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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL BROWN From page iB scored points. For most of the time in those previous 17 games, Georgia just flat out didn’t do any scoring. From a time period between 1990 and 2003, the most points Georgia scored in a loss to Florida were 26, and that was in 1993 (a 33-26 loss). The game was still pretty competitive in the early 1990 s with the game in ’92 decided by two, 26-24. But there was a stretch when things really got bad for the Bulldogs. Take the three years of 1994-96. Florida outscored us 151-38 combined. We, Georgia, had more points on Saturday (42) than in those 12 quarters. Things got a little bit bet ter in the first three years of the Mark Richt era, 2001-3. It was still three losses, but the combined score was 60- 36. Still a better offensive output in one day last week end than in those 12 periods, HOCO From page iB will bring a 4-1 region record to McConnell-Talbert Stadium today to face the Bears. In the last two 1-AAAAA contests (both of which were on the road), Houston County stayed within striking dis tance, and with a break here or there could be looking at 2- 2. First, it was a 21-7 setback at Colquitt County High on Oct. 12. On Oct. 19 in Tifton, the Bears were tied with Tift County 7-7 at halftime but fell 21-14. “At Colquitt, we just made mistakes,” said head coach George Collins, whose team had its bye weekend on Oct. 26. “We had two costly turn overs that gave up 14 points. When you do that, and you’re not very good, it’s hard to SWEEP From page iB and Coffee County rounded out the field in seventh with 177. On the girls’ side of the house, Warner Robins was first with 24 points. Lowndes was second with 59, fol Middle school championships « W jilt W mwbA Bf m. W wmr % jaani.- aj iar br* 9 §& ENI/Gary Harmon Northside and Thompson Middle School seventh grade players battle at the line during their championship game Wednesday at McConnell-Talbert Stadium. BELOW: Perry Middle School’s Martavis Williams goes up for a catch between two Warner Robins players during their eighth grade title game held Thursday at the Mac. For more on the winners, as well as more pics, see Wednesday’s Houston Home Journal. .diLfy.-sL. ■ but look at the difference in points allowed in the two examples. We actually had a defensive coach who cared. Whatever happened to him? I know today is a Trojan War, but I can’t help but get some early jabs in for next Saturday and the game with Auburn. This is modified from an old joke about the entrance exam for Auburn football players, the test they have up to three weeks to complete. Did you hear about the Auburn player who signed up to take a class in Shakespeare? He failed, and had to explain why to his coach. “I was told this guy Shakespeare wrote plays. So I was expecting to learn about double reverses and flea flickers.” Next week, we come to bury the War Eagle, not to praise him. In this edition, there is a story based on my interview with Wofford College and for- overcome. Other than that we played with them pretty good. “Tifton was probably our best game of the year. We had a chance at the end of the ball game ... lst-and-goal at the 5 with about 35 seconds left. We got off four plays, ran one, killed the clock on one and threw two passes in the end zone and didn’t get them completed. “Obviously you look at the record and you don’t see any progress. When you look at tapes on Sunday and Monday you see improvement. We’re just playing good football teams, and it’s hard to mea sure when you get better when you play good people.” One player living up to his expectations is receiver Craig Presley, and not just on catching the football. He ran a reverse for Houston’s only score in the Colquitt lowed by Tift County with 60, Colquitt with 110 and Houston County in fifth with 130. Coffee County against came in last with 154. “The Warner Robins T shirt logo was the Energizer bunny,” said Head Coach David Erpelding, “with the words ‘we keep running and mer Houston County High quarterback Josh Collier. This gives me a great oppor tunity to provide another list of accomplishments by local athletes in college sports: the football version. We all know that Quintin Banks, also from Houston County High, is getting his playing time in the UGA defensive secondary. He even got a lick in on Florida quar terback Tim Tebow (see play on words above, now you get it) Saturday. Here, though, are some facts you may not be aware of. It’s not the kind of year Southern California expect ed, but it’s interesting to note who leads the Trojans in interceptions. It’s anoth er ex-Bear from Houston County High, defensive end Kyle Moore. For a few weeks now, he has sat on two picks for the season, but no one else on USC has more than one. Moore even returned one of his INTs for 24 yards. Eric O’Neal - yes, he too game in addition to making six receptions for 52 yards. At Tift, Presley turned four catches into 192 yards and both touchdowns. Junior quarterback Jeff Thompson also set a career benchmark at Tift with a 300-yard passing game. His percentage was 38.7 (12-for -31), which matches the per centage for the season (58- for-150), but in that game he had no interceptions. As the coaching staff expected, though, Thompson’s need to make plays are much greater than last year when he could just hand off to Player of the Year Eric O’Neal. “All of the sudden, he is in an offense where it’s kind of all thrown on him,” said Collins. “We’re not running the ball real well. If Jeff can’t execute, the offense doesn’t move. This year we are ask ing him to throw the ball and running and running and running and winning’ and on this day the kids lived up to it. “The kids deserve all the credit for the success of the 2007 season. (For example) in the girls race April Meeks fell at the beginning of the race and they had to do a came from Houston County High - is a statistical lead er as a true. freshman at Coastal Carolina. As of last Saturday, he stood tied for ' the team lead in all-purpose yards with 564. That total is due in part to his 274 yards on kickoff returns, which is second on the team. O’Neal also has a rush ing touchdown, 205 yards on the ground and 85 more yards receiving. Staying at Coastal Carolina, former Warner Robins High Demon Dominique Davenport, a sophomore safety, is fourth on the team in total tackles with 44. Michael Howard, brother of Perry High assistant coach Torrey Howard and a for mer Northside High Eagle, has started every game for Eastern Kentucky at left offensive guard (that one was a little harder to find, seeing that linemen don’t appear on statistics lists). Eastern Kentucky leads the Ohio Valley Conference standings and is No. 16 in the FCS. hopefully we can establish the run off the pass. “He’s learning. I think he’s a little more comfortable. He did a great job in Tifton of stepping up in the pocket, getting rid of it and find ing open receivers. Like the rest of the team, he’s worked hard all year. He’s had some adversity, but he’s stuck with it.” Houston’s defensive unit is composed mostly of under classmen and is led by Chris Prewett, Rico Hendricks and Wes Johnson. This group has done its part to keep the team in the last two games, 21 points respectable con sidering the potential of Colquitt and Tift. And in that Colquitt game, Collins points to the offensive turn overs, one that spotted the Packers five yards from the goal line. “You still see a mistake restart but she was able to run despite the fall and get ting back up and finishing a strong 10th place. And that shows just what kind of girls team we had this year and what determination they have. “On the boys side Matthew Drapeau finished 10th and being diagnosed wsth autism: i in 150 : f "t:* Some signs to look for: No big smiles or other joyful No babbling by j No words by expressions by 6 months. 12 months j 16 months To learn more of the signs of autism, visit autismspeaks.org H! s>;oo> AutHns Speisw »?* A Autfc;»>- Sf*ak.'; v «M*i v H'v nmelcOtter.'& de#gt- aft t;;»:K"n.if»:- owned fcy Airtisnt Sp&ks ••• Ail »:ghis re«*vt<i SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2007 Another Northside play er making a little splash as a true freshman is Western Michigan’s Mario Armstrong. The defensive back has one interception and one fumble recovery for the Broncos. Speaking of interceptions, Maurice Gray, ex-Warner Robins High player, has two at Butler Community College in Kansas. I can also tell you that two other Demons are on college rosters. Antonio Felder joins Gray at Butler while Mark Wright Jr. is seeing playing time at Clark University in Atlanta. Some others are hard to find out about, as the web sites just don’t tell you anything. Earlier in this piece I men tioned the flea flicker. I have always understood that to be a play where a running back gets a handoff, but then pitches immediately back to the quarterback for a deep forward pass. There’s another play in football I’ve heard called a where a sophomore steps inside instead of outside and we give up a big play,” said Collins. “Coach Stuart, Coach Maddox, Coach McCook and Coach Burch are doing a great job getting them pre pared. The kids are listening to coaching. “We’ve played some good running backs. (Kareem) Hess at Tifton is a great run ning back. We’re getting after it and hustling. You play your assignment and hustle, good things will happen.” Can good things happen against the Wildcats? Collins expects Valdosta to load the line defensively with eight players daring the Bears to throw the ball. Right now, Garrick Davis is the leading rusher for Houston with 198 yards and one touchdown. “We have to create some space,” said Collins. “We have to get them to respect Stephen Bassett finished 14th to help lead the boys to their first back to back championship in 21 years. We had seven runners make all-region and that is the most we have ever had in one season. I would like to thank the parents for all of their hard work in putting flea flicker by some and a hook-and-ladder by others. Whatever it’s called, it’s a statistical nightmare and one I forgot to mention in my series about covering football games. This is a play where a receiver catches a forward pass, but then pitches back wards to a nearby running back teammate. When I first saw this, I thought it was a pass play all the way, but with the last guy touching the ball getting the receiving yards, like it was intention ally deflected. Instead, what you have is a pass and a run rolled up into one. The receiver gets receiving yards, but the run ning back gets rushing yards ... from the point where the catch was made to the end of the play. Great, now I have to make a note of where the football was caught in addi tion to seeing who’s doing everything. Local coaches: don’t ever do this. There will be scream ing worse than you heard on Halloween. the pass because they are going to come up. They are very athletic defensively. “The offensive line gets off the ball. We just have to make tackles and not give up the big play.” For Valdosta, this is the last game of the season before the playoffs. Houston County next goes on the road on Nov. 9 to play playoff-bound Coffee County. For the coach, what makes him the most proud is how the Bears con tinue to work until somebody tells them the season is over. “We’re never happy not winning,” said Collins. “We’re never happy with the way the scoreboard turned out. But a lot of the way you can measure a football team - especially in this situation - how do you handle adver sity? They’ve fought hard for four quarters every week. And they practice hard.” on some great meets. I would also like to thank the admin istration and Coach (Bryan) Way for the continued sup port of our program.” Both of Warner Robins’ squads - with the top four “teams” qualifying - will compete at the state meet Nov. 10 in Carrollton. AUTISM SPEAKS It's time to listen. 3B