Newspaper Page Text
♦ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2008
2B
First meet-ing
t 3* Jr ■J|
* ISp[j&*f- xr|W* '
P / v
.. a> 0f ft "jfe’
*j|k
3#!iS^» ! ' f-f^s^H|j|H(j^3
‘;Bp F ‘"
_v •■*&. , * •.•£:• •'•
_ 18.
. £ s&4. •s#>*> -.• 'wl.
ENI/Gary Harmon
Houston County’s Nathan Meece swims the breast stroke
during the boys 200-yard medley relay, He was part of
a competition between Houston County and Warner
Robins that took place Tuesday at Memorial Park Pool.
The Bears won for the boys. They had 160 points. The
Demons finished with 148. The Lady Bears also won for
the girls. They had 172 points to the Demonettes’ 132.
jh
BP >
4k&
■ it,l - JygPjW
. jfcffr. V.r.v. -Mfc. ■■■■ • !■' ___S£23d-i4l -SB- Jaava. —a HIM MS « ■
ENI/Gary Hannon
Houston County’s April Collins swims to a heat win in the 200-yard girls freestyle.
'- .
Karl Burkhardt for the Demons swims the 200-yard freestyle race.
WESTFIELD
From page iB
“He’s got to be a big player for
us,” said Walls. “He had an out
standing summer. He lost some
weight - about 10 or 15 pounds
- and got a lot quicker. That has
helped his offensive footwork in
the post, which he struggled with
in the past.
“(Amrit) has to be an offensive
presence when people play zone
against us. In year’s past he’s
sort of faded into the background.
He has to demand the ball this
year and score even when peo
ple pack in the zone against us.”
Rust averaged six points a game
last season, so Walls is looking for an
expanded role from this returning
starter. He became the top Homer
scorer during summer camps.
“(Rust) shot the ball real well
this summer,” said Walls. “We need
him to be a good threat from the
perimeter. He’s an attacker, too, so
he brings a lot to the table. We need
him to do a lot more for us like he
did this summer.”
That would seem to give
Westfield all the ingredients - point
play, rebounding, post defense
and aggressive offensive players
- to contend for the Region 3-AAA
championship. It’s a region that
has two new teams in Brookwood
and Calvary Christian of Columbus
(Sherwood dropped to AA).
“I’m not going to say we have an
identity,” said Walls, who has yet to
conduct a full varsity practice. “This
summer, when we played together,
we played very hard and we played
very smart. Those three things,
play hard, smart and together, are
big. That’s what you expect from a
senior team.
“John Peake is our leader, our
returning captain and a four-year
starter. We expect all of these
seniors get us in the groove quickly
because we don’t have a true pre
season. I expect big things, but I
don’t know where we’re going to be
good or average yet.”
By the end of December, the
Hornets will have played other
AAA schools like Stratford, First
Presbyterian Day and Tattnall
Square both home and away.
There is also the Tattnall Square
Tournament prior to New Year’s
Day. With eight region games on
the schedule, things start counting
towards the standings on Jan. 6 at
Southland in Americus.
“We got a little time,” said Walls.
“When our school has success in
football, even though it makes it
hard on me, it’s a good thing for
our athletes. It gives them confi
dence, and it means you have good
athletes.
“We like to take that Christmas
time and use that as our preseason.
Everything may be rough up to
that point, when region starts we’ll
be ready and rolling and getting
wmk M fWpW| Aljm i m
n 1 & V tik aKp 9k *9 .'j m if*
9BB|L &, |||s|nßjß]!Rl i\ 9HHI Jr
||h-~XX' j* *-3k ill*. *; -jwv**'
y jfW 3i|HKr- •*«• l Sfc -■ • • . ; ' TT”"f **m4W4F&
1 '" ' ”X' "’■ .'V/-.-. 4iiiiS!s§r£K,. J'p
k jfe- ' JM.W *
■ ■*■ * -6wS|l -PfeaMf. -jt“^MSteJ
Swimmers dive in at the start of the 50 yard Free event.
ENI/Gary Harmon
after it.”
LADY HORNETB
In some ways it’s been humor
ous to look at a varsity high school
basketball roster and see all 9’s
and 10’s, or 10’s and ll’s, under
“grade.” That’s what Jeff Eubanks
has handed out prior to the last two
Westfield Lady Hornet seasons.
That could only mean that every
thing’s been pointing towards 2008-
09, when it became Westfield’s
time to be that seasoned, veteran
squad primed for a breakout year.
Before anything can be analyzed,
however, one serious obstacle pre
sented itself in-between softball
and basketball play. Senior Mason
Moreland, a four-year stalwart at
point guard under Eubanks and
reigning Region 3-AAA Player of
the Year, will miss the first six to
eight weeks of the season after sur
gery to repair a chipped kneecap.
That will leave four seniors for
now - Daryl Ann Thompson, Erin
Wille, Caroline Pfohl and Hanna
Jones - to mesh with five juniors
and two freshmen.
“It was a minor surgeiy,” said
Eubanks about the Moreland inju
ry. “She can’t have any weight on it
for (two more) weeks. Then there
are possibly two or three more
weeks after that to test it out.
“Anytime you lose your point
guard, it hurts our depth. Haley
Way (junior) will step up and lead
the show. Now our backup point is
SPORTS
Pas *a "
I 1 •—-J*u*4-i»oan»v.'.
- ly/mr • ' ft&lfr' ' *'° >
ENI/Gary Harmon
Lady Bear Megan Brietbach competes in the butterfly as part of the girls 200-yard
medley relay
P»- wjl
- % s 1 ■
- .*.
ENI/Gary Harmon
Warner Robins’ Bill Hops swims the butterfly stroke during the 200-yard boys individual
medley.
a freshman with no varsity experi
ence, Ellen Greir.”
If all the time Moreland miss
es is in December, it represents
another tough non-region road to
start 2008-09 for the Lady Hornets.
They have consecutive games with
FPD and Stratford (Dec. 8-9) and
Tattnall Square at the end of the
week.
“What I understand, Tattnall has
picked up two girls from Westside
(Macon),” said Eubanks. “FPD has
good athletes returning but lost a
lot as returning state champions.
Stratford still has a good team
back.”
As always, the coach has a con
cern about height and the inside
game, though Wille, at 5-8, and
Pfohl, at 5-7, have logged several
minutes at the post slots. He also
admits there is no “superstar” in
terms of scoring, though Jones can
get a hot hand from 3-point land.
“We don’t have a dominant player
like other teams do,” he said. “Our
margin of error is very small. We
have to outwork out opponent, do
everything fundamentally sound
on both offense and defense.
“We can be a very good defensive
team. We don’t have the tall player
where we can sit back in a zone,
but if we can get a lot of pressure
on the ball, hopefully that will ease
things on the offensive end.
“In the past our offense has been
suspect. We have to put the ball
in the hole. Our post players have
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
gotten better over the summer.
Jeannia Rust, a freshman (5-7),
has a lot of potential. We have
three or four (guards) who can
score, but we have been sporadic
in the past.”
Westfield had two of the state’s
top players in foul-shot attempts,
Moreland and junior Mallory
vEubanks, and the team percentage
was about 65, which the coach said
was a major improvement from
years past. He said penetration
should work to his team’s advan
tage, but getting on the boards
could be a disadvantage.
“We have to do more things from
a team aspect to get our shot off,”
said Eubanks.
The Lady Hornets begin the
region schedule at Southland, and
the coach said the Lady Raiders
have almost all players back. The
measuring stick, though, as usual
is Deerfield-Windsor, which beat
Westfield in the region finals
in Albany. Eubanks believes
Brookwood will bring a strong bas
ketball team up from AA.
“I think we are in the hunt for
things,” said Eubanks. “Our expec
tations are high. We were 17-11
last year. We didn’t respond well in
a close game (at state first round),
and we were region runner-up.
“We want to be as competitive as
we can in our region every night.
We are capable of doing that. If we
can get (Moreland) back in the rota
tion, we will be much stronger.”
ENI/Gary Harmon