Sports

Head of the class

• Wildcats WR P.J. Berry places his teaching career temporarily on hold and is taking full advantage of his shot of playing pro football.

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — The past two years, P.J. Berry sat in his class as a physical education teacher at Hopewell (Va.) Middle School and soaked up the adulation of his students.

Berry grew up in Hopewell and developed into an All-American football player at Virginia State University before moving on to arena football.

“They love it,” Berry said of his junior high students. “They’d always ask me if I was in the arena video game.”

The answer would inevitably be no.

This year, sitting around Hopewell Middle School, Berry made a decision to change the answer.

At 25 years old, the wideout knew he would only have one shot to realize his football dream.

He needed to temporarily leave his teaching job behind.

Two games into the 2008 season, the South Georgia Wildcats are thrilled he did.

Berry has racked up 294 yards and six touchdowns as the breakout player through the first two games of the season and is currently the second-leading receiver in the af2.

The past two seasons, Berry joined Stingley’s Macon Knights and then the South Georgia Wildcats midseason. Thrust into competition with receivers entrenched in their starting roles, Berry rarely touched the field.

He faced an undeniable truth: If he wanted to make it in football, he would need to temporarily leave teaching behind and dedicate himself to the game.

“Not trying to be conceited, honestly, I always knew I could play,” Berry said.

A lesson learned when Berry caught four touchdown passes in his only game for the Wildcats last season.

With 4.4, 40-yard dash speed and a shifty 6-foot, 190-pound frame, Berry’s physical attributes caught the eye of coaches at AFL tryouts or workouts with Georgia, Kansas City, Chicago, San Jose and Nashville.

But Berry never latched on. His skills were unquestioned. His experience was.

“I know I can play,” he said. “I just finally have the opportunity to show it.”

Stingley afforded him the chance this season.

One shot. One shot he’s taken full advantage of.

In the season opener against Tennessee Valley, Berry broke two tackles to score a go-ahead touchdown with 45 seconds remaining. It appeared he repeated the feat this past Saturday after diving for a 48-yard touchdown pass while ramming into the end zone.

Unfortunately, the catch would be called back due to holding.

“I knew P.J. would play the way he is playing when I saw him two years ago in Macon,” he said. “I don’t see him playing af2 again next year. He is only going to get better. He is going to be a great player.”

Because of his lack of experience and the name recognition of teammates Buchie Ibeh and Antwone Savage, Berry entered the Wildcats under the radar.

Many viewed him as the forgotten third man.

“Their names are out there already,” Berry said. “People are game-planning for them. I am the newcomer, they don’t know who I am.”

While opponents were busy planning for Ibeh and Savage, the P.E. teacher stole the show.

In developing his own reputation around the league, the former forgotten receiver has changed up the game for his tenured teammates.

“Him doing that is going to open up a lot of doors,” Ibeh said. “Initially, a lot of people were bracketing and doubling on me, now it is like pick your poison. People have to stay honest now. That’s a beautiful thing.”

As is the entire experience for Pharisse Berry Jr., known as P.J. in Albany, but “Coach” at Hopewell Middle.

His days of coaching varsity football and middle school baseball are temporarily on hold.

While he misses his job and the joy of influencing students on a daily basis, he knows if his football adventure falls short in the two-year time span he’s giving it, he can always return to teaching somewhere.

For now, however, he hopes the next time his students at Hopewell see him is on an arena football video game.

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