Northside not surprised by playoff run

Just going by their record, it’s a bit of a surprise that Northside’s boys are playing in the GHSA Class 6A quarterfinals.

But while it is true that the Eagles are 15-14 heading in Wednesday’s road game against Brunswick, the fact that they are still playing at this time of year comes to no surprise to head coach Matthew Simon.

“Oh, we were very confident that once we got everyone back healthy that we would be a very good basketball team,” said Simon, who is in his second year as the head coach after several years as an assistant. “I feel like we got things going at the right time, and as long as we continue to play sound fundamental basketball, that we will be fine. Some people look at the record and wonder how were are still around, but I knew that we had an excellent chance.”

Northside has four football players, all seniors, in the starting lineup. Jaylan Sandifer is the leading scorer at 16 points per game and had a big night in the 80-61 win over Pope (25-5), but the Eagles also have Marquaevious Williams, Trayvon Willis and Tobias Oliver averaging between 12 and 14 points per game. The lone non-football playing starter is 6-foot-7 Sammy Mike, who averages 10 points per game.

Simon is quick to point out a few keys to the season.

“Well, first of all, we didn’t get Tobias Oliver back until after Christmas because of a knee injury, and he is a difference-maker on the basketball team,” Simon said. “We felt like when we got everyone playing, we would be pretty good. But the biggest key for us to still be playing at this time of year is the difficult schedule we had.

“I mean, we are talking about Warner Robins, Perry, Westside and Upson-Lee, just to name a few, and all of those schools are still playing. Our seniors have been playing varsity since they were freshmen, and from what they have gone through on the football field, too, they are battle-tested. The big moments do not intimidate these kids.”

Northside is just one of four Houston County teams that has advanced deep into the playoffs. The Perry boys (22-8) have a GHSA Class 4A game at Sandy Creek on Wednesday, while the Warner Robins boys (26-3) will travel to Buford in Class 5A, also on Wednesday. The Warner Robins girls (27-1) will host Buford on Tuesday.

“Buford is 26-2 and they are a well-balanced team that will play great defense,” Warner Robins girls head coach Tracy Fendley said. “We were lucky enough to win the coin flip and get this game in front of our home crowd, and even though this is a 5:30 p.m. start, we are hoping for a full house.”

Fendley played on the 1994 Warner Robins team that reached the quarterfinals and was an assistant coach on the 2011 team that did the same.

Northside’s girls, under first-year head coach Ashleigh Fox, won their first region title, in Region 1-6A, in several years but were upset in the first round, as were Perry’s girls in Class 4A.

Houston County’s girls haven’t been to the playoffs very often but made it this season under first-year head coach Daniell Johnson. A bigger surprise came in the third-seeded Bears’ playoff opener when they won 54-31 at Heritage-Conyers. Their season ended with a 68-23 defeat at one-loss Douglas County.

This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Northside not surprised by playoff run."