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Hook kids on fishing—8A
Sports
Phil
Clark
Clark looks at
the weekend's
games
After last week’s GISA openers
and the triple header at the Georgia
Dome highlighted high school
football, there’s a full schedule of
games this week with just about
every area school in action. Let’s
take a look at some of those games.
Southwest Macon at Upson Lee.
Southwest has a new coach in Bill
Boyd, who formerly was head coach
at Baldwin but most recently an
assistant at Southeast Macon. Boyd
will try to turn around the football
fortunes at Southwest, a team that
was 0-10 last year. His task won’t
begin easy, though. He takes his
team to Thomaston to play pre
season number one, Upson-Lee, a
25-0 winner over defending state
champion Dunwoody Saturday
night in the Georgia Dome. Upson-
Lee will be too big, too quick and
too tough. Phil’s pick, Upson-Lee.
Washington County at Baldwin.
Pre-season Double-A number one
Washington County boasts one of
the top college prospects in the
State in tackle Jeremy Brett, a big
300-pounder with a 3.75 GPA and a
1,010 SAT score. Baldwin County
made the playoffs last year in 2-
AAAA, so this should be a good
game, despite the mismatch in
classification. Rick Tomberlin at
Washington County is one of the
best young coaches in the state. He
should find a way for his Hawks to
win. Phil’s pick, Washington
County.
Northside at Griffin. Talk about
two old war-horses at the head
coaching positions. Conrad Nix is
back for his second stint at
Northside and Lloyd Bohannon has
been a Griffin seemingly forever
and has always had outstanding
teams. He should. His is the only
high school in the county.
Northside has some outstanding
athletes, and Griffin has not been
up to their usual standards in the
past couple of years. Though
Griffin is at home, Phil’s pick is
Northside.
Peach County at Houston
County. A solid Peach County
program against upstart Houston
County in another classification
mis-match. Three-A Peach County
will be directed by a new coach,
Rodney Walker, while Houston
County is piloted by one of the
outstanding young coaches in the
state in Doug Johnson. Both teams
lost a lot of fine players, both
teams have some good ones coming
back. Peach County probably has
too many good athletes for Houston
to handle, but look out for an
ambush. Phil’s pick, Peach
County.
Coffee County at Fitzgerald. I
use this game because both schools
will have new coaches, for different
reasons. Long-time Coffee coach
Bonwell Royal retired and Charlie
Winslette left state Double-A
champion Greene-Taliaferro to take
the job. Winslette also won a state
championship at West Rome, so
the choice by Coffee County was a
sound one. Bob Herndon was not
rehired at Fitzgerald after a walkout
by black players last year. Mark
Daniels replaces him. By the way,
Herndon got the head coaching job
at Forsyth Central. This game
shouldn’t be close as Coffee’s
always-tough defense will be too
much for the Purple Hurricanes.
Phil’s pick, Coffee.
Tattnall Square at Westfield.
Both teams won openers last week,
by almost the same score as
Tattnall beat FPD 20-3, Westfield
won over Mount de Sales 20-7.
When these two teams get together,
it’s a good football game. Westfield
won at Tattnall last year in a
monsoon. The weather will be fine
this week, so will the game. Phil’s
pick, Westfield.
Here’s Phil’s list of other picks.
Perry uses its size to beat Jordan.
Macon County’s wishbone offense
gets another win for C.B. Cornett,
who’s 39-1 in regular season games
in his four years at Macon County.
His Bulldogs should handle Tri
County. FPD rebounds from
Tattnall loss to beat Monroe.
Stratford will handle Deerfield and
Please see Clark, page 9A
Westfield lances Mt. de Sales 20-7
f
Matt Shop ley Is off and running on a 99 yard punt return for a touchdown. The only
thing In front of him Is the goal line.
S&E takes Rozar tourney
By VETO F. ROLEY
Sports Editor
S&E took the the Parks and
Recreation softball tournament
Aug. 21, but only after holding off
a late Lanier Clothing rally.
Behind two hits by Tim Vickers,
S&E jumped off to a quick 8-2 lead
through three innings.
Lanier would add one in the
fourth and one in the fifth. Deal
Odom had the big hit in the fourth
with a solo shot over the left field
fence as Lanier battled back to 8-4.
Seeing their lead dwindling
away, S&E surged back in the sixth
with five runs to make the score
13-4. The big hit of the inning
came with two-outs, with Brett
Hardy clearing the bases with a
triple.
But, Lanier, who won the regu
lar season title, would not give up
Stan Gann finishes 20th in
By VETO F. ROLEY
Sports Editor
Perry High School golf ace Stan
Gann continued his summer tour of
Southern golf courses, finishing
20th late last week at the P.G.A.
Junior Championships at West
Palm Beach, Fla., 27 strokes off
the pace set by California golfer
Joel Kribal.
After the second day of the tour
nament, Gann was m striking dis
tance of first with an eighth place
showing on the leader board.
However, inconsistent play hurt
him over the last two days of the
Perry opens with young
Jordan team this Friday
By VETO F. ROLEY
Sports Editor
The Jordan team that defeated
Perry High 13-0 has moved away.
Jordan coach Randy Bishop said
that eight players, who went both
ways, were no longer with the team
due to either graduation or moving
from the area.
Only two starters from last year
return for the 1994 campaign, said
Bishop. Mike Alakamovitch will
go at defensive end and offensive
guard, while Phillip Parham will
line up at offensive tackle and out
side linebacker.
Even though he lost a lot of
players from last year’s team,
Bishop said that his team's strength
lay in its skill position, particularly
at runningback, which will run be
hind a good size line.
Doobie Walker and Nick Jackson
will do most of the ball handling
for Jordan. Bishop said that they
were small, with good speed.
While Bishop will feature the
run, the pass will not be forgotten.
Jordan should test the Panther sec
ondary, as Bishop said he would put
the ball in the air approximately 40
percent of the time.
Pulling the trigger for the Jordan
1 will be junior Ivan Martinez.
Martinez received a good amount of
snaps last year as the second suing
quarterback and while leading the
easily. Six consecutive Lanier bat
ters went to the plate in the Lanier
seventh, scoring four runs.
However, S&E settled down,
getting the final three outs in order.
Lanier 14, S&E 12
The championship game was not
the first time that night the two
teams had met.
In order to win the tournament,
Lanier, coming up from the
"losers" bracket would have to
sweep a double header from S&E.
And, they won the first matchup.
At first it looked like* Lanier
would be able to cakewalk to the
win. Owen, Mack Passmore and
Tyrone Passmore connected for
homers in the first inning as Lanier
staked out the 5-1 early advantage.
Two runs in the second and three
runs in the fourth saw the regular
season champions extend their lead
tournament, with Gann finishing
the 72 hole event with a score of
301, 13 over par.
”1 wasn't real happy with the last
two days," said Gann.
Gann shot a 72 the first day, a
73 the second day, and a pair of 78s
on the final two days of the tour
nament.
Gann said the course at the
P.G.A. National was one of the
toughest courses he bad played.
"There was a lake on every hole,"
said Gann, who added that the
greens were tight. "There were a lot
junior varsity squad.
Defensively, Bishop said that
Jordan played with multiple fronts.
"We are not talented enough to line
up in one formation," he said.
Look for noseguard Corey
Henderson to anchor the defensive
line.
Panther Coach John Stephens
said it was hard to read what Jordan
was going to do this early in the
season. He said that while Jordan
liked to give the ball to its backs,
they also liked to stretch a defense.
"We can't do crazy things," said
Stephens. "We've got to maintain
the ball, and we can't give up the
big play."
Stephens said his team was ready
to start hitting other teams.
"It's like dating your cousin,"
Stephens said of fall practice. "They
want somebody they haven't seen
before. They are tired of each other.
It gets tired.
"They are ready to hit somebody
else."
Perry is coming off a good sec
ond half of the season, despite los
ing to Dodge County in the first
round of the playoffs last year.
After starting the season 1-4, the
Panthers reached down and won
their next five games. ”1 definitely
think that is going to be a factor;"
said Stephens.
Please see Panthera, page 9A
Wednesday
Aug. 31,1994
7a
to 10-3.
But, faced with the prospect of
playing till midnight, S&E stormed
back into contention. A seventh run
sixth inning, highlighted by
Vickers three run homer, put S&E
back in the game, and threatened
Lanier with the early exit.
Lanier responded in the bottom
of the sixth, scoring three more
runs. Adkinson's two run single
pushed the Lanier lead to 14-9.
But S&E wasn't finished. The
car dealers weren't finished, scoring
three runs with two out in the in
ning. However, the late inning
push fell short, with Lanier forcing
the midnight championship game.
Lanier 9, Sonshine 6
Third place game featured Lanier,
which had been bounced from the
winners bracket by S&E the previ-
Please see Softball, page 8A
of greens surrounded by water."
Over 50 junior golfers from
around the United States made the
trip to Florida to participate in the
tournament. "I learned that there
were a lot better golfers around the
United States than I knew of," said
Gann.
Panthers take first region win
By VETO F. ROLEY
Sports Editor
One day after losing to Peach
County, the Perry Panthers returned
to their winning ways defeating re
gion opponent Houston County 10-
7.
In winning, the Panthers sur
vived 12 walks, two errors and four
hits.
In the first two games of the
season, a win against Jordan and a
7-5 loss to Peach County, the
Panthers fell behind early, allowing
their opponents several extra outs.
However, the first inning against
the Bears saw a different story, as
Robin Griffen and her defense didn't
allow a run until two were out in
the third inning.
While the Panthers were keeping
-pmpvhii ________ -■■■
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Amber Fendley scoots down the line as Perry assistant softball coach Carl Thomas
shows fast movement to avoid the errant throw from third.
Dove huntin' in old days—BA
Houston Times-Journal
By VETO F. ROLEY
Sports Editor
There were a lot of questions
that needed to be answered by
Coach Ronnie Jones and his coach
ing staff when the Hornets took to
the field to open the 1994 season
against Mt. de Sales.
Many of the questions Jones had
about his team were answered with
a resounding 20-7 win over the
Cavaliers.
Last year, Jones took his team
of 24 players to the state champi
onship game. Last year, he also
saw 13 of those players walk away
with their diplomas on graduation
night.
A flood of players answered
Jones' call for football, giving him
a deep roster of over 40 players.
However, most of those players en
tered the 1994 season untested.
"I thought the defense did a super
job,” said Jones, where he had only
one returning starter, Jere
Campbell.
Tim Allen led the defense with
six stops on the night, which
turned in a team effort. Jones said
that six or seven players had four
to-five tackles. "The whole defense
:3a
m
Allen Robenson, of Sonshine, makes a play on the ball
against Comfort Inn during Thursday's games before
the rains fell.
national links play
Gann said the competition was
the toughest he has faced this year,
"by far." "I didn't really know any
body there. I thought I had a good
chance to place in the top 15-to
-20.”
The summer of golf has been
"kind of hot and cold," said Gann.
the Bears off home plate, they were
doing some serious early inning
damage, scoring four runs in the
first inning.
Kristen Shipes, Shanetina
Gilbert and Amber Fendley all sin
gled to load the bases, starting the
inning. Mamie Mills then ripped a
double to left, scoring Shipes and
Gilbert. Fendley scored on
Stephanie Andel's grounder to sec
ond. Marina Culley got the final hit
of the inning, driving Mills home
with a single to left.
"We came out and hit the ball
much better than we did our first
two games," said Panther coach
Kelly Britsky. "We got our first
three or four batters on.
"We played fairly clean defense,”
Britsky continued. "We didn't make
Hornets Mt. de Sales
FD 9 7
R-Yds 33-192 32-118
PC/PA/PI 2-6-1 7-13-0
Pass Yds 4 0 91
Total Yds 232 209
Turnovers 3 0
Punts 4-20.3 8-31.8
Penalties 6-57 5-25
Possession 19:36 28:24
is going to the football," said
Jones.
"One offense, we did a lot of
good things," said Jones. "But, we
made some mistakes that hurt us."
The Hornet offense would com
mit three turnovers, and Jones said
there were several missed blocks on
the night. He added that he expected
mistakes on the offense coming in
because of the experience factor.
"We were much better on offense
than I expected it to be," he said.
"Matt Shepley (Homet quarter
back) did a tremendous job,” said
Jones. "All the passes that he threw
were right on target." Shepley
threw five passes, completed two
for 40 yards and had one pass picked
Please see Hornets, page 9A
"I play real good, and then I have a
mediocre round."
In addition to his top 20 finish,
Gann has taken home the top tro
phy from at least four other tour
naments, winning the Georgia
Junior P.G.A., the Griffen Classic,
the Ron Stafford Jr. Invitational and
the P.G.A. Sectional in Columbus.
many mistakes.
"Our first goal was not to let
anybody score in the first inning. In
the first inning, we have been killed
the last two games.
"The confidence is building. The
main goal is to get confidence up.
You are not going to win unless
you believe you can win.
"We are beginning to realize that
we can win every game that we
play."
Up 4-2, the Panthers got several
insurance runs in the fifth and sixth
innings.
In the fifth, April Fendley started
the inning with a double to left-cen
ter. After a pop-fly single by
Shipes, Gilbert doubled to center to
plate Fendley.
Amber Fendley then tapped to
Please see Win, page 9A