Newspaper Page Text
Woods 'n Water— 2B
Perry sports
Brian
Lawson
Sports editor
Thinking
and playing
One of the great things about
sports is that is always in the pre
sent tense.
You can reminisce about players
or imagine the future your team
might have but the game is always
played in the right now, the drama
is always unfolding and it can't ever
be forecast with certainty.
Several different things in the
last 24 hours have made me start
thinking about this stuff and it's
funny how its fitting together.
Let me start by reciting a quote I
read yesterday that struck me as
maybe the most vivid description of
what it's like to be an athlete I've
ever heard.
Here's Troy Aikman talking
about playing in the Super Bowl
and then trying to savor it,
"....There was a tremendous rush
unlike anything I've ever known. I
tried to tell myself to calm down,
to just relax and play my game.
But I was hyperventilating until the
second quarter. I couldn’t enjoy the
fact that it was the Super Bowl. If
you knew the outcome beforehand,
then you could take time to register
the surroundings, to think about the
moment and to enjoy the experi
ence. But that's not the way it
work."
That's the thing about playing
sports. The game itself goes so
fast that there isn't time for reflec
tion and you have a job to do which
is completely alien to the idea of
sitting around pondering what
you're doing.
I watched an interview with Phil
Simms and he was talking about
after the Super Bowl when he was
22 for 25, (which is still the best
Super Bowl by a quarterback) and
saying how h£ kind of expected to
play that well and all the celebra
tion afterward seemed obvious and
he assumed all the credit he got.
He said, now he wishes he could
have appreciated what an excep
tional situation he was in and en
joyed through those lenses.
Nolan Ryan is going to retire
after this season and the most re
markable pitcher ever was talking
about how he can't do certain things
he used to be able to do. He was
able to handle the game physically
longer than anybody, but even he
can’t do it for much longer.
There's the doing it and then see
ing the game through the lenses of
someone going full speed and then
there's the remembering it, which is
a completely different velocity and a
totally separate experience.
If Aikman knew the score going
in he could enjoy the details of the
game and savor things a little bit.
But because he had work to do,
those things were a distraction if
they were noticed at all.
The thing is now, for the rest of
his life he'll be trying to remember
the particulars of his first (maybe,
only) Super Bowl and trying to re
capture a little more than he got the
first time through.
Ryan will certainly be savoring
every moment of his final year, but
he still has to pitch and the two
will undoubtedly get in the way of
each other.
Simms is looking at the end of
his career and it's obvious he'd like
to go back in time and do things a
little differendy.
All of life provides opportunities
for regret and nostalgia, but sports
seems to be an especially ripe field
for such things. Everybody re
members a great play and wishes
they could go back to that moment
just one more time or appreciate
once again how fast they used to
be. But when you're doing it you
don't have to think about how great
it is, you can just take off and expe
rience it
I talked to a kid today who's
buddy told him he wished he could
go back through the high school
state playoffs one more time.
I told a wrestler if he won the
state championship he'd have that
for the rest of his life. The wrestler
talked about fatigue and hunger.
The difference is I can afford per
spective because I'm not cutting
weight and I'm not wrestling five or
six matches in a few hours.
Playing is the perfect word.
Thinking is for when you wish you
could go back to it and you can’t.
'%< - wi ■ - I
■fci;:- - |>
* VH wm
' /
: : > >' : $: ::
s I sßffiSjPssll' & 5 wN
& J w*- v. ■ I
w ' :- -. v W" v. 5%
|f|t .S—;• % %iJri
1 j
4mjsL § 1
Keith Wimberly shoots over the Fitzgerald defense.
Panthers clinch region
crown, score 100 again
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
After the halfway mark of the
first half the only question remain
ing for the Perry Panthers was
whether they could do it again.
The answer was yes, as Perry
went over the century mark for the
third time this season beating
Fitzgerald 100-48.
The win gave the Panthers the
region 2AAA regular season title in
their first year in AAA as they fin
ished region play with a record of
11-1.
The Panthers defense completely
disrupted the overmatched
Hurricanes as Perry raced to a 39-
18 lead at the 4:14 mark of the sec
ond quarter.
Going into the final eight min
utes the Panthers led 77-31.
Perry started the final quarter with
a jumper by Eugene Arnold and
then got two free throws each from
Stan Gann and Stripling to give
them a 50 point lead, 83-33.
The Hurricanes then made a brief
run outscoring the Panthers 7-1
over the next two minutes to cut
the lead to 84-42 with 5:08 to
play.
A three point play by Stripling
ended the run and moved the
Panthers to 87 points with 4:32 to
play.
After Stan Gann hit a lay-up
with 4:09 to make the score 89-42,
Lady Panthers roll over
Fitzgerald 65-45
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
The Perry Lady Panthers re
sponded to back to back injuries
suffered by two of their players
with a 29-10 run over the final
eight minutes to defeat Fitzgerald
65-45 Friday night.
The Panthers were leading 31-25,
with 5:15 to play in the third quar
ter when Benita Billings was hit in
the mouth and had to leave the
game.
Two minutes later, with Perry
leading 34-29, Shanetia Gilbert
suffered a severe ankle sprain and
had to lay on the court for an ex
tended period while an inflatable
splint was placed on her ankle and
an ambulance was called.
After the approximately 25
minute delay, the Lady Panthers
came to life defensively which trig
gered several fast break baskets.
Perry scored six points in the fi
nal minute of the third quarter to
take 42-35 lead.
Chasity Thornton scored 17 sec
ond half points, including 11 in the
third period to lead the Lady
Panthers.
The already inspired Lady
Panthers got some help from
Fitzgerald's coach Pam Bishop.
With Perry leading 45-37 with
Saturday, 4 n
Feb. 13,1993 IP
the Panthers didn’t score again until
the 2:52 mark when Gann hit two
free throws.
Nathan Long hit a jumper to
move the score to 93 with 2:28 to
play and Arnold scored on a putback
to with 1:34 left to give the
Panthers 95. .
With the crowd screaming for
100, Gann hit a lay-up with 45
seconds left and then was fouled on
a three point attempt with 24 sec
onds to play.
Gann hit one of the three free
throws to give the Panthers a 98-
48 lead.
After a Hurricane miss, the
Panthers missed two shots and then
Stripling hit a putback with four
seconds left to give Perry another
100 point night, their third of the
season.
The game didn't start that badly
for the Hurricanes and they were
within three, at 13-10 with just
over two minutes to play in the
first quarter when Perry called a
timeout.
The Panthers emerged from the
timeout and outscored Fitzgerald
26-8 behind eight points from
Arthur Billings and seven from
Keith Wimberly, including a three
pointer.
In the final four minutes of the
second quarter Perry outscored the
Hurricanes 17-4 to close out the
Please see CLINCH, f >aga 3B
4:55 to play in the game, Bishop
was assessed a technical for argu
ing a foul call.
Arica Askew converted one of the
free throws on the foul, then
Thornton sank both free throws
awarded from the technical. Perry's
lead was suddenly 11 and the Lady
Panthers capped the night off by
then going on a 17-6 run to finish
the game.
Angela Leaggett scored eight
fourth quarter points, Thornton
added six, Askew had three, Amber
Fendley added a jumper just inside
the three point line, Rickeiva
Jackson hit two free throws and
Jada Releford made one free throw.
The Lady Hurricanes entered the
night winless, but led 14-11 after
one quarter behind six free throws
withqut a miss by Shanika Smith.
Smith finished the game with 17
points which included her
converting on 11 of 13 free throws.
Perry took the lead for good at
the 2:50 mark of the second period
on a lay-up by Thornton.
Askew led the Panthers in the
quarter with four points.
Perry led 23-20 at halftime as
Leaggett, Thornton Billings and
Askew combined fa 1 21 of the Lady
Please see ROLL, page 3B
Hornets win 4th straight
By DAVID JAHNS
Special to the HHJ
The Westfield Hornets hit eleven
three pointers to beat the George
Walton Bulldogs for their fourth
straight win to improve their regu
lar season record to 11-9 and region
to 5-3.
Austin Abney hit on five three
pointers for 15 of his 25 points.
The Hornets scored five three
pointers to jump out to a 23-10
lead at the end of one period.
Abney and Geoff Hill both hit
two three pointers.
The Bulldogs began the second
quarter with 12-2 run to cut the
Hornets lead to 25-22.
Hill then hit a three pointer with
3:56 left in the quarter to put some
emotion back in the crowd.
Chad Evans scored the last point
of the first half to give Westfield a
36-33 lead when he hit a foul shot.
In the third quarter, the Hornets
outscored Walton 19-12.
Abney led the period with nine
points and Talton had seven.
The Bulldogs outscored
Westfield 24-17 in the final period,
and were led by Chris Pressley who
had nine points, but the comeback
fell short.
Talton finished with 19 points
and Hester added 12.
Hill made it to double digits
with 11 points.
WHS ends regular season
By DAVID JAHNS
Special to The HHJ
The Westfield Lady Hornets
swapped the lead all through the
game with the George Walton Lady
Bulldogs only to fall short, 54-51.
The Lady Hornets started the
fourth quarter with the lead, 34-30.
The Lady Bulldogs pulled within
one before Laurie Thompson hit the
first basket for Westfield with 5:39
left in the fourth period making the
score 36-33.
George Walton then went on a
15-5 run that gave them a 48-41
lead with 1:43 remaining in the
fourth quarter.
With 1:26 to go, Thompson hit
a three pointer to bring Westfield
within four.
After the Lady Bulldogs scored
two points from the free throw line,
Thompson hit another three pointer
to make the score 50-47 with :45
left
Neither team scored until
Thompson converted two of three
free throws after being fouled on a
three point attempt to bring the
Lady Hornets within one with 15
seconds remaining.
Thompson then committed her
fifth foul with 14 seconds to play
and Walton hit both foul shots to
make the score 52-49.
Please see ENDS, page 3B
Perry
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Perry High's baseball team
opened practice this week.
The players will spend the early
weeks of practice working around
the rainy weather, stretching their
arms, conditioning and going
through various hitting stations.
Coach Bob Jones enters his third
season as the Panthers head coach
with two key starters returning.
Pitcher’s Jason Sikes and Dallas
Waldrip are both being counted on
to perform well.
''They're both juniors this year
and I don’t want to put pressure on
them, but they're the ones we're
looking to now. They're both top
quality kids and hard workers and I
don't see any problems with them
doing what has to be done," Jones
said.
The Panthers are coming off of
two highly successful seasons in a
row.
In 1990-1991, they won the AA
state championship and last season
the Panthers finished 23-4 and
played in the state playoffs.
Jones said he expects this year's
team to play a slightly different
brand of baseball than Perry has
played the last two years.
"We're talented in different ways
than we've been the last two years.
We had six or seven hitters in our
line-up that we could let swing
away all the time. We may have to
hit and run more and manufacture
runs but we’ve got several hitters
we hope will develop and we'll
Please see START, page 39
Classified Ads 4B
njß jP fl|
- I W
mt wmM JH 4lJBe~
iiMri mßßrnmal w WM
, Wfl E? luSf *il!
SBm m
: Jp SHL
Mm
Chad Evans battles for a rebound Friday night.
Hil' jga Hr wm
' - , - - ’r- Y-;,Y 'I
s- W r
I mm
jnMIPm Ha M
Jennifer Smith eyes the basket before a shot.
opens
£%&§& •' -i i .
-tfp 5 'wgjpk - * ''
'A..,., Mf -i.,.'A I * * ' -
iajffiwS
- • *fr'
; || 9 - JgflJEp*
pSpr ' ?,; '' f .
•Hi"
'l'" $* ’* J*" #?' ; ' , "A *A :oT'V;''i '" ■' *'
I .?* §f II- H \ \
' s ..via' ' ' ' ' v
Jake Chambers takes grounders at first base.
Journal
practice