Panthers feast at homecoming

Published 5:00 am Tuesday, October 14, 2003

For defensive end Philip Tobias and 16 other Brookhaven seniors,Homecoming 2003 couldn’t have been much better. Tobias returned afumble 19 yards for a touchdown Friday night and the Panthersroared to a 48-0 win over Terry’s Bulldogs on King Field.

Brookhaven, ranked No. 18 in last week’s Associated Press PrepPoll, climbed to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in Region 6-4A, setting up aFriday night regional showdown with the No. 6-ranked South PikeEagles (6-0, 3-0) here on King Field.

Tobias (6-4, 290) got his TD when Aljur Herring tackled Terry’sJames Owens and caused a fumble in the backfield. Tobias scooped upthe football and rumbled into the end zone.

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“Aljur caused the fumble. I just saw the ball, picked it up andran it in,” said Tobias. “This was my last year and it feels goodto graduate with a homecoming win.”

Terry fell to 2-4 and 0-3 with the loss. The Bulldogs werevirtually out of the game in the first half as junior quarterbackJimmy Johns was a perfect 5-for-5 passing for 174 yards and 3touchdowns. Johns threw a touchdown pass of 68 yards to TaureanJones on the first play from scrimmage and followed with TD passesof 39 yards to John Wayne Havard and 8 yards to tight end MichaelThrasher, giving the Panthers a 20-0, first-quarter lead.

“We did what we wanted to do out there,” said Johns. “We got ahomecoming win for our seniors.”

Senior center Adam Ogden agreed. “It feels good to winhomecoming, especially since I’m a senior.”

The large, partisan crowd watched senior Anna Autman crownedhomecoming queen during the pregame ceremony. They also saw plentyof big plays by the Panthers as Ronnie McNulty raced 64 yards andAnthony Caffie returned a punt 59 yards for second-quartertouchdowns.

Freshman Will Thibodeaux was 4 of 6 in first-half extra pointskicks.

Brookhaven head coach Tucker Peavey provided his second andthird string players with plenty of playing time in the secondhalf. Herring blocked a punt by Terry’s Jess Shelby which rolledout of the end zone for a 2-point safety midway through the thirdquarter. In the fourth quarter, running back Ty McKee went 3 yardsfor the final TD.

“I’m glad to see our players focus on their jobs,” said Peavey.”There were a lot of distractions this week because ofhomecoming.

“We were able strike quickly against (Terry) and that helped alot,” Peavey continued. “We played our reserves the whole secondhalf. It’s good to have an opportunity to do that.”

Terry second-year head coach Jackie Williamson praised thePanthers. “Brookhaven is definitely a contender. They have a lot ofgreat weapons and Jimmy Johns is an unbelievable specimen. He’s agreat kid, too.”

Williamson watched his Bulldogs muster just 75 yards totaloffense against an aggressive Panther defense. They crossedmidfield only 3 times in the first half and came no closer toscoring than Brookhaven’s 43-yard line.

“Our program is still trying to get where it needs to be,” saidWilliamson. “We were hoping to have a better game againstBrookhaven but things went downhill fast.”