Newspaper Page Text
B.E. Dennard—3B ~|[
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Perry sports
TKI Brian L
Lawson
Sports editor
Santa, if you
have room in
your bag....
Dear Santa,
I realize it's been several years
since you and 1 last corresponded,
but I was hoping you still had my
name on file.
1 know when you come through
the sliding glass door (sorry, no
chimney) of our apartment you will
be dropping off a large cache of
toys for my son. 1 don't want to
strain your back, but I'm hoping
you'll have a few additional items
in your bag for me. Sec, for the
first time in a while I have a list of
my own that I am respectfully ask
ing you to consider.
I'm well aware that you and your
staff are besieged by similar lists,
so do the little kids first and look
mine over whenever you find a
spare minute.
Item 1: Help out my favorite ath
lete and millions of others afflicted
or at risk by stomping out the
AIDS virus.
Item 2: With the signing of Greg
Maddux the Braves now have a staff
that is as good as any that has ever
been put together. Give John
Scheurholz a bottle of champagne
for his hard work and keep the team
healthy.
Item 3: Abolish the NCAA.
I have a 1,000 pages worth of rea
sons for this request, but since your
time is short I'll be brief. Start with
the hypocrisy. The NCAA, the
coaches and the TV networks make
millions and millions of dollars off
of the efforts of college athletes.
But the players are FORBIDDEN
from receiving even a tiny share of
the revenue they generate. Since
when is payment for service consid
ered anti-American? Never,
nowhere but the NCAA. What is
an amateur? The athletes receive a
free education. What they don't tell
you how much time they have to
devote to their sport. Take a survey
of coaches who will let a player out
of practice early to study for a par
ticularly difficult exam, when you
find the answer you can allow those
who answer in the affirmative to
continue to talk about "Priorities"
and "Role Models."
Item 4: Get rid of Astroturf. The
stuff docs nothing to aid their
sports and the injury totals are
staggering.
Imagine playing a game of touch
football with Donncr, Blitzen Ru
dolph and the Elves on a piece
green carpet over cement. Eventu
ally you'd have smaller elves and
Dasher would have turf toe and
wouldn't be able to fly.
Item 5: Make every football an
nouncer spend a day like George
Plimpton did while writing "Paper
Lion". Give them an opportunity
to stare at a blitz, remember the
count and the play, avoid Reggie
White and deliver the ball to a spot
the size of watermelon twenty yards
away while 75,000 fans are scream
ing about your manhood and a
linebacker is putting his helmet
well into your kidneys. And then
they can talk about "bad decision
making".
Item 6: Give Jerry Tarkanian a
break.
Item 7: Just once let Florida
State play Miami sometime later
than October. Like January.
Item 8: Give Deion Sanders a
chance to write a sports column,
while his betters try to play two
sports and answer stupid questions
on a daily basis. Whomever does a
better job in the role reversal gets
Deion's money. The loser can't
mention the other's name again.
Item 9: Give Bo Jackson a new,
non-synthetic hip.
Item 10: If my son is athletic as
he appears to be, make sure his Dad
doesn't take all the fun out of the
games for him by making ridicu
lous demands on him. Make sure I
just let him play and cheer him on.
Item 11: Let Marge Schott take a
cruise with Nelson Mandela and
she if she changes her mind about
the importance of skin color.
Item 12: Make Norman
Schwarzkopf Commissioner of
Baseball. Let him straighten out
the owners and take plain common
sense. Baseball, when it’s done
, Tlease see LAWSON, page 3B
PHS wins region opener 71-66
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
It was a bit of a scheduling
nightmare, but with only one game
under their belt, the Perry Panthers
traveled to Dodge County Friday
night for their region opener and
came home with a hard earned 71-
66 win.
As expected it wasn’t easy for
Perry. The two teams traded the
lead three times in the final minute
and the Panthers needed a deflected
inbounds pass and some clutch foul
shooting to seal it.
With 2:45 left Perry led 65-60
after Michael Lane hit a leaner from
the baseline.
Dodge County's Arthur Etheridge
countered with a lay-up to cut the
lead to three. The Panthers then
turned the ball over and the Indians
Cedric Jordan hit a jumper from
just inside the three point line to
close the gap to 65-64.
Keith Wimberly, who injured his
ankle just before halftime and sat
out the entire third quarter, was
fouled as he drove to the basket but
missed the front end of a one and
one. Following the miss Etheridge
converted again and the Indians took
the lead 66-65 with 53 seconds to
play.
Lane answered with a ten footer in
the lane to put the Panthers back up
with 40 seconds left.
Boris King was then called for
Hornets to regroup after loss
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Senior guard Geoff Hill has his shot blocked against Stratford.
Hill and the Hornets fell to the Eagles 67-56 Friday night.
Perry
wrestlers
win big
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
The Perry Panthers wrestling team
evened their season record Tuesday
night with a 66-12 drubbing of
Dooly County.
The Panthers scored nine pins and
were awarded two forfeits during the
rout.
Coach Steve Hassengcr credited
the team's aggressiveness and will
ingness to employ a new offensive
style as key's to the victory.
"Against Irwin County last
Thursday we were not the aggres
sor, against Dooly County we
were. They had so little practice
time before the Irwin County match
that they ended up relying on what
was familiar and there was a lot of
upper body wrestling. Jason Shirey
at 125 pounds was the first wrestler
to try and apply what we had
worked on. After the first period he
began attacking the legs and he
won. The next two guys picked up
on it and we began to execute very
well," Hassenger said.
Please see WIN, page 3B
Saturday, a q
Dec. 12,1992 ID
blocking as he stepped in front of
Dodge County's Jo Jo Northrutt
who was en route to a lay-up.
Northrutt missed the free throw
and there was a pile of bodies
scrambling for the ball under the
Dodge County basket. With sev
eral players clinging to the ball, the
possession arrow pointed to Dodge
County 28 seconds left.
As Dodge County attempted to
inbound the ball, Panther Eric
Richardson deflected the pass an
other scramble ensued and with
Wimberly at the bottom of the pile,
Perry was awarded the ball.
The Panthers broke the Indians'
press and Lane was fouled during
the fast break with ten seconds to
play.
Lane sank both free throws, in
creasing the Perry lead to 69-66.
Jordan's three point attempt with
three seconds left was just long and
Billings was fouled on the rebound.
He knocked down both free throws
sealing Perry's win 71-66.
Arthur Billings led the Panthers
with 21 points and Michael Lane
had 15 points, including 14 in the
second half.
"I'm very pleased with the win.
We did a much better job of getting
the ball to the low post and for
most of the game we rebounded
very well. Give Arthur Billings
credit, he was behind the other
players because of having come late
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Perry wrestler Eric Felder works for an escape.
Classified Ads 4B I
| The Houston Home f
Journal
from football and he had a very
poor game Tuesday night. But .£
tonight , which was a big game for ' '\a
us he played like a senior should. jM
Michael Lane had a big second half, • ' L'
and Fric Richardson hit some big , .
shots lor us and did a good job at * li
the point while Keith was put. Our t ' I||
versatility helps a lot and I’m |uV - f \l|
pleased we played !0 people and
they all contributed," Coach Carl JSHL '' ' |
Thomas said.
Dodge County opened the game ' '3
scoring the first six points and ran anl B| \
out to an 8-2 lead at the five J
minute mark. Lane picked up three J I
quick fouls while pressuring the |||||||>
ball and foul trouble plagued Perry ssjlpc s' ||L s >; *|
all night. Richardson and Tarvish j
Felton both picked their third fouls w" lillll
in the second quarter and Dodge lllllllilSk k Ilk
County was in the bonus most of ' \ * 2/k '* M
the first half. Ml
At v!)l of the quarter Dodge kVj
outscorcd the Indians 8I to close ; ? *
out the quarter trailing 13-12. '''JKT''
Billings led the early comeback I|f
with six points coming on moves v
near the basket. I\*
The second quarter set the tone for- . h %g||| *
the rest of the game. The Indians tfj&> 2 MB
moved out 16-12 and Perry quickly L;
caught them behind Francis and ? * . JSl.w?
King working the middle. The yf I
teams exchanged the lead until 1:30 '■ ' Ms JPPISSk ITSfc... .mmm fINNH
left in the hall when Dodge moved Boris King shoots over Dodge County Friday night.
Please see PHS, page 3B
Westfield's offense misfires in second half
By J.J. COOPER
Staff Writer
When the Westfield basketball
team looks back at Friday's 67-56
loss to Stratford later this year, the
game will not be as remembered as
much as the meeting that followed.
After the Hornets last loss, head
coach Cater Pierce had spoken only
a couple of words before dismissing
the team. This time it was different.
Instead, the team had a45-minutc
meeting which didn't end until
10:30.
"We were just soul searching,"
Pierce said. "Every one got a chance
to air out anything they wanted to
say.'
"We just kind of talked about in
tensifying practice," senior guard
Austin said. "We need to gel
together as a team.
Abney explained saying, "last
year, we had four seniors who had
played together forever. They knew
what each other could do. This team
doesn't know who is capable of
what yet."
That inexperience showed Friday
night, as the Hornets rallied out to
a first half lead before falling apart
in the fourth quarter.
Westfield held a 32-30 lead at the
half, but in the second half,
Westfield struggled from the free
"We just talked about intensifying practice. We need to
gel. This team doesn't know who is capable of what yet. "
Senior guard Austin Abney
throw line, while Stratford excelled.
As a result, Westfield quickly fell
behind.
Stratford, led by Jeromy Gwinn's
21 points and Joey Cranford's 15,
finished the game 21-30 from the
free throw line. The Eagles shot
over 50 percent from the floor in
the second half.
At the same time, the Hornets
struggled to continue their early
pace. Westfield scored only once in
over five minutes at the end of the
third quarter and the start of the
fourth.
"Any coach can say, 'we need to
make our shots,' but it is extra im
portant with us because most of
ours arc momentum shots," Pierce
said. "When we started missing
them, the crowd started to get
down, and I think the kids did too.
After each missed shot they started
worrying 'are we losing it? 1 ."
Abney, Lon Talton and Shane
Hester battled to keep Westfield
close in the fourth quarter. Stratford
Lady Panthers struggle,
lose to Dodge Co. 45-32
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
After a hot shooting first quarter
the Perry Lady Panthers turned ice
cold from the field and were beaten
45-32 by Dodge County Friday
night.
In the first eight minutes the Lady
Panthers scored 14 points and
looked sharp from the field
shooting just under fifty percent
primarily from long range.
If fifty percent doesn't sound like
super shooting compare it to the
second quarter numbers which found
Perry hitting nothing in 24 shot
attempts.
After one quarter the Lady Indians
led 18-14. The Lady Panthers were
led by Christy Thornton who scored
six points and Benita Billings with
four.
The next eight minutes were the
Panthers undoing.
They missed jump shots, lay-ups,
post up shots, long heaves from
three point range and several
chances on missed shots. The Lady
Panthers outshot the Lady Indians
24-16, but couldn't convert on
anything.
Dodge County was just as cold
opened up a nine point lead with
just over three minutes to go. But
Westfield rallied and closes it to as
few as four on a jumper by Abney.
But at the one minute mark,
Abney busted his nose while at
tempting a steal. He was forced to
sit out while he tried to slop a nose
bleed. In the meantime, Stratford
opened the lead back to 11 for the
eventual 67-56 win.
In the first half, Westfield's fast
break offense had more success.
Abney had 10 first half points and
Hester had 10 more.
With the loss, the Hornets
dropped to 2-2, but the team's mood
remains upbeat.
"Last year at one point, we were
3-5 with a five game losing streak.
This year is definitely not a lost
cause," Abney said.
WESTFIELD (56)- Abney 19,
Hester 15, Talton 12, Shipley 4,
Nuss 2, Evans 2.
STRATFORD (67)- Gwinn 21,
Cranford 15, Burgess 12, Collins 5,
Tift 4, Bailey 4, Walker 2, Collier
1.
until the 1:14 mark when they hit a
free throw. The Lady Indians then
scored five quick points including a
three pointer from Juanita Brown to
push their halftime lead to 24-14.
Perry first basket in 12 and a half
minutes came on a short jumper by
Natalie Taylor. By that time.
Dodge County led 35-19.
The Lady Indians managed to
exploit the middle of the Perry
defense with drives to the basket
and crisp passing. They scored 13
points in the quarter and shot 5-7
from the field .
By contrast Perry was only 3-13
from the field. The Lady Indians
led after three quarters 37-22.
Dodge County began to turn the
ball over in the fourth quarter and
Perry closed the gap to 11 but the
could get no closer.
The Lady Panthers outscored
Dodge County 10-8 in the final
quarter, but it was too little too
late.
The Lady Panthers take on
Houston County tonight and then
play Central Macon at home
Tuesday night.