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Time*-Journal Photo by Eric Zellars
DEFENSE - Dontarrius Thomas (20) defends against
Southeast in the final regular season game for Perry last week
end. The Panthers are in the Region 4-AA tournament this week
at Eastman.
Panthers use final game
as preparation for region
4-AA tournament
Perry rolls past Southeast) 64-45
By ALLINE KENT
For the Time-s-lournal
It was the last game of the
regular season and by most
accounts, it was a fun game for
the players, coaches and espe
cially the fans.
Well, fun for everyone except
Southeast.
Perry demolished their
region opponent 64-45 ensur
ing the Panthers the number
one berth in the region playoffs
this week.
Head Coach Carl Thomas
took advantage of the lead in
the fourth quarter to take his
starters out, one by one, giving
them each a chance for applause
and recognition. Even without
their starters in the game, the
Panthers still managed to score
12 points on overmatched
Southeast.
Perry was up 11-2 only
halfway through the first quar
ter and never let go of their big
lead during the rest of the game.
Southeast tried to answer back
but the quarter ended with the
Panthers, led by Johnny
Watkins with eighr , ahead 19-
11.
Perry kept a 10-point lead
during most of the second quar
ter. Johnny Watkins three
pointer gave the Panthers a 34-
22 lead with less than two min
utes left in the half.
Dannorris Havey opened the
third quarter with a slam dunk.
Every time Southeast started to
get within range, Perry jumped
way ahead, going up 46-28 with
3:32 left in the third.
The Panther fans went wild
as junior Kris Asbury knocked
the ball away right as Southeast
was about to score and then
immediately stole it away again
on Southeast’s next possession,
helping to preserve Perry’s 20-
Eoint lead as the third quarter
uzzer sounded.
Perry continued to dominate
the game, even as Carl Thomas
began to remove his starters one
by one, allowing his second
team some playing time during
their last home game of the sea
son.
“At the end of third quarter,"
Thomas explained, “we had a
big lead. I sent them out there
and told them to have fun.”
Thomas said that his team
had started the season with two
goals; one of which was com
pleted with the Feb. 5 game,
winning all of their home
games. In the last three yean,
die team has won 20 straight at
home, making Perry one of the
most difficult teams in the
region to beat at home.
Another goal Thomas had
for the team, winning back to
back region tides, can come true
yj&S&V Panfner
Tourney tfofes
Tha Ranters, aaadad no. 1
from te south side of te
region, hod a bye in te first
round. They play te winner of
te Bleckley Co., Harris Co.
matchup from Feb. 8 on Feb.
10 at 830 p.m. V Perry wins,
tey face te winner of te
game between Lamar County,
Mded no. 2 from te north,
and te winner of te Pice
County-Dodge County game
pfayed Feb. 11. Parry would
see action next Feb. 12 at 830
p.m. A victory to that game
putste Renters to te Region
4-AA finals at 830 p.m. Feb.
13. A loss to te Feb. 12 game
puts te (tetters to te conso
lation game Feb. 13 at 530
p.m. Ail games are at Dodge
County High School in
this week. The Panthers travel
to Eastman for the region play
offs and to defend their region
title. It has been at least 22 years
since Perry has won region two
years in a row.
The Panthers will face the
winner of the Harris
County/Bleckley County game,
played Feb. 9 at Dodge County.
Going into the playoffs,
Bleckley comes off a winless
season. Harris County is,
according to Thomas, a “poten
tially dangerous team” which
comes into the tournament
seeded fourth after an inconsis
tent season.
“If we play well, and take care
of business, Thomas remarked, “
we’ll will be fine.”
A win Feb. 10 sends Perry,
along with the other top three
teams from the region, to the
state tournament. Georgia High
School Association rules this
year allow four teams from a
region to advance to state play
offs as opposed to two teams in
thepast.
The Panthers game time
tonight is 8:30.
Perry (64) Southeast (45)
Holmes 13, Robinson 2,
Watkins' 24, Thomas 10,
McKinney 2, Harvey 12,
Stripling 2.
Three pointers Holmes 1,
Watkins 2
Perry (75) Macon County
(52)
Green 4, Holmes 16,
Robinson 6, Watkins 11,
Thomas 14, Asbury 9, Harvey
15
Three pointers - Holmes 2,
Robinson 2, Watkins 1, Asbury
1
Page 4A
-Wed., Feb. 10, 1999
Five Panthers head to State
Class AA wrestling tournament
ByALUNEKENT
FqrtkeTimbs-Iqurnaj,
With less than two days before traveling to
Fitzgerald for the state competition, Perry High
School Head wrestling coach Sean Moistner is cau
tiously optimistic about his team’s chances.
“We are a top team, definitely contenders" he
commented. “But it all comes down to how we per
form on Saturday."
The Panthers went to Vidalia this past weekend
to compete in the Area lAA meet. They finished a
very respectable fourth out of 14 teams.
Five Panthers finished in the top four of their
weight class and will go on to the two-day state
meet. Ernest Howard at 112, Ben Kashtor 119,
Lady Panthers play for tourney slot
ByALUNEKENT
For the Times-Journai
The Lady Panthers chalked up
two big region wins last week and
earned a third place berth in the
region playoffs taking place this
week in Eastman.
Describing Southeast as a
“outstanding shooting team”,
Head Coach Max Vickers was
pleased with his team’s effort over
the Warriors Feb. 5.
Sophomore Jessica Green was
responsible was some big defen
sive plays for the Panthers.
“She is playing very well,” said
Vickers. “She has gotten better
and better. We have been playing
the zone defense and it seems to
fit her and the rest of the team."
Senior Brandie Thomas led
Perry with 29 points and Krystal
Brown added 17 to guide the
Panthers to a 62-47 win over the
Southeast Warriors.
At the half, the girls were up a
respectable 32-26. The Lady
Panthers kept the pace going and
by the start of the fourth were up
47-36.
The Warriors tried to fight
back and had closed the game to
within six with five minutes left
on the dock.
The Warriors were threatening
again when Perry’s Karisa
Banister hit two and drew a foul,
adding another point to the
Panthers’ score and ending
Southeast’s drive.
The Panthers will face 4th
seeded Manchester in the region
playoffs that begin this week at
Dodge County.
Perry (36) Macon County (30)
Fagan 9, Green 4, Woodard 6,
Davis 2, Bannister 2, Thomas 13
Tattnall hands Westfield season-ending loss
By PHIL CLARK
Times-Iqurnal Sports
MACON The Tattnall
Trojans exploded in the third
quarter after a lethargic first half
by both teams as they handed the
Westfield Hornets a 67-49 loss in
the final regular season game for
both teams.
The non-region loss dropped
Westfield to 4-15 in a season that
had to be disappointing, especial
ly for senior starters Robert
Causey, Brian Hartley and Trevor
Jones.
Westfield got three-pointers
from Hartley and Ernest Greene
to take a 12-11 first quarter lead,
but the Trojans came back behind
five points by Eric Reeves to take
a 25-20 lead at halftime.
Skip Davidson had been the
early scoring leader for the
Trojans, going inside for eight
points in the first quarter and four
more early in the second. The
Trojans two leading scorers, Alan
and Scott Dennard had been rel
atively quiet, as had Westfield’s
Hartley, who leads his team in
scoring.
Scott Dennard came out after
the halftime break and scored 13
in the third quarter and brother
Alan added 4 as Tattnall exploded
for 26 third quarter points to put
the game away, taking a 51-32
lead after three quarters. Daniel
Weir scored 8 for Westfield in the
quarter.
With the lead secure, and
Westfield playing reserves over
the final half of the fourth quar
ter, Tattnall coach John
Hanltinson elected to leave his
starters in the game, and the
Dennard brothers combined for
14 of the Trojans 176 fourth
quarter points.
Except for a brief time early in
the first quarter when Scott
Dennard sat down with two quick
fouls, the only Tattnall starters to
leave the floor were Michael
Cheek and Beau Garrett, who’s
Houston Tim-Jemal
Demetrius Williams 135, Quinton Johnson at 145
and Fred Ridley at 215 will be joined by alternatives
Patrick Young 189 and Tony Sollazzo at 125.
Fred Ridley breezed through the area competi
tion, pinning all of his opponents during the two day
event.
Assistant Coach Dimsdale said that surprise of
the meet was Demetrius Williams who has improved
all season but “really came on strong in Vidalia”.
Dimsdale also mentioned how proud of all the
Perry wrestlers’ performance in Vidalia.
“Every one of them did a great job and repre
sented Perry High School very well," he said. Perry
placed in all the weight classes except two.
Panfner
Tourney
fJofes
Tht Lady Pinters, md
ad third tom the soutfi sub
ran inn faced Manchester
■ WIWVI| NMM ITWMiIIHNai p
madid fourth tom tha
north wbraglon in raiaiiifai.
Ffab. 1 at 7 p.m. Raaulfa of
tet pma wora unavaifafais
DcroTc press IK lie. A loss
would eliminate tha fawn
tom the tournament. A win
would put tha Lady tatters
in a 4 p.m. Feb. 11 g«ne
against sacond-seeded
North team Lamar County. A
victory against Lamar would
put the Lady Ranters in the
region semifinals at 7 p.m.
Feb. 12 and guarantee te
team a tip to te GHSA
Class AA state tournament
later this monfi. Region 4-
AA games are at Dodge
County in Eastman.
Perry (62) Southeast (47)
Fagan 6, Green 3,
Woodard 6, Brown 17,
Thomas 29
TWO POINTS - Lady
Panther Bonnie Fegin (11)
looks for two points in
recent Perry action. The
Lady Panthers were in
action Feb. 9 at Dodge
Countv in Eastman.
only a pan time starter. Robert
Causey battled the Dennards for a
while in the fourth, putting up 12
of his 16 points in the quarter
before leaving with the rest of the
Westfield starters.
Westfield (49) Causey 16, Hartley 3,
mmm mbhm v v, $■
' 111 Jraßllip
rr; J I Y A JSH ...
mil - * jskjL a 55, , ■; rapp
Ilines-journal Photo by Eric ZeHars
UP FOR POINTS - Westfield player Daniel Weir (33) looks
for two points in action against Tattnall Feb. 6. This was the
final regular game of the season for the Flomets.
% * % ■
|| V i
wttk Von
A Wgb
Greene 9, Will Sexton 2, Daniel Weir 16, Bo
Hart 3.
Tattnall (67) Alan Dennard 15, Scott
Dennard 24, Cheek 2, Reeves 9, Davidson
17
Halftime: Tattnall 25, Westfield 20
3-nointers: Westfield 2 (Hartley,
Greene) I annul j (Reeves 2, Scon
Dennard)
Phil
Clark
TfaMt-Journal
Sports
Barely gone,
already here
The National Football sea
son is finally over, and already
there’s talk about next year.
And there’s good reason, too.
The Atlanta Falcons surprised
just about everybody by mak
ing it to die Super Bowl, where
they lost to John Elwav and die
Denver Broncos. But fans
won’t let the season die. They
are just too engrossed in the
‘Dirty Bird’ and all the other
excitement brought on by Dan
Reeves and the Falcons. But
please, let’s wait for a few
months before we begin having
visions of another Super Bowl,
and right at home, too!
It seems that the 1998
NASCAR season is barely
gone, and here we are, Speed
Weeks in Daytona, which
means the official start of the
1999 season is just days away.
Something that hasn’t gone,
though, is the apparent domi
nance of the DuPont 24 team.
The rainbow warriors have put
Jeff Gordon on the pole for the
Feb. 14 race. A«£. Mark
Martin, who finiafitdwaaaud to
in last year’s- points
standings, won the Bud
Shootout Feb. 7. Martin had
Jualified fifth for Sunday’s
laytona 500. The Shootout
win, though it’s just a 25 lap
race, was the first win of any
kind for Martin at the Daytona
Speedway, in 73 tires. The
Snootout, for non-NASQAR
fans, if there are any, is for last
year’s pole winners. There were
15 cars in Sunday’s field.
The high school basketball
season is winding down, with
tournaments coming up over
the next four weeks on the way
to crowing state champions in
the GISA and GHSA. The
National Basketball
Association season is just
beginning, thanks to that pro
longed lockout. I just can’t gen
erate any interest in the NBA
and its field of overpaid, under
achieving brats. Professional
basketball is nothing more that
a continuous show of traveling
with the ball, palming the ball,
pushing and shoving, and a
perpetual slam dunk contest.
There’s already a lot of talk
around Atlanta and the South
about the Braves’ chances in
the National League season,
which is about a month and a
half away. A lot of the excite
ment was spawned by the suc
cess of the Falcons, and even
the Hawks, now that Michael
Jordan’s retirement and the
exodus of several other stars
has made the Bulls mere mor
tals again, are given a chance of
going deep into the weakened
playoff picture
Speaking of the high school
season, it’s great to see Carl
Thomas’ Perry Panthers poised
another championship run.
Losing just one starter from
last year’s state runners-up,
Thomas and the team generat
ed high expectations, and
they’ve had an outstanding sea
son. The Panthers won their
sub-region (4AA-South), but
will be on the road for the sub
region tournament, which will
be hosted by Dodge County
because their girls’ team won
the sub-region. The Panthers
lost last year to Mitchell-Baker,
and Rufus McDuffie has his
team on top of the AA rank
ings this year, and they, too, are
poised for another title run. I
consider McDuffie, Thomas,
and Dodge County’s Willis
Brown among the top 10 boys’
coaches in the state, regardless
of classification.
Covering the Westfield
Hornets this season, I had the
opportunity to watch Brian
Hartley, the Hornets’ senior
forward, make a run at 100
career three pointers. Hartley,
who last year broke Matt
Shepley’s career mark of 54, is
over 90 now, and depend -on
how far the Hornets advance in
the tournaments, still has a
shot at 100. He has hit as many
as five in a game this year. If
Hartley doesn’t reach 100, he
can top his own single-season
best of 38, set last year.
And how about the job
Randy Moss did as wrestling
coach at Houston County
High School! The former Perry
High School football player
and wrestler led his team to the
(See CLARK, Page 6A)