Newspaper Page Text
♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007
4B
Perny boys cposs country team qualifies fop state
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
There will be two teams - two
“boys” teams, that is - competing
in the state tournament Saturday
in Carrollton. In addition to
Warner Robins - both the girls
and boys teams for it (in case you
didn’t read this past Saturday)
- Perry also qualified its boys team
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Perry Head Football Coach Andy Scott talks to the players prior to their start against Northeast this past Friday. The
Panthers will host Jackson, a team they beat during the regular season, Friday.
Rematch
Panthers host familiar foe in Jackson
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
There may not be a high
school football coach any-
where who
relishes
the idea of
playing the
same team
twice in
one season,
especially
a team you
beat the
Jackson at
Perry, Friday,
7:30 p.m.
first time around.
But Perry High and head
coach Andy Scott face that
situation on Friday at Herb
St. John Stadium. It’s the
Region 4-AAA play-in round
for the GHSA Class AAA
state tournament, and the
Panthers, No. 1 seed from
the south sub-region, takes
on Jackson High, which
got into the play-ins after
finishing in a three-way tie
for third in the north sub
region.
Jackson comes to Perry at
3-6 overall, but jumped to 2-3
in sub-region play after beat
ing winless Eagle’s Landing
28-0 last Friday. Spalding
and Ola also finished 2-3, but
Ola was 0-2 against regular
season games against south
sub-region clubs. Spalding
beat Jackson 14-0 to get the
No. 3 north spot and a trip
to Peach County High this
coming Friday.
As alluded to earlier, the
Perry-Jackson game com
ing up is a rematch from
a Sept. 21 contest held in
Butts County. The Panthers
won that game 28-16 in
what became the first of
several come-from-behind
victories in 2007. Another
big comeback for Perry was
last week’s 39-35 triumph
against Northeast that
secured the top seed of the
south sub-region.
for the state tournament.
The Panthers - with the top four
“teams” in the region qualifying
- finished third at the Region 4-
AAA meet held this past Thursday.
Spalding was first with 48 followed
by Eagle’s Landing with 49. Then
came Perry with 93 and Ola (score
unknown).
Leading the way for the Panthers
was Jesse Yeomans, a sophomore
Perry rallies past Northeast
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Andy Scott hopes there will be six more
comebacks pulled off in the final seconds.
Casey Hayward’s seven-yard touch
down run - which was pretty much a race
between him and a couple of Northeast
High defenders to the left near corner
of the end zone - with six seconds left in
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Panther linebacker Kanorris Davis takes down a Northeast runner during their
game this past Friday.
“I think Jackson has
gotten better throughout
the year,” said Scott after
Monday’s practice that
ended under the lights for
the first time this season.
“They’ve played good peo
ple, just had a difficult run,
and I don’t think they’re
as bad as their record indi
cates. Coach (Mike) Parris
does a great job.
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who finished in 17:32.
Next for Perry was Geremy
Skeen, followed by Matt Phillips,
Nick Wood and Elias Hall. Those
were the runners that counted
toward the team’s score. Others
who cross for the Panthers were
Brandon Montgomery in sixth and
Terrell Wimbush in seventh.
As far as Perry’s girls, they fin
ished sixth with Bethany Loggins
regulation Friday lifted the Perry High
football Panthers to a 39-35 win against
the Northeast Raiders at Herb St. John
Stadium.
It was no ordinary win for Perry, for
it clinched the Region 4-AAA south sub
region championship at 4-1 (6-3 overall).
Northeast came in with one sub-region
loss also, and a loss to the Raiders would
See RALLIES, page ioB
“We just have to finish
what we start.”
Since Sept. 21, Jackson,
in addition to the two
touchdown shutout loss to
Spalding, lost by one touch
down to north sub-region
champion Henry County,
but that was a 21-14 final.
There was also a field-goal
loss, 24-21, to north No. 2
seed Mary Persons.
“They are always very
athletic,” said Scott about
the Red Devils’ improve
ments. “They have a run
ning back who is very explo
sive. The biggest thing that
has hurt them is penalties
and turnovers, and I’m hop
ing they continue to strug
gle with that. But if they
come in here and don’t turn
See HOST, page ,"/(
crossing first for them with a time
of 24:02.
“We ran some real good races,”
summed up first year Head Coach
Brett Hardy. “We’re just not as
quite as fast as Eagle’s Landing
and Spalding. They’ve got some
pretty solid runners ... Kids run
ning in the low 16s and that’s hard
to compete with.
“But, we’re excited about going
INSIDE: Eagles avoid upset; Bears fall
WR Ming iop 7' results
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Warner Robins High
needs not just one, but two
Lowndes at
Warner Robins,
Friday, 7:30 pm.
off berth from Region 1-
AAAAA. The Demons must
beat first-place Lowndes
High at McConnell-Talbert
Stadium and Colquitt
County High must beat
Tift County High in order
to extend Warner Robins’
season.
One or the other isn’t
any good, as Tift County
- right now tied with the
Demons at 2-3 in the
region - owns the tiebreak
er edge on Warner Robins
by virtue of a 20-13 win at
McConnell-Talbert on Oct.
26. That loss was the third
in a row (all region games)
for the Demons, which
snapped the streak last
Friday by routing Colquitt
in Moultrie 35-7.
Lowndes can certainly
emphasize with the notion
of no postseason football,
for in 2006 the Vikings -
two-time defending Class
AAAAA champions at the
time - missed out on the
Senior Night
A win gives WF 'OB momentum
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
It was kind of a catch
-22. On one hand, Westfield
really wanted Sherwood
to beat First Presbyterian
Day this past weekend. No,
Sherwood at
Westfield, Friday,
8 p.m.
If not, they really, really
wanted Sherwood to lose
bad.
One, a win would give
the Hornets a slim, and
with FPD having to play
Deerfield this weekend,
better than average shot of
still making the playoffs.
However, if that wasn’t
to be the case a demor
alized Sherwood visiting
Westfield on Senior Night
for this Friday’s 8 p.m.
kickoff wouldn’t be half
bad, either.
As it stood, the Hornets
got neither. FPD beat the
Eagles but not by a whole
lot, 34-20 to be exact.
No matter. Westfield still
carries with it the momen
tum of its 24-17 win over
Southland, also from this
past weekend.
The bad thing about that
game said Hornet Head
Coach Ronnie Jones, was
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Saturday.”
Part of that excitement, Hardy
explained, was being a part of what
he had heard was the spectacle
itself. He wasn’t all too keen about
the information he had received
Monday morning that they would
be running in the last race of
the day - based on hotel reserva
tions he had already made - but he
See STATE,page $B
playoffs. Warner Robins
had something to do with
that when it beat Lowndes
on the road on the final
week of the regular season
and jumped all the way to
second in the region.
But one year later the
Vikings have the region
championship all sewn up
at 5-0, 8-1 overall. And
Lowndes is on an eight
game winning streak after
losing 9-0 to Harrison on
opening night.
“They have tremendous
team speed,” said Demons
head coach Bryan Way.
“They were very young
last year, but a lot of those
players are back with expe
rience. There’s no substi
tute for that. They are still
relatively young, but coach
(Randy) McPherson does
a good job of getting them
ready to play together.”
As is usually expected
from Lowndes, Way said
McPherson runs the most
basic of offenses and
defenses.
“We have to play sound
fundamental football,” he
said. “They are not going
to do anything fancy or
unexpected.”
To beat Lowndes, Warner
Robins must contend with
two of the best players in
1-AAAAA. Darriet Perry
broke the school’s career
rushing record (which
See RESULTS, page j )B
results fin
ishing in
its favor
on Friday
in order
to get the
fourth
and final
state foot
ball play-
it was too close - 17-7 until
there was about two-three
minutes left - too late.
“I had really hoped to
be able to play some of
the younger kids,” he said.
“Now that’s it’s getting
toward the end of the year,
you try and get as many
people involved (for the
experience) that you can.”
One he did get involved
- not having much choice
- was James Wurster, a
ninth grader, at quarter
back. That’s because Casey
Young, Jones said, “got a
bruised muscle in his leg.”
His status for this weekend
is still to be determined.
“We’ll just have to wait and
see the first of the week,”
Jones said.
As it stood, Wurster did
all right for himself. He
was 5-8 of passing with
no interceptions while
the Hornets overall had
66 yards . passing. They
also had 223 yards on the
ground, no fumbles and cut
down on penalties in the
redzone, the last of which
Jones said he was pretty
happy about.
As far as Sherwood,
Jones said that close score
against FPD was no fluke.
“They’ve been close
with everybody,” he said.
“They haven’t come
out on the winning end
mainly because they
See WIN, page <)B
I
they real
ly, really,
“really”
wanted
Sherwood
to beat the
Vikings
this past
weekend.