Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2008
Hornets set to host MDS as playoffs begin
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
It wasn’t a real “shocking”
or “stunning” development
as far as the Westfield foot
ball family is concerned.
Coupled with the Hornets
big regular-season end
ing win at Southland in
Americus last Friday, Mount
de Sales Academy defeat
ed First Presbyterian Day
Perry earns region cross country title
Yeomans
first for boys
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Not a bad time for your
first ever high school win in
a cross country race. It hap
pens to come at the same
time as your school’s first
ever team region boys cham
pionship.
But those are the acco
lades Perry High School
junior Jesse Yeomans adds
to his resume as a result of
last Thursday’s showing at
the Region 1-AAA meet at
Robert Cross Middle School
in Albany. The Panthers won
the team championship by
10 points (32 to 42) against
Westover High, which served
as meet host,. Perry did it by
having four of the top six
runners.
That group included
Yeomans and his time of
16:28. It was actually between
him and teammate Billy
Colbert, who would cross the
line second at 17:05.
Yeomans said he got some
help from his coach during
track and field season, Carl
Dixon, who provided a chart
that split the race into three
one-mile increments.
“Our first mile was sup
posed to be in 5:16,” said
Yeomans. “We were shooting
for 16:30. When I came to the
first mile marker, it was 5:10.
My second mile was at 10:33.
Normally, in other races,
that’s where I usually was,
so I tried to pick it up there.
About 800 meters later ... me
and Billy ran together the
whole race, but he caught a
cramp or something. I took
off because I guess I wanted
a region championship.”
As he was approaching
those last 800 meters, where
runners get to the crowded
area of spectators, he said
he heard people encourag
ing him to slow down, but
that really gave him more
confidence. But above all
Panthers edge Monroe; Bears fall to Colquitt
From staff reports
It was the site of arguably
the most frustrating loss
of the Perry High Panther
season. Instead of returning
to that scene on Halloween
night, Perry went to Hugh
Mills Stadium in Albany
Saturday, and this time all
the breaks belonged to the
Panthers.
Down by 13 at halftime,
Perry, behind a 129-yard
rushing night from Brandon
Grace, defeated Monroe
High of Albany 21-20 to win
for the first time all season
in Region 1-AAA competi
tion. It was also just the sec
ond victory in all of 2008
for the Panthers; the last
triumph was Sept. 12, also
on the road (Hawkinsville
High).
The slide in the Perry
season began, though,
on Sept. 18, a Thursday
night at Hugh Mills when
See EDGE, page jB
School 21-7 to set up a GISA
AAA first-round meeting
between the Hornets and
the Cavaliers this Friday at
Marvin Arrington Stadium.
For MDS, which used the
win over the Vikings to fin
ish third in Region 2-AAA,
it will be its second trip this
season to Perry. The first
one was back on Sept. 5, and
Westfield won that contest
28-7.
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Perry High’s cross country runners show off the school’s first region cross country title trophy. They are, from left, 1-AAA individual champion
Jesse Yeomans, Billy Colbert, Matt Phillips, Raj Patel, Terrell Wimbush, Gordy Grimm, A.C. Talton, Reggie Davis and Angel Mazano. Not shown is
Nick Wood.
"I heard everybody screaming 16, and it
made me go again. And I crossed the
finish line at 16:28/
-’’Perry High School cross country runner Jesse Yeomans
that Yeomans said he heard
his head coach, Brett Hardy,
screaming for him to go, and
it led him to think there were
runners coming up behind
him.
“I heard everybody scream
ing 16, and it made me go
again,” he said. “And I crossed
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Contributed/Avery Sports Photography
A Houston County defender sacks Colquitt County’s quarterback during the Bears’ loss at McConnell-
Talbert Stadium Saturday.
SPORTS
It was head coach Ronnie
Jones’ prediction, once his
team had second place in
Region 3-AAA locked up,
that the Cavs would be
victorious and set up this _
rematch.
“They controlled the whole
ball game,” Jones said about
his study of the MDS-FPD
film. “They even missed
a couple of field goals, so
it could have been a little
the finish line at 16:28.
“I’ve never gotten first
in anything in high school.
It felt really good for it to
be region. (The course) was
really flat. I think that’s
what helped my time. It was
like a zigzag and in the shade
the whole time in a pecan
worse. I thought Mount
de Sales would win. They
have improved a lot since
we played them early in the
year, and it’s going to be a
tough ball game.
“First of all, when I say
‘improvement,’ when we
won they had a couple of
fumbles, and we scored 21
points in just a few minutes
of the third quarter off turn
overs. They fumbled twice,
orchard. Everything was
right for me.”
At the beginning of the
race, Yeomans said his main
thought was trying to beat
Westover as a team, and his
strategy for that was to be in
front of as many Patriot run
ners as possible. It worked
out for other Panthers as
Nick Wood took fifth at 17:23
and Matt Phillips took sixth
at 17:30.
Perry ran three others for
the maximum number of
seven needed to qualify for
the team title. Raj Patel ran
in 18:45, Terrell Wimbush in
and we got touchdowns off
them.
“Their quarterback got
injured in the third quar
ter, and that’s one of their
best football players. He
didn’t play any of the fourth,
and that was a big thing. I
looked back at the stats and
the ball game, and we just
scored quickly on a couple
of turnovers. That was the
difference.”
18:50 and Gordy Grimm at
18:58. All of these runners
qualify for the GHSA Class
AAA state cross country
championships which take
place Saturday in Carrollton.
For Yeomans, it’s his second
straight appearance in this
race, so he already knows
about all the hills he’ll face in
this western Georgia town.
What stands out more, he
said, is how large the field
will be with all five state clas
sifications going at the same
time.
“I got 64th in 18:18,” said
Yeomans about his 2007
YMCA competitive
gymnastics team fares
well at Gym Nest meet
Special to the Journal
The newly formed Houston County
YMCA competitive gymnastics squad
began the fall season at the Gym Nest in
Macon on Oct. 18.
Six Level 3 girls competed, and all placed
well on some events with four of them
placing in the top four in the all-around for
their age group.
Hannah Russell and Isabella
competed in the Level 3 6-year-old group.
Russell placed second on vault, first on
bars, fourth on beam, first on floor, which
all led to first all-around in her group.
Nunez placed sixth on vault, fifth on bars,
second on beam, second on floor, which led
to third all-around in her group.
Hailey Breaux placed third on vault in
the Level 3 7-year-old group.
Presli Evans competed in the Level
3 8-year-old group. She placed fifth on
vault, fourth on bars, fourth on beam, and
See YMCA, page aB
SECTION: B 1
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
This is a long-standing
rivalry of sorts for Westfield,
the Cavaliers appearing on
the schedule every year.
Jones said they do a lot of
the same things on offense
and defense as the Hornets,
which again has been the
case for all these years. So
he said it again may come
down to the number of mis
takes.
See HORNETS, page iB
result. “It’s really packed,
and it’s very hilly. You go up
this one hill four times total
if you count up and down.”
His goal is 17:30 or below.
“I think I can do it,” he
said.
Perry did not have enough
girls competing in the Regior
1-AAA championships last
Thursday to qualify for a
team placing, but Hardy did
have four runners in the
race. They were Lexie Parker
(24:51), Morgan Collins
(27:03), Stephanie Smith
(27:24) and Skylar Hudson
(27:38).