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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Green, Bass and Davis to play in GAGA North-South All-Star game
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Tijuan Green, Nick Bass and Kanorris
Davis are representing Houston County
football in the 2007 Georgia Athletic
Coaches Association North-South All-Star
game on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in
Chick-fil-a Bear Brawl
Lady Bears edge Denonettcs ii thrller
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Even without scoring a point
in the first six minutes of the
fourth quarter - and commit
ting seven turnovers during
that time - Houston County
High’s Lady Bears edged out
Warner Robins High 55-53 in
an exciting girls final of the
2007 Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl
Saturday at the Bear Den.
“Everything we were doing
right in the first three quar
ters, at the beginning of the
fourth quarter we did wrong,”
said Lady Bear coach Sid
Baxley, whose team won all
three games in the round robin
format. “We didn’t protect the
ball. We threw' it to (Warner
Robins) and gave them easy
baskets. Finally we straight
ened it out in the last min
ute.”
On what was the eighth turn
over for Houston County in the
quarter, Tiandra Billings of
Warner Robins hit a 3-pointer
to put the Demonettes ahead
53-52.
It was at the free-throw line
and the boards that the Lady
Bears straightened things out.
First, senior Tonia Williams
made go-ahead foul shots
(54-53). When she grabbed
a key defensive rebound, the
ball wound up in sophomore
Kourtney Thomas’ hands.
Fouled with 13.5 seconds left,
Thomas didn’t make the one
and-one front end, but the
Demonettes lost the rebound
out of bounds.
At 10.4 seconds, it was Alexis
"Everything we were doing right in the
first three quarters, at the beginning of the
fourth quarter we did wrong."
- Houston County girls basketball Head Coach Sid Baxley
Eagles come up short for third Demons rally past Bears in consolation match
By MA TTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
The seventh lead change of the fourth
quarter was the most important when
Northside High faced Westside-Macon for
third place in the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bear
Brawl Saturday. Northside went cold from
the outside against Westside’s 1-3-1 zone
and dropped a 54-47 decision at Houston
County High School.
It was a game in which the Eagles went
from leading by 10 after the first quarter
to leading by five at halftime to leading by
just one after the third period.
James Hagan had 13 points for
Northside. Six points each came from
New region alignments mean somebody won't be repeating
Congratulations to
those Northside
High Eagles for win
ning a second straight foot
ball state championship.
Congratulations go out
also to the Lowndes High
Vikings in Valdosta for - just
one season after not even
making the playoffs - win
ning another Class AAAAA
state football championship,
which is the third for the
school in the last four years.
Now comes the bad news
for Northside and Lowndes.
Columbus. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m.
All three will play for the South team, a
40-man roster that will be coached by Jim
Herren.
Green ended his Northside High football
career by throwing his one and only touch
down pass in the Class AAAA champion
ship game against Ware County High in
Hewitt who had the basket
ball and drew a one-and-one
chance. She made her first,
missed her second, and Warner
Robins had a chance down by
two with five seconds showing.
The Demonettes went for tie,
couldn’t make the shot, and
made the home portion of the
full gym happy.
“We like having Warner
Robins in the finals,” said
Baxley about the all-county
‘championship’ game. “ ... as
long as we’re in it.”
Williams, the Bear Brawl
girls Most Valuable Player,
had 35 points, 10 rebounds,
six steals and five assists.
“She would have more
assists if we would finish more
plays,” said Baxley. “But she
had blocked shots, a ton of
rebounds and handled the
ball. That’s what we expect
her to do.
“You have to keep your
eyes on her (as a teammate)
because she will hit you on the
head with the ball.”
Symorie "Wilkerson and'
Danielle Gazaway of Warner
Robins each had 14 points with
Billings scoring 13. Wilkerson
and Billings each had steals
during that rash of Houston
turnovers in the fourth with
Wilkerson making an assist
to Gazaway on her pick. The
Demonettes had the score tied
at 48-all with an 11-0 run with
2:30 remaining.
Hewitt broke the scor
ing slump for the hosts.
Janesa Johnson and Thomas
See THRILLER, page iB
DeJuan Mitchell, Kenya Ward and
Demario Black.
Two of those fourth-quarter lead chang
es in Northside’s favor came on a 3-
pointer by Mitchell and a put-back from
Hagan. With the Eagles down by two,
K.J. Morton knocked the ball away from
the Seminoles only to see Westside take it
back and get two free throws from Quin
Bivins. The outside shot wasn’t working
all quarter against the Westside zone, and
the Eagles never saw the lead again.
Hagan, a track champion in the high
jump, showed off that leaping ability all
game, starting with a fpllow-up slam (9-4
Northside).
See THIRD, page jB
At least one
of those
schools will
not be cel
ebrating a
champion
ship on the
gridiron
in 2008.
That’s not
an opin
ion on how
Matthew Brown
Journal Sports Writer
good or bad the Eagles or
Vikings look to be one year
from now. It’s pure scientific
fact.
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Warner Robins’ Dhanerica Parks battles for a rebound in the Demonettes’ Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl game
against Hiram Friday at Houston County High School.
Northside won its back
to-back championships in
the AAAA classification. But
the Georgia High School
Association determined
that the Eagles would join
Lowndes in the top class for
the next two years. Then, the
GHSA placed Northside in
the same Region 1-AAAAA
as Lowndes ... and Warner
Robins ... and Valdosta ...
and others who would love
to get a taste of that beauti
ful silver cup.
It’s an all-star region if
Waycross. The 40-yard strike - to Bass - led
the Eagles to a repeat as state champions in
a 20-14 final.
Green is more remembered as a running
back, where he gained 2,035 yards in 278
carries with 29 touchdowns in 2007. He also
caught 23 passes for 331 yards and three
touchdowns.
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Deja vu ... not quite. But after the 2007
Chick-Fil-A Bear Brawl, Chip Malone and
the Warner Robins High boys basketball
team might want to see if they can skip
the third quarters and go straight to the
fourth for the remainder of their games.
The Warner Robins Demons defeated
Bear Brawl host Houston County High
52-47 in a consolation contest held Friday
in the Bear Den. Warner Robins led by 16,
28-12, at halftime, but saw Jody Dean’s
young Bears win the third quarter 17-6 to
make it a five-point game going into the
final period.
there ever was one, that new
1-AAAAA. Yes, Northside
could very well face Lowndes
in a championship game
when all the finals take
place in the Georgia Dome
next December. Remember,
though, that championship
games do have overtime
now, so there’s no more of
that co-champion stuff.
It should also be pointed
out that, with eight teams
about to comprise 1-AAAAA,
there’s at least one team
that won’t be participating
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2007 ♦
Bass was the leading Northside receiver
in 2007 with 43 catches for 770 yards and
eight touchdowns. He also scored one rush
ing touchdown.
In what was a record-setting season all
around for Perry High School footl all,
Davis, a linebacker, set a school mark for
total tackles in one season with 121.
The Demons never lost the lead and was
able to build it back as much as 10 in that
fourth quarter. Warner Robins wasn’t
so lucky the night before when playing
Westside High of Macon in the opening
round. In that contest, the Demons led by
22 at halftime, but lost the third quarter
to the Seminoles 23-10, the fourth 30-11
and the game as a whole 66-56.
Kenny Fluellen and Ricky Ritter each
scored 12 points to lead all scorers. Guard
Johnny Enos played a major role in help
ing Warner Robins keep its lead to the end
as he had all seven of his game points in
the fourth.
Geo Stotts and Roger Stanton
See RALLY, page zB
in the 2008 playoffs that did
make it this year.
Take a look at Perry High’s
new region, 1-AAA. There
are six playoff football teams
from this year (Perry, Peach
County, Cairo, Monroe,
Westover and Worth County)
making out part of the new
league. So, as you can figure
out from the math, at least
two of these schools aren’t
going to get invited to the
2008 party.
Not that I want to make
what we representing the
Houston Home Journal
personally experienced in
Waycross on Dec. 14 seem
bigger than the story of
Northside’s state repeat, but
there are some side notes
viewed from ground level
that are worth sharing.
First, you had to be there
to truly appreciate the awe
inspiring scene of all of those
96 cards held in the air at
the end of the third quar
ter. There wasn’t a gap of
See BROWN, page3B
1B