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Sports 1 5* m Home Journal Photo by Jj Johnson INSTRUCTION TIME Perry High Head Football Coach George Collins and Assistant Coach Andy Gentry shout instructions to their team during the 21-8 victory over Macon County Nov. 5. The Panthers close their Region 4-AA schedule with Bleckley County in Cochran Nov. 12. Panthers down Macon County for second win By ALLINE KENT Hour Journal Sports It was a win that meant nothing. It was a win that meant everything. Perry downed Macon County 21-8 in a Nov. 5 Region 4-AA win that meant nothing to the region standings and every thing for team morale. “We needed this win." said Head Coach and Athletic Direc tor George Collins. “Been a long time in coming. For the most part our effort was there, there were some areas in which we could have \!sestfield opens playoff season with John Milledge Nov. 12 By Phil Clark Home Joubmal Sports Coach konnie Jones will lead his Westfield Hornets into the 1999 Georgia Independent School Association football playoffs with one goal in mind: Bring home the school's first ever football state champi onship. The Hornets, who finished the regular season with a record of 8-1-1, will face the John Milledge Trojans Nov. 12 at the Hornets’ Nest after fin ishing the regular season sec Perry cross country completes fourth consecutive GHSA state meet By ALLINE KENT HOMEjOURPIALBPO«TB_____ ii ___ t __ Coach darl Thomas took his boys cross country team to the Class AA state meet in Carroll ton Nov. 6, after finishing sec ond in Region 4AA for the fourth year in a row. Perry runner Randy Whid don finished 108 out of the 165 runners there. Whiddon crossed the line on his first lap in 12th position ‘Sweetness’ is gone; ‘Sweetness’ will never leave us Twice within a span of eight days, the world was shocked at the passing of a sports hero. First, golfer Payne Stewart was killed in the crash of his private Lear jet near Aberdeen, S.D. as he was en route to join fellow golfers in Texas for the Tour Champi onship. A week later, football legend Walter Payton lost his battle with cancer and a rare liver disease. Stewart was 42, Payton 45. That's way too young for our sports heroes to be leaving us. We don’t have too many waiting in the wings to take their places. Cer tainly there’s a shortage of the super nice guys who give of themselves and their resources without hesitancy and role models for our young folks to look up to and follow. Stewart was perhaps better known for the attire he wore during golf tournaments than by a golf game which had earned him membership on five Ryder Cup teams, including the victorious 1997 team that brought the Cup back to the United States. He won the 1989 PGA Champi- OPsMp t)'V U.S Oflpn <ri f It - Wed., Nov. 10, 1999, Houston Home Journal Page 6A executed better," he added. Macon County will not be part of the Panther region next year due to the realignment but Collins plans to keep the Bull dogs on his schedule. “It is something that will develop into a good rivalry. They are not going to be in the new region, but we plan on playing them for the next two years. Beating a neighboring county gives you something to brag about," Collins said. Perry dominated the game See PANTHERS, Page 7A ond in region 1 AAA to the Stratford Eagles. John Milledge beat winless Brentwood 36-6 in their final regular season game to secure a spot in the playoffs. The two teams have met 15 times previously, with Westfield winning 10 of the 15 games. A win for the Hornets would be the 70th for Jones in his seven seasons at the helm. The winner of the Westfield- John Milledge game advances to play at Tattnall Square Nov. 19. and his second lap in 36th place. Westminster, a favorite going into the meet, took first place honors. North Georgia schools have consistently fielded top cross country teams. “The course was very hilly." said Thomas. “We knew what we were up against and had realistic goals. I am satisfied with our year. Region was our focus." Phil Clark Home Journal Sports 1991 and 1999. The 1999 victory was especially rewarding for the Southern Methodist University graduate. Avid golfers who follow the game and it's participants closely will remember that in 1987, Stewart donated his entire winner's check from the Bay Hill Invitational to the Florida Hospi tal Circle of Friends in memory of his father. Stewart left a beautiful, coura geous wife Tracey and two children, all of whom shared Payne’s love of life, fellowman and Christ. Unlike Stewart, Payton's death was not a complete surprise and shock. ' Sweetness" had been battling ;■< r pi <•••• but it was bile ' «, ! WELjir. . fln - - i|. j' BJp jCjBCv jH * _w w\l JHbh tfatf** M ML. I f rm m I wmx - ! JSm v ~ jSKjMF • W L. "A* ** ■ ~ .-■<* . pL . “ fjMr* . . i-. .«|raSrg - ]iL», y Jrarl jL *JrJ ‘ *■> 1999 Houston County 7th Grade Champions MEET THE CHAMPS Members of the Perry Middle School Seventh Grade Jootball team include [front, from left) Kanorris Hudgens, Thomas Lawson, Jamario Green, Brandon Davis, Markese Howard, Sidney Swan, Damien Singletary, manager Shane Ashley, (second row) Joseph Steele, Kyle Darsey. Travis Moss, Jeremiah Jones, Michael Collier, Stephen James, Mitchell Patterson, (third row) manager Michael Roberts, Josh Davidson, Josh Browne, James McAllister, manager Heath Whiddon, Seventh grade Panthers claim county crown By ALLINE KENT Home Journal Spouts When you are 12 years oJd, while you still dream of a Super Bowl ring or playing in the Sugar Bowl for the National Championship, there is a goal just as important and just as hard to attain the Houston County middle school football championship. This year, the 7th grade team at Perry Middle School have earned the right to call themselves champions. County Champions! The young Panthers claimed the title Nov. 3 with a 9-8 sud den death overtime victory over Tabor. Perry beat the Tabor Tigers after dominating the majority of the game and then holding on for the win in an overtime period. The Panther defense held the Tigers scoreless during the first quarter despite a fumble that gave Tabor the ball in excellent scoring position. Perry, forced to punt from their 32-yard line in the open ing minutes of the second quarter, delivered a long, low punt down field. Brandon Davis, who had been injured earlier in the season, kicked the ball 54 yards. Brandon Alford, and Markese Howard nailed the Tabor receiver. "We weren't getting down to cover quick enough, so we had to make some changes on our kicking coverage," said Panther Coach Leslie Belcher. “Brandon was one of them. Adding Stephen James to the punt team was another." Stunned by the Panther defense, Tabor turned the ball over on dowms near the 48- yard line. Brandon Davis took the ball down to the 16-yard line where he was knocked out of bounds. Ray Page, on the end of the Davis pass, took the ball the rest of the way for the score with only 9 seconds left in the half. Ricky Harris took the ball in for the two-point conversion / •^ duct cancer which actually took his life. The cancer was discovered dur ing treatment for the liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis. Pay ton had been on a waiting list for a possible liver transplant. By the time the bile duct cancer was detected, according to Payton's physician Dr. Greg Gores, the malig nancy was very advanced, and spreading so rapidly outside his liver, that a transplant was no longer an option. With all of his problems in the past year, Payton never wanted to talk about them. Mike Singletary, his long time friend and former Chicago Bears teammate said "Walter just refused to ask Why me’. Instead, he just con tinued to look forward." “Forward" would not be far away, though. It was Monday November first. “Sweetness" couldn't elude the tackle. He couldn't run over it. But as on all of his 3,838 carries, he didn’t go down easy. , v .' Payton broke Jim Brown's Nation al Football League career rushing yards record, finishing a brilliant career with 16,726 yards, some which gave the Panthers the 8- 0 lead at the halftime buzzer. Tabor mounted a serious drive in the third, but Panther Jamario Green recovered a fumble near the 20-yard line. In the fourth, the Tigers turned up the heat and with less than four minutes in the game, tied the game up 8-8. Perry came right back at them, and brought the ball down to the Tiger side of the field but time ran out. Middle school overtime is different than high school and is more comparable to a sud den death type play. Each team received the ball on the 50- yard line and has four downs to score. At the end of four downs, regardless of the yardage picked up, the ball is turned over fo the other team. If nei ther team scores a touchdown during their four downs, the game is determined on pene tration. Tabor won the toss and chose to let the Panthers go first on offense. Perry, picked up 10 yards, moving the ball to the 40-yard line. The Tigers, who had to move the ball past the 40-yard line to win, gained four yards on their first try and then picked up a five-yard delay of game penalty on their second try. The Tigers had three downs to pick up the 11 yards. Tabor ran the ball on second and got six, needing only a short five-yard gain for the win. On the next try, Green and Harris splattered the Tabor quarterback four yards behind the line of scrimmage. On the last Tabor attempt, Harris and Green, this time aided by Brandon Davis, made the tackle again behind the line to end the game. One point was added to the Perry score for the greatest penetration, making it a 9-8 victory. "All season long what Coach (James) Latimore and I try to do is instill pride in our play ers, “ said Belcher. He and Lati Home Journal Photo by AlUne Kent Michael McKinney, Tynan Mickens, Daryl Tucker, (fourth row) Hunter Loggins, Ricky Harris, Bernard Askew, Lanarl Lawson, Christopher El-Amin, Brandon Alford, Grant Brantley, Brent Belcher, (fifth row) Scott Stimus, Damien Whitfield, Bryan Williams. Travanti Harrell, manager Ben Holmes, T.J. OcUces, Ray Page, Eli Turner, (back row) Leslie Belcher, Tom Gupton, Russ Gibson, James Latimore and Jessie Davis. more led the 7th graders to the championship. “We don't want them to accept less than their best effort,” Belcher said The Perry season opened with four wins, before the Pan thers lost games to Feagin Mill and Warner Robins. The sev enth graders closed out the regular season with a win over Tabor, whom the Panthers beat 8-0. Latimore said then that there was a difference in his team. "We hadn't played good those last two weeks before the Tabor game," said Latimore. “But the week before we played Tabor in regular season, 1 saw something different in them at practice. I knew that they wanted this." After defeating Tabor, Perry was involved in a five-way tie, and had to play in a sudden death playoff series that same week. Perry earned their way to the playoffs by defeating North side 6 0. Sk& r - Home Journal Photo by AlUne Kent HOLD IT HIGH Coaches James Latimore (left) and Leslie Belcher hold high the county championship trophy the Perry Middle School Seventh Grade won Nov. 3. 4,400 more than the record he broke! It's hard to believe Payton retired a dozen years ago. It's almost as if we can still see that number 34 high stepping, twisting, darting and yes, running over tacklers, at Soldier Field and around the NFL. Was he the best back to ever play the game? Combine everything that goes into making up a back, and the answer is probably yes. Running with the ball, catching the ball and block ing. Yes, blocking. “Sweetness" was excellent in this phase of the game, something running backs, particular ly halfbacks, don’t do nearly as well. Some of his more notable records are his rushing attempts, 3,838. What durability! He rushed for 275 yards in a single game, with 110 rushing touchdowns. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 10 of his 13 professional seasons, coming up short of that mark only during his rookie season, 1975, his final season, 1987, and the 1982 season. By the way, those were the only three sea sons during his career in \yhich he carried the ball less than 300 times! Payton was appreciated by those Then came the semi-final game, where Perry defeated the Feagin Mill Wolves 16-8. "With those two losses in a row, “ said Belcher, “we had been playing me-me football. We knew to go all the way we were going to have to change that me to a we." “I was very nervous about the overtime," said Latimore. “In the kind of overtime that we have, one play can change the whole game." Perry’s defense received much credit for the win, hold ing Tabor several times when the Tigers were within scoring position. Ricky Harris led the way with nine individual tack les, followed by Green who had three, two of which were during the overtime period. Brandon Davis had three tackles. Damien Singletary. Markese Howard, Brandon Alford, and Christopher El- Amin each had two. See MIDDLE, Page 7A who do the Hall of Fame voting. He was elected in January, 1993, his first year of eligibility. Although he was the star of the Bears' 1985 Super Bowl team, he was denied the chance to score a Super Bowl touchdown when Bears' coach Mike Ditka gave the ball to William Perry in a goal-to go situation. I don't think I will ever forgive Ditka for that move. Walter Payton shared my birthday of July 25, although he was born during the year that 1 was graduating from high school! A southern boy from Columbia, Miss., who earned a bachelor’s degree is special education at Jackson State, Payton was com pletely loyal to his adopted home of Chicago. It was Michael Jordan who perhaps said it best. “Walter was a Chicago icon long before I arrived there. He was a great man off the field and his on-the-ficld accomplishments speak for themselves, I spent a lot of time with Walter, and I truly feel that we have lost a great man." Jordan said when told of Payton's passing. "Sweetness" is gone. But "Sweet ness” will never leave.