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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1992
10A
Perry sports
Brian i
M* Lawson
Sports editor
"Hey ref, I'll
double your
price, $2."
Probably because I’ve been watch
ing so much basketball lately I've
been thinking about the striped
shirts.
Referees, as anybody even slightly
rational knows, have one of the
world's lousiest jobs.
It's funny because most of the
guys who do the job are generally
pleasant people who enjoy sports.
But when they get on the hard
wood, or the grass or the mat some
thing happens and they are no
longer viewed as human beings.
Now, I'm not about to advocate a
warm, fuzzy, agape' approach to the
world's referees. I've discovered that
when I'm playing sports I’m one of
the world’s worst referee baiters so I
have no room to criticize.
Anyway, in the last couple of
weeks I’ve witnessed the Westfield
girls get mugged by Deerfield
Windsor with very few fouls called
unless blood was visible. I saw the
Perry boys basketball team denied
an opportunity to take a possible
game winning shot because the refs
decided that the man inbounding the
ball really didn't require three feet of
distance from the defender. And I
heard a bizarre talc from the Hornet
Classic wrestling tournament where
a referee signalled near fall points
for Perry's Johnathon Gilbert. But
after the scorer failed to record the
points, leaving Gilbert at an erro
neous scoring disadvantage, the ref
eree couldn’t recall the near fall. The
decision cost Gilbert a third place
medal.
The thing is, I don’t think any of
the people who had whistles in
their mouths during these events are
sinister or necessarily incompetent,
but the blame still falls on them.
When a referee docs a good job,
nobody notices, when he's even
slightly off his game, the world
reminds him.
I don't envy the men and women
who choose the job and I wonder
sometimes what kind of special
mental condition prompts them to
do it in the first place.
I umpired for a short time while 1
was in college. The money was
good, the work sounded easy and
the hours were great.
I wasn’t a particularly good um
pire, but 1 wasn't a complete embar
rassment. Anyway, I was doing a
game for 7-9 year olds and had a
hard time distinguishing whether a
ball had hid the front of the plate or
the batter. I called the ball fair
which enraged one side. After see
ing the player limping down the
line (the bail must have hit him, I
surmised) I reversed myself, thereby
enraging the other side.
Now both sides arc mad at me and
both assume my stupidity but I was
making the correct call, albeit late.
After the game, one of the man
agers said to me, "You're the worst
umpire I've ever seen."
Now this guy was probably 60
years old so he'd seen a lot of um
pires. I don't have to explain that 1
was pretty insulted.
I made an equally kind remark
back to him and we nearly came to
blows.
I'm not proud of wanting to fight
a much older man, but it illustrates
how crazy the world of referees and
umpires gets.
Imagine going to work, tired and
cranky and not in your sharpest
frame of mind. In the course of the
day, maybe some dust gets kicked
up as a player slides and a shoulder
shields your view. You make a call
and the tape later reveals you were
wrong. Suddenly you're receiving
death threats over a baseball game.
Part of the American experience is
demanding excellence and moving
someone out if they don't perform
up to snuff. People who arbitrate
games are not exempt from this
kind of standard, but there is no
way to objectively analyze how dif
ficult their job is.
But, at the same time when you
sec a player clubbed to the floor ev
ery time she touches the ball it's
probably a sale bet that she is being
fouled.
The coaches I deal with on a regu
lar basis seem to be exceptionally
fair when it comes to the refs.
They all yell at them, which is a
vital part of the game, but I've yet
Please see LA WSON, page 11A
Rowland, Jolley pace PHS wrestlers in Adel
By KARIN HASSENGER
Special to the HHJ
and BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Facing the most competitive field
of the young season, John Rowland
and Mike Jolley both reached the
finals to lead the Perry wrestling
team to a 10th place finish in the
Hornet Classic in Adel Saturday.
In the 140 pound finals, Rowland
met state AAAA champion Stacey
Grady of Coffee County, and made
the match close before losing 10-5.
"Grady is one of the three or four
best wrestlers in the state. John
wrestled very well against him. He
didn't show a lot of fear and he re
ally went after him. John scored a
two point take down as the buzzer
sounded so it wasn't counted. To
wrestle him that close is a strong
performance," Coach Steve Hassen
ger said.
After winning three matches to
raise his season record to 11-0, Jol
ley was beaten in the 160 pound fi
nals by Ronnie Wright of Lowndes.
Wright placed in the suite tourna
ment last year.
Johnathon Gilbert wrestled for
third place in the 189 pound conso
lation finals. A scorers mistake cost
Gilbert two points and a medal.
In the third period of his match
with an opponent from Carver High
School, the referee signaled Gilbert
had earned two near fall points.
The official scorer failed to record
the two points and despite the
protests of the Perry coaches, the
Please see ADEL, page 11A
Br
Benita Billings aims for two of her game high 20
points against Dougherty in the KFC Classic.
PHS girls fall 57-40 to
Dougherty in KFC Classic
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
After outscoring the Perry Lady
Panthers 16-4 in the second quarter,
the Dougherty High Lady Trojans
rolled to a 57-40 win in the first
round of the KFC Classic Tourna
ment in Albany Saturday night.
The Lady Trojans led by 26 after
three quarters but Perry used a
pressing defense to cut the gap to
16 with four minutes to play,
forcing Dougherty to bring their
star player Jennifer Robinson back
in to settle things down.
Benita Billings led Perry with 20
points, but no other player scored
in double figures for Perry.
Robinson scored 18 points to lead
the Lady Trojans, who had four
players combine for 49 points.
Robinson started strong for
Dougherty, scoring eight first quar
ter points from the inside and out
side. Billings nearly matched
Robinson with six points of her
own, but the difference in the quar
ter and the story of the game was
Robinson's teammates added eight
more the team total and Perry had
only one other basket in the quarter.
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John Rowland battles In the Hornet Classic Tournament Saturday in Adel. Rowland and Mike Jollev both
placed second in the tournament against a very strong field. y
As in their only other loss of the
season, Perry struggled from the
field in the second quarter managing
only one basket, a three pointer
from Billings and a free throw from
Arica Askew.
The Lady Trojans matched their
first quarter total, 16 points to push
their advantage to 32-12 at half
time.
Robinson and teammate Cutina
Gibson each scored six points in
the quarter to pace the Lady Tro
jans.
As in their win against Central of
Macon, Perry did a good job re
bounding in the first half, Askew
pulled down six rebounds, but the
Panthers were ice cold from the
field.
In the third quarter Askew grabbed
four more rebounds and the Lady
Panthers offense produced nine
points. Billings scored five, and
Askew and Angela Leaggett each
added a basket.
The Lady Trojans kept pace with
15 third quarter points, led by six
Please see FALL, page 11S"
Perry suffers first loss 55-52
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Dougherty High handed the Perry
Panthers their first loss of the sea
son 55-52 at the KFC Classic in
Albany Saturday night.
The game was even most of the
night, despite Dougherty's lofty
ranking in the state polls and
Perry's playing without leading
scorer Michael Lane.
The biggest lead for either team
was six points and neither team
held the six point advantage for
more than 15 seconds at a time.
Both teams struggled from the
field and Dougherty's Chris Carpen
ter one of the nation’s most highly
regarded recruits suffered through a
cold shooting night which included
his missing three straight free
throws after getting fouled on a
three point shot attempt.
"I thought the game by both
teams was ugly. I'd like to think
both teams bothered each other's of
fense. We were able to get the ball
inside but the shots didn't fall. Gar
riett Curry was very close to having
a great game. As a tenth grader
playing against that kind of talent
he wasn't intimidated the shots just
didn't fall for him," Coach Carl
Thomas said.
Curry and Tarvish Felton who
Thomas said played well, struggled
from the free throw line. Curry
was 1-9 from the line and Felton
was 4-8. The rest of the Panthers
shot 11-15 from the line, but the
missed foul shots hurt Perry late in
the game.
With the score tied at 43 with
three minutes to play Cameron hit
a three pointer to put the Trojans
ahead.
The Panthers tied it with 2:07 left
after a Boris King basket and a free
throw by Eric Richardson.
Audwin Williams drove from the
baseline to give the lead back to
Dougherty with 1:58 to play.
Perry than had back to back
Perry Middle School rolls on
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
The Perry Middle School Panthers
basketball teams continued their
winning ways as all four teams beat
Tabor Friday in Perry.
The seventh grade boys who are
now a game out of first place at 4-
2, routed Tabor 50-31.
Coach Robert Cook has installed
a man to man defense which forced
26 turnovers in Friday's game.
"Having seventh graders playing
man to man defense this well is
unbelievable. During the game
when I was ready to switch them to
a zone they asked me if they could
keep playing it. Man to man forces
a faster paced game and they are ath
letic enough to do it. It's opened
the floor for our offense and we're
passing the ball better as a result,"
Cook said.
Anytime the team scores 60
points, Cook has promised them a
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Eric Richardson reaches for a loose ball against
Dougherty High. PHS was beaten 55-52.
turnovers which yielded a Cameron
dunk and two free throws by
Lorenzo Dowell.
Trailing 52-46 with 1:21 left
Perry's Stacy Francis hit a three
pointer. Dowell answered with a
putback.
Arthur Billings then converted a
three point play with 43 seconds
left to cut the lead to 54-52.
Doucherty tried to hold the ball.
pizza party. After three quarters
Friday, they had scored 43 and the,
party looked inevitable.
"Usually our word coming out of
the huddle is 'hustle' but this time
it was 'pizza.' They needed 17
points but they only scored seven
points in the fourth quarter. We
were close but it wasn't 60 so we'll
have to do it another day,” Cook
said.
John Brewer led the Panthers with
17 points. Reggie Clark scored 12
points, Justin White added eight,
Frank Jackson scored five, Eric
Fluellcn, Kory Whitfield, Jeff Wil
son and Chad Ekey had two points
each. Frederick Marshall led the
team with 13 rebounds.
"Everybody played well for us.
The bench contributed and they
handled the pressure well," Cook
said.
The seventh grade girls basketball
team beat Tabor 26-17.
Journal
but Keith Wimberly, who had to sit
out lour minutes with a recurring
ankle problem, made a steal with
18 seconds to play.
The Panthers called time out with
10 seconds left and set-up a play
for Wimberly in the corner.
Richardson was hounded by
Cameron while attempting to in
bound the ball and he did not appear
Please see PERRY, from 10A
"I didn't start our regular starting
five. I started three girls who
haven’t gotten to play very much
and they played well in the first
quarter and we scored 10 points. In
the second, 1 put the other three
starters back in and we only scored
one point in the second quarter. We
played better in the second half and
we outscorcd them 15-8 in the sec
ond half," Coach Danny Shelton
said.
April Montague scored eight
points to lead the seventh grade
girls. Lakeshia King and Kamari
Toomcr scored 6 points each,
Shenequia Howard, Cassie McKin
ney and April Fcndley scored two
points each.
The eighth grade boys won 62-
43, behind 26 points from Terrance
Joiner.
The Panthers press gave Tabor
problems throughout the game and
Please see MIDDLE, page 11A