Thank you Veterans Offensive Coordinator Steve Ruzic. Thank you for reminding us there is more than football (or baseball or basketball …).
To explain: Ruzic was a guest on this past week’s Crunchtime from Sonny’s.
The conversation immediately started with football. Ruzic politely balked and said: No, first … He then went on to ask for prayers and support for Tommy Parks of Upson-Lee. Parks, he said, had had a heart attack and was facing a long recovery – a year or more, Ruzic said. (Note: One form of support, Ruzic said, was to visit his Facebook page at TPstrong and leave a word or two of encouragement.)
“You’ve got to look at life and a lot of times there are things more important than football games … And I don’t think people know coaches have families and we need to come together and help him out.”
Well said, coach! Well said!
Also, prayers and support were also requested – via Crunchtime host and former Northside AD Conrad Nix – for former Warner Robins AD Richard Fendley as he recovers from back surgery.
However, Ruzic quipped: “He’s too mean to keep him down.”
“There’s some truth to that,” laughed Nix.
Well said, again.
The “beefiest” kid in Houston County? Well, it’s an imprecise science as many rosters don’t have weights listed next to the player’s name, but it appears: For Northside it’s 6-0 senior Briceon Cox, who is listed as 337 pounds on MaxPreps (which is the only place we found weights listed thus possibly/probably adding to the chance we’re wrong). For Perry it’s 6-3 junior Antwan Fann, who is listed as 320. For Veterans it’s 6-3 senior Sindey Snyder, who is listed as 310. For Warner Robins it’s 6-0 senior Montarius Sturn, who is listed as 307 and for Houston County it’s 6-2 sophomore Tylon Chambers, who is listed as 280.
Why do we even ask? Why do we even care? Well, we were just curious if anybody comes close to 16-year old junior Gavin Rupe out of Tennessee’s Sullivan Central High School. “Shade tree” as he’s nicknamed comes in at 6-foot-8, 420 pounds.
So, if about 100 pounds is “close”, yes, we have some kids who come close.
And oh by the way, we’re dying to ask a couple of follow-up questions. One, do they get flagged for too-many-men-on-the-field when he breaks huddle? Two, does the rest of the squad look like that kid from the old comic book ad? You know (that is: you know if you’re as old as dirt like we are), the one who continues to get sand kicked in his face?
We only ask, because despite his size, the team is riding a 21-game losing streak!
Mark us down as geniuses. Why? Because we knew – said repeatedly among ourselves – without a shadow of a doubt Northside was not going to lose to Henry County. “Why, because Henry County is that bad?” Nope. Because the Eagles are that good. Specifically, the Northside “coaches” are that good, the Northside “program” is that good.
In fact, you’d have to go all the way back to 1996 to find the last time the Eagles lost on opening night (37-21, Griffin) and then lost again (21-0, Peach County) the week following. That’s 20 years folks! Two decades of excellence … and one week of us looking like we actually know what we’re talking about. That’s genius on our part.
That Eagle can dance! Now the question is: Are we talking about Daniel Neal and his 140 yards rushing on 17 carries in the big win over Henry County, or are we talking about the team’s mascot?
Turns out we’re talking about both. While Neal is no mystery, it turns out the Northside Eagle mascot has his own set of moves. Now we can’t reveal his identity, but we can say we know him enough to say: Dancing is life! (Translated: Hours and hours of practice daily.)
There it is Mr. Bear. Mr. Demon. Mr. Warhawk. Mr. Panther. (Or “Miss” on all accounts.) The gauntlet has been thrown. Let the dance-off begin.
Peach County’s Kearis Jackson is a very “versatile” weapon. Of that there is no doubt. He caught two balls for 107 yards against Houston County, returned kickoffs and punts – one he carried for 62 yards and a touchdown. A very versatile weapon indeed.
However, that isn’t something we “learned”. That’s something we already knew – as if “Georgia-commit” didn’t already speak loads going in.
But, what we did learn – same bat-station but a bat-day earlier – is that he hasn’t cornered the market on it. Case in point: Veterans’ Jeremy Horton. Horton, in the Warhawks’ win over Dublin, ran for 114 yards on 10 carries. He also had eight catches for 76 yards and he also returned kickoffs and punts – several times setting up great field position. He would have even had a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown had a hold not negated it.
