Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Here are some early candidates for our all-area team For the past three years, the Houston Home Journal has selected what we call our All- Area football team, including schools which are either covered by the paper, or which are gener ally in the paper’s distribution area. In other words, Houston, Peach. Macon, Pulaski and Dooly counties. This season, we thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the players in the area who will be candidates for the team before the season. Georgia High School Associa tion members begin play this weekend, while Georgia Indepen- Sports Walker leads Westfield past Fullington, 42-0 Jacob's ladder leads Hornets to big victory Bt Phil Clark "TWBBBF*: Westfield senior Jacob Walker carried the ball six times for 107 yards and three touch downs and caught three passes for 45 yards and another score as the Hor nets opened the 1999 foot ball season with a one-sided 42-0 win over neighboring Fullington Academy. Looking for answers to a few questions as the Georgia Independent School Associ ation season opened, coach Ronnie Jones got a couple early as the defense, led by tackles Jason Wade and Cole Carter, stopped the Trojans cold in their first possession. Junior quarterback Bo Hart thM receiver Ernest Greene for a 22-yard score with 8:41 left in the first quarter. It was the second 22-yard comple- • tion for Hart in the four-play drive. He found Walker for 22 on the Hornets' very first play of the new season. Nathan Skinner tacked on the first of his six con secutive extra points, and the rout was on. Jones had said earlier “we are going with Bo (Hart) at quarterback although Ernest (Greene) is very capable at that position. But we felt that with Ernest at a receiver's position, we would be a better football team." The emergence of Carter, Wade, Joel Stephens, Gold en Goss, David Pierce and Justin Williamson along the defensive front, to team with returning starters Don Walker and Michael Giles Panthers run softball record to 10-4 Perry finishes third of eight in Macon County Softball Tournament Bt ALLXNE KENT Lady Panthers fin ished third out of 8 teams in the Macon County Softball Tournament Aug. 27. After their second week of play, the Panthers have a 10-4 overall record, with a 1-0 in the region. Perry played five games' in the Macon County tournament, beating Tri-County twice and Mary Persons once, but losing to Bleckley County and Jones County. Bleckley and Jones both made it to the finals of the tournament. “We played horrible against them," said Coach Christ! Horsting speaking of Bleckley County. “We just didn’t hit the ball. Against Jones County, we only had three hits total. We picked out bad pitches." “Against both teams our defense looked good. Bleckley got a lot of base hits, there is just much you can do about that," Horsting said. Earlier in the week, the Panthers faced Macon County in a game called in the second inning due to a thun derstorm. Because of a full schedule, the game will not be made up. The Panthers were up 1 -0 before the game was called. Sherry Nipper scored off a triple by Courtney Harris. The Panthers’ other contests during Phil Clark Home Journal Sports dent School Association teams kicked off a week Earlier. And already there’s one solid candi date for the# team, which is selected in December. Jacob BF* v •' * W&t «. *' iPB wjk .? jjfiHßt .jpßSip L_— -J Home Journal Photos by Jj Johnson TOUCHDOWN BOUND Jacob Walker (18) breaks loose for a touchdown against Fullington . and Kyle Harold and Wil!‘ Sexton enabled Jones and his staff to keep most of his offensive linemen off the field while Fullington had the ball. Ben Brannen, Wade, Stephens, Matthew Eve, Stephen Baxter and Patrick Harris did most of the work along the offensive line, par ticularly in the first three quarters. In all, 12 different run ning backs carried the ball for the Hornets, while Jones used three quarterbacks in scoring 21 points in each half. The offense averaged more than 10 yards per cany, picking up 399 yards on just 34 carries. Hart was 5-6 in passing for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Of Hart’s five completions, three of them went for 22 Meet the Perry High Softball Panthers. The team photo and a story about the players can be found in section B of this paper. the week were also called, but not because of the weather. Aug. 26 Perry traveled to Americus for a varsity doubleheader. Perry won the first game 21-1 and the second game 13-1, both games were called in the fifth due to the 10-run ahead rule. in the first game, which marked Americus's first game of the season, Perry scored eight of their 21 runs in the fifth inning. ' "Ameriaas mpde a lot of errors,” ’ said ~Hcasting. “We capitalized on them. They missed the ball a lot but they had a really young team." Tiffany Harris led the Panthers at the plate, going 3-4, with two singles and a triple. Freshman Candice Herald also went 3-4, while Courtney Harris, 3-3, had 4 RBls. Coby Williard, a junior, went 3-4. Senior Sarah Stuckey went 2-3 with 3 RBIs and Stephanie Stocks and Lindsey Brown both went 3-4 with two RBls each. yards each. At one stretch in the third quarter, Walker scored touchdowns on two consec utive carries, totaling 81 yards. On the final play of the Hornets’ opening drive in the second half. Walker went over from 32 yards. After the Westfield defense stopped the Trojans and forced a punt. Walker took the ball on a handoff from Greene and rambled 59 yards for another score to make the score 35-0 with 7:20 left in the third quarter. Sophomore fullback Chance Jones, who carried the ball just five times, picked up a team-leading 130 yards, including a 39- yarder in the first quarter and a 57-yarder which set up a Hart-to-Walker one yard touchdown pass in the Walker, the outstanding West field running back, defensive back and kick returner, did nothing in his opening game to hinder his chances of repeating as a member of the team. Walker, who is fast enough to run a leg on Westfield's state champion 400-meter relay team, is also strong enough that going inside doesn’t bother him. Walker carried the ball just six times in Westfield’s 42-0 win over Fullington, but still gained 107 yards and rushed for three touchdowns, including runs of 32 and 59 yards for scored. Walker also caught three passes Wed., Sept. 1, 1999 Page 6A In the second game, a 13-1 Perry victory. Sherry Nipper went 3-3 with three RBls Courtney Harris, who according to her coach has been “knocking the fire out the of ihe ball,” had one double, one triple and three RBls. Coby Williard had 5 RBIS credited to her and Sarah Stuckey and Jena Browning both went 2-3. Perry is in the middle of their toughest week of the season this week, playing four games, with three of them region games. “I told them not to worry about the tournaments but to look to the future," said Horsting. “Third place is not bad. we are just tried of finishing third. “ The Panthers finished third last week in the Turner County tourna ment. “I am very proud of their effort," she said. “They are staying motivated and keeping their spirits up." Periy faces West Laurens Sept. 2 at 6 p.m., ending up a week which saw competition against Washington County. Bleckley County and Jones County. The Perry JV team had an off week last week but will also be finishing up their fourth game of the week Thurs day evening. second period. Jones carried once in the second half for 22 yards, and averaged 26 yards a carry for the night! Fullington. playing with out starting quarterback Preston Etheridge and three other players, were no match for the Hornets on this hot. muggy night in Pinehurst. Most of the Tro jans’ work was done by sophomore Josh Thompson, who carried 18 times for 57 yards. Adam Vaughn picked up 31 on his eight carries, but overall, Westfield’s defense limited the Trojans to just 112 yards rushing. The Trojans did not complete a pass, throwing just twice, enabling the Hornets defense to overload the line of scrimmage to shut down the run. It was a night of long runs for the Hornets. Walker had the longest run of the night with his 59-yard touchdown run, plus his 32-yard TD scamper. Jones had runs of It 1 H 1 WITH HELP Hornet running back Mark Hulbert (40) rounds to corner from Bo Hart for 45 yards and a 22-yard touchdown. n addition, Walker had a 54- yard score called back on a clip ping call that Westfield coaches vehemently disputed. The call stood and the long run was brought back. Jacob Walker is definitely a candidate for all-star honors. Chance Jones, last year’s freshman of the year, seems poised to add his name to the list of potential stars. Jones rushed just five times against Fulling ton, gaining 130 yards. That’s a per-carry average of 26 yards! Jones, the son of coach Ronnie Houston Home Journal 57, 39 and 22 yards, while freshman Jordan Holt brought the crowd to its feet in the fourth quarter when he ripped off a 41 -yarder. On the Hornets’ final touchdown drive. Will Holt had a 19-yard gain and Mark Hulbert a 13-yarder. Cole Dunaway, who scored the final touchdown on a two yard run. earlier had an 18-yarder during the Hor nets' first possession of the second half. "I don't know how much we were able to learn tonight. We played every body and we had some folks who looked good on the line, plus we used more than a dozen folks in the baokfield,” Ronnie Jones said. “We get a stronger test this week." The Hornets meet the Tat tnall Trojans in Macon Sept 3, with kickoff at 8 p.m. The Trojans have won the last two Georgia Independent School Association class AAA state championships. Westfield 7 14 21 0 42 Fullington 0 0 0 0 0 Young Vldalia team faces Perry High Panthers Sept. 3 By ALLJNE KENT Hoy JwMAiSreim. Friday nights. If its fall and you are in the South, that means only one things. High School Foot ball. For Periy High School Panthers fans, mis Friday night will mean a trip to the Panther Pit to watch Perry in their season open er against the Vidaha Indi ans, a team Perry defeated last season 20-19. „Vidalia, coached by Ken Colquette, comes off a 6-4 season in region 2AA with four of those wins coming in region competition. Colquette is in his third year with Vidaha, with a 14-7 record at the school. He came to Vidalia from Marion County High School in Tennessee, where he had four teams win the state champi onship. Overall, Col quette’s record is an impressive 230-54. Colquette will be bring ing a young team with him to Perry Friday evening Jones, is being asked to step in and fill the shoes of all-state full back-linebacker Jared Shell. If the first game is any indication. Chance Jones is capable of filling the bill. Perry High School is blessed with several all-star type players as George Collins begins his fifth year as the Panthers’ head man. During 1998, Collins enjoyed his best season at Perry, going 7-3 and barely missing the state playoffs. The three Perry losses were by a combined total of just 10 points. Among the seven wins See CLARK. Page 8A (W) Ernest Greene 22-yard pass from Bo Hart (Nathan Skin ner kick) 8:41 first (W) Jacob Walker 2-yard run (Skinner kick) 11:55 second (W) Walker 22-yard pass from Hart (Skinner kick) 6:12 second (W) Walker 32-yard run (Skin ner kick) 9:40 third (W) Walker 59-yard run (Skin ner kick) 7:20 third (W) Cole Dunaway 2-yard run (Skinner kick) 1:43 third Westfield Fullington 4 First Downs 6 399 Rushing yards 112 5-7-0 Comp-Att-Int 0-0-0 74 Passing yards 0 3-35 Penalties-yards 2-10 1- Fumbles-lost 1-0 2- Punts-Average 6-32 Rushing: Westfield, Chance Jones 5-130, Jacob Walker 6-107, Jordan Holt 1-41, Mark Hulbert 3- 32. Cole Dunaway 3-25, Will Holt 2-22, Wes Wheeler 2-13, Brandon Coussens 2-13. Don Walker 4-10, Matthew Hulbert 4-4, Chris Bur deshaw 1-4; Fullington: Josh Thompson 18-57, Adam Vaughn 8-31. Justin Posey 10-27 Passing: Westfield Bo Hart 5-6. 74 yards; Fullington none Receiving: Westfield Jacob Walker 3-45, Ernest Greene 1-22. Daniel Weir 1-7;‘Fullington ‘ *.> r • against Fullington. Several teammates are offering help after graduating 17 seniors last season. Eight seniors are on the team this year, but only three have airy substantial play ing experience. “Basically. 1 have last year’s B team,” said Col quette in a telephone interview this week. “We are very young but also very enthusiastic." Vidalia competed in a jamboree against Swains boro and Johnson County Aug. 27, losing both games 6-0. "Our defense performed pretty well against both opponents," said Col quette. “We are a young team and we are going to make mistakes but barring injuries we will get better and stronger this season." "Playing Perry the first game of the season is not a good match-up for us,” Colquette said. "They are always so strong. It would have been better for us to have played them later in the year, when we have more experience."