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Phil picks the weekend L Clark I Si 3o "* Another 8-2 week in this picking business keeps our season winning percentage at .800 on 32 out of 40. The two misses this week in cluded Forest Park over East Coweta and Worth County over Peach. Worth was coming off a 4-6 season while Peach has been one of the most impressive AAA programs in the state over the past few years. But, Brent Brock is slowly get ting Worth County back to a level of respectability, and his three wins this season include the Peach win, 14-6, plus a 14-13 season opening win over AAAA Tift County. Forest Park must also be for real, since they have beaten three teams that were ranked in the AAAA top ten, Parkview, Upson Lee and now East Coweta. There are some good games on tap this week, so let’s jump in and take a closer look at some of them. Westfield at Tiftarea. This should be a blowout. I only mention this game because I think it will produce career coaching victory number 150 for Westfield's Ronnie Jones. Ron Drummonds at Tiftarea has a shortage of players, less than 20 on the team, and simply can't match Westfield's speed and depth. Phil's pick, Westfield. Perry hosts Jackson in an im portant region 3-AA matchup. Jackson is 2-0 in the region, Perry is 1-0. Perry's one loss was to Peach County, while Jackson lost to Jones County in the season opener. Both teams beat Pike County by six touchdowns. Perry is a better foot 'ball teaip than last year. Phil's pick, Perry. Stratford at Tattnall. A good matchup of GISA powers. Tattnall has just one loss, the 12-9 loss to Westfield, while Stratford, the de fending AAA chpmpion, is un beaten in five games. This game is at Tattnall, but Barney Hester's Trojans will have more than they can handle, even at home. Phil's pick, Stratford. Baldwin County Lakeside Augusta. Baldwin has had two in teresting weeks. First, they beat Warner Robins at McConnell- Talbert Stadium. Then they lose at home to Northside. But, Northside has one of the top running backs in the state in Greg Manson, who outran the Baldwin defense for three long touchdowns. Lakeside, on the other hand, is moving up from class AAA into re gion 2AAAA, so this is a region game. The Panthers are 3-0 with region wins over Butler and Tuggle, from 6A Our Southern traditions are being attacked by liberal politicians and civil rights groups. The Confederate Flag and the song, "Dixie" which seemed to be OK for the 129 years since the Civil War, are now politi cally incorrect. It seems that the civil rights groups should be worrying about the killing of their people by each other, the one parent families, and Panthers, from 6A ing Dodge 26-29, although the Panthers top finisher, Jada Releford, was 14 seconds behind Sharon Mitchell's 22:32, which was good enough for first. Monique Kendrick finished fourth in. the dual meet with a time of 25:20. Emily Noel was five sec onds behind Kendrick, recording a fifth place finish. Marielle Filholm was the third in the trio of Perry runners, finishing seven seconds behind Filholm for sixth. Yatosha Davis also scored for the Panthers, finishing ninth with a time of 27:35. The win against Dodge was the second of die year for die women who earlier beat Nordieast 20-41, and who finished fourth of five teams in the Bleckley meet. At the Northeast meet, the Panthers had five runners to finish in the top six. Releford was the leading Panther runner, coming across the finish line with a time of 23:03. Hilary Smith finished third with a dme of 23:34, beating Noel Noel across the finish line by 21 seconds. Filholm finished behind Noel with a time of 25:05 and Kendrick took sixth. Only one Perry runner finished in the top 20 at the Bleckley meet with Kendrick crossing the finish line in 15th posidon. In a tri-meet Monday, the Panthers had only two of the top five finishers, but still managed to Central. Baldwin is up and down, and this is supposed to be a down week. Phil’s pick, Lakeside. LaGrange at Upson Lee. The Grangers are 0-3, which is very unusual. Upson Lee, over the past three weeks, have had an open date, a loss and a win. Tommy Perdue thinks he likes the win best, thank you. Phil's pick, Upson Lee. Peach County at Swainsboro in a 2AAA versus 2AA matchup. Swainsboro has a new coach, Ray van Teague, who came from Lafayette to replace the retiring Bill Schofill. Teague has his team at 3- 1, the same as Peach after Friday's loss to Worth County. The Trojans take it out on the Tigers. Phil's pick, Peach County. Jones County at Mary Persons. Veteran coach Dan Pitts at Mary Persons is in pursuit of Wayman Creel's state record 315 victories. He has 306. Charlie Smith, back on the sidelines after 14 years away from head coaching, has the Greyhounds at 3-0. The game is at Mary Persons, and even though it’s another 3AAA versus 2AA matchup, Phil's pick is Mary Persons. Houston County will try to re bound from their loss to Mary Person by beating Bleckley County on the road. Both teams are winless in the region, and the Royals stay that way. Phil's pick, Houston County. Double-A number one Washington County will stay that way with a win over Greene- Taiiaferro. Usually, this would be a great football game. One team is the defending state champion, the other is the odds-on favorite to win it this year. Greene-Taliaferro is dowh somewhat this year. Phil's pick, Washington County. Seminole County will be at Macon County. The Bulldogs un der C.B Cornett have won 27 straight regular season games, the best in the GHSA. They meet a team that has a new coach, Wayne Profitt, who replaced longtime coach Walter Landing this year. The Indians are 2-1, but both victories came over Alabama teams. Their loss was to a strong Brooks County team 39-12. This could be a close game for a while, but the relentless Bulldog defense will wear the Indians down. Lee County got a touchdown with 16 seconds left Friday night, the first (and only) points Maccn County has given up this year. Chalk up number 28 in a row for the 'Dogs. Phil's pick, Macon County. In area games, Northside will be at Southwest Macon Saturday night while Warner Robins hosts Evans Friday night. Remember, as always, your team really needs your support. the myriad of other problems facing their race, rather than a flag or a song. They are successfully alienating many thousands of people who have previously been supportive of their efforts. The last of changes in our coun try could go on and on. Most of them not for the better. What will our grandchildren face? defeat Jones County and Jackson. Perry runners combined for 30 points, with Jones runners getting 36 points and Jackson runners get ting 66 points. Again, it was Taylor who took the win for the Panthers. However, he had to outrace a duo of Jackson runners for the number one slot. Taylor crossed the finish line for the Panthers in 16:52, steps ahead of Joel Williams and Justin Watts, who finished six and 21 seconds behind him. Casas took fifth with a time of 18:16, Lewis took seventh with a time of 18:38, Barnes eighth in a time of 18:43 and Paolo West ninth, with a time of 18:46. Dorman rounded out the scoring for Perry with a 10th place finish with 18:50. While Jones just missed first in the tri-meet, they dominated the women's meet, beating Perry 19- 50. Jackson only had three runners participate in die meet. Again, Releford was the fastest runner for the Panthers, taking a fifth place finish with a time of 23:26. Kendrick (Bth), Filholm (10th), Taylor (12th) and Davis (15th) rounded out Perry's scoring. Thomas said that the men's team had a good shot of taking second in the region, noting that Bleckley County was real strong, taking six of the top 12 places in the 10 team meet two weeks ago. M v- . i ;r' u v —-A. 7.. I 4AM jp fjP | m K p| To a good friend in Vernon Lasseter This past Sunday, we were in vited to celebrate Vernon and Jean Lasseter's 50th wedding anniver sary. Everyone in the Perry area and, for that matter, everyone in Middle Georgia knows this fine couple; but, few knows them as we do. With that in mind, I would like to tell you a little about the Lasseter’s as we know them, and especially about Mr. Vernon. I've known the Lasseter's ever since I was a kid, but had never met any of them until I was up in age and out on my own. Even then, I didn't personally know Vernon and Jean Lasseter. After Susanne and I got married, we both became very involved in competitive bass tournaments. For many years, we stayed on the road every moment we could get off from work, traveling across the Southeast, going as far Texas to fish tournaments. Most people can't see what an individual'has to give up to fish competition bass tournaments. Sponsorship was very difficult to get and keep. And, during the early days of our tournaments, the econ omy was on about rock bottom. If it wasn't for die fact that we . ' \-Ljt l ]i*+y ' y _ . 4Kg— -~. Westfield's Windy Biggers tags out a Deerfield runner at third Thursday. Westfield, from 6A the day, a running, over-the-shoul der catch of a long drive by Deerfield catcher Harriet Wetherbee. Callie Burt then fouled out to end the threat. Westfield took the lead in their half of the inning on a leadoff sin gle by Jennifer Smith, who had four hits and scored four runs in the double header. Stephanie Barr sin gled to move Smith to second, and after Wendy Biggers moved both runners up on a groundout, Laura Posey knocked in Smith with the game's first run. Deerfield quickly tied the game in the third on a Kelly Gruhl RBI Hornets, from 6A jor damage. Shepley hit flanker Ben Hulbert for 36 yards on the first play of the drive to get the ball down to the Wildcat seven yard line. Again, in the shadow of the goalpost, the Hornets were whistled for major distance penalties, two clipping calls, that moved them back. Although the next three plays netted the Hornets 16 yards, they were faced with a fourth-and-coal from the 21, forcing them to go for a 38 yard field goal, which fell wide right. Although it had been the Hornets stopping their drives deep in Westwood territory, the end of the half would see the Wildcats helping a Hornet drive with a major penalty deep in their territory. On the fourth play of the drive, Morton ripped off a 29 yard run to bring the ball inside the Wildcat 15. A late hit moved the ball to the - David and '' Susanne Andel could stick together and keep warm and still smile about it, I don’t know what would’ve happened. It was during this time that we started buying meat and vegetables from Longhorn's, which is where we first met the Lasseters. He rec ognized Susanne, of course, and immediately struck up a conversa tion about fishing. That was all it took for a true friendship to begin. From that day on, Mr. Vernon and Jean have become "true friends." There are friends that we meet all along die path of life— those individuals who you spend dme with or see occasionally and talk about whatever comes up. But, then there are those individuals whom you rarely meet diat are true friends. The individuals are truly caring, loving people who are always diere when the need arises and always have a soft smile and soft touch, single. It stayed that way, 1-1, until Westfield took a 2-1 lead in the fifth. With two out and Stewart on first after a fielders' choice, Ashlee Sullivan drew a walk and Clair Hart drove in the go ahead run with a single. That set the stage for Fordham again. Gruhl led off the sixth with a single, her sixth hit of day and Fordham followed with a home run over the left-center field fence that Jennifer Smith made a leaping ef fort on, but it dropped over the fence for what turned out to be the winning hit as Deerfield squeezed A late hit moved the ball to the Westwood eight. Two plays later, Shepley ran the option, keeping the ball for five yards and the six points. The Hornets went for two, since the earlier PAT had been blocked. Pulling a play out of the back pages of the playbook, Jones called for a halfback pass. Staines hit Davis in the corner of die endzone for the two points, giving Westfield the 14-0 lead. The Hornets would use the big play to score their next two touchdowns on thier first possessions in the second half. After a Westwood punt, the Hornets got the ball deep in their own end on the 23. The Hornets quickly got some breathing room, marching the ball out to their own 41. Two plays later, Staines ripped the middle for a 56 yard gain to the Wednesday, September 28,1994. Houston Times -Journal - along with a good heart, always have word of encouragement when you fell down and diing of giving up and never giving up on you and what you can accomplish are true friends. This is what Vernon and Jean Lasseter are all about. Now, I have to tell you a little more about Mr. Vernon. I didn't think diat anyone in Uiis world could love fishing more than me; but, that's not uue. Mr. Vernon has been at it a little longer than me, which makes him love it just a little bit more. We have fished together many times and I have truly learned a lot from him on each trip we would take. It didn't matter how badly I felt or how down I was on my fish ing, Vernon always had a knack of making me do better, and I would always have something to tell Susanne when I got home. I remember one trip when we went out on a private lake in Laurens County. Vernon caught over 60 bass that day. In all my life, I didn't know someone who could laugh and enjoy himself as much as he did. It was only when it got so dark diat we couldn't see, he was finally ready to go home. On another trip to 'he same lake, out a 3-2 win, their 19th of the year against no losses. But assistant coach Gordy Gruhl said, "We really haven't played tough teams yet. The good ones are in this area and it's just so far to travel for non-region games that we filled our schedule with games closer to home. This will be a good experience for us, playing two close, tough games like this." The state playoffs begin in Statesboro on Saturday, Oct. 1. The final four teams in each classifica tion then play the next week in Tifton in the state finals. three. Staines lost the ball when he hit the ground, recovering the ball in the endzone. However, the officials spotted the ball at the Wildcat three. Morton completed the drive one play later, going in from three yards out. A bad snap doomed the extra point attempt, making the score 20-0 Hornets. Another punt by the Wildcats would leave die Hornets even deeper on their second possession than they were on their first, at their own nine. On the first play of the "drive," Morton got the Hornets some breathing room, getdng 12 yards up the middle. Two plays later saw the Hornets faced with a third-and-12 from their 19. However, Davis an swered by getting the first down, and more. In fact, Davis didn’t stop running undl he reached the Wildcat endzone for an 81 yard gain. The extra point was good. Punt, Pass and Kick Winners of the Perry Recreation Department Punt, Pass and Kick com petition are (l-r, bottom row) Lance Williams, Dante Williams, Robert Warren, Caleb Price, (top row) Chris Jones, Tripp Morath and Donavan Kendrick. we had an even more interesting experience. Someone had punched a hole in the bottom of my Bass Hunter, somediing we did not know about until we got out on die lake. We started fishing. As time went by, I noticed the back end of the boat was getting lower in the water. I asked Mr. Vernon if he had gained some weight or brought more tackle than 1 had seen. Anyway, die fact that the boat was slowly sinking didn't seem to upset him. He was having die time of his life. The only comment 1 got was, "How deep did you say die wa ter was?” Yessir, Mr. Vernon is a true fishing buddy and a wonderful friend. And, Jean is right diere widi him. For me personally, there have only been two people in my life that I can truly say are fishing bud dies and friends. One I've been writ ing about, and the other I have been writing with, fishing with and spending die best part of my life with. Thanks to bodi of you. Until next time . . . we've gone fishing. Martin wins senior title at P.C.C. Walt Martin and A 1 Lasseter bat tled throughout the weekend for the Perry Country Club senior champi onship. After Saturday, the two were in a dead heat, coming into the club house tied at 76. Sunday, it went to the last hole with Martin outduel ing Lasseter 74-75 for the champi onship. Andy Snyder won the President's Cup with the low net in the two day tourney. Even though Martin and Snyder came away with the cups, Harry Hawkins might have recorded the most memorable experience at dur ing the tourney. Playing in the championship flight, Hawkins covered the 153 yards of the fifth hole with just one shot, a seven iron, giving him die only ace in the tournament. The ace allowed Hawkins to take home the low net award in the championship flight. Jimmy Collins finished second in the low net. In the first flight, Lyle Fineis took top gross, with Troy Raines finishing second. Jim Thomason took tire low net, with Herman Wemecke and Norm Ott tying for second in low net. In the second flight, Robert Downing won top honors in gross scoring, followed by Bob Vance. Net scoring honors were taken by Roy Shaginaw, with Ollie Diebert taking second place. The third flight saw Andy Snyder, who won the President's Cup, also take low gross honors. Bob Johns took low net in the flight, outshooting Olin Taylor. "Gifted Children” scramble Oct. 1 A nine hole scramble will be held at Waterford South golf Course in Warner Robins on Oct. 1, 1994. Sponsored by the Houston County Association for the Gifted, proceeds from the match will bene fit programs for gifted children in Houston County schools. The scramble begins with a shotgun start at 3 p.m. Entry fees are S2O, which includes a cookout after the match. Register at Waterford South or phone 923-8562 for more informa tion about the match. ‘ Page 7A