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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Northside seniors end regular season in style
Beat Jones County, eapns most wins in school history, goes undefeated in region and nets No. 1 seed
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
The nerve. Jones County
tried to ruin Northside’s
Senior Night.
No sir. Kim
Dom i n y
and Kristen
Smith would
have nothing
to do with
it. They are
two of the
team’s five
12th graders
NORTHSIDE
LADY EAGLES
Northside 3,
Jones County 1
- the other two being Lady
■S< • ‘ - ■ 1 ' ~ ~
ENI/Gary Harmon
Perry’s Jacorey Lane looks for running room in the Panthers’ game against Central Thursday at Henderson Stadium
in Macon.
Peppy loses game, QB
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Before the rain had a
chance to stop, Perry High
had 200 to 250 potential
yards taken away when
quarterback Casey Hayward
suffered a shoulder inju
ry on the first play from
scrimmage Thursday at the
Brad Henderson Memorial
Stadium in Macon.
Central High scored four
second-half touchdowns,
three of them from the veer
formation, to take a 26-8
victory in the first south
sub-region game in Region
4-AAA for both the home
Chargers and the visiting
Panthers.
But for Perry (2-3, 0-1),
that first play had major
implications not only for
Thursday’s contest but per
haps the rest of the 2007 sea
son. Hayward was in trouble
of getting sacked when he
first took the shotgun snap,
but scrambled away to get
off a pass Akeen Felder
caught for 24 yards on the
Central 47-yard-line. *
Hayward, however, would
take a hit on the throw,
and from that point on the
offense belonged to sopho
more backup Dardra Ragin.
“We don’t know quite the
extent of the injury,” said
Perry head coach Andy Scott
after the game. “He hurt his
shoulder, and we sent him
on to the doctor.
“It had a huge impact. We
Eagle Elissa Lee and Taelor
Bousman and the last not
being a Lady Eagle - a female
- at all but head of field
maintenance and Manager of
the Year Chance Kitchens.
Dominy and Smith
stepped up to the plate
in Northside’s 3-1 win at
home against Jones County
Thursday - its final regular
season home game - after
the Lady Greyhounds had
taken a 1-0 lead in the top of
the third.
Dominy promptly laced
didn’t play real well offen
sively from that point on.
Just could not function.
Defensively we didn’t play
real well either. A bunch of
errors.”
Ragin continued to oper
ate the Perry offense out of
the shotgun formation and
completed 17 passes for 147
yards and a touchdown late
in the fourth quarter to 6-4
receiver Trey Smith. In all,
Smith had nine catches for
85 yards.
The first half had the
minimum amount of scoring
possible in a football game.
Perry led 2-0 on a safety
resulting from Kanorris
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Charger defenders converge on a Panther runner.
On the
web
■ From Tuesday - Lady Eagle
Sarah Purvis picks up win No.
12 while leading Northside past
Dutchtown.
the first pitch she saw into
right-center for a double -
the first of two twin-baggers
on the night. Smith, after
Hollie Langston had lined
out to left field, bunted for a
single. Both then scored, the
first on Heather Langston’s
Davis’ blocked punt that
Central kicked out of its
own end zone in the second
quarter.
Come the second half, the
Charger offense was both
lucky and good led by run
ning back Adam Crump,
who scored three of the four
touchdowns. For the first
half of play, Central had
been running a split-back
set with three wideouts, and
Perry’s defense crowded the
line each time first-time
starting quarterback Fred
Taylor took the snaps under
center.
The Chargers made an
adjustment to a more tradi
single and the second on
Sarah Purvis’ double.
That gave them the lead,
which Brooke Red, who
worked all seven innings,
never relinquished.
“It was excellent to see
her out there tonight,” said
Northside Head Fast-pitch
Coach Mitch Horton. “She’s
been hurt (a shoulder injury,
he said), so it was good to see
her out there. She battled
and turned in a great per
formance.”
In all she scattered five
tional veer set using Calvin
Jones as a tight end. It
worked out immediately for
a nine-play, 71-yard scoring
drive to start the third quar
ter, but not without some
serious breaks in the home
team’s favor.
At 3rd-and-14 from his
own 25, Taylor threw the
football backwards, but
Crump could not make the
catch. He would recover the
loose ball and hop, skip and
jump down the home side
lines 19 yards for a first
down.
From the 44, Crump
went right tackle to the
See PERRY, page 2B
ENI/Gary Harmon
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2007
hits. It also helped that
she benefited from great
defense, like the diving grab
Heather Langston made out
of the catcher’s box. That
came in the sixth after a
lead-off walk and consider
ing the next batter singled
may have saved a run - on a
night when runs were hard
to come by. Purvis also made
a diving catch at third to end
the ballgame.
“Those were both great
plays,” Horton said. “That’s
what’s been so great about
NS volleyball squad emus up
start to HoCa, Mary Persons
From staff reports
Northside’s volleyball
squad traveled to Houston
County for a matchup
against the Lady Bears and
Mary Persons.
It’s unknown how
Houston County fared
against the Lady Bulldogs,
but against the Lady
Eagles, the Lady Bears won
two games to none - 25-23
and 25-17.
“We played well against
HoCo,” said Northside
Head Volleyball Coach
Jessica White. “We (just)
had some unforced mis
takes that really hurt us.
But overall I am really
proud of the team. We are
playing well and together
right now.”
White went on to single
out the play of Josie Toliver
and her “great presence on
the floor. She was killing
the ball with determina
tion.”
On my new role as a
blogger, keeping stats
(Dear readers: The following is Part 1 of a two-part
series as Houston Home Journal sports writer/columnist
Matthew Brown commemorates 15 years in sports journal
ism. No, it is not a retrospective look at all the top moments
and stories of his writing career. It’s just a few comments
B.
Matthew Brown
Journal Sports Writer
beat reporting, the lecturing and the contest judging.
Now, I’m not about to become a blogger or a web master.'
Actually, this is a task I have undertaken each and every
year in this business. It has to do with perhaps my most
important job of all, and that’s covering high school foot
ball. Only now have I recognized how important this is.
So from now on, I shall be known as the “Official
Unofficial Stat Keeper” for each football game I cover.
Sometime in the month of September (can’t remem
ber the exact date) I reached that 15-year milestone
See BROWN, page zB
Ayer earns Player of the Year
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
A win by default?
Hardly, but you might
get that impression from
Buddy Ayer of the Perry
Horseshoe Pitcher’s Club
if you talk to him about,
his recent award of Player
of the Year for the state of
Georgia for 2007.
“Well before, there was
this old guy from Atlanta
(Milton Binson),” Ayer
said. “He used to go to all
of the tournaments. You
couldn’t hardly ever beat
this club. It’s been a collec
tive team effort. It hasn’t ’
just been one player.”
The Lady Eagles’ insur
ance run came in the sixth
when Purvis and Red hit
back-to-back doubles then
the first scored on Cady
Mcßight’s single.
In all, the night was
special for a lot of rea
sons. One, because it was
Senior Night, but also for
reasons two through and
four. Two, because the
See SENIORS, page iB
m
■ From Friday/Saturday - Lady
Bears earn finals berth at Spike
Fest tourney
■ From Tuesday - HoCo rolls
past Warner Robins and Baldwin
White also said the squad
introduced the Libero
this week with Jennifer
Starvetsky taking on that
role on the team, “and
doing well,” said White.
“Carly Weber is really step
ping up her game and mak
ing her presence known on
the floor as a silent leader.
“I cannot say enough
about this team and how
much heart and determina
tion they have to get better
in this game. We have been
putting in a lot of hours or
hard nose practice time in
and it is really paying off.
“The girls are giving
See VOLLEYBALL, page iB
that built up over all those years on topics
he wants to talk about. Despite the fre
quency of sports columns lately, Part 2 of
this series hopefully will be out before his
next 15 years go by.)
After 15 years of high school sports
journalism in Georgia, I added a new
bullet to my list of job titles. I’ve done
the page designing, the photography, the
proofreading, the editing, the garbage
duties, the editorial writing, the news
him (as a result).
“I think he’s 80 now. He
still plays some but he’s had
to stay out and take care of
his 96-year-old brother. So,
he’s kind of been on the
sidelines.”
Modest as that may
sound, you’ve got to give
credit where credit is due.
Ayer earned the title.
Tournaments were spread
across the state - from
northeast to Hull (near
Athens) Atlanta to south
and Cordele. He also
See A YER, page 2B
1B
On the
web