Presley and Dexter Holman had six each. Felder’s 16 points includ ed four 3-point baskets. In the last three minutes of the first half, he hit two Campbell knocks out Demonettes North Clayton takes overall title By DON MONCRIEF Journal Sports Writer Warner Robins was the last, best hope for the county, but Campbell didn’t care. The No. 2 state ranked Lady Spartans beat the Demonettes 58-41 Friday in the semi finals of the Chick fil-A Bear Brawl. With Houston H Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl Campbell girls 58, Warner Robins 41 County’s Lady Bears and Perry’s Lady Panthers both falling in action earlier, that meant an all-outside finals pitting Campbell against North Clayton. The latter of those two won 41-38. Sports treys and added an assist to Jones that took Perry from a three-point lead, 26-23, to a 12-point advantage, 39-27, at halftime. As Hardy continues to rotate players in and out of the lineup at varying intervals, it gives several Panthers a chance to carry the team through a spell of the game. Even in the third quar ter, Chris Willis had a steal and four points to cap a 6-0 spurt. Perry led at that point 50-33. “We practice real hard and take pride in practicing real hard,” said Hardy. “I can’t ask guys at practice to take charges and dive on the floor if I’m not going to allow them to play when the lights come on. It’s a credit to what they do at practice. I’m going to let them play during the basketball game. “Everybody wants to play the whole game, but in our situation right now we have a lot of guys who can play. It’s hard when you are on a roll and have to come out of the game, but our phi losophy is if you play real hard we’ll give you a break so you can go play real hard again.” Houston County’s only lead of the championship game was 4-2 on consecu tive assists by Josh Nelson to Nolton and King. It was a 3-pointer by Jones that put Perry ahead for good, and it was followed by a steal and score by Askew. Perry’s run didn’t stop until it had 15 in a row. Jared Fluellen had his had in back-to-back baskets as he took an offensive rebound and made an assist inside to Smith. Fluellen then fin ished off a Hayward steal with a dunk. Holman and Nolton got the home Bears back within six at 17-11, but a Hayward trey ended the first quarter with a 22-11 Panther lead. Houston had a 6-0 run to start the second quarter thanks to two Perry turn overs. When Presley’s offensive board turned into a three point play, the Bears stood as close as they would the rest of the game. Felder’s 3-pointer at 2:17 until halftime capped a 6- 0 run (32-23). Stallings snapped the streak with a trey, but. Felder got some help on a steal and score by The Demonettes in turn went on to beat Peach County 61-36 Saturday to capture third in the annu al tournament hosted by Houston County. Leading up to that, Houston County first fell 48- 22 to North Clayton, which had a bye in the first round and into the semifinals. That was on Thursday. That put them into the losers bracket where they lost Friday to Perry. The Lady Panthers in turn lost to Campbell Thursday in the first round and then fell 59-47 Saturday to Hawkinsville in the battle for fifth. As far as Friday against Campbell, the Demonettes trailed by three, 10- 7, after one. They had a chance to make it a one point game heading into the second quarter but as the first buzzer sounded they See OUT, page iB "We practice real hard and take pride in practicing real hard. I can't ask guys at practice to take charges and dive on the floor it I'm not going to allow them to play when the lights come on. It's a credit to what they do at practice. I'm going to let them play during the basketball game." - Perry boys head basketball coach Brett Hardy Smith to put Perry up by 12 at the break. Felder and Stallings trad ed 3-pointers at the start of the second half. Before Willis could get a hot hand I I w jm ■Ons ■ .■ dm-; Ml. A - m K ip ■HI A 1 n mm ok yBSHr Wm m ; m * ENI/Gary Harmon Perry’s Roderick Jones (22) and Houston County’s Rashad Turner battle at the basket during their teams’ Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl finale Saturday at Houston County High School. A 1 M A m 1 A am A ~sis Mb t JHk. jgfe. „ i Journal/Don Moncrief Warner Robins’ Liza Gaines grabs a rebound in the team’s semifinal game against Campbell Friday at Houston County High School. going, Hayward led a break for Smith to score two more. Hubbard closed out the third period strong with a 3-point er and an assist to Hayward off a turnover (61-36). SECTION B Prior to Perry’s 3-0 sweep in the Bear Brawl, the Panthers had a little two game skid going. But Perry opened the See TITLE, page iB On lumps ot coal, local basketball It’s Christmas day and the lumps of coal Santa brought me have been unwrapped and placed in the fireplace. I don’t know what I’d do for heat if I were nice instead of naughty. I take time now to muse about the future of sports in middle Georgia. Joe Sersey Journal Correspondent The Bear Brawl showed me that as long as the Houston County schools’ boys teams don’t have to play each other, they should do all right. If the Bear Brawl is an accurate indicator, Perry needs to show some consis tency if it wants to finish strong in its region. Actually, from what I’ve seen and read, the Panthers look to be the strength See STRENGTH, page iB