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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1992-7
Perry sports
Brian i
JBj|. Lawson I
Watching
Perry play
Friday
Until last week I didn't know what
a local sportswritcr did at a football
game.
Now I know.
The main thing we (I can add my
self to the ranks) do is chart the
ball. Which means taking a sheet
of paper jolting down the yard line,
who carried the ball, the result and
the down.
It sounds kind of easy until you
realize that every football game I've
ever watched before Friday night
didn't require me to do anything but
cuss the referees and time my trips
to refrigerator around the time-outs.
Anybody who was on the Perry
sideline Friday night probably heard
me questioning the spot on nearly
every play. See, if the referees
math doesn't match mine, then I
have to erase, and once you start
down that road... three plays will
have been run and leave the hapless
writer too far behind to catch up.
I realize nobody reads the sports
page to find out what happened to
me at the game Friday night, the
point is to find out how your team
did and why.
I'll try to give you a glimpse of
what I saw the Perry Panthers do
last week and see if your version
agrees with mine.
The first thing that I noticed was
Shawn Bass, who has taken a good I
bit of criticism this year, lead the
offense down the field when they
needed it most. Trailing in the
third quarter Bass faced four third
and yardage situations. On three of
them he ran for the yardage himself,
on the fourth one he passed 28
yards to region cross country cham
pion (I had to work that in) John
Morton for the game winner. I'll
leave the overall analysis to people
who have seen more Perry games,
but I will say, nice game number
6.
The Perry defense gave up a j
touchdown on Dodge County's
opening drive and then grew in
creasingly stingy as the game
moved on. To illustrate how the j
game finished for Dodge, late in the
fourth quarter they faced first and 10
from their own one yard line. After
three incompletions, which the j
quarterback was lucky to get rid of,
the punter had to kick it out of the
end zone while basically leaning on
the goal post.
I know Perry has struggled for
stretches this year and they have
one of the two best teams on their
schedule Friday night for homecom
ing. Most of the people who seem
to know look for an Appling
County win.
The thing is, a game like last Fri
day night, with the head coach
storming the field to protest a call,
a defense rising up and knocking
the other team’s best player out of
the game, an offense which hadn't
scored in several quarters putting it
together for a 94 yard game win
ning drive, a game with a roughing
the kicker spearing, intentional
grounding and two pass interference
calls made for the kind of games as
a fan, coach or player you'd like to
bottle and pour out on a later date
when you're feeling low.
Look, I'm not naive, Dodge
County isn't Valdosta, but 10 years
from now when Eric Felder is
telling his friends about one of the
biggest hits he ever made, nobody
will care what Dodge County's
record was.
I know not every minute of
Perry's season has been a highlight
film, in fact there were plenty of
scenes Friday night that probably
won't get mentioned at the team
banquet. But that's what makes it
so fun when you get a game like
that.
I'm not going to make a pick for
Friday night. I'll let the players de
cide the game and then write about
it. All I'll say is, when 1 was in
high school we'd pick the weakest
team we could find so we could cel
ebrate afterward. I think for the
sake of their alums the Panthers
might want to look into that strat
egy for next year.
Please see LAWSON, page 8A
Westfield plays for playoff spot
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Westfield’s game this Friday night
against Mt. de Sales will decide the
format for the region playoffs.
If Westfield wins, the game's
score will take on added importance.
A quick look over the GISA 2-
AAA standings will begin to ex
plain the situation.
Westfield is currently 1-2 in re
gion play. Their opponent Friday
night, Mt. de Sales is 2-1. Below
Mt. de Sales is George Walton at
2-2. With some quick addition it's
clear that if Westfield wins their
final game of the season, there will
be three teams tied at 2-2. All
three would make the playoffs, but
where they would play is what
makes the calculator necessary.
The team which has allowed the
fewest points in head to head play
gets the home field for the first
playoff game.
Westfield gave up 20 points
against George Walton and still has
a game to play. Mt. de Sales gave
George Walton six points with
Westfield upcoming, and George
Walton has given up a total of 27
points.
What it all means is, Westfield
has to beat Mt. de Sales by 14
points and not give up more than
six to clinch second place in the re
gion.
If the Hornets lose, they will be
on the road against FPD next week.
Perry comes home to play Appling County
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Perry running back Teruya Williams helped the Panthers to a 10-7 win over Dodge
County Friday night. The Panthers play league leader Appling County for their
homecoming.
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Ask anybody who has given a
party what it's like when a group of
gate crashers starts eating all the
food, consuming all available bev
erages and intimidating the other
guests.
It’s not a lot of fun.
Perry faces a situation like that
Friday night with a homecoming
date against Appling County.
The Pirates are 4 and 0 in region
play and 7 and 1 overall. They've
won seven straight since a season
opening loss to Waycross and in
clude Fitzgerald (who beat the Pan
thers 26-0) among their victims.
Following their 10-7 win over
Dodge County Friday night, the
Panthers moved to 2 and 2 in re
gion play, and 3 and 5 overall.
With two games remaining, the
Panthers will need to win one of
~ them to make the playoffs. Jones
t County, their Nov. 13 opponent is
r currently 1-3 in region play. Jones
r faces, 1-8 Wayne County (1-4 in
, region and 1-8 overall) this week.
t If they run true to form, Jones
, should win set up a showdown
with Perry.
Perry Coach John Stephens
coached Appling County for 10
years and carried them to their first
ever region playoff game, before
leaving to come to Perry.
"You always hope a win like we
had last week will give us some
momentum going into Friday
night. They are similar to Peach
County in terms of talent and they
have tremendous overall balance.
Every part of their team, from the
kicking game to the secondary, is
solid," Stephens said.
7A
The Hornets arc the only team to
beat the Vikings this year.
Injuries created a major problem
for the already undermanned Hor
nets against Tattnall. The offensive
line, the defensive backficld and the
receiving corps all suffered the loss
of a player. Offensive line
man Jerc Campbell, witlran injured
hip, and receiver Matt Shcplcy,
who suffered a broken arm, arc out
for the year. Shane Hester had to
leave the game in the first half with
an injured ankle and did not return.
Hester is expected to play Friday
night.
"We were never there against Tat
tnall. We have faced bigger and
stronger teams with better running
games, like Southland and FPD,
but we just did not show up. We
were flat for three quarters against
George Walton and gave them a 20
point lead, but then in the fourth
quarter we played great ball. We
drove to their 18 with 43 seconds
left and then fumbled away a chance
to win. Against Tattnall the bright
spot was our defense, they held
them to just 10 points in the first
half, but the offense never did any
thing," Coach Joby Boydslonc said.
Mount de Sales opened the season
with six straight losses, but have
won their last two.
"They were 0-6 and everybody
kind of wrote them off, but with
every game they arc growing more
The Panthers turned in an excel
lent defensive effort Friday night
limiting Dodge County to just 10
yards total offense in the second
half.
The Panther offense had struggled
the previous two outings but was
effective Friday night, gaining 218
total yards, including two big pass
plays which netted 70 yards.
"Our offense executed better Fri
day night than it had the last couple
of games. The defense played
tough football the entire game and
the offense caught fire in the second
half and moved the ball. They had
some kids playing both ways and
they wore down” Stephens said.
Appling County runs out of an I
formation and primarily utilizes
two running backs, Brandon Vann
(31) and Bryan Holmes (41). Both
backs have had several 100 yard
plus games and Stephens is con
cerned about defending the outside.
"They like to get the ball to
Holmes so we have to contain on
the comers," Stephens said.
Sources in Appling County esti
mate Holmes and Vann, who both
alternate at tailback and line-up to
gether, comprise 60 to 70 percent
of the Pirate offense.
Pirate quarterback Ken Thomason
(6), is a versatile athlete who has
two 100 yard rushing games, is an
effective passer and also kicks off,
punts and shares place kicking du
ties.
The Pirates returned 10 of 11
starters on defense and expected the
unit to be strong.
Stephens said Pirate safety Matt
Coleman,(4o), is as tough as any
body they've seen all year.
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Westfield is looking to quarterback Danny Perfect to lead the way against Mt. de
Sales Friday night. Perfect has had a record breaking season for the Hornets.
confident. That is a tribute to
Coach (Robert) Slocum and the ded
ication of their kids. They have a
The defensive line includes 6'B
338 pound Jamie Nails (65) and 6'2
250 pound Justin Herrington (54).
The Pirates leading tackier is
Pleae see HOME, page 8A
Recreation league Stallions,
Mustangs play in Optimist Bowl
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Perry will be well represented at
the 35th Annual Optimist's Bowl
Saturday at International Stadium in
Warner Robins.
Two Perry Recreation Midget
Football teams will be competing
against two Warner Robins teams,
for the right to be called champions
of the county.
The Perry Mustangs defeated the
Perry Stallions last Thursday and
won the Perry Recreation title.
The Mustangs will play the Warner
Robins Falcons at 4:10 p.m.
The Stallions play in the Conso
lation Bowl against the Warner
Robins Showboats at 2:35 p.m.
Stallions Coach Horace Gilbert
praised his team saying they’ve
come a long way since the start of
the season.
"This is a very young team, they
didn't have a lot of experience when
the season started. But they were
dedicated and they came to practice
every night and worked hard," he
said.
The Stallions are led by tail
backMinebacker Eddie Gary, Nose
guard Chris Swinford and Dante
Holmes.
f The Houston Home f
Journal
bunch of good team players, two
tough running backs and their quar
terback is more confident every
Perry offensive stats
Rushing
Player Att. Yards Tl)s
Teruya Williams 102 493 1
Stacy Francis 122 437 4
Shawn Bass 82 201 1
Dexter Kendrick 40 182 " ‘ ' 0
Jake Forehand 1 8 0
Arthur Billings 1 (-1) 0
Jason Brett 3 (-7) 0
George Francis 2 (-18) 0
Alan Rowell 1 (-12) 0
Team 354 1,283 6
Opponents 314 1,119 14
Passing
Player Att. Comp. Yards IDs Ints
Shawn Bass 68 22 314 3 9
Jason Brett 1 0 0 0 0
Teruya Williams 4 2 72 0 1
George Francis 11 (-16) 0 0
Team 74 25 370 3 10
Opponents 102 44 727 4 4
Receiving
Player Reept. Yards TDs
Arthur Billings 6 59 2
Stacy Francis 4 29 0
John Morton 8 203 1
Dexter Kendrick 2 15 0
Teruya Williams 3 20 0
Corey Harvey 1 42 0
Team 2 4 368 3
Opponents 44 730 4
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Mustang tailback Eddie Gary breaks a tackle against the
Perry Stallions. Both teams will play Saturday in W.R.
week," Boydsione said.
Players to watch when the Cava-
Please see PLAYOFF, page 8A