Newspaper Page Text
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
SANDLOT
"The down and dirty"
Schedule
High school wrestling
Today
■ Westfield at Southland
Academy (with Deerfield-Windsor),
5 p.m.
Friday-Saturday
■ AAAAA/AAAA state tournament
at Macon Centerplex, 9 a.m.
High school basketball
Friday
■ Perry at Central, 7 p.m.
■ Houston County at Tift County,
7 p.m.
■ Houston County at Valdosta,
6 p.m.
■ Dutchtown at Northside, 7 p.m.
■ Warner Robins at Coffee, 7 p.m.
Saturday
■ Northside at Perry, 6 p.m.
■ Colquitt County at Warner
Robins, 6 p.m.
■ Westfield at Crisp. 4 p.m.
In brief
WR Rec Dept, to hold
baseball, other signups
The Warner Robins
Recreation Department will
begin registration for youth
baseball and fastpitch soft
ball beginning Feb. 23 from
8 a.m.-1 p.m. Registration
will continue Monday - Friday
from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. until all
leagues are filled. The base
ball and fast-pitch softball
leagues are for boys and girls
ages 5-17. Blast Ball is for
boys and girls age 4.
Registration fees are as fol
lows: Blast Ball - S2O (city),
S3O (county/out of county);
baseball - S3O (city), S6O
(county), $lO2 (out of county);
fast-pitch - S3O (city), S6O
(county), $lO2 (out of coun
ty)-
Also, the department will
begin registration for its track
program beginning Jan. 28.
Track is for boys and girls
ages 7-14. The age control
date is Dec. 31. A birth certifi
cate is required at the time of
registration. Registration fees
are: $25 for city residents,
SSO for county residents and
SBS for out of county resi
dents. Call 478-929-1916 for
more information.
WR set to hold baseball
celebrity fund-raiser
Warner Robins High
School will hold its annual
baseball celebrity fund-raiser
Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the
WRHS cafeteria. The fund
raiser is being sponsored by
the WRHS Demon Diamond
Booster Club and tickets are
$25.
All proceeds are used in
support of the Demons' base
ball program. The dinner is
being catered by Outback
Steakhouse and celebrity
guests scheduled to attend
are John Rocker, Dave Bristol,
Ron Reed, Damian Moss,
Mark Johnson, Jim Turner,
Chance Reynolds, Rashad
Eldridge and the WRALL
World Champions.
In addition to the dinner,
there will be door prizes, a
raffle for great prizes, a silent
auction of MLB memorabilia,
and an opportunity to speak
with and obtain autographs
from all the celebrities.
For tickets or information,
contact Julian Fant at 731 -
8910, Ray Burke at 954-0259,
and Coach Bill Beatty at 256-
8389.
Next step begins in
search for HoCo AD
The deadline to apply has
passed, so now the search
begins.
Houston County High
School’s deadline to apply
for the full-time position of
athletic director/head football
coach was 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Principal Sheila Beckham
said Friday night during
Houston County High's bas
ketball games that the next
step is to sort through the
applicants and choose those
for the first round of inter
views. She said she hopes to
begin those interviews by the
middle of next week.
After the first round,
Beckham said there will be
a follow-up round. She said
the aim is to have a candi
date for the job to present to
the Houston County Board of
Education by the February
meeting. That meeting is set
for Tuesday, Feb. 12.
- Matthew Brown
. .. ■■■■•■
t | ' SIM
"Bmp 1
188 nj
F ™ W '■ <“ '
“
ENI/Gary Harmon
Perry’s Akeen Felder goes in for a layup during the Panthers’ win over Peach County Friday at
home.
Panthers beat Trojans, Eagles
Northside girls sweep weekend games
From staff reports
Perry’s Panthers earned them
selves a sweep in basketball
action this past weekend.
Friday, Perry beat Peach
County 73-50 then traveled to
Northside Saturday and beat the
Eagles 67-55
Against the Trojans at home,
the Panthers held a 21-16 lead
JpP .•» jjjjrW yj§lpS> ■/jar Sr MhHBL*.
. ENI/Gary Harmon
Players, among them Lady Panther Kim Burgess, battle for a loose ball Friday.
Lowndes edges Houston Cnunty boys in OT
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
For the second time in the last
three Region 1-AAAAA home
basketball games, the Houston
County High boys went into over
time. But, unlike the narrow win
against Valdosta High on Jan. 5,
the Bears had just one point in
the extra four minutes Friday
and Lowndes High stole a 63-58
victory.
Much like that win over
Valdosta, Houston’s boys led the
SPORTS
ROUNDUP
after one. In the second they out
scored Peach County 15-8 to lead
36-24 at the break. They again
outscored the visitor in the third,
17-10, as well as in the fourth, 20-
16, en route to the win.
• Lowndes boys
63, Houston
County 59
Lowndes ended the fourth quar
ter on an 11-3 run, which included
six points on offensive rebounds.
Lowndes Vikings
each and every
minute of regu
lation time until
the final nine
seconds. While
the senior-less
Bears suffered
through a hor
rendous field
goal drought,
Roderick Jones led Perry,
which had nine 3-pointers, in
scoring with 18. (Jones had two
treys.) Antonio Hubbard had 12
points, one of them a 3-pointer.
Kameron Felder had 9 - all 3-
pointers, Casey Hayward 9, as
well as Michael Walker.
On Saturday against
See PANTHERS, page
INSIDE: Lady Bears
fall to Lady Vikings
Houston went into the fourth
leading by five, 47-42, and quick
ly upped it to seven on a pass
from big center Jalani Phillips
inside to guard Marquis Perine.
The Bears enjoyed the biggest
lead of the game as Geo Stotts
broke the Lowndes press with a
See EDGES, page 6B
SECTION: B
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2008
Beans first
at Statesboro
Demons runner-up; HoCo
girls second, WR girls fourth
Special to the Journal
Houston County and Warner Robins
traveled to Statesboro this past weekend to
compete in the Statesboro
Invitational Swim Meet.
For Houston County’s
boys, that translated into
a first place finish against
the nine other teams. The
Bears amassed an impres
sive 163 points. Warner
Robins was second with
79.50.
On the girls’ side of the
house, the Lady Bears
finished runner-up to
St. Vincent Academy. St.
Vincent, out of the 13
total girls’ teams, had 113
points, Houston County
had 89. Camden County
was third with 84, while
Warner Robins was fourth with 76.
Houston County’s boys improved their
record to 34-0, while its girls are now 32-
3.
“We saw some good competition at this
meet,” said Houston County swim coach
Jamey Richardson, “and it enabled us to
build upon the success that we’ve had
See FIRST, page 6B
Jon Bon Jovi's
coach, other notes
Allow me to start off with a couple of
quips, just to get the audience loose and
warmed up.
Despite the loss last Tuesday to Coffee
County High and the
overtime setback on
Friday to Lowndes, con
gratulations should go out
to the Houston County
High boys basketball team
for its start in Region 1-
AAAAA.
It’s such a young team,
though, with no seniors.
So should we then change
the nickname from the
Matthew Brown
Journal Sports Writer
“Bears” to the “Cubs?”
Speaking of Coffee County High, did you
know that its head football coach from the
last few years, Jerry Odom, is now working
for Jon Bon Jovi? Yes, Odom is now the
assistant head coach for the Philadelphia
Soul of the Arena Football League. And
the front man for one of the greatest rock
bands going today owns the Soul.
To work for Bon Jovi ... better not say
anything more ... only that, what easier
track could you have to the best concert
tickets - make that backstage passes?
*
Now that you had this rare look into my
musical tastes, I will get back to discussing
football.
I could spend - and just about did
spend - an entire season updating Home
Journal readers on what players from
our high schools are doing at the college
See BROWN, page 3 B
Valdosta, Lowndes deny
locals AAAAA wrestling title
From staff reports
In the end, one thing was for sure as
teams squared off this past Saturday
for the Region 1-AAAAA championships
in Valdosta - at Lowndes High School’s
Charles Cooper Gymnasium - the cham
pion was going to be local.
That’s because the two final teams stand
ing were the Wildcats of Valdosta and the
Vikings of Lowndes.
And in those finals, Valdosta won its
fourth-straight region title, and sixth in
seven years, by beating Lowndes 32-25.
Locally, things did not go that well, as
Warner Robins lost to Lowndes in the first
round 58-28, while Valdosta, which had a
first-round bye, routed Houston County
60-6.
Tift County ended up finishing third
overall, while the Bears were fourth.
Note: Northside wrestling coach Dusty
Dykes said the Eagles finished fourth at the
AAAA level. Details were to follow.
Statesboro
Invitational
BOYS: Houston
County 163,
Warner Robins
79.5, Camden
County 77
GIRLS: St.
Vincent 113,
Lady Bears 89,
Camden County
84, Demonettes
76