AJC > Sports > Highschools > Blog > Archives > 2006 > December > 09 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSemifinals not enough for Northside
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Few programs in recent years have put as much mileage on the team bus as Northside-Warner Robins has in trekking the 100 miles north to the Georgia Dome. That’s not the hard part. Getting to the ultimate destination has been a chore.
None of the four visits to Atlanta for the state semifinals has resulted in a championship, a sticking point not lost on anyone in Warner Robins.
“It’s about winning the state,” said Tijuan Green, the Eagles’ sensational junior running back. “It’s about more than getting to the Dome. One more win.”
Friday night, the Eagles’ enjoyed a celebratory journey home from the Dome after a 20-17 victory over gutty St. Pius that tested their fortitude. They started fast, stalled, recovered and then hung on. Not exactly a scintillating performance, but a winning one. And all the Eagles wanted was a chance to play next week for the AAAA championship.
“We didn’t close the game out like we’d like to,” coach Conrad Nix said afterward. “But I was proud of the character the kids showed.”
Unquestionably, the victory required some gumption on the Eagles’ part, as the Golden Lions bounced back from early stage fright with admirable will. Their history at the Dome is different than Northside’s: St. Pius previously had not advanced far enough in the postseason to earn a spot in the coveted game. And the enormity of the game was evident at the onset.
A snap to the punter in the first quarter was high and gave the Eagles a first down on the St. Pius 2. A few seconds later, Green, a back of immense skill, scored to get things started for Northside.
That touchdown was significant. “It took a lot of the nervousness away,” Green said. Not too much later, Green tacked on a dynamic 62-yard touchdown run up the right sideline. Northside led 13-0 and was dominant.
As much as the Eagles felt in control, the Golden Lions felt desperate, which was just the emotion they needed.
Quarterback Dylan Knight led a lengthy drive for a field goal by Chris Philpott. The defense, which seemed overwhelmed at the outset, settled in nicely and held the bigger and faster Eagles.
Finally, in the third quarter, sophomore running back sensation Jonathan Tinsley broke loose on a 40-yard scoring run that pulled St. Pius to within 13-10. Suddenly, the vestiges of past failures seemed to overtake Northside. Its offense was bogged down by a Golden Lions defense that was solid.
The D got the O the ball back, and St. Pius’ disciplined blocking schemes confounded Northside. Senior Will Asip, Tinsley and Knight ground out yardage, and a Tinsley-to-Joey Flint pass connection moved the ball deep into Northside terrain.
St. Pius had an edge in its strut, Northside a posture of concern. Then the moment of the game occurred: Asip was stripped of the ball on a left end run. Northside recovered and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
A few minutes later, on fourth-and-1, Green crossed the goal line for the third time, making it 20-10 with 8:27 to play. Flint’s touchdown reception at 1:17 pulled the Golden Lions to within three, but it was too late.
When Northside recovered the ensuing onside kick, the driver could crank up the bus in anticipation of a jubilant ride home. But the Eagles hope for the ultimate celebration next weekend.
Permalink | Comments (38) | Post your comment | Categories: Curtis Bunn
Comments
By Big Mac
December 9, 2006 06:49 AM | Link to this
You are right Curtis. Congrats guys, but time to focus on the big prize. Making the finals is nice, winning is much better. We’ve made the finals plenty of times, NOW LET’S CLOSE THE DEAL!!! Marist is a GREAT team, it will take a super effort to beat them. GET ‘R DONE!!!
By James
December 9, 2006 10:02 AM | Link to this
Anyone who makes the state championship is a good team but I watched Marist last night and to me didn’t see anything special that Northside hasn’t already handled. Plus, Marist had at least 3 key injuries last night, 2 of them are season ending for sure. Northside is gonna have to play better than they did at the dome but I think this is the year they are THE team, not in years past like when they had to face Parkview in their prime and a very well oiled Statesboro last year. Plus, Northside won the coin toss last night and are hosting the AAAA state championship.
By george
December 9, 2006 12:48 PM | Link to this
It was obvious from some of the comments by the “elite of Marist” that they certainly do not respect the Eagles from Northside. I guess we just don’t fit their social class. Something else was also obvious. Apparently members of certain races are not welcome at Marist, at least on the football team. As a result, next week’s championship game will be between “the white boys” and “the brothers”. My money is on “the brothers”. Go Eagles
By Thom
December 9, 2006 01:06 PM | Link to this
As an impartial observer (Lowndes fan)the absurd notion that Northside may be the best team in any class is just plain lunacy. They may win 4A but now at this point in the season they probably could not beat WR again and certainly could not handle Tift or Roswell.
By The Truth Hurts
December 9, 2006 01:47 PM | Link to this
Way to go George. Way to make the game racial. The one thing in our lives that is not political, a bunch of 17 year old boys playing football, and dumbo George has to say dumbo things. Marist is a private, Catholic school dedicated more to creating well-rounded, functional human beings of faith than most (public or private) schools. They have been winning in football since the 1980s—remarkable given that they don’t have the best athletes year in and year out. Which is about to prove my point: in high school, coaching is almost everything.
So, leave the race card to the politicians, George. Marist is a top 20 national athletic program and plays up from it’s AAA enrollment. How about some humility and respect for the people that have been down this path a couple dozen times without sacrificing any of their integrity to find success? Marist will never churn out a host of Div. 1-A athletes. They never have. They go beyond that.
Novel concept in this day and age, huh?
Marist has lost before in big games to teams not as talented as Northside, so there’s no shame in that. What is shameful, however, is making this white vs. black. It’s not. It’s apparently people who respect their opponents, black and white (the school has a healthy respect for south Ga. teams like Thomas County Central, Worth County, etc.), versus people who don’t, because they’re white. Real classy.
By george
December 9, 2006 01:47 PM | Link to this
Thom, we will never know, but I certainly would not bet against Northside. It would be a big mistake to judge the Eagles on a far below average performance last night. It is far from “lunancy” to think they couldn’t do again what they have already done.
By rampdawg
December 9, 2006 01:58 PM | Link to this
Hey Thom, NHS could handle any team in the state right now. WRHS knows it, Tift knows it, Roswell knows it, and YOU KNOW IT.
Sounds like sour grapes to me since the two AAAAA teams from Houston Co. lost to NHS , but whipped two time defending state champs Lowndes.
Northside should be in AAAAA, and most likely soon will be. Then you’ll be losing to three Houston Co. schools.
By Warner Robins Football Fan
December 9, 2006 02:24 PM | Link to this
Hey Thom ignore rampdog,all fans/players from WR are not as conceded as a few fans/players from NSWR.Look what it almost did to them last night.If not for mental errors(center snapped ball over punters head)NSWR would be on the outside looking in.Let me explain the difference between most WR fans and NSWR fans,we WR fans want all area teams(WR,HOCO,NSWR)to be in the state finals.My wife came home from work yesterday and told me one of her co-workers husbands(NSWR fan)did not want WR to win “another” state title because he felt WR would get the spot light not NSWR if we both were to win state titles.Selfish NSWR fans!
By rampdawg
December 9, 2006 03:03 PM | Link to this
Hey WRFF, I was just giving the Lowndes guy some guff, but I’ll say this, if it hadn’t been for a cheap TD for WRHS. We would have shut you out.
Plus the word you’re looking for is, conceited. Which is what all WRHS fans were and are. Sucks now that we’re pounding you regularly, don’t it?
By James
December 9, 2006 04:37 PM | Link to this
Its a shame that all fans are judged because of a few bad apples. All Northside fans I personally know want Northside and Warner Robins to win state. With that said, I can say that as recently as the early 90’s that Warner Robins did get preference over Northside, especially in the 70’s and 80’s. I don’t feel that way now except for some old timers. As far as I’m concerned though with all this talk that there’s been, Northside and Warner Robins will prove what they can do on the field, not in a stupid message board except to say, If Northside was to come to 1-AAAAA, you won’t have a better region in the state in any class.
By James
December 9, 2006 04:50 PM | Link to this
The Warner Robins teams right now would be the class of that region especially if you added Northside. You would have 4 teams (w Tift Co) that can win state from 1 region but except for the Warner Robins teams having each others back, there not any mutual support obviously for the teams that move on in this region Like we have with Northside’s region 4B-AAAA. I personally for that reason hope Northside don’t move up.
By Thom
December 9, 2006 05:38 PM | Link to this
Region 1-AAAAA would welcome Northside. It would make our region even more impressive than it is now, but Northside’s impressive undefeated regular season and region dominance would cease to exist, period. Lowndes will be back in ‘07.
By James
December 9, 2006 05:49 PM | Link to this
Well, that would be proven on the field, nut keep in mind that Northside is mostly JR’s. Including Green and Ivory.
By powbeech
December 9, 2006 05:49 PM | Link to this
Lowndes had little problems with HoCo the last two years, and probably would have smoked the other two from Warner Robins during the last 2 seasons on their way to 2nd straight 5A title. We had 4 seniors starting this year and 13 sophomores. Lowndes will be back and will be a force next season. I agree bring on NSWR. Hang in there Thom.
By James
December 9, 2006 06:05 PM | Link to this
I would like to say lastly that I think that we shouldn’t be beating up on each other like we are (central and south GA teams). I have this year especially and years past seen the North teams degrade all of us time and time again. Lets bind together at least for nothing else make a statement of the north teams.
By george
December 9, 2006 07:22 PM | Link to this
I’m one Northside fan who will be pulling for Warner Robins tonight and next week. I also supported Houston County while they were in it. In fact I was hoping it would be a Warner Robins-Houston County final.
For Truth from Marist. Respect is a two way street, and I personally heard several of your “adult” fans saying less than respectful things about our football team last night. I happen to be white, and don’t harbor racial prejudice toward anyone. Just because most of our players and/or fans don’t meet your “high standards” or reside in the same “social class”, we deserve the same respect as Marist folks. Bottom line, if you want respect, show respect. We look forward to having you visit our little hamlet Friday night. Hopefully the game will be decided by the players on the field without any outside influence.
By James
December 9, 2006 07:54 PM | Link to this
Very well put george but thier money allows them not to respect anyone but one thing thier money won’t get them is a state title and I don’t believe that they are going to be able to take ours from us Friday night. If everything goes like it should, they’ll go back with thier money but not a state title but as classy as we are, they will still dispite everything have our respect.
By george
December 9, 2006 08:41 PM | Link to this
Well, with Tift spitting the bit tonight, there could be two state championship games in the International City. The TV crews can just spend the night. Go Demons
By The Truth Hurts
December 9, 2006 08:45 PM | Link to this
George,
I’d be interested to hear how some “adult” fans of Marist showed “your” team disrespect. Listen, this inferiority complex of yours is insulting not only to the people of Warner Robins but to the 99% of people at Marist, who don’t look at you and say anything about standards or social class. That’s ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as a Warner Robins person looking at Marist and saying “they’re all the same.” Wrong. Everyone deserves and gets respect at Marist. Trust me…Marist is competitive in almost every sport, so they both win and lose big games every year. That teaches humility far more than having a couple good football seasons ever could. Apparently.
Now, my question: how inane is it to have the state championship game site determined by a coin toss? What’s the purpose of playing one semifinal game in the Dome and then moving back outside? Wouldn’t logic dictate that the finals be played indoors at a neutral site, while the higher seed gets homefield up until that point? Put the Falcons on the road that particular weekend, like they are this weekend. Politics rules even the GHSA. Surprise, surprise.
By James
December 9, 2006 08:49 PM | Link to this
Yep, get Nix up there for Way to do the coin toss,lol.
By george
December 9, 2006 09:55 PM | Link to this
Truth..I consider comments regarding the racial composition of the Northside team a lack of respect. Whether those fans were indicative of your overall fan base I have no way of knowing. I can only go by what I heard. You say “Everyone deserves and gets respect at Marist”. I don’t doubt that. It’s the respect of those not at Marist that I question, and I don’t have an inferiority complex. As a matter of fact, I do quite well. As for your little dig about us having “a couple good football seasons”, it’s really more than a couple. Since 1998 the regular season record is 85-4, 106-21 overall. Regarding the coin toss to determine the site of games, we didn’t make the rules. I doubt seriously if you would be complaining if you had won the toss. By the way, Warner Robins’ teams had to go to Statesboro the last two years for the title game. That didn’t seem quite far either. By the way, we don’t have a fullback with the nickname “the White Buffalo”. Why not just Buffalo? Looks like the Demons will win tonight, so with another successful coin toss, we’ll have two championship games in our town next Friday.
By James
December 9, 2006 10:38 PM | Link to this
They sure wouldn’t have (coin toss) and I don’t consider the Dome a neutral site. A neutral site to me with Marist and Northside might be Griffin at best toward the north. But I’m in the belief if you won all your games and the other team didn’t you deserve home field. I agree the coin toss thing is stupid too. Scenarios with brackets should be determined before the playoffs start. And addition to our records that George reported, we haven’t had but 1 loosing season since 1973 (1991 3-7). 33 years. Warner Robins has had a .500 season in that same span. Do some research before you speak.
By mike
December 9, 2006 10:53 PM | Link to this
NWR had their weakest game of the season but still led the whole game.Marist does look good but NWR record at the MAC is a very high winning %.Good luck to both teams who represent their schools well!
By The Truth Hurts
December 10, 2006 12:17 AM | Link to this
First, to the NWR bloggers, I’m not complaining about going down to WR to play (they deserve it this year based on record). I’m curious about the logic about playing only the semis in the Dome. It’s counterintuitive. This should all be worked out prior to beginning the playoffs. A coin toss after the semis seems a little too sandlot to me. Am I wrong? Why not work your way to the Dome (or wherever) for the finals?
George/James/NWR fans all: just as I’m sure what you heard may have been disrespectful (as you claim), what are the odds that were you in the middle of the NWR fans, they wouldn’t be saying stereotypical and stupid things about Marist and/or it’s football team. Come on. The 1% rule cuts both ways. I’m sure that didn’t happen in the NWR section. Right. Just as I’m sure you’re rooting for “the white boys” (your quote) next Friday.
As for the “White Buffalo” moniker, we all know there’s a double standard in play when it comes to things of that nature. There could never be a “black stallion” or anything of the sort b/c that would be inappropriate and misconstrued. For whites, it’s inoffensive. By the way, you brought race up. Not me.
Get over the “lack of respect” thing. It’s the same thing every year by somebody new. I guess it works to get some people motivated, the “us against the world” mentality, but very little of it is actually true. But, hey, whatever works…
I know NWR’s history in terms of their record. It’s great since ‘98. The 80s…?? Not so great. (NWR took it on the chin a lot from WR for quite a while there, didn’t they?) Either way, I don’t care, I’m just curious. One losing season in 33 is good. No, it’s better than good. 6-5 and 7-4, though? In high school, that’s exceedingly average; in college, it’s Alabama and a bowl berth in Shreveport.
Speaking of which, there will only be one championship game in WR next weekend, unless they invent a new coint toss in which the loser of the semis can play again. It’s all Atlanta metro for 5A. So much for all the WR posts, huh?
By Mark
December 10, 2006 07:05 AM | Link to this
With Warner Robins losing, I now hope the entire city will rally to support the Eagles. This Marist team is big and physical, so this isn’t going to be easy. But, I believe this is our year. Go Blue!
By James
December 10, 2006 07:27 AM | Link to this
Thats ok. Here’s one thing that you north teams can’t deny or defend. You were 2-4 in games where North was matched against South (AAAAA saved you from a sweep). Also, there will be only 1 State Champioship game played in Atlanta AAAAA. A will be played in east Georgia. The other 3 are going to be played in Central Georgia within 60 miles of each other. All 3 of these will be won by the Central Georgia team too. So I wouldn’t say mission accomplished this weekend so hard if I were you.
By thomas
December 10, 2006 08:51 AM | Link to this
I’m from middle ga but i can’t pull for northside next week The reason being their head coach
By James
December 10, 2006 12:05 PM | Link to this
Hey Thomas. They’ll be over 10,000 that will be at the stadium alone, not to meantion the ones watching. Alot of them Warner Robins Demons and Houston Co. Bears. Don’t know what your reasoning is for that is but they’ll be enough without you. I promise.
By Ed Woods
December 10, 2006 12:38 PM | Link to this
I am sick of hearing about Gwinnett County or Atlanta area teams. Please just say the city where the team is located. Lawrenceville, Snelville, etc. To indentify the county/area you give a false sense that all teams from the county/area are good when in truth; most are lousey.
By bhendry
December 10, 2006 08:02 PM | Link to this
Wow, what strange arguments I see on these blogs. I too think “white” buffalo is a strange appendage to the “buffalo” nickname, but perhaps the Marist coaches considered that buffalos have dark colored coats? And who like me remembers the mid-70s when Gerald Harp of Lakeshore was called “Black Magic”? Marist actually does have black players, like Brandon Russell and whoever is on the front page of marist.com Anyway, I’m just looking forward to a great matchup on Friday night at The Mac as these seem to be two excellent teams. I hope Marist does not have critical injuries as an early poster wrote. How about if both teams play well, and afterwards the players and fans leave the Mac proud of their programs and respectful of each other? I’m staying in Atlanta to watch on TV. Sincerely, Your friend who admires programs in North and South GA.
By mhs
December 10, 2006 09:40 PM | Link to this
on the “white buffalo” case, preston is incredibly pale by nature. Thus, they are making fun of him with a nickname that fits him very well. We are all pumped up here in ATlanta to go down to the MAC- from what I hear it is a great football stadium/facility in every aspect. Unfortunately, I don think too many ppl will travel down, so this is a call to everyone in the metro area whether you are catholic, jewish, atheist, black, white, purple- MARIST NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT. COME MAKE THE ATMOSPHERE EVEN GREATER AT THE MAC BY TAKING A ROAD TRIP TO SEE THE WAR EAGLES PLAY.
By Eagle76
December 10, 2006 11:21 PM | Link to this
Who the hell was stupid enough to turn this into a race issue? So what if one team is majority black and one team is majority white? I stayed after the Northside game on Friday and sat in the midst of the Marist fans. They were not rude,condescending or racist. In fact, they made no comments even though most of the NHS fans around me were cheering for East Paulding (because we knew they would be the easier team to beat). Please leave your North/South Georgia (Warner Robins isn’t even in South Georgia), and white/black comments off of this board. You make all of us who love the Eagles and love high school football look like idiots. Here’s hoping Friday’s game is a classic—but with the Eagles of Northside as the ultimate winners.
By Enough Is Enough
December 11, 2006 02:17 AM | Link to this
George what you said isn’t racist, you just had the nerve to say what many others know and think, but actually this is not the place to voice that opinion…That’s my 5 cents worth and I expect 3 cents change!!! In closing I am and forever will be a Northside Eagle, 30 yrs ago it was Eagles And Nix In 76, Now it’s 06 and it’s our time. GO EAGLES!!!!!
By James
December 11, 2006 08:31 AM | Link to this
It wasn’t for a lesser team that I was cheering for E. Paulding. It was so we were guaranteed home field advantage for state and not have to go thru another one of those stupid coin tosses. E Paulding was a good team too.
By The Truth Hurts
December 11, 2006 04:14 PM | Link to this
Eagle76,
It was George from NHS who made this a game between black and white. I thought it was ridiculous and I said so. Not racist, just not appropriate.
You know, Marist is 90% white…so is the football team. It’s not like some places that have a majority white population and have a football team that’s all black.
Okay, enough of that. Northside’s QB looks a little bit like Grady Jackson. Well, not quite…but you know what I mean. He’s a big dude. The key for Marist will be to make Northside sustain drives. Marist’s LB (the Ala. recruit) will need to shadow the NHS RB. Marist isn’t fancy at all and can’t throw well (like usual). But what they do, they do better than most. It’s execution that separates them…usually…because they’re not big on either line (which isn’t usual). It’s simple, really. If NHS can force 3rd down passing situations more often than not, they’ll win. If NHS reacts a step slow against the QB option keeper, Marist will move the ball. Lyons is a big dude that requires 2 or 3 guys for a tackle. E. Paulding often had 5 or 6 on top of him, even when he didn’t have the ball. He had two long runs, but the QB had no turnovers and over 100 yds. himself. Marshall (QB) is the key, as Marist’s starting HB is out (I think).
If the NHS-Pius game is any indication, then this should be a good game. One would think…
By Mark
December 11, 2006 08:12 PM | Link to this
FYI—MaxPreps.com is picking Northside over Marist 27-17…for what it’s worth. They also have Roswell over P.R., Peach over Shaw, and Dublin over Charlton. Their impartial rating system is usually pretty accurate. And they have Northside as #1 in Georgia, all classifications.
By george
December 12, 2006 08:21 AM | Link to this
One last time on the race issue. I simply repeated what I heard Marist fans say last Friday night in the dome. If you want to say I started it fine. Bottom line, if they had not said it, I would not have repeated it.
By nhs eagle
December 12, 2006 10:58 AM | Link to this
It is ridiculous to rank NHS WR as the best team in the state. If I had my wish, I would put Dublin on the field with them and watch a small school with excellent fundamentals whip up on NHS.
Just so you know, the QB from NHS was shopped around by his father who works for the school system