Newspaper Page Text
Pitching test ahead—2B
Perry sports
Weather postpones Panthers semifinals
•■t i i . * * • ■»-•——■
Derrick Edwards scores against Americus. The game
with the Rams was delayed due to inclimate weather.
=4^='
Mark Blu men
HHJ Sports Editor
Cancelled
game broke
my heart
I was looking so forward to driv
ing down to Buena Vista on a press
night to see the Panthers and
Sumter County in the second round
of the playoffs but what did I get.
I saw a snow storm and that pre
vented me from going.
Just last week I was wearing
shorts and out at Rozar Park shoot
ing some hoops and playing some
softball with a bunch of the guys.
It's amazing what old mother na
ture has in store for us.
I went home for lunch this after
noon in a mess and when I came
back to the office it was clear as a
bell.
Unfortunately, the game was
called during this time.
It sort of reminds me of last year
when the Panthers baseball team
had to wait an extra day to play a
playoff game due to rain.
We all know what happened the
day that they finally did play.
I just hope this doesn't happen to
the basketball team.
I really shouldn't have brought
that up but in my opinion (and we
all know what opinions are like)
the Panthers are going to be a lot
better off because of this delay.
They have time to relax and think
about what's ahead of them.
Had they had to go to play on
Friday night, the squad was very
tired and probably would have had a
bad shooting night.
Now, Perry used this time off to
do a little walk through with what's
in front of them.
I talked with coach Carl Thomas
one day last week and he said he had
a plan for Sumter County.
I know what his plan better be.
He better find away to stop Lakista
McCuller or else the team could be
Please see BLUMEN, Page 4B
Hornets diamond men ready for new era
' *■ i ', .ut.JkjULJt. - Jjjiß
. , TjBlI; I Hi &
IP? v v
, >wS& '
, ■' iaWIK . y , t v< '
Bert Brown goes over pitching technique with the staff. The four that showed up
for the first day were Danny Perfect, Lon Talton, Bubba Gibbs and Jamey Watson.
■> &■>:<■ ■- X
' ’■ '*<«& ■. -xfei&o.
aK Iff »< la» ■ M JUI
|| ||| M
*. -** •"»*«; ■
V ’"■ Jgljpf:, “~*-
% , jjKs3&
jM^fnn-w<ai&i&r..is -<ariMStiiiltei y»£fl£- ft liSiWil>
•X . s ' X.XT £*■'*. . v/ --VX-
Robert Brown of Macon wasn't about to let the bad
weather stop him from practicing his golf game. He will
be participating In the Scratch Scramble today.
Saturday, 4 q
Feb. 16,1991 I D
By MARK BLUMEN
Sports Editor
Due to inclimate weather, the
Perry High School Panthers and
Lady Panthers semifinals matchups
scheduled for Friday night have
been postponed until tonight
(Saturday) beginning at 7:00 p.m.
The Lady Panthers will play Up
son County at 7:00 p.m. while the
Panthers will battle Sumter County
at 8:30 p.m.
Panthers Head Coach Carl
Thomas feels that his squad is go
ing to have their hands full when
battling the Rams.
The two teams met twice this
year, splitting the two games.
The Panthers took a 71-70 vic
tory in Perry when Ken Sikes hit
two free throws with no time left
on the clock, but Sumter County
took a 79-70 win in Americus.
Both times, the Rams had leads
of 15 points or more only to
squander them late in the game.
In Americus, Perry rallied from a
15 point deficit with five minutes
left in the game to come within
five points with one minute left but
could not convert their free throws
down the stretch.
Thomas held a practice to
emphasize this exact aspect of the
game.
"We met for about 30 minutes
and just had a walk through of what
we’re going to do against Sumter,"
Thomas adi. "We shot a lot of free
throws. You never know when this
will come into play and that's evi
dent from Thursday's game (14-17
from the line in a two point vic
tory).”
Perry had problems with Sumter
County's All-everything Lakista
McCuller, who scored 27 points in
each game the two teams played.
On the other hand, Sumter had
problems with Perry's All-every
thing, Ken Sikes.
Sikes scored 32 and 36 points re
spectively in each of the two con
tests.
With the bad weather, the Pan
thers had another day to prepare for
the Rams.
"I would have much rather
played. We had momentum," he
said. "Jeff hit that shot and we
didn’t want to erase that momen
tum."
The squad did not discuss whether
this extra day was an advantage or a
disadvantage to his team.
"When you have the momentum
on your side, you just want to go
ahead and play," he said.
Perry had was able to contact all
the players except Sterling Hay
ward.
"We walked through some of our
defensive sets but we knew we
might not be able to contact every
body," Thomas added. "He's a se
nior and he'll be ready to go."
Thomas saw the Sumter-Upson
game and felt the Rams were vul
nerable to a trap when McCullers
was not in the game.
"I took advantage and went up to
Jackson to see the Mary Persons-
East Coweta game," he said. "Mary
Persons hit a shot at the buzzer to
win the game 55-53. It was an en
tertaining game. East Coweta had a
fine team. The next game was
Manchester and Pike County. I ex
pect Manchester will win big."
The region tournament is at Mary
Persons High School February 22-
24 in Forsyth where the Bulldogs
are currently 10-0 on their home
4-Man Scratch Scramble set for weekend
Pierce-Wilson team takes PCC
Member/Member championship
By MARK BLUMEN
Sports Editor
Carl Pierce and Doug Wilson, of
the Championship Flight or Flight
A division, shot a 70-68-138 to
take a one stroke victory over Mark
Daniel and Paul Carroll, 68-71-139,
in the Perry Country Club Mem
ber/Member tournament this past
weekend.
Pierce's eagle on the 17th hole
assisted in winning the title.
The format for the tournament
was a two-man, best-ball with three
flights. Each of the flights were
pre-flighted according to handicap.
Winners of the Flight B division
in the gross category were Rick
Slavik and J. Bohannon with a 69-
72-141 edging out R. Spainhour
and R. James with a 72-75-147.
In the Flight C division, Johnny
McCarty and J. Cawthon took a
five stroke victory over J. Smith
and V. Parker. McCarty’s team shot
a 77-73-150 to Smith's team
shooting a 74-81-155.
The tournament also consisted of
Hound is unusual—3B
Scouting Report
Panthers vs. Rams
The game: Tonight at Tri-County High School in Buena Vista
for the GHSA 4AA South sugregion tournament beginning at
8:30 p.m.
Records: Perry 13-11 Sumter County - 16-5
Rams Update: The Sumter County Rams defeated the Upson
County Yellowjackets in the first round of the subregion tourna
ment Thursday. Lakista McCuller had 24 points in the victory. The
Rams are vulnerable to the press when McCullers is not in the ball
game but once he gets in the game, Sumter is a terrific fast break
team. Each team won on their home court during the regular
season but Sumter has gotten out to big leads in both games.
The Rams must control Perry's big men to win the game.
Panthers Update: Perry defeated Americus on a last second
Jeff Ridley shot Thursday night to advance. Perry may have gone
into that game a little over confident. With the Rams, the Pan
thers need to hold McCuller to 20 points or less and not let Griffin
and Williams score that many. If McCuller explodes for 30 to 35,
the Panthers will pack the bags for the rest of the winter.
Coaches: Perry - Carl Thomas Rams- Tim Matthews
Probable Lineups: Ken Sikes (6'3") Tazari Green (6'7), Ster
ling Hayward (5'7"), Jeff Ridley (5’7"), Robert Grace (6’o) Rams-
Lakista McCuller (6'2"), Kiwi Cody ((6'o), Travis Griffin (6'8"), Mike
Pope (6'1”), Jamaine Williams (6'2")
Injuries: Perry - None Rams - None
_ |
floor.
Coincidently, Tri-County is 10-0
at home but Thomas doesn't think
this will be a major factor with the
lay-off the Eagles have had.
"They were going to have to wait
until Monday. It's not exactly the
best situation for them," he ex
plained. "But, consider they advance
no matter what whether they win or
lose. It cuts down on practice time.
They'll play on Monday and Fri
day."
With the hard game the Panthers
had on Thursday with Americus,
Thomas thought that from that as
Brown optimistic despite
youth with baseball team
By MARK BLUMEN
Sports Editor
The Westfield Hornets begin a new era of baseball under first year
Head Coach Bert Brown.
That era started Wednesday afternoon when the pitchers and catchers
reported for the first day of work-outs.
Brown, who was an assistant at Westfield five years ago, took a ca
reer at a newspaper before coming back to coaching at his former alma
mater.
He will now take over a squad that finished 8-7 under former Hornet
mentor Mark Lewis.
The squad for the 1991 season is very young and inexperienced, ac
cording to Brown.
Westfield will have 28 players signed up to participate on the squad.
Seventy-five percent are underclassman. The break down of the squad by
class are three being seniors, four juniors, 10 sophomores and 11
freshman.
"We're going to play five ball games before we play our first region
ball game," Brown explained. "So, I'm hoping that these three or four
weeks of preseason work plus the good two weeks that we have of ball
games between the middle of March will prepare us.”
Hitting for the club is going to be a major factor this season. The
Hornets did not hit very well as a team last year and Brown feels this
club will be a much improved hitting team.
Please see BROWN, Page 4B
a Net category.
In the Championship Flight A
category, Loyd Arthur and Melvin
Hancock also took a one stroke
victory by shooting a 61-68-129 to
edge out R. Lamberth and G. Bai
ley’s 64-66-130.
Flight B Net winners included K.
Brown and B. Curtis with a 60-65-
125 while second place Net finisher
was W. Martin and D. Propst, also
with a 61-64-125. Brown's team
won based on handicap.
In the C Flight Net category, R.
Meador and C. Graham shot a 64-
62-126 while C. Mills and C.
Lawrence shot a 66-63-129 for sec
ond place.
Slavik won the first round close
up competition on the ninth hole
while Walt Martin had on on the
18th hole.
First round skins game winners
included Denny Dicks and Joe An
drews (1 skin) and Doug Wilson
and Carl Pierce (3 skins).
Other players that competed in
Journal
pect it was a welcomed relief.
"But, you know we're going to
have a hard game with Sumter," he
said.
Perry will start Hayward, Sikes,
Green, Robert Grace, and Jeff Rid
ley.
Grace is coming back after miss
ing his first game of the season due
to an ejection in the Warner Robins
contest last Saturday night.
Ridley will be at the off guard
position while Hayward will play
Please see WEATHER, Page 4B
the tournament were Dickie Erwin,
Jason and Jarad Hancock, A1 Las
seter, John Shaginaw, Hugh Sharp
and Danny Shelton.
Now, the Perry Country Club
will host the Invitational Four-Man
Scramble (Scratch) Golf Tourna
ment today and Sunday with tee
time at 9:00 a m.
"Some of the best golfers in
Middle Georgia will be competing,"
said Perry Country Club golf pro
fessional Rodney Dill.
The format will be a scramble
format with no handicap involved.
The tournament will have 84
participants with 21 teams.
Some of the participants inciuae
Walt Fugate, Eddie Causey, ex-
Bulldog golfer Wright Waddell, Ed
die Wiggins, Mark Daniel and even
16-year old John Lamberth.