In 2012 sports news reported by the Houston Home Journal,
there was a lot of ‘oh-so-close’ when it came to winning state championships.
Some streaks of region success came to an end while others renewed themselves
for another year. Rivalry games didn’t disappoint with the expected thrilling
finishes and a few new standards were set.
Here is a look back at some good memories (maybe not if your
favorite team was not on the winning end) month by month:
JANUARY
The basketball rivalry of Warner Robins and Northside High
took place twice, with the first meeting at WRHS a split. The Demon boys won in
overtime after trailing by 14 in the second half, and the Lady Eagles went from
being down nine to winning by four.
Brannen Greene, playing for Mary Persons High, had a
30-point first-half in a win for the Bulldogs at Veterans High. The Warhawks,
though, would later use a Malik Broughton free-throw to edge Howard High for a
key region home victory.
On the wrestling mat, Westfield won its GISA region
traditional championship for the fourth year in a row. Ten Hornets reached
individual weight-class finals with four winning. It turned out to be a
four-point margin against Mt. de Sales, which also had 10 finalists.
The month concluded with that second WR-NS basketball
contest, and it was another split with the results reversed. Aaliyah Jones was
credited with beating the buzzer (despite disputes to the contrary) to give
Warner Robins’ girls the win at Northside 45-43. The Eagle boys handled the
Demons for what was a seventh win in a row.
FEBRUARY
Two GISA girls basketball rivals, Westfield and
Deerfield-Windsor, played for the Region 3-AAA tournament championship for the
fourth time in the last five years at ABAC in Tifton. One free throw, with
little time left for any kind of response, wound up winning the game for the
Lady Knights from Albany. Deerfield-Windsor took the championship after a
fiercely fought 26-25 final.
Another significant region tournament basketball game took
place at Howard High in Macon. The Veterans High Warhawks earned a hard-fought
win, 73-68, to put the second-year program in the GHSA Class AAA tournament for
the first time. The Warhawks defeated Mary Persons High, which had 34 points
from Greene.
Veterans, though, would fall the next night to Central in
overtime in another classic confrontation.
But that’s not all the basketball news. The girls of Warner
Robins repeated as region champions beating of all teams, Northside, in
Columbus by a 26-point margin. Jarius Smith of Northside beat the buzzer
(again, despite disputes to the contrary) as the Eagles knocked off Bainbridge
in Columbus for the first region hoops title since 2005.
Though the Lady Hornets of Westfield didn’t achieve its
region goals, the program’s first-ever state title was one win away in
Milledgeville. They could not, however, stop Arlington Christian from claiming
a fourth championship in a row despite leading by two at the half.
MARCH
With spring sports underway, more rivalries were renewed,
like the soccer battles between Warner Robins and Houston County High. In a
girls match held at Houston’s field, Alex Clark took a free kick that deflected
off a Houston player and tied the score 2-2 with five minutes to play. That’s
how it would end, Jasmine Johnson scoring twice for the Lady Bears.
Veterans’ mastery over Mary Persons carried over to the
baseball diamond as Lyndon Meadows and R.J. Skeen each had a streak of six
straight strikeouts and Micah Wells doubled in the game-winning runs of a 5-3
final.
Houston County’s baseball club started the season winning
nine straight. Clint Wynn had a solo home run in a 1-0 win at Thomas
County-Central and Austin Wallace struck out seven in a complete game against
Warner Robins.
D.J. Garrett of Veterans boys soccer had four goals in a
thrilling 7-5 win at Perry High. Warner Robins baseball coach Bill Beatty
earned his 100th career win when the Demons blitzed
Northside-Columbus at home. Wallace survived a tough first-inning to end an
eight-game winning streak by the Northside Eagles with another complete game.
APRIL
Clint Wynn’s two strikeouts with the bases loaded set up
Trent Jones’ game-winning sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of Houston
County’s big region baseball win at home against Warner Robins. Wynn pitched in
relief of Wallace in the top half of the frame.
Things didn’t get better for the Demons against Northside,
where Cole McArthur went 4-for-4 and struck out six in three relief innings of
a 5-3 win.
On the heels of surviving a slugfest with Westside and
blowing out Howard, all at home, Veterans baseball won for the 10thtime in a row by beating West Laurens on the road. WL had won 13 in a row.
The diamond drama between county rivals wasn’t done,
however, as Houston’s Scott Daniel drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh
inning to give the Bears a win against Northside. Also, it was Perry ending the
Veterans streak, and that was a 3-2 final when the Warhawks left the potential
tying and winning runs on base.
Veterans, though, claimed region titles in both boys and
girls soccer. The boys team needed a goal in the final 10 minutes to break both
a match tie with Howard and a tie at the top of the region standings. It was a
2-2 halftime score, but a 4-2 VH win.
Patrick Braxton had three goals in a shutout by Houston
County against the Bainbridge High Bearcats in the region finals of boys
soccer. The result was a 6-0 victory and fourth straight championships for the
Bears. This is also Houston County’s seventh region title in boys soccer since 2005.
For the first time in six years, the Bears made the GHSA
state playoffs in baseball. Jason Brett’s team survived a three-game region
playoff at home against Hardaway, which came back from five runs down to win
Game 2 and force a third contest.
MAY
Any state championships locally? Yes! Warner Robins High’s
Asha Stegall went to Albany and won the AAAA girls 400-meter run at the GHSA
track and field meet. She ran a time of 55.81 seconds.
Both Houston County and Westfield baseball clubs would go to
a third game before advancing in their respective opening state baseball
series.
The Hornets and Stratford did battle in Perry, and in Game 3
Westfield won 9-8 with five combined RBI from No. 8 and 9 hitters Beau Holcomb
and Gehrig Broxton.
Hunt Smith singled in the top of the seventh when Houston
County was down to Ware County in Game 3 of their series at the Bear Den. That
broke a tie and sent the Bears to a 6-4 win. The Gators won the right to be the
‘home team’ and led 4-1.
Things didn’t go well for the region champion Veterans
baseball squad in hurricane-like conditions at home, Cartersville Purple
Hurricanes earning a playoff sweep to end the Warhawk season. Houston County’s
soccer Bears didn’t have good luck in a home playoff match as Northwest
Whitfield made four penalty kicks in a row to take a shootout victory.
After dropping a tiebreaker game to determine the region
baseball championship against Deerfield-Windsor, Westfield marched through the
playoffs, sweeping Bulloch at home in the semifinals. Tattnall Square, however,
knocked out D-W for the right to host the Hornets for the GISA title.
The series in Macon was about pitching domination. The
Trojans won Game 1 with a near perfect-game performance from Connor Alford. He
struck out nine in a row at one point. He had a 1-0 lead, but Barrett Stanley
tied the game with a single in the top of the seventh. TSA would still win the
game 2-1 in the bottom half.
The next day, Caleb Weaver threw his own complete game
three-hitter 2-1. Dustin Hall drove in both runs as Westfield evened the
series.
With seven runs scored from the fourth to the sixth,
Tattnall Square won the third game 7-2 and thus denied the Westfield Hornets a
repeat of the 2011 championship.
JUNE
This would be the quiet month for competitive sports. Camps
take center stage, and Buddy Curry – former Atlanta Falcon – brought back the
Kids & Pros Football Camp to Tanner Park and former University of Georgia
baseball coach Robert Sapp was back to run his youth baseball camp.
Casey Hayward, coming off his second-round draft selection
by the Green Bay Packers, spoke about upcoming training camp and all he went
through since becoming an official member of the National Football League.
Westfield’s new athletic director Chip Champion also settled
in to his Hornet surroundings. Gone from Westfield, though, was softball coach
Julie Brooker, now coaching at Georgia Military Prep.
Little League baseball got underway as the month closed.
Dudley Little League, for the second year in a row, won District 5 over Warner Robins
American 5-3 at the Flint Energies Complex.
JULY
Perry Junior League’s 12 & under baseball All-Stars
captured the Georgia ozone state tournament championship Thursday at the Gordon
Complex in Albany.
With the victory, Perry Junior League took the Georgia
banner to the Dixie Youth World Series in Cleveland, Miss.
Perry Junior League survived a rematch against a team it
beat handily in the early portion of double-elimination play. Heath Dykes’ team
defeated Columbia County 9-4 for the championship after leading 5-0. When it
was 5-3, Jacob Hunt hit a three-run home run and Trey Ham added a solo shot.
Ham also delivered a bases-loaded two-run hit in the fifth inning of a 4-3 win
against Baldwin.
For the fifth time in the last six years, Warner Robins American
Little League won the state championship for Major Boys (11-12) baseball. At
Murphey-Candler in Atlanta, WRALL topped Northern of Columbus 10-4. Reggie Ling
hit his second three-run home run of the tournament as a pinch-hitter.
WRALL actually beat Northern twice in Atlanta, and in the
first meeting Chase Padgett hit a grand slam. Other tournament notes include 22
straight innings by WRALL pitching without giving up a run and six home runs
hit by Leyton Pinckney.
AUGUST
For three years now, the month starts off with Southeastern
Regional Little League play. Martin Pinckey’s champions from the Warner Robins
American program represented Georgia looking for its chance to go to
Williamsport for World Series competition. But they were faced with two contests
that could have kept them from even playing in the ESPN televised Southeast
semifinals.
Georgia lost to North Carolina 10-2 in the first pool game
for its first loss of the summer and first by a WRALL in this new complex.
Georgia then fell behind Florida 5-0, but Conner Bookout’s two-out pinch-hit
single in the fourth completed the comeback win 5-4. Kody Winner struck out
eight in six innings to beat Alabama 4-1.
That set up a semifinal game with Virginia, which was
averaging 10 runs a game. Virginia only had one run and four hits, Bookout
drove in two more, and Georgia won 5-1.
Brock Myers of Tennessee pitched no-hit baseball for five
innings of the championship game. He struck out nine and walked four. Leyton
Pinckney also pitched five with no walks and six whiffs. The game was decided
on an unearned run, which touched home on a second-inning wild pitch, and it
was Tennessee ticketed for Pennsylvania.
That was the end of Little League ball, but high school fall
sports were just around the corner. One of the late-August highlights was Nick
Wilcox’s narrow win at the Midstate Classic cross country race at the Georgia
National Fairgrounds. The WRHS Demon edged Perry’s Jimmy Mehserle, who was in
front for most of the final leg.
Perry High played the best softball game coach Lorne Tucker
ever saw when his Panthers topped West Laurens on the road 3-0. Savannah Ransom
pitched a five-hitter and drove in two on a double.
SEPTEMBER
Veterans High went to Perry’s softball field and helped
create what would be a logjam in the region standings by topping the Panthers
5-2.
The softball rivalry of them all remained between Westfield
and Stratford, the three-time GISA state champions. The two met for a region
game, and the Hornets always know what to do in that scenario as they won 4-3
in eight innings in Macon.
Stratford’s Lexi Rouse struck out 16, but gave up a
go-ahead double to Hannah Edwards in the eighth.
Westfield would earn another big region win when Sydney
Barker faced the minimum number of Southland batters in a 7-0 home shutout. In
the rematch with Stratford in Perry, the Hornets ran away with a 6-0 triumph.
That made it 13 region titles in a row for the softball program.
Freshman Mattie Hamilton came through with the biggest hit
of her young Perry High softball career. With the bases loaded, she doubled on
the 12th pitch she saw, drove in three runs and paced her team to a
7-5 home win against Houston County.
Football season also started, with most of the exciting
finishes happening in the final weekend of the month.
Westfield improved to 5-0 on Evan Williams’ fourth-quarter
touchdown pass to Asa Coody. Stratford led 13-10 before the snap, but the
Hornets won 17-13.
Veterans was also trailing, 13-7 at halftime, to Rutland.
The Warhawks scored 25 third-quarter points to win 32-13. Freshman quarterback
Logan Byrd had two touchdown passes and one scoring run.
OCTOBER
Westfield’s push through the softball playoffs in GISA began
with a 1-0 shutout in a sweep of Gatewood and a 2-1 series win against
Loganville Christian. This was the first time the Hornets had to play a third
game prior to the final four in the current playoff format.
On the football field, one of the most heartbreaking losses
in the tenure of Houston County High football coach Greg Robinson took place at
McConnell-Talbert Stadium. When it looked like Lakeside-Evans was going to
coast to victory, the Bears roared to life, providing an exciting second half
that came down to a long field-goal try.
Will Cowart’s 51-yard attempt fell maybe a half-yard short,
and Lakeside won 37-35.
Lakeside had touchdowns of 70, 64, 66 and 91 yards, but it
was only 14-13 for the visitors at the half.
Taylor Boyett didn’t start at quarterback, but had full
control in the second half scoring three rushing touchdowns. His third
put the
Bears up 35-34. Myles White had 304 all-purpose yards with a punt return score
of 72 yards.
Lakeside’s Colby Ellis kicked the winning field goal in the
final minute.
On the volleyball court, Veterans High claimed the school’s
first area championship dominating the competition at West Laurens High. Jalyn
Slaughter claimed Player of the Year honors, and Nicole Miranda was the top
coach.
Back in football, A.J. Riley’s interception in the final
minute secured a 21-17 win for Perry over Veterans. Riley also returned a
kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown right after Tim Yaclin of the Warhawks broke a
tie on a 32-yard field goal.
As for the softball playoffs, Westfield matched up with
Stratford for the third year in a row for a best-of-3 championship in Dublin.
Stratford swept its way to a fourth title in a row, but not after wiping out
big Hornet leads in both games. In Game 1, it went from 3-0 to 5-3 in the last
inning; in Game 2 Westfield scored six in the first but lost 13-7.
NOVEMBER
Middle Georgia Technical College brought back the sound of
bouncing basketballs by opening the 2012-13 season in its new home gym. The
Titan men won that debut as Javarious Montgomery scored off a steal for a
three-point play with 16 seconds left. Ashley West of Perry scored 19 points to
lead the Lady Titans women to victory also, MGTC hosting the Brewton-Parker JV.
Perry, Veterans and Houston County excelled in region cross
country meets, the Panther boys extending a long steak of team championships.
Veterans’ girls were also dominant as a team, and in a bit of an upset Megan
Asadian of Houston County went to Evans County and beat a hometown runner,
Sarah Bowels of Lakeside, to win individually for the second year in a row.
Northside football was rolling into its biggest
regular-season game against rival Warner Robins. Unbeaten, the Eagles had to
hold off the Demons in the second half to win 35-28. Glenn Smith threw three
touchdown passes and Keshun Hill scored four times, and Warner Robins fell in
the series for the seventh time in the last eight years.
The Eagles led by as much as 21, but three times the Demons
pulled to within one touchdown. After a Marquez Moore interception, Hill scored
his fourth touchdown at 2:49 to make it 35-21. Warner Robins converted one
fourth down after another, and with the scoreboard clock not working, Caden
Johnston threw a TD pass to DeAnthony Mack with just seconds to go.
No time in football can be more dramatic than the playoffs.
In a game full of turnovers and penalties, Westfield survived its first round
foe, Trinity Christian-Sharpsburg, 10-7 at home. Evan Williams scored his 12thrushing touchdown of the season to stake the Hornets to a 10-0 lead early in
the second half.
Warner Robins was also challenged at McConnell-Talbert by
Richmond Hill. Matt Monday’s 32-yard field goal with 29 seconds left lifted the
Demons to the first-round win 17-15.
Basketball news was mixing in with the football results, and
none may have been bigger than the Westfield girls triumphant trip to Arlington
Christian, a place that never sees its team lose. But Sydney Ledford’s 22
points, 11 rebounds and four blocks paced the Lady Hornets to victory 58-54.
DECEMBER
Perhaps the two most exciting finishes in the history of
Northside football took place in the postseason. Considering one was against
Tucker High, it stands to reason that the last minute would be the only one
that mattered.
Sure enough, it was a dramatic, emotion-charged 23-20 GHSA
AAAAA quarterfinal win against the Tigers at McConnell-Talbert Stadium.
Northside was about 30 seconds, one down and eight yards
from defeat. Tucker fell behind the Eagles 16-13 at the 7:29 mark in the fourth
quarter but reclaimed that advantage and took more than six minutes off the
game clock to do it. On 3rd-and-8 at the 11, Juwaan Williams scored
at 1:23. With the PAT made, Northside trailed 20-16, which meant only a
touchdown would extend the season.
On the ensuing kickoff, the football went to Hill, who set
his team up on the midfield stripe, 1:14 still available for a comeback. Kevin Kinsler
burned his last timeout on 3rd-and-8 and 33 seconds to go. The
third-down pass was incomplete, but on fourth down, Smith lurched his arm back,
fired the football over the middle, and Hill’s leaping efforts sent a full home
side of the field into an emotional frenzy.
Off to Ware County’s Memorial Stadium and the semifinals
with the hot Gators. Northside never had a lead in this game, but the
courageous effort of injured kicker Isaac Rivera resulted in a 40-yard field
goal that tied the game 17-17 in the final minute of regulation.
Off to overtime, where the Gators would get the touchdown,
and a costly penalty hurt the Eagle chances to getting even again. Final score:
24-17.
On the basketball court, K.J. Smith was a scoring machine
with 33 points in a win against First Presbyterian and 48 in back-to-back games
in the Veterans Christmas tournament. James Beeland sank seven 3-pointers for
Westfield in a 54-52 home win against Tiftarea. Jarius Smith had six 3-pointers
in one game of the Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl for the champion Northside Eagles.
Warner Robins High was the runner-up in that tournament, but would come back to
overtake Rutland in the Veterans tournament.
HHJ News
