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Sports V CHASING THE END ZONE Panther quarterback Dontrell Green (3) rolls around the Panther backfield, waiting for a receiver to be ready. Meanwhile, on anoth Mary Persons rallies past Perry, 33-21 By ALLINB KENT "Taamr? There are two ways you can look at the Panther football game against Mary Persons here Oct. 15. One is that the number six team in the state barely held off the Pan thers. The other is that Perry tied the Sulidogs in three of the four quarters before they lost, 33-21. Either way, it wasn't that bad. For the Bulldogs, it was a careless ly played game. Despite that, Mary Persons moved to fifth in Class AA in Georgia High School Association rankings this week. Statistically, the Panthers dominated the game everywhere but the end zone. Perry had 349 total yards compared to only 136 yards for Mary Persons. The Panthers rushed for 324 yards and picked up 25 on the pass. Mary Persons also had the only interception of the evening, had three fumbles and picked up 70 yards worth of penalties. While neither team scored during the first quarter, during the second quarter they both scored going into JPH Mm/t* ~tb M —-— __ ~— l — ~ — l * FUMBLE Panthers and Bulldogs battle for posses sion of the football after it popped loose late in the fourth quarter in Monroe Oct 15. The Panthers rallied late in Chamberlains NBA legacy will never be equaled He was big the biggest thing I’d ever seen. But Wilt Chamber lain could play basketball, espe cially in the 60s, when he was so dominant in the National Basket ball Association that rules changes had to be made because of him. He was a star at the University of Kansas, although he didn’t pick up a basketball until he was in the seventh grade. Too big, too gawky, too uncoordinated. But boy, did he overcome all of that! I can remember thinking how everybody in Kansas must be extremely big. Beside Chamber lain, there was Clyde Lovcllette, who was called “the leaning tower of Kansas" because of his enormous size. Although he enjoyed a tremen dous professional career, he was always kind of a second thought to his fellow Kansan. Chamberlain. Many basketball fans don't remember that the foul lanes were at one time very narrow. Because of Chamberlain, they . . ■ - *. ■ • - ■ - - - •- ■— the halftime with a 7-7 ballgame. Mary Persons scored first, halfway through the second period. Perry answered back with a 60-yard drive. Dontrell Green capped it off with a 24-yard pass to Michael Robin son on a 4th-and-9 that put the Pan thers first-and-goal from the Bulldog 1-yard line. A 3-yard pass complete from Dontrell Green to Rashad Winn was good for the touchdown. Monterrious Engram s point after touchdown kick was good to tie the ball game on the final play of the half. In his first game as starting place kicker, Engram converted all of his point-after kicking attempts on the evening. Engram replaces the injured Phillip Gentry who is out with a knee injury and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Gentry attended the game on crutches. Mary Persons dominated the third quarter, scoring three times. The Bull dogs failed to pick up the extra points after two of the scores, one on a kick attempt and the other on a failed run. Perry came back at the Bulldogs, Phil Clark Home Journal Sports had to be widened in an effort to keep him away from the basket on free throws. Still, he was able to set rebounding records that ever the Dennis Rodmans of the present NBA can't touch, even with their tremendous leaping ability which Chamberlain did not possess. He didn’t need it, with his over seven-foot frame and tremen dous bulk. He once pulled down 55 rebounds in a single NBA game. That will never be touched. He scored 100 points in an NBA game, too. That will probably never be broken, even er play, Tray Green (25) sweeps left out of the Panther backfield with Laron Davis (74) and Rashad Winn (7) providing protection. Home Journal Photos by Jj Johnson the fourth quarter but fell 33-21. Identifiable Panthers are [from left) Kelvin Whitfield, 30; Mamez Taylor, 6; Jerry Dranzy, 13; and Mario Hart, 66. Page 6A Wed., Oct. 20, 1999 once again with only seconds left in the quarter, and once again Green had a 4th-down conversion. This time. 4th-and-6 from the Mary Persons 18- yard-line, Green threw to Engram who scored easily. The Panthers worked their way down the field once more time, late in the fourth quarter. Green kept the ball and ran it in two yards for the score. Although the Bulldogs didn’t play the neatest game of high school foot ball ever played, they were able to overcome their mistakes and accord ing to Panther Coach George Collins, “made big plays when they had to." The loss drops the Panthers to 1-5 on the season. After the game, Collins acknowledged that his team is strug gling right now but also said that the Panthers will be ready for Southeast Oct. 22 at the Panther Pit. “Our fans expect us to play hard and we will," Collins said. “Right now, Southeast (3-3) might have a little more confidence than we do. We are banged up a little bit. But I guarantee we will be playing tough on Friday." with the three-point rule. Defenses are just a lot better and quicker today that in Chamber lain’s days. The teams have more balanced scoring, so one player won’t get the ball enough to score 100 points. Because he did most of the scoring for the Philadelphia War riors in his stint there, he aver aged a lot of points. His 50.4- per-game average during the 1961-62 season is an NBA record that, too, should stand the tests of time. So will his 2,149 rebounds in a single season. You have to play a lot of minutes to achieve something like that, and with the paoe of today’s NBA game, players don’t log as many minutes as they once did. His 100 points came against the New York Knicks in March 1962. One Chamberlain record that did fall was his career total in points scored. In 14 seasons with the Warriors, 76ers and Lakers, he scored 31,419 points, a Houston Horn Journal I ■ 11 i.ujji)i f—r , "TP |,|^i ip§ \ & I.J i ' M Jim ~ vHw, M & w tjnfagjgg Hr 8$ IJH V i » J|f|i|j§| wK* 11 Home Journal Photo by Phil Clark READY TO SERVE Ready to help members of the Westfield football team are (from left) Jill Hulbert, Lina Arnold and Mike Edgar. Female manager-trainers bring new look to Westfield sidelines By Phil Clark At one tim*' it was looked upon as a chore handled only by boys, but not any more! These days, man agers of football teams come in all sizes, shapes and descriptions. Because of that, Lina Arnold and Jill Hulbert have brought a new look to the Westfield football team sidelines during the past three years. Arnold, a senior basket ball standout, was on the Westfield softball team through her freshman year, but a conflict during pre season tryouts before her sophomore season prevent ed her from attending prac tice. Consequently she was forced to miss the season. “The opportunity to help with the managers’ chores on the football team came up, and I jumped at the chance to do it, more to stay busy than anything else," Arnold said in a recent interview. “Once I started, it just sort of grew on me.l really like it," Arnold continued. Arnold and the freshman Hulbert have become an integral part of the West field football program. They handle many of the pre game chores, and are also present during practice sessions all week. Once the game starts, they have their individual sideline duties. “Our day begins before the team meal on game day," Arnold said. “We go ahead and make the Gatorade before the team eats, then we join them for the meal." With making the Gatorade out of the way, Arnold and Hulbert then mingle with the team dur ing the meal and chat with record broken by Kareem Abdul- Jabbar when he surpassed Chamberlain’s mark during the 1984 season. Abdul-Jabbar said, when informed of Chamberlain’s death on Tuesday of last week, “Wilt was one of the greatest ever, and we'll never see another one like him." Chamberlain’s classic battles with the Celtic’s Bill Russell are indelibly inscribed into the minds of true basketball fans. Red Auer bach, the legendary Celtics coach, summed it up when he said “Wilt Chamberlain had a great deal to do with the success of the NBA. His dominance, power, demeanor and the rivalry with Bill Russell says it all." Chamberlain was a dominant force, but he played the game with dignity. He played with class and character. He was bigger than everybody else in the game, but he never used his size in any way other than to dominate play. He was what could be. and each other and the other managers. Once the game starts, they are under the dnc«- tion of trainer Mike Edgar. Arnold said "in the beginning. Mike helped us a lot. But now. he trusts us to do a lot more things." Both Arnold and Hulbert are certified in CPR and First Aid. and are more than managers. They are actually student-trainers, with greater responsibili ties, and a lot more capabil ities than managers had in previous years. Jill Hulbert, the younger and sometimes quieter of the two, said she likes the job because “it keeps me close to my brothers, for one thing." As anyone who follows the Westfield program knows, tfte hulbert lings, all seven of them, ai*e very close. Being around the football team keeps Jill Hulbert close to the two youngest Hulbert brothers, Matthew and Mark, as well as Ben, who is now an assistant coach. Older sib lings are Jodi, the eldest and brothers Paul and John. When asked if she would continue with her student trainer job next season, Hulbert said she would, even though Arnold, a senior, will be gone. “It will be sad for her to go, but I’ll do it next year. We have really become best friends because of working together with the football team," Hulbert said. What made them good managers, and now stu dent trainers? “We owe everything to Meyur," Hul bert was quick to point out. Meyur, of course, is long time manager Meyur Vashi, See TRAINERS, Page 8A should be, called a clean’ player. In 1.205 NBA games. Wilt Cham berlain never fouled out once not the first time! The Lakers’ great shooting guard Jerry West credits Cham berlain with “making me a better player. We Just seemed to have a natural feel for each other, and it translated in a confidence fac tor." It was West, too, who tried to explain to Chamberlain why many opposing fans didn’t appreciate him, or at least didn’t show it. West told Chamberlain “No one roots for Goliath!" For 14 years in the NBA, Wilt Chamberlain was Goliath. The Davids tried hard to slay him. A David of a different sort, NBA commissioner David Stern reiter ated the obvious when he said “We lost a giant of a man in every sense of the word." Wilt Chamberlain's body was found in his apartment in Bel Aire in midafternoon Oct 12. He had a history of heart prob lems, and was on medication.