Cozy 'Furr'
FCD's sophomore tailback setting pace on field
BY ANTHONY HILL
THE CHRONICLE
Running for a lot of yards and scoring at
will isn't something that's completely new to
Forsyth Country Day's sophomore running
back Hunter Furr.
When he was a running back for the
Pfafftown Packers, during his Pop Warner
days, he averaged over 1,000 yards and 15
touchdowns a year. Furr also used to run past a
number of runners on the track, where he used
to do damage to competition for Tri City
Relays. During those days, Furr was running
I. a Rue
with guys like Carver's
Bryce Sherman and Mt.
Tabor's Lamar Wilson.
The three, along with
Corey Wilkerson, even
brought home some
hardware after winning
a number of events at
the Junior Olympics in
Iowa three years ago.
"Yeah, I used to play
football for the
Pfafftown Packers and I
ran track with coach Mookie and Tri City,"
Furr said. "A lot has changed since those days.
Everything is faster now. But I still feel like
I'm having my best year since my Junior Pee
Wee year."
Furr, who's rushed for more than 1,800
yards and 30 touchdowns, is trying to help his
high school squad capture a state title with his
legs and moves on the football field. He's used
his 4.5 40-yard dash speed ( 10.75 in the 100) to
get by a number of teams this season. He's
even rushed for more than 200 yards on a num
ber of occasions this season to reach an amaz
ing number of rushing^ards.
"That's crazy," said Bryce Sherman, who
still trains with Furr during the summer. "I
always pick up the paper on Monday and see
him rushing for over 200 yards every week. It
just shows that yotocan do a lot if you have
good speed. Plus, He's kind of big. He weighs
about 190 pounds. I always knew he was going
to be good, but he's definitely surprising me
with his numbers."
Furr has broken most of Forsyth Country
Day's rushing records, and is more than likely
on his* way to setting some ^tate rushing
records in NCISSA, which doesn't have com1
plete state football records on file at the time.
Whether there's records on file or not is irrele
vant to Furr and his head coach Rusty LaRue.
Both feel like his numbers have to be ranked
high on any list, or should be.
"I don't know what the state record is, but
he's got 30 touchdowns ? which is a lot,"
LaRue said. "He's rushed for over 1 ,700 yards.
He had a 97-yarcfc run from scrimmage last
See Furr on B4
Photo by Charlie Pfaff
FCD sophomore running back Hunter Furr has been comfortably running through the competition this season.
Wake Forest's Gattis wins another ACC honor
Deacs host Boston
College on Saturday
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Wake Forest senior safety Josh
Gattis has been selected as the
ACC's Defensive Back of the
Week for the second straight
game, the league announced on
Monday. Gattis is the first repeat
winner of thjjf award in 2006.
In Wake's 24-17 win at North
Carolina, Gattis recorded a career
high 13 tackles. He made eight
stops in the first quarter alone,
made an interception in the sec
ond quarter and recovered a fum
ble in the fourth qu^jter that set
up Wake Forest's go-ahead touch
down. Gattis ha* intercepted pass
es in each of the Deacons' last
three games.
The Durham, native also won
the ACC's weekly award for
defensive backs after the
Deacons' win at N.C. State on
Oct. 14. Against the Wolfpack,
Gattis forced a fumble that was
recovered by the Wolfpack for a
safety, giving the Deacons a lead
moments before halftime. Wake
Forest never surrendered the lead.
Gattis intercepted NC State's
Daniel Evans on the final drive to
seal the 25-23 victory for the
Deacons. He finished the day with
seven tackles including one for
loss.
Gattis is the only player in the
ACC to rank in the top 10 in inter
ceptions and in the top 15 for
tackles. He ranks fifth in inter
W?ke photo
Josh Gattis
ceptions with three, eighth in the
league with seven passes defend
ed and 15th in the ACC with 51
tackles. Gattis is one of seven
active players to have returned
two interceptions for scores in
their careers. He has 10 career
interceptions.
Gattis is also a member of the
2006 Jim Thorpe Award watch list
and was an honorable mention
All-Affierican last season.
The 22nd-ranked Demon
Deacons (7-1) are off their their
best start since 1979. Wake
Forest hosts 16th-ranked Boston
College on Saturday night at
Groves Stadium. The game will
mark the first game between
rankedoteams at Groves Stadium
since October 28, 1979 when
I8th-ranked Deacons defeated
13th-ranked Auburn, 42-38.
TSU photo
Webster's Tigers are tied for first place in the Ohio Valley
Conference with only three games remaining.
TSU's Webster
is making a
big difference
Coach says he's focused on his job,
despite UNC opening
BY ANTHONY HILL
THE CHRONICLE 1 '
Tennessee State head football coach James
Webster has his squad on quite a roll right now.
The Tigers are presently 5-3 overall and 4-0 in
Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) play this season.
The team has won three-straight games, including
a win over a very tough Jacksonville State
University squad on the road. TSU is presently tied
for first place in the OVC, with three games
remaining on the schedule.
Webster's Tigers finished the season witji a 2-9
record last year, during his first season in
Nashville.
"But we still did a lot of good things last year."
Webster said. "We didn't win like we wanted to,
but we had success off the field. I got a lot of pos
itive feedback from the faculty about the way the
players presented themselves. I want my guys to
dress properly and, act accordingly. We're present*
ly second in grade point averages in the confer
ence. We finished sixth last season.
"The only area we didn't improve last year was
on the field," Webster continued. "We had a lot of
injuries last Reason as well. We only won two
games, but had a chance to win a lot more if things
would've gone our way. To be honest with you.
we're ahead of schedule. We've already exceeded
our expectations. We just have to keep moving in
the right direction."
Things seem to be going well for TSU with
things moving in the direction Webster had hoped
they would this season. Webster credits some of
the teams' success to his coaching philosophy,
which consists of discipline and playing hard. He
learned that philosophy at a very young age. grow
ing up in Winston-Salem. He said that his early
coaches and mentors helped him realize the key to
success years ago.
, "You.have to go back to elementary and middle
school to see where my philosophy came from,"
Webster said. "Also, my high school coach, coach
George Green. 1 had a lot of good, old school
coaches that helped me become the person and
coach that I am today. I don't do the things they
used to do. They're old school, you know what 1
mean. But guys like Ben Warren, Henry Jones and
coach Campbell instilled discipline in me."
See Webster on B5
Photo by Charlie Pfaff
Carver's speedy
running back
Bryce Sherman
ran wild on the
Parkland
Mustangs on
Monday night.
Sherman fin
ished with 101
yards and two
touchdowns.
' Two Sweet' Returns
FROM THE
HUDDLE
Anthony
Hill '
Carver's Bryce Sherman, who
played for Parkland last year, did his
thing on Monday night. I didn't sit in
the media portion of the Bowman Gray
press box during the game. I simply sat
in the Carver box, talking to coach Bob
Sapp (who's the citywide AD) for most
of the first half.
We were talking about a number
things when both of us just stopped to
watch Bryce get off against the
Mustangs. Coach Sapp even stopped in
mid-sentence and asked, "Was that
Bryce?"
It was definitely him. He put on a
show against his former team too. He
finished with 101 yards and two touch
downs on 13 carries.
"I loved every minute of it," said
Sherman, during a phone conversation
on Tuesday. "I even celebrated two
times in the end zone. They gave me
two flags for that. I apologized to the
icani iui uiui.
I honestly
didn't sea'what
the big deal
was. He didn't
look as if, he
was doing that
much celebrat
ing after scor
ing. Some offi
cials simply
take their
authority too
Bell
far. I expected him to celebrate a little
being that he was so pumped for this
game. 1 didn't think Bryce should've
been penalized at all.
"I didn't think so either.'^ Sherman
said. "I stuck the ball out and did
something else one other time. This
game meant a lot to me. I didn't know
that I was going to play like that. I was
actually worried and prayed about it
last week."
It's always good to pray, whether
you're worried or not. He also put on
his lucky No. 2 jersey for the first time
this season, a number he hasn't worn
since being at Parkland last year. I
questioned whether that was a good
move, being that h?'s been doing so
good with No. 21 this season. He even
said that he questioned whether' or not
to sport the old, but new number.
Looks like he made the right decision.
"I was really questioning whether I
should wear it or not," Sherman said.
"I've been doing so good with No. 2 1 .
I talked to one of my home girls, and
we said it would be good for me to
wear the No. 2 again."
Whatever works, Bryce. It was just
good to see that "Two Sweet" is back.
Departure of another legend
The world lost one of college bas
ketballs most legendary coaches when
C.E. "Big House" Gaines passed away
last spring. The world lost arguably the
most legendary professional coach last
See Hill oil B.I