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Sports Phil Clark Stephens to go under the knife Perry High School football coach John Stephens, who suffered neck and back injuries in an auto accident several months ago, will undergo neck surgery Monday at Coliseum Park Hospital in Macon. Doctors had hoped Stephens had recovered sufficiently, and would not require surgery. Such is not the case, though. While talking with Coach Stephens earlier in the week about his pending surgery, we talked some about the many coaching changes that have or will take place before next football season. By the way, Stephens is not one of those who will be moving to another school. While this is the off-season for football, it is the time of the year when contracts are being renewed, so it is probably fitting to mention the various coaching changes. First off all, there was the an nouncement at Southwest Macon that Edgar Hatcher had been fired after fourteen seasons. The overall football situation in Macon has been on the decline for many years, and Southwest is no exception. No replacement has been named for Hatcher, though Steve Edwards at Northeast and Jimmy Hammonds at Southeast have been mentioned. I question the wisdom of moving a coach from one school to another within the same system. All this does is create another opening. And besides, neither has set the woods on fire. Edwards has a 19-23 record at Northeast while Hammonds, who started the football program at Southeast six years ago, is just S-SS over those six years. George Bobo announced several weeks ago that he is leaving the head coaching job at Thomasville to take an assistant's job for Tommy Welch at Class A Armuchee. Both men coached under Mike Hodges at both West Rome and Thomasville, and are longtime friends. Bobo says he wants to be closer to Athens, so that he cam see his son, Mike, play for the Bulldogs. Problem is, Bobo is a quarterback. That's Eric Zeier's job. To fill the vacancy left by Bobo's departure, Thomasville came calling to Neal Rumble, the highly successful Peach County coach. Rumble is going home to coach the Bulldogs, where he was a high school standout as a player, and a former coach as well. This leaves the Peach County job open. It's a great position, and has attracted a lot of attention. No replacement has been named, but it should happen shordy. One of the biggest surprises, to me, was Gary Guthrie leaving a solid program at LaGrange to take the job at Rome High School, a AAAA school following the consolidation of East and West Rome schools. And how about Luther Welch leaving Camden County? It seems a change in administrative policy led to this decision. The athletic direc tor’s job, which Welch also held, will be handled by a non-coach, and Welch decided to leave. Another AAAA job is open. Longtime Coffee County coach Bonwell Royal has retired. Rumors have Central Thomas County's Ed Pilcher in line for that job. He is no stranger to the region, lAAAA, having been an assistant at Colquit County. Two other retirements have cre ated openings. Bill Schofill is retir ing at Swainsboro and Gene Cook sey has called it quits at Pelham. Schofill played at Fort Valley High School. Ricky Smith is leaving Wilkin son County and David Ward leaves Bacon County. Former Warner Robins High School quarterback Chip Stuart has left Irwin County, but his replace ment has already been named. Russ New comes from Bradwell Institute in Savannah to take the job. That's a change from AAAA all the way to class A, a surprising move. And of course, a couple of changes have taken place close by. Please see Clark, page 7A Perry bows to Bleckley County By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor "If you don't hit with people in scoring position, you don't win," said Perry head coach Bob Jones after seeing his Panthers go down in defeat to Bleckley County, 5-3. Wednesday, the Panthers would leave eight men on base, seven in scoring position and three on third against the Royals. Additionally, the Panthers would have another baserunner thrown out at home on a baserunning mistake to end the fourth inning. Mistakes by the Panther defense would lead to four of Bleckley County's five runs. In the top of the first inning, with two outs and a Royal on second base, Zack Bryan hit a routine grounder down the first base line which was misplayed by the Panther firstbaseman. A bad throw to the pitcher cover ing first base allowed the runner on third to score. A passed ball allowed Bryan to move to second, where he scored on Davis Douglas' single to right. "A routine high hopper to first base that the firstbaseman gets a lit tle casual on," was how Jones de scribed the ball hit by Bryan. "We compound that by making a wide throw to first "We were behind 2-0 already when we should have been out of the inning and in the dugout." In the fifth inning, with Perry down by one run, 3-2, and Brian Barrs on because of an error at third, Robby Howell hit a long fly to left-center. However, the center fielder and leftfielder, both fresh Hornet golfers swing right past By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor Even with leading golfers Todd Rigdon and Keith Davis having dis appointing rounds Thursday after noon, the Westfield golf team easily beat Monroe Academy in Forsyth 316-324. Ed Strickland took up the slack for the Hornet golfers, leading the five man group with a 76, just two strokes off the pace of Monroe's Brittain Vaughn, who led the match with a 74. Rigdon finished the day with a 79, one stroke ahead of Davis, who checked into the clubhouse with an 80. Horseshoe Club presents awards to festival pitchers BY PAULINE LEWIS Staff Writer There were 75 participants in the Family Fun Pitch held on Fun Day and sponsored by the Perry Horse shoe Pitching Club. Awards were presented to the Adult and Junior winners on Mon day, April 4, at the Horseshoe Pitching Pit on the Agricenter grounds. First place winners re ceived a trophy and one year’s membership in the club. Second Stratford’s Eagles power past Hornets By VETO F. ROLEY Sporta Editor Stratford continued its perfect season Tuesday afternoon as they beat Westfield 10-1 in Macon. However, the game was closer \\> l 1 i Hornets head coach Bert Brown makes a trip out to the mound as Troy Nuss' day Is done. Lon Talton, coming In, Is headed for the mound against Stratford. men, had problems communicating, allowing the ball to drop between them, putting runners on first and third. Both runners scored two outs later, when Douglas punched a ball over the head of the right fielder, making the score 5-2 in favor of the Royals. "If you don’t make the routine play, and if you don't hit with peo ple in scoring position, you don't win," repeated Jones, who said that his young team was making mental mistakes in the field and at bat. "You mentally have to come out and prepare yourself everyday to play," said Jones, who noted that for many of the freshmen players on his team, this was the longest season they had played. "You've got to think to play this game," said Jones. "If you are not focused, this game will make you look very bad." Jones said that his team had lit tle speed and power. "We really have only one guy who can hit the ball out of the park. If we are going to score, we need three base hits. "When you have that type of ballclub, you've got to play in such a way that you don't give up a lot of runs. You have to play good with the gloves and make smart plays and good decisions." Starting with the bottom of the first, the Panthers would make sev eral runs at the Royals. With one out, Terry Yawn reached second on an error by the thirdbaseman. After stealing third, he would score one out later when the thirdbaseman booted Dallas Waldrip's hard hit Robert Harrison had an 81 and Scott Hill shot an 85 to round out the Hornet golf team. "We are still not shooting what they are capable of shooting," said Marvin Arrington, head golf coach at Westfield. However, Arrington said that he was down to the five members who would defend the re gion championship and go for the state championship. "They are getting steady with their game," said Arrington. "However, their scores are on the upper end of their capabilities." Arrington said that his foursome has shot a 295 at Perry Country Club, which is their home course. and Third place winners received ribbons. Adult winners were: First Place, Paul Wilson; Second Place, George Long: and Third Place, Jeff Barn hart. Junior winners were: First Place, Angela Moody; Second Place, Michael Slater; and Third Place, Ryan Lowe. Following the presentation of Please see Pitching, page 7A than the score, as the Hornets de fense had problems getting out of the sixth inning, allowing Stratford to blow open a 5-1 game by push ing five runs across the plate. "One thing I didn't want to hap 1 ■ • i ' f J im . Darias Waldrlp pitches against the Royals. In addlton to providing a strong arm on the mound, Waldrlp also paces the Panthers with a batting average of .468. grounder. Waldrip would steal second and go to third on a wild pitch. How ever, he would be the first of three Panther runners left on third when Royal pitcher Jason Kirkland got the final Perry batter of the inning to ground out to short After giving up a run in the top of the third, the Panthers took it back in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Jason Brett started the rally with a walk. Tim Allen At the Twin Cities course, where the state championship tournament will be played, Westfield shot a 316 earlier this year. "It will take better than a 316 to win the state champi onship." "We have a young team this year," said Arrington, "but they are Area golf tourneys slated Kiwanis The Kiwanis Club of Perry will host their annual Kiwanis Scholar ship Golf Tournament on Friday, April 29, 1994, at the Houston Lake Country Club. The net proceeds will go towards the Kiwanis Scholarship Fund. This tax deductible fund gives a col lege scholarship each year to a de serving senior from Westfield Schools and Perry High School. The Kiwanis Club is seeking monetary donations, coupons or gifts for prizes to be given to the participants in the golf tournament. Sponsorship of a team (four play ers) is S2OO. For more information, please contact Paul Hicks at 988-5950, Lanny English at 988-5440. John pen was what happened," said Bert Brown, head coach of the Hornets. "The boys would have come out feeling a lot better about them selves with a 5-1 loss instead of a 10-1 loss. It wasn't a blowouL but Houston Times-Journal Saturday, April 9,1994 Houston Times -Journal- executed the hit-and-run over second to put runners on the comers. Thad Cook singled to left to bring in Brett. On a 3-2 count, Jamal Reynolds tapped a slow roller past the mound to short. Seeing that he would not have a play on Reynolds at first, Royal shortstop Jeremy Raley turned to third to check Allen. However, Allen was in no-man's land. Raley threw home to get Allen for the third Panther out of Monroe Academy very capable of defending the region tide." He added that it was more dif ficult to repeat as region champions than it was to win the tide, since other coaches would use the defend ing Ude as a motivational tool. "Todd Rigdon and Keith Davis are playing very well," said Arring ton. "They are pretty solid in all Sundquist at 988-5200, Mike Jack son at 987-1522 or Harry Small at 987-5277. Epilepsy Area golfers will soon have a chance to tour the 18 holes of Houston Lake Country Club while raising money for the Epilepsy Foundation of America. Registration is on-going for the Middle Georgia Golf Classic for Epilepsy, which will be held at Houston Lake May 20. The tournament will kick off at 11:30 with lunch, tee times will follow at 1 p.m. The tournament will follow a four-man scramble format, with one player having a 0-7 handicap, an other an 8-12 handicap, the third a 13-17 handicap and the fourth a the score makes it seem like a blowout." Stratford took advantage of three walks, four errors, two passed balls and two wild pitches to score the five late runs. Stratford had three hits as they just missed invoking the 10-nin rule, with Lon Talton getting out of the inning on Russ Branyan's deep fly ball to center with the bases loaded. "I thought we played pretty well defensively for the first five in nings," said Bert Brown, head coach of the Hornets. He said the game could have been closer going into the sixth inning if not for baserun ning mistakes in the second and third innings. "Against a team like Stratford, you can't over emphasize the im portance of doing the little things right,” said Brown. "If you run out of chances to score with mistakes on the bases, you are digging your self a hole." The Hornets would score their only run in the top of the first. Matt Shepley would walk, and move to second on a sacrifice by Thad Hawk. With two outs Lon Talton moved Shepley to third with a single. Shepley scored on Jake Walls' single. That would be the last time Westfield would threaten Stratford pitcher Beddingfeid. Beddingfeld, who pitched a four hitter, would al- Page 5A the game, leaving Cook at second and Reynolds at first Derrick Oliver would start the fifth by reaching on an error by the secondbaseman. Two outs later, a single to left by Jamie Walker would put runners on first and sec ond. A wild pitch would move both runners into scoring position. However, Kirkland would end the threat with a strikeout, leaving run ners on second and third. Please see Perry, page 7A phases of the game, they really are." Rigdon is ranked eighth in the most recent Macon Telegraph rank ings with an average of 77.5, and Davis is ranked ninth with an aver age of 77.8. The Hornets improve to 5-0 with the win in Forsyth. handicap over 18. Registration fee is $65 per player. Gift certificates will be awarded to the first five place teams. For further information, call Jackie Klein at 987-2992. Zip-In Entries are currently being ac cepted for the eighth annual Zeb’s Zip In Invitational, which will be held April 23-34 at Houston Lake Country Club. Teams will consist of two play ers. Saturday’s round will be played as a scramble, and Sunday’s round as four ball stroke play. The entry fee is sllO per player, and includes practice round greens fee, tournament round cart fees, range balls, prizes, a burger cook- Please see Golf, page 7A in Macon low only five more Hornets to reach base, retiring two on double plays. But more than Beddingfeld, the story of the first five innings of the game was Stratford power, as three Eagle hitters sent balls across the fence. Lead-off hitter Chad Smaha started the show, taking a 3-2 Brian Staines offering over the left-field fence. 'Hie dinger off Staines was the first gopher pitch the freshman had thrown all year. "He got down a lit tle bit," said Brown. The Eagles would go on to score another run in the first off two singles and two walks, but Staines would end the inning with a strikeout, leaving the bases full of Stratford runners. While it took opponents a long time to find homerun range for the first long ball against Staines, it didn't take them long for a second shot. In the second inning, with Smaha on after a single, Branyan hit a rope over the fence. "It looked like a driver," said Brown. "He hit the ball hard." The third homer of the day for the Eagles would come in the fourth, when Joey Cranford would take Troy Nuss deep, making the score 5-1, with four of the runs coming courtesy of the long ball.