Newspaper Page Text
Perry sports
Mistakes
and a look
at the Perry
Invitational
Let me begin by saying Ralph
Thomas was not unconscious for
three minutes Friday night.
The sports editor here had kind of
a tough Friday night and the
Saturday sports section had a few
gaffs in it.
My column might have seemed a
little familiar, because 1 had run it
on Tuesday. Due to my inability
to work my laptop computer 1 was
forced a 2:30 a.m to improvise. 1
figured talking about the Middle
School one more lime, wouldn't
hurt, but 1 apologize for that stupid
mistake.
Also, I identified Louis Kendrick
as Willie Kendrick. Louis caught a
16 and a half pound catfish and de
serves proper credit for it. The
young man in the picture with
Louis is Steve Kendrick, not Steve
Woodson as I incorrectly identified
him.
As far as Ralph Thomas’ con
sciousness is concerned I misread
my notes and had him out for three
minutes in the story rather than the
actual few seconds.
For concerned fans and parents
and the local neurologists 1 apolo
gize.
Perry is hosting their third annual
Perry Invitational Wrestling
Tournament this weekend and the
event will be the biggest yet.
Coach Tony Thrift has quickly
built one of, if not the, premier
tournaments in the entire state.
Twenty four schools will be rep
resented, including defending tour
nament and state champion Mcon
County.
"We try to provide .hospitality for
everyone who attends the tourna
ment. A quality hospitality room
for the coaches and a quality tour
nament for the kids," Thrift said.
Thrift said he would be surprised
if one team runs away in the com
petitive tournament.
"The top 3 finishers could be de
cided in the finals. For our
wrestlers, 1 think if a kid finishes in
the top four in this tournament he
should be able to do the same in the
area tournament next week," he
said.
To give the casual fan an idea
how a wrestling tournament works,
every wrestler in each weight class
submits his name and a standard
tournament chart is drawn up.
A typical successful wrestler will
compete in roughly six matches
over the two days of the tourna
ment.
What makes events like this one
so interesting is the lack of easy
matches for any of the wrestlers.
"We may have kids who don't
place in this tournament place in
the area tournament," Coach Steve
Hassenger said.
Teams from over 100 miles away
will participate in the Perry
Tournament.
Thrift is quick to point out that
the tournament has been successful
due to a lot of effort from a number
of people.
"We've gottnc a great deal of
support from the community, the
administration and faculty and the
parents. It has been a real team ef
fort. There will be parents coming
to watch their kids compete in this
event and they will need a place to
stay and places to cat, which will
help the Perry economy. I'm proud
and honored to give this city a
boost economically," Thrift said.
If you’re still not sure about how
wrestling works and you want to
see several of the best wrestlers in
Georgia demostrate how it's done,
visit the Perry gymnasium Friday
night or anytime on Saturday.
A quick thought on the Super
Bowl, it seems like with two weeks
to think about it the game always
sounds even just before kick-off.
If Dallas can get to the two most
mobile quarterbacks in football,
Randall Cunningham and Steve
Young, it's fair to assume they can
get to a bum kneed Jim Kelly.
Perry runs over Dodae 73-60
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
The Perry Panthers rode a 23-10
second quarter to a 73-60 win over
region foe Dodge County Saturday
night.
The win gave the Panthers a 6-0
region record going into Tuesday
night’s game at Fitzgerald.
Coach Carl Thomas had said go
ing into the contest with Dodge
County that Perry would be in a
strong position for the remainder of
the region schedule with a win
against the Indians.
The Panthers beat Dodge with a
balanced offensive attack which
produced four players with a least
13 points and a filth player with
eight points.
Unlike their last meeting with
the Indians where the Panthers
pulled out a dramatic win in the
linal minute, Perry took control in
the second period Saturday night
and refused to let Dodge County get
back into the game.
’ In the first quarter they look us
out ot our offense and we were
backing off a little from their pres
sure. I told our players it was time
to stand up and be men and they re
sponded. 1 think we were the first
team to settle down and we were
able to execute our offense,"
Thomas said.
After Dodge scored the first bas
ket of the second quarter to tie the
score at 18, Perry went on a 17-4
run over the next four minutes and
built a 35—22 advantage.
Two Panthers did most of the
scoring in the second quarter as the
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Benita Billings battles against Dodge County.
Lady Panthers fall to
D.C., beat Fitzgerald
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
The Perry Lady Panthers lost an
early lead and were never able to
catch up to Dodge County Saturday
as the Lady Indians rolled 53-36.
The game was nearly a replay of
the two team's last meeting with a
cold shooting second quarter prov
ing to be the Lady Panthers undo
ing.
Sparked by eight first quarter
points from Benita Billings, Perry
led after the first quarter 11-10.
But the Lady Panthers were
outscored 16-4 over the next eight
minutes which put the game out of
reach.
In the second half Perry never
got closer than 15 points.
Dodge County has been ranked in
the top 10 for much of the season
Perry team defense shut down the
Dodge offense. Boris King hit three
lay-ups and a putback in die quarter
and Eric Richardson scored nine
points in two and half minutes, in
cluding six in a row and a three
pointer.
The pair combined for 17 of the
Panthers 23 points in the quarter.
Shawn Bass and Stacy Francis both
converted putbacks as Perry twice
got baskets on the fourth shot at
tempt of a possession.
Francis was also assigned the
task of guarding Dodge's best player
Arthur Etheridge. Francis hounded
Etheridge all over the floor and lim
ited him to four points in the quar
ter despite being run through sev
eral bruising picks each time Dodge
County had the ball.
"Without a doubt, Stacy Francis'
defense made a difference. Arthur
Etheridge scored 19 points but he
worked for those 19. You can live
with a player like that only scoring
19. In the fourth quarter we had
Stacy play him man and I think he
kind of relishes his role as our de
fensive stopper," Thomas said.
The second half saw the two
teams score 16 each in both the
third and fourth quarters.
"Several times I felt like we were
on the verge of blowing it wide
open but we flirted with foul trou
ble and we asked our players to pull
back a little bit and make sure they
didn’t commit unnecessary fouls,"
Thomas said.
Arthur Billings scored 12 of the
and much of the credit goes to their
defense which prevented Perry from
establishing any kind of inside at
tack.
Billings finished with 17 of
Perry's 36 points but she was forced
into several errant shots by the
taller Lady Indians.
Chasity Thornton had 11 points
for the Lady Panthers, including
eight in the final period.
The Lady Indians received bal
anced scoring with three players in
double figures.
Amy Brown led all scorers with
23 points, including eight in the
second period during the Indians
11-0 run over four minutes of the
quarter.
Lorretta Mincey and Gwen Jones
Please see LADY, page 10A
Panthers 16 points in the period in
cluding a three pointer and three free
throws after he was fouled on an
other three point try.
Perry maintained leads of no less
than 11 and no more than 14
throughout the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Perry built
their lead to as many as 19 points,
following a Keith Wimberly lay-up
on a dazzling assist from Francis,
with 4 minutes to play in the
game.
The Indians' scored eight of the
next 12 points to finish the scor
ing.
Billings led the Panthers with 17
points, despite foul trouble
Richardson scored 14, Wimberly
finished with 13 points. King added
12, Curry had 8 points. Bass,
Francis and Tararski Stripling each
hail a basket. Tarvish Felton and
Stan Gann each hit a free throw.
PHS 80
Fitzgerald 63
Perry again used a big second
quarter to pull away against a
region foe, this time Tuesday night
against Fitzgerald.
The win moves Perry to 7-0 in
region play.
Eric Richardson had a strong first
half with 15 points and led the
Panthers with a total of 19. Boris
King, who Thomas said played a
strong overall game scored 15
points, Arthur Billings and Keith
Wimberly each scored 14, with
Wimberly getting 11 in the second
half.
WHS
readies for
2nd half
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Last week was a fairly accurate
summary of how the Westfield
Hornets season has gone thus far.
Tuesday night, the Hornets beat
once defeated, defending state
champion Mt. de Sales with four
quarters of solid basketball.
Friday night, alter a hot shooting
start by Shane Hester, the Hornets
were hit by some bad luck-Hcslcr
getting in foul trouble and three
timely three pointers from a
Monroe player who hadn't scored in
the first half-cn route to a 61-54
loss.
The two games illustrated the
Horners talent and their occasional
tendency to go cold at the wrong
times.
The Hornets were in control of
Mt. de Sales throughout and han
dled the pressure of a Cavaliers
comeback by responding with the
game winning shot as the clock
dipped below ten seconds to play.
Monroe, which is traditionally a
tough place for visitors to win, saw
the Hornets start fast and play even
until the opening minutes of the
fourth quarter when they couldn't
find away to score.
"I feel like we’re starting to play
better. But we're still stalling on of
fense and having to re-set too
much. In the past we wanted teams
to play man defense against us, this
year we're better against the zone.
We’re shooting 38 percent for the
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Johnathon Gilbert sends a Irwin Co. wrestler flying Tuesday night In Perry.
Wrestlers roll over Central, Irwin
KARIN HASSENGER
Special lo The HHJ
The Perry Panthers geared up for
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1993 c
Journal
||||! v^' S n
Eric Richardson shoots for three against Dodge Co.
fPsBIIH9H
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Austin Abney leads the Hornets in scoring at 14 9
per game.
season and yon can't win if you said.
shoot like that," Coach Cater Pierce Please see IVWS, page 1 0A
the Perry Invitational by delcating
Central of Macon 55-14 and aveng
ing an earlier loss to Irwin County
43-27.
Coach Steve Hassenger said after
Please see IRWIN, page 10A
9A