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Hornets teach Brentwood a football lesson
Weir, Skinner remind War Eagles about the foot ’ in football in 14-13 win
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* Times-Journoi Photos by Eric Zeiiars
LOOKING FOR A HOLE Westfield running back Jared Shell (24)
looks for a hole in the line which Ben Brannen (74) is creating while
quarterback Trevor Jones (8) watches.
:a ***<— **** ~ _y On
STOP NOW Westfield defender Chad Ekey (62) hauls down a
Brentwood runner during action in Sandersville Oct. 9.
Panther runners faster than Dodge, Macon cross country squads
By ALLINE KENT
For the Time.s-Joijr.nm.
It was a cool, cloudy day Oct. 8 as the
Perry Cross Country hosted an invitational
competition at Momingside Elementary.
The Panthers competed against Dodge
County High School and Macon County
High School in the event. Although the two
schools are in Perry’s region, the meet does
not count as region competition.
Marquis Fleming of Dodge County set a
new course record by running the 3.1 mile
race in 17 minutes and 20 seconds. Bill
Sandefur was first across the finish line for
Perry, finishing second place overall in the
race with his best time ever of 18:26.
Sandefur, a sophomore, is in his second
year on the Cross Country team. He has
improved significantly since last season.
Eighth grade football Panthers remain undefeated
By ALLINE KENT
For the Times-Journai
BONAIRE The eighth
grade football team at Perry
Middle continued its defensive
stomp across Houston County as
they blanked Rumble at the
Bonaire stadium Oct. 8 18-0.
The Bth grade Panthers,
coached by Danny Shelton and
John Warlick, have not been
scored on this season.
The 7th grade team also had an
impressive afternoon as they
scored 28 points against Rumble.
Rumble could not find the end
zone in the 7th grade game either.
Players from the 7th grade
Panthers were very excited about
their big win and the quality of
game that they had played. They
were eager to share their enthusi
asm about their team, coaches,
and their individual game perfor
mance.
Tyler Lawhorn said that the
win came because Perry was able
to shut Rumble down defensively
and score early offensively.
Ambrose Peavy had several
good runs for the Panthers, one of
which ended on the 5-yard line
and set up a touchdown. The run-
He credits his progress to spending a lot of
time on his running this past spring and
summer.
Both the girls and boys Panther teams
won the event. The boys team had a score
of 24, against Dodge County’s 36 and
Macon County’s 98. The Panther girls
scored 35 points against Dodge County’s
38.
Other top runners of the day were David
Talley, 18:36; Randy Whiddon, 19:24;
Kennv Cox 20:03; and Brandon Pfleegor
20:15.
Heather Sokinas, a junior, finished first
for Perry and second overall in the girls
meet. She is in her third year on the team
and finished sth in the region last year.
She said she enjoys the invitational com
petitions because she feels like they are
The Bth grade
Panthers, coached by
Danny Shelton and John
Warlick, have not been
scored on this season.
ning game was assisted by tight
end Mario Jones, split end Doug
Yarbourgh, and guards Rashad
Smith and Robert Childs, all of
which made several blocks on the
afternoon for the Panthers.
Kyle Knowles, center for the
7th grade team was thrilled about
the game and his performance in
it.
"We played great!’ he said. “It
was a fantastic game.”
Several key tackles were made
on defense by Victor Johnson and
Ervin Baldwin. Noseguard,
Jeremy AHmond had two tackles
and one quarterback sack against
Rumble.
The Panthers play at home
Oct. 14 against Fcagin Mill
Middle School. The 7th grade
game time is at 3:30, Bth grade
game time is 5 p.m.
Page 5B
Wed., Oct. 14, 1998
By PHIL CLARK
TiMEj-JWPNAi.Sroro
SANDERSVILLE Daniel
Weir hasn’t gotten a lot of head
lines during the first half of
Westfield’s football season.
Playing tight end on a run-oriented
offense doesn’t lend itself to a lot
of press.
But Weir played a huge part in
Westfield’s 14-13 non-region win
over Brentwood Oct 9 in Georgia
Independent School Association
football action between the num
bers two and three teams in the
weekly GISA coaches’ poll.
Weir punted six times for a 41
yard average, including a 42-
yarder from his own 24-yard line
with just over three minutes left in
the game that backed the War
Eagles up to their own 34-yard
line.
Forced to go to the air from their
own territory. Brentwood’s Daniel
Heldreth was intercepted by
Westfield’s Bo Hart at the
Westfield 32-yard line to help the
Hornets to a hard-earned victory.
The Hornets tried to let
Brentwood have the momentum
early in the first quarter, but the
War Eagles couldn’t take advan
tage of it After the Hornets were
unable to pick up a first down on
their initial possession. Brentwood
took over at their own 19 following
a 50-yard punt by Weir.
The Eagles, too, found a tough
defense on the other side of the line
of scrimmage, and the Hornets
forced a Brentwood punt after
Jared Shell stopped Heldreth short
of a first down at the Brentwood
26.
The Hornets couldn’t handle the
Brentwood punt, though, and the
War Eagles recovered the loose
ball at the Westfield 44. Brentwood
was unable to take advantage of the
break, though, as the Westfield
defense again stifled the
Brentwood running game
Two Westfield penalties on their
next possession forced a punt from
their own 6-yard line and again
Weir got out a good punt, a 37-
yarder. This ‘ime, though, the
Brentwood r>oum team took the
spotlight as Jo* h Hardie fielded the
punt at the Westfield 43 and
zigzagged tr rough the Westfield
coverage for a touchdown that put
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•
UNDEFEATED PANTHERS Members of the
Perry Middle School eighth grade Panthers are
undefeated. This same squad won the county
the War Eagles up 7-0 after a Ben
Avant point after touchdown kick,
much to the delight of the
Brentwood homecoming crowd.
Westfield answered the big play
with their first sustained drive of
the game, moving 64 yards in 10
running plays, highlighted by runs
of 19 and 17 yards by Jared Shell
and a one-yard touchdown plunge
by Jacob Walker.
Nathan Skinner’s point after
kick tied the score at 7-7 with less
than a half minute gone in the sec
ond quarter.
Brentwood took possession
after an exchange of punts at their
own 37 yard line and looked as
though they were about to reclaim
the lead. Mitch Sheppard broke
loose for a 46-yard gain. Weir ran
him down at the Westfield 17 to
prevent the touchdown, though,
and the Hornets’ defense was able
to stop the drive when Matthew
Hulbert stopped Heldreth short of a
first down on a third-and-five.
When Brentwood lined up for a
field goal try from 26 yards, the
snap was low and the Hornets took
over at their nine when holder Jeff
Norris was stopped at the line of
scrimmage as he tried to pick the
ball up and run with it.
That's when lightning struck!
After a first down run was stopped
for no gain. Walker broke through
the line and raced into the
Brentwood secondary Heldreth
had a shot at the speedy Hornet at
the Brentwood 30, but Walker
slipped out of his grasp when
Heldreth tried to strip the ball
away.
The 91-yard touchdown was
two yards short of the Westfield
school record for the longest run
from scrimmage, set by Joey Brett
against GMC in 1987.
After Hornets' fans witnessed
homecoming ceremonies for the
third straight week, the teams set
tled into a defensive struggle over
the next two quarters. With posses
sion of the ball to open the second
half, Brentwood picked up three
first downs in an 11-play drive that
stalled at the Westfield 28 when
Robby Heaton stopped Heldreth
for no gain. Kyle Harold and Ron
Marshall nailed Sheppard after a
two-yard pickup and Matthew Lee
stopped Heldreth on an option
good preparation for the region meet.
“They help me work on dropping my
time,” Sokinas said.
The Panthers traveled to Albany Oct. 10
to participate in the Westover Invitational
Cross Country Meet. The Westover is one
of six state qualifying meets.
For a team to qualify for the state meet,
they must place either Ist or 2nd at the
region meet or run under a total team time at
a state qualifying meet. Total time is taken
from the sum of the top five runner's times.
This season's total team time is 1:34:35
or an average of 18:55 per runner.
Unofficial results from the Westover
Invitational indicated that the boys team
qualified with a total time of 1:32:32 or an
average of 18:42 per runner. The top five
boys and their times from Oct. 10 are David
Houston Jims-Jouml
Talley, 17:55; Randy Whiddon, 18:12; Bill
Sandefur, 18:26; Cory Emerson, 19:18 and
Brandon Pfleegor, 19:41.
The girl’s team missed their qualifying
time of 2 hours by only a few minutes. Top
girls and their times Taryn Burch, 22:20;
Heather Sokinas, 23:04; Kerry Landry,
25:59; Lynell Pfleegor, 25:24 and Lynda
Trayler, 27:00
The bov’s team scored 10th out of the 29
teams participating in the Westover
Invitational. They were one of only two
schools from the A or AA region that fin
ished in the top 10. The girl’s were 14th of
28 teams participating and I of only 4 A or
AA schools in the top 14.
Perry’s next home cross county event
will be Oct. 15 at 4:30 at Momingside
Elementary.
fin Journal Kioto by Eric Zoian
championship as seventh graders last year.
play. Westfield took over when
Brentwood’s fake punt didn’t
work.
The War Eagles took advantage
of a break when Westfield fumbled
at their own 18-yard line and
Brentwood recovered it. Four
straight Sheppard runs finally got
the possible tying touchdown with
31 seconds left in the third quarter.
Again tin Brentwood snap was
low, forcing Shawn Everett’s kick
to sail wide, and the Hornets still
owned a 14-13 lead.
The fourth quarter was mostly
an exchange of possessions as nei
ther team could score again,
although the War Eagles got a little
momentum when a 24-yard run by
Sheppard was aided by a Westfield
facemask penalty. Cory Kitchens
nailed Sheppard on a toss sweep
for one yard on third- and-eight,
and Matthew Hulbert broke up a
fourth down pass.
Brentwood got the ball back one
more time, but Bo Hart picked off
Heldreth's pass at the Westfield 32,
and the Hornets ran out the clock
for the 14-13 win.
“We knew they had a good
team’’, head coach Ronnie Jones
said. “They kept us backed up most
of the night, and we weren’t able to
run a lot of our offensive sets.
Daniel (Weir) did a good job keep
ing them backed up, too.”
The Hornets are off this week
before beginning the 1 AAA region
schedule Oct 23 at Mount de Sales’
new football complex near Macon
College.
Wbstfold 0 14 00 14
Brentwood 7 0 6 0 13
B-Joth Hardie 43-punt return (Shawn
Everett kick) 4:09 first
W-Jocob Walker 1-yard run (Nathan
Skinner kick) 11:22 second
W-Walker 91-yard run (Skinner kick)
4:25 second
B-Mitch Sheppard 5-yord run (kick wide)
31 third
Westfield Brentwood
6 First downs 13
33-224 Rushes-Yords 52-247
16 Passing yards 9
1- Comp-AlMnt 1-6-1
7-60 Penolties-yards 6-50
2- 95 j* Fumbles-lost 3-0
6-4 1 Punts-Average 4-34
tending rushers Westfield Walker fi
ll 0, Shell 19-96, Tale Parker 5-14
Chance Jones 1-4, Brentwood Shepparo
35-199, Heldreth 11-54, John McDonald
5-14
Passing Westfield Trevor Jones 1-4
(16 yards), Brentwood Heldretn 1-6-1 (9
yards)
Receiving Westfield Daniel Mfeir 1-
16; Brentwood Matthew Yates 1-9
Phil
Clark
Haws- Journal
jpWu
My own ten
Someone asked me the other
day why I don’t have my own
top 10 list in high school foot
ball. He could have been refer
ring to the fact that I often
question how a 15-person body
of writers from across the state
can choose a top 10.
How many teams docs each
of them see a week? Two tops,
and that’s only if two potential
top 10 teams are playing each
other. It’s a difficult task. What
happens is writers vote for
those teams in his or her part of
the state, then a few others
based solely on hearsay or cov
erage of other teams in other
media.
I don’t see how a legitimate
top 10 team can be selected,
but if I were going to do it, 1
would look carefully at all of
the candidates, consider each
team's record, and the strength
of schedule, which I think is
important. For example, I
would not penalize a class AA
team for losing to a AAAA
power, or a single A for a loss
to a higher classification team.
For example, I don't see
how there can be a legitimate
top 10 team in class AA with
out including Washington
County. Yet, the Golden
Hawks, he preseason number
one team by the way. did not
even get votes in the latest poll
(week of Oct 5). 1 challenge
any of those voters to find 19
teams better than Washington
County (lop 10 plus nine which
also got votes).
I would not want to do it on
a regular basis, but for this one
time, here’s my top 10 list for
teams in all four GHSA classi
fications.
In AAAA, I probably would
not argue with the poll's num
ber one team, Lowndes
County. I would place Conrad
Nix’s Northside Eagles in the
number two spot instead of
McEachem. LaGrange would
be number three with Vaidosta
at number four. Brook wood
would round out my top five.
The others in my AAAA top
10 would include Southwest
DeKalb at six and Brunswick
at seven, although I am leery of
including a team from region
3AAAA. Brunswick has rolled
over five opponents while giv
ing up just three points.
Brunswick reached the second
round of the playoffs last year
before losing to Colquitt
County.
I would have McEachem at
number eight, followed by East
Coweta and Warner Robins.
The last two teams are not in
the latest Associated Press poll
East Coweta is already 6-0.
playing in the same region with
LaGrange. The two meet Oct
23. Warner Robins has lost
only to top ranked Lowndes
County, but has gotten little
attention in the polls.
In AAA. I also would not
argue with the number one
choice, Marist. But 1 would
have John Reynolds’
Dougherty County Trojans in
the number two spot. The AP
has them at number six Dublin
would get my vote for number
three, that would move them
up from number eight. The
Irish are 6-0, including a win
over 1997 runner-up Burke
County and previously unbeat
en Richmond Academy.
Stephens County would be
number four, followed by
Peach County at number five,
same as they are in the AP poll.
Peach plays in a very weak
region, and it will be hard for
them to move up now unless
some teams ahead of them
lose, no matter how badly they
beat their 2AAA opponents.
The lopsided season opening
loss to AAAA Northside hurt
them, but the Trojans came
back to beat always tough
Washington County the next
week.
Region SAAA Washington
is another team that’s hard to
judge, since they don’t play a
tough schedule. But they beat
everybody, so I’d have them at
number six. Terry Holder’s
Greenbrier Wolfpack has lost
once, but that was to Dublin, so
I would have them at number
seven, because I think their
schedule is tougher that most.
Tucker, though unranked
and unnoticed in the AP polls,
has lost only to top ranked
(See CLARK, Page 6B)