Newspaper Page Text
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k-THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1992
Perry sports
SV Brian j
Lawson
W Sports editor
Watching an
ending and
a beginning
Football for Perry High ended Fri
day night in faraway Appling
County.
The 41—7 score belies how close
the game was. The Panthers were
able to move the ball most of the
night and the defense played pretty
well in the face of turnovers and
some good Appling County field
position.
It was one of those games where
every time something good hap
pened for Perry, something bad
would immediately follow it.
Shawn Bass sprinted for 17 yards
to the Appling 25 and fumbled.
Later, Bass threw a long pass to
Boris King, the next play an errant
pitch was recovered by Appling
County.
Not only did the two fumbles kill
Perry drives, they chipped away at
the attitude of "Hey, we might be
able to win this game.”
Perry would get a big play, and
the feeling on the sidelines was
budding optimism. Then the Pan
thers would shoot themselves in the
foot and the hope would die.
Perry ran through the big play,
hope, fumble, despair, cycle three
times.
Their fourth fumble, which was
picked up and returned for an Ap
pling County touchdown, clinched
the victory, but most of the damage
had been inflicted by then.
Trailing 21-7, and facing the
number seven team in the state the
Panthers had one last gasp. Bass
hit Dexter Kendrick on a 66 yard
screen pass. Perry set up first and
ten on the Appling 22. A touch
down there would have put them
within seven and maybe the Pirates
would have started looking over
their shoulder. As it was, the Pan
thers fumbled the first play, Ap
pling recovered and drove for a
touchdown.
The next scries produced the fum
ble return TD mentioed above, but
by then it was over.
It's not often where you can al
most literally see the emotion drain
from a team, but Perry's fumbles at
the wrong times provoked that.
The Panthers were overmatched
and Appling has some college
bound players, but the difference in
the game was turnovers, not talent.
1 went to sec Westfield's basket
ball teams play in Macon Monday
night.
The girls team is as fun to watch
as I thought they'd be.
April Horsting led the way, but
Laurie Thompson’s outside shoot
ing and the Lady Hornets team de
fense were all keys to the win.
In the second game, the Westfield
boys ran wild on Southland.
Cater Pierce has had three days
with his team and the defense and
the fouls showed that at times, but
they're a fun team to watch.
The Hornets hit seven three point
ers, Austin Abney had a four point
play, John Shipley had four steals
and 11 HomeLs scored.
Maybe the summary play from an
early season, wide-open philoso
phy, "Showtime" standpoint was
Josh Williams grabbing a loose
ball, heading for the Southland
basket, disregarding a Hornet
breaking from the other wing, and
netting an off balance 18 footer.
I asked Coach Pierce about the
shot Tuesday morning and he
grinned in recollection.
"That's the style we play. We're
trying to get more shots than the
other team," he said.
1 know, that kind of basketball
must have Adolph Rupp spinning
in the grave, but 1 like watching it
The other thing that makes
Pierce's team interesting is the early
season, clear the bench, everybody
plays, approach.
It gives kids an opportunity to
show what they can do and it's a re
lief from the "We have to win every
game, no matter how unimportant
it is," school of thought.
Pierce knows, the games that mat
ter are region games, in the mean
time he'll work on his defense and
figure out player combinations.
It's a cool approach.
WHS winsTattnall Tourney over AC
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sport* Editor
After three days of practice, the
Westfield Hornets began their sea
son with an 84-68 win over
Southland and an 82-67 win over
Athens Christian to win the
Tattnall Tournament Tuesday.
In the opening game, the Hornets
used 13 players and received
balanced scoring.
Austin Abney led the Hornets
with 22 points. Westfield had 11
players in the scoring column in
cluding Shane Hester with 16
poinLs and John Shipley with 12.
Geoff Hill, who started at point
guard, had a solid performance with
eight points, six rebounds, three as
sists and three steals.
The Hornets started quickly jump
ing out to a 19-12 first quarter lead.
The Raiders got all 12 of their
points from junior Jed Strange.
Six players scored for the Hornets
in the first eight minutes, including
Hill with five, Abney had four,
Shipley had four and three Hornets
collected a basket a piece.
Both teams were in the bonus
midway through the second quarter.
No Hornet was in first half foul
trouble, but Westfield had six play
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Perry's Tarvish Felton is ready to begin the season.
PHS basketball schedule
Date
Dec. 1
Dec. 8
Dec. 11
Dec. 12
Dec. 15
Dec. 18-21
Jan. 5
Jan. 8
Jan. 9
Jan. 15
Jan. 16
Jan. 19
Jan. 23
Jan. 26
Jan. 30
Feb. 2
Feb. 5
Feb. 6
Feb. 9
Feb. 12
Feb. 19
Feb. 24-27
Mar. 4-6
Mar. 11-13
Opponent
Macon County
Macon County
Dodge County
Houston County
Central Macon
K.F.C. Classic
Houston County
Ware County
Appling County
Wayne County
Peach County
Jones County
Dodge County
Fitzgerald
Ware County
Central Macon
Appling County
Wayne County
Jones County
Fitzgerald
Peach County
2AAA Tourney
State Tourney
State Finals
ers commit at least one foul.
Abney hit two three pointers in
the second quarter, Shipley and
Lon Talton each blocked a shot and
Shane Hester led the scoring with
eight points.
Shipley, Talton and Hill led the
defense with a combined total of 10
steals.
The Hornets pushed their lead to
33-14 at 5:06 of the second quarter,
before Southland called a timeout
and began to settle down.
The Raiders outscorcd the Hornets
19-10 for the remainder of the half
and the teams went into the locker
room with the score 43-33.
In addition to Abney, Talton and
Chad Evans hit three pointers in the
second quarter. The Hornets fin
ished 7-14 from three point range
for the game.
The third quarter saw both teams
again in the bonus. Southland's
Steven Avant committed three fouls
in under four minutes.
Shipley had three steals in the
quarter, each steal lead cither to a
lay-up or free throws. He finished
the quarter with six poinLs.
Abney made a rare four point play
during the quarter. While hitting a
B-team
Girls B
Boys B
Boys 9th
Both B
Boys B
None
Boys B
None
None
Both B
Both B
Boys B
Boys B, 9th
Boys B
None
Boys B
None
Both B, 9th
Girls B
Boys B
Both B
None
None
None
Site
Perry i
Montezuma
Eastman
Warner Robins i
Perry
Albany
Perry
Perry
Baxley
Perry
Ft. Valley
Gray
Perry
Fitzgerald
Waycross
Macon
Perry
Jesup
Perry i
Perry
Perry
TBA
TBA
Albany
three pointer he was fouled and then
converted the free throw to the de
light of the vocal Westfield contin
gent.
Hill scored five points in the
quarter and Hester added four. Josh
Williams scored two on a fallaway
jumper and Troy Nuss added a free
throw. Nuss led the Hornets with
seven rebounds.
The HomeLs led after three quarters
66-46.
Southland made a final run to
open the fourth quarter.
The Raiders scored the first seven
points of the final quarter to cut
Westfield's lead to 13.
Following a time out Abney hit a
jumper, the Hornets rebounded a
Southland miss and Jason Shell
connected from the comer.
The lead was never again threat
ened. In the fourth quarter, South
land's David McLendon hurt the
Hornets near the basket with six
points and Justin Reeves scored
seven points.
The Hornets wrapped up the game
with six points from Abney, six
from Hester, two from Phillip Rig
don and four from Shell.
"I thought we were aggressive the
whole game. I played 15 people
and they were all aggressive. Our
motto is to get more shots up than
the other team and we did. I was
pleased with Jeff Hill's play at the
point. Using Jeff at the point will
give Austin a chance to play the
two guard and give opposing de
fenses a different look. We com
mitted a lot of fouls around the
basket on rebounds and on plays
where we failed to communicate on
screens. We really haven't had a
chance to work on defense at all,
and we need about two weeks work
to get it down solid. I'm looking
forward to playing Athens Chris
tian, because they'll come after us.
Our kids need to sec a team like
that," Coach Cater Pierce said.
In the Athens Christian game, the
Eagles jumped out to an early 14-0
lead. The Hornets first point came
on a free throw by Chad Evans.
Abney hit two three pointers,
Talton hit a jump shot and Evans
added another score to bring the
Hornets to 16-11 by the end of the
quarter.
Lady Hornets open with win in tourney
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
The Westfield Lady Hornets
opened their season with a 55-34
win over Southland in the first
round of the Tattnall Tip-Off Tour
nament Monday night.
The win was Westfield's first over
Southland since 1989.
The Lady Hornets were led by
April Horsting who scored 22
points and Laurie Thompson who
had 11.
The Hornets got out to an early
lead behind Horsting's eight first
quarter points and led at the end of
the first stanza, 16-6.
Westfield's pressing defense forced
Southland into mistakes throughout
the first half. The Lady Raiders had
committed 13 turnovers by half
time.
Horsting paced the Lady Hornets
in the second quarter as well leading
the way with six points. Laura
Langston contributed six first half
points and five other Hornets scored
two points each.
Westfield led at halftime 28--17.
The Lady Raiders scored the first
seven points of the third quarter to
cut Westfield's lead to 28-24 at the
six minute mark.
Southland closed the gap behind
the outside shooting of April Gre
sham and Mimi Minick. The pair
combined for 11 points, including a
three pointer from Minick.
Thompson answered back with a
jump shot, the Hornets forced a
turnover and Thompson hit from
the outside again.
Southland's shooters cooled off
and the Hornets led after three quar
ters 38-32.
Thompson led third quarter scorers
with six points. Horsting and
Langston each chipped in a basket.
Turnovers were the difference in
the final quarter.
Southland committed seven
turnovers to Westfield's two.
The Lady Hornets were able to
capitalize on Southland's mistakes
and they outscored the Lady Raiders
17-2 over the final eight minutes.
Jill Barr had five fourth quarter
points, Kimberly Marshall con
tributed three points in the quarter,
Journal
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Shane Hester, left, looks to shoot against Southland.
Both teams were in the bonus
midway through the second quarter
as the tempo increased. Hill scored
five points and Talton and Abney
had four each to close the half at
31-30 Athens.
The game turned in the third
quarter when the Hornets hit four
three pointers. Talton hit two of
them and Abney and Nuss had one a
piece. The Westfield defense didn't
allow a score until the 4:45 of the
quarter. The Hornets led 55-45
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Kimberly Marshall, right, looks for an open teammate
in the first round of the Tatnall Tip-Off tournament.
Westfield lost in the tourney final to Tattnall.
Horsting added six and Thompson
closed out a solid game with a three
pointer.
"Our defense was the key. We
played good, scrappy defense. The
pressing game worked and when
they adjusted to the press we played
good half-court defense. Laura
Langston and Laurie Taylor can
shoot from the outside and tonight's
game will help their confidence
when it comes to taking the open
shot. I was able to play nine
people tonight and it looks like I'll
be able to play more people than I
did last year, which will help down
alter three quarters.
Westfield withstood a late run by
the Eagles, with some clutch foul
shooting and two key steals by Hill
which turned into lay-ups.
"Our guards kept their heads when
we got down early and kept us in
the game. We made some
adjustments and half time and our
boys slowed down their inside
game. Our club responded against a
tough team and they deserved to
win," Pierce said.
the stretch. To beat Southland by
21 gives our team a big shot of
confidence and that means more
than words can describe," Coach
Donna Campbell said.
Tattnall slowed the Lady Hornets
down in the Tournament final,
beating Westfield 45-29.
The Tattnall press presented
problems for the Hornets and
Westfield had several turnovers.
Laurie Thompson led the scoring
for Westfield with 13 points and
Laura Langston had six points.
Horsting was held to three points in
the loss.