Will he last? - My High School Journalism

More documents

Recommendations

Info

8 The Southfield Jay / October 2006 Self Selfish Self ish pla player pla er ers er dis distr dis tr tract tr act t tteams t eams By Emanuel Johnson Sports Editor Let’s get straight to it. There is no individual whose talent is so great that they can be excused for being a distraction to their team. Players like Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, and Ron Artest are outstanding talents, but why has none of these players ever won a championship? In Owens’ case especially, these selfish players bring mayhem wherever they go. In San Francisco Owens spent years trying to be the focus of the team. When he went to Philadelphia, his ego was so large that he wouldn’t play if he wasn’t paid the highest amount for NFL receivers. Never mind the fact that he was already being paid millions of dollars; he should be more concerned with his play than his pay. Already this year in Dallas, he’s been a distraction with his alleged suicide attempt. No, I don’t believe he did it purposely, but it still makes it hard to concentrate on football when one of your star players is overdosing on pain killers. Owens is a great receiver, maybe one of the best in history, but until he improves his attitude about his work, he won’t be able to achieve much no matter where he plays. The lockerroom incident sidelined Blue Jay quarterback Dominique Barnes is proof of the influence that these types of athletes have over today’s youth. Barnes, much like Owens, is a phenomenal talent – he is one of the cornerstones that holds this year’s team together – but he has a tendency to let his talent blind his judgment. He is influenced by star athletes who behave similarly. That’s not to say that he can’t improve upon his attitude. Of course he can. But the professional athletes set too many poor examples for Barnes and others to follow. Until players like Owens and Barnes learn that they need the support of their team to accomplish what they want to accomplish, they won’t be able to do much to help their teams. Spor Sports Spor ts Guts Guts on on the the gridiron gridiron Jays aims for winning record Set!: Senior linebacker Soweuzochi Aguwa (right) and junior lineman Johnathan Lamb (down) await the snap of the ball from the North Farmington Raiders. Southfield defeated the Raiders 27-7 in its homecoming game. By Erika Pritchett Staff Writer The Blue Jays faced major adversity during the week of homecoming. The team played without starting quarterback Dominique Barnes, who was benched indefinitely for lockerrrom misconduct. Sophomore Eddie Beale stepped in and led the team to a 27-7 homecoming victory over the North Farmington Raiders. Southfield High School’s Varsity Football team has progressed significantly since last year’s 4-5 record. With a current record of 3-4, the Blue Jays are making a run for a winning record, with or without Barnes. According to Brian Webster, a senior and one of the team captains, “We’re extremely focused and a lot more organized than we were last year. We’re a more disciplined team and tend to work well with the system.” Led by second-year Coach Tim Conley, the team works hard and makes concerted effort in performing well at each game. “The football team works hard, and you can actually tell they’re working hard,” said senior spectator Lawrence Jenkins. “I personally didn’t believe in the team, and it shocked me, actually, that our football team is doing well.” Currently Southfield is in the OAA division 2 and tied at third with a host of teams, including the recently defeated Birmingham Seaholm. With a record of 5-1 and a recent 22-15 victory over the Blue Jays, Farmington has clinched first place. Photo by Josh Polito The Blue Jays have made some drastic changes since last year’s dismal season, and the fans who attend the games can see it well. Faithful senior spectator Michael “Mudd” Harris says, “This year, the coaches are on their job… the team is making much better offensive decisions.” Teamwork is a big part of the football team’s success. On the offensive side, the Blue Jays have moved to a more spread receiver orientated style. The offensive line, led by senior captain Emanuel Johnson, works hard to give star quarterback and captain Dominique Barnes time to find his favorite targets: wide receivers Donald Brown, Brian Webster and Gerald Scarber. On the defensive side of the ball, the defensive line has done an excellent job putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Blue Jays’ new 3-5 defense is designed to disguise blitz packages and confuse offensive players. Players like middle linebacker and defensive captain Cameron Ellsberry are allowed to utilize their maximum potential in this defense. “I like our new scheme,” said Ellsberry. “Our defensive line does a good job getting into the backfield...It makes it easier for me to make more plays.” Southfield had a rocky start to the season with a 14-20 loss to Bloomfield Lahser, but it was followed by two consecutive victories over Pontiac Northern and Seaholm. After losing to state ranked number 4 Lake Orion, the Blue Jays suffered a crushing 15- 22 loss at Farmington. Sports Briefs Girls’ Girls’ bask basketball bask tball t tteam t eam sear searches sear hes f ffor f or r rrhythm r ythm Girls’ Varsity Basketball is currently 1-8. The team’s record has suffered due to the loss of valuable players, like Skylar Miller (injury) and Porshe D u d l e y (transfer). With these losses, the team remains with 10 dedicated players. “Many of our teammates have stepped up and risen to the occa- Brittany March sion,” says senior Captain Brittany March. Together the team agrees that these setbacks will only make them a better team. -Personna Hover New ew c ccheerleader c heerleader heerleaders heerleader s added added Five new girls were added to the Varsity cheerleading team. They are Jasmine Grayson, Brianna Robins, Brittany Summers, Marquita Swann and Danielle Fort - the first freshman to be on Varsity in recent history. The remaining members are captains Ashley Hall, E r i k a Ashley Hall Pritchett, Tatiana Johnson and Tomeka Kolleh. The four held tryouts in which 48 girls showed up but only five made Varsity. Says Hall, “We are doing the best we can with the girls we have.” -Sahsha Daniel Senior Senior girls girls clinc clinch clinc h vict victor vict or ory or The senior girls trounced the junior girls 21- 0 in SSC’s annual powderpuff football game. The senior’s biggest contributions came from Ashley Hall, who scored two rushing touchdowns on reverse plays. Their final touchdown came on a run from Brittany Lane. Junior stand-outs were Meshawne Johnson at quarterback, Camille Zaidieh at running back, and Brittany Pugh at running back. -Emanuel Johnson
Standing 5’11” and weighing 173 pounds, Dominique Barnes is probably one of the most important pieces to this year’s Southfield football team. Barnes began playing football at the age of 8 for the Southfield Jayhawks, one of the city’s little league teams. At that time he played tailback and defensive back. “That was some of the most fun football that I had ever played,” said Barnes, recalling a time when he ran a 99-yard touchdown to win a game against the rival Southfield Falcons. At age 11 he began playing quarterback, and his career took off from there. “I was nervous at first because of the importance of the job,” he said, “but I eventually got comfortable with the idea of putting a team on my shoulders.” In 2005, in his first year of varsity football, Barnes performed better than anyone had expected. He completed a total of 65 passes for 1,021 yards and 8 touchdowns while also rushing for 623 yards and 5 touchdowns. “I struggled at times,” he said, “but I got through it , trying to make an impact on the team.” This year Barnes entered the season as the centerpiece of the Blue Jay offense; the predominately run offense of last year has evolved into an offense based on spread receivers and no huddle. This way Barnes’ speed and cannon of an arm can be utilized to maximum effect, helping Southfield reach victory. So far this season, Barnes’ performance has been rather exceptional, completing 77 passes for 810 yards and 7 touchdowns and not a single interception. He’s also rushed for 201 yards and 6 touchdowns. His stats could take a hit, however, because at press time, he was benched indefinitely by his coach due to lockerroom misconduct. Barnes took a swing at another Spor Sports Spor ts Under the leadership of Coach John Barnhill and senior captains Ashley Jackson and Keara Franklin, Southfield High School’s girls’ tennis team is showing some signs of greatness despite a losing team record. The team now stands with a 1-4 record, a record including a loss to cross town rival Southfield- Lathrup, but the team is finding its rhythm, says Jackson. With a victory over rival Oak Park, the team has gained some confidence in its abilities.The Lady Jays are off to somewhat of a rough start, but the team is going to work to build a strong foundation with good chemistry and work ethic, Jackson says. Team record aside, “The team is doing well, and we have good expectations. All we have to do is Blue Blue Ja Jays’ Ja s’ speedy speedy centerpiece centerpiece By Emanuel Johnson Sports Editor Photo by Emanuel Johnson Self serve: Senior Ashley Jackson practices her serve. Quarterback Dominique Barnes Girls’ tennis team defeats Oak Park By Kyle Baber Sports Writer player in a moment of anger. Barnes says that this year’s team has a great shot at glory. “I think we can go pretty far in the playoffs,” he said, “…as long as we play like we did at Seaholm…that was the greatest game of my life.” The game that he is referring to was the third game this season in which the team really came together to pull out a last second 12-11 win against the Birmingham Seaholm Maples. Barnes had a hand in scoring every point, throwing one touchdown to Soweuzochi Aguwa and rushing for another. “We ran Blue Jay 35 all day that game,” he later commented, “and it worked to perfection on a number of times.” Blue Jay 35 is Barnes’ favorite play. It is run out of a 3-wide shotgun set. It works when the offensive right guard pulls to the left and lead blocks up a hole on that side. Barnes then fakes a pass and runs up the hole behind his lead blocker. Barnes’ teammates have had a huge impact on both his personal- The Southfield Jay / October 2006 9 keep our confidence up and try to keep the team mentality strong.” The rankings for the Lady Jays for singles competition are as follows: first singles is Keara Franklin, second singles is Stacey Noss, third is Ashley Jackson, and fourth is Felicia Jones. The rankings in doubles competition are: first doubles with Doris Addo and Tyesha Rollie, second doubles with Marion Bakohya and Khadi’jia Johnson, third doubles with Ashley Jackson and Kiera Allen, and fourth doubles with Jenae Carter and Kysia Green. With few matches remaining in the season, the team will soon need to look elsewhere for leadership; soon it will be a junior’s turn to decide upon a captain “Captain?” said junior Khadi’jia Johnson. “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.” Photo by Emanuel Johnson Hike: Dominique Barnes ity and play. “…I have Donald [Brown] to keep me focused,” he said, “B-Webb [Brian Webster] to keep me calm and Wes [Jeremy Wesley] to come to whenever I need anything.” Currently Barnes says that he is being recruited by Ball State University, Eastern Michigan University, Ohio University, and Grand Valley State University. “I probably won’t play quarterback in college because of my size, but my speed can still be effective at other positions, like wide receiver or defensive back.” An An inside inside chat hat with with Coac Coach Coac Conle Conley Conle By Emanuel Johnson Sports Editor Tim Conley coaches the Varsity football team. Last year the team held a record of 4-5. So far this year they are 3-3. Here’s what he had to say about his team in a recent interview: Q: What do you think of the season so far? What is going well; what could be better? A: We keep improving as a team. What I’m impressed by is how well we’ve been able to handle adversity. We’ll be down when it looks like the other team is going to score, and we’ll put together a goal line stand and come up with a big play….It shows how our kids never give up; they come to play every game. They bring a lot of emotion and desire to each game…I’d like to improve on our attitude in practice. I think that once the kids start to come to practice and show more work ethic, we can become an even better team. Q: What do you see this year that is different from last year? A: Well, the kids and the coaching staff know each other better, so there’s a lot more trust between us. This year, now that the chemistry has been able to develop over a 12-month period, we can make more changes on the fly and adjustments during halftime to become more successful. Q: What can we expect out of the program in the future? A: Expect more overall program discipline, not just on the football field, but in the classroom as well. We started in January with about 40 kids ineligible (due to low grades), but by the beginning of summer we only had about 13…it was a major improvement, but we’re leaning more towards getting more and more kids out on the field to add to our depth.
Page 1 and 2: Volume 54, No. 1 The News Briefs Bo
Page 3 and 4: Fiv Five Fiv e ne new ne w classes
Page 5 and 6: Featur eatur eatures eatur es The S
Page 7: nuel Johnson hool’s front r two y
Page 11 and 12: Guess Guess who? who? Bab Baby Bab

Will he last? - My High School Journalism

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?