Archive for June, 2011

Soccer-playing twins Emily and Emma Sonnett have had a busy summer.

They are rising seniors at Fellowship Christian.

Emily was recently selected for the Under-18 US Women’s National Team roster and worked out with the team at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego, Calif., for a week earlier this month.

Both Emily and Emma played together last week to help their club team win the US Youth Southern Regional Tournament, which was a qualifier for a national tournament in July.

Emily has committed to Virginia, while Emma pledged to UGA. (Click on story link to read more about twins)

Continue reading Soccer twins stay busy for summer »

NBA drafts four DeKalb County basketball alums on Thursday.

DeKalb County had two first round picks and two second picks during the 2011 NBA Draft on Thursday night.

The first alum to hear his name called was former Dunwoody star Chris Singleton (6-9, 230) who went 18th overall to the Washington Wizards. Singleton played three years as a small forward at Florida State after signing with the Seminoles out of Dunwoody High School.

Singleton, a two-time All-ACC First Team player and two-time All-ACC Defensive Player of the Year (2010-11) led the Seminoles in scoring and rebounding during 2011 with 13.6 points and 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. He was a Class AAA All-State selection as a senior at Dunwoody as he led the Wildcats to a 27-4 record while averaging 21.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game.

Former Tucker Tiger Marshon Brooks (6-5, 201) was next in the opening round as the 25th pick to the Boston Celtics. Brooks was senior shooting guard/small forward …

Continue reading Four DeKalb basketball players selected in NBA Draft »

Milton High School has played for three straight state championships in basketball, winning in 2010.

They will be a top contender for a fourth consecutive appearance after the No. 1 point guard in Georgia transferred to Milton.

Charles Mann, who has been one of the state’s hottest college basketball prospects since UConn offered in late April, has switched from Union Grove to Milton for his senior year of basketball. Mann has nearly 20 offers, including Georgia Tech and UGA.

The 6-foot-5, 193-pound Mann will give Milton the state’s top outside perimeter, also featuring swingman Evan Nolte (committed to Virginia) and dunk artist Shaq Johnson (committed to Auburn).

Mann discussed the move with the Clayton News Daily’s Derrick Mahone:

“I’m just ignoring all that negative stuff and concentrating on playing basketball,” Mann said via cellphone Tuesday afternoon.

That’s good.

As the saying goes, haters will hate.

Mann says the move was job related. In my opinion, he owes …

Continue reading Georgia’s No. 1 point guard transfers to Milton High School »

Redan senior shortstop and Washington Nationals draft pick Deion Williams leads a group of 20 DeKalb County baseball players selected to the 2011 DeKalb Dugout Club All-County First Team.

Williams was taken in the 16th round by the Nationals as the 487th pick of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft. He batted .350 with 1 homerun, 7 doubles, 20 RBI and 26 runs scored as the Raiders reached the Class AAAA state playoffs in 2011.

Williams was one of three Raiders to make the first as he was joined by senior infielder Mason Davis and senior outfielder David Richards.

DeKalb County Senior All-Star Classic South MVP Uwem Udofia was also selected to the first team after a solid senior campaign at Miller Grove.
Udofia had a pair of hits and pitched three solid innings of relief to help the South stay close in a 5-2 loss to the North All-Stars. Udofia’s junior teammate, outfielder Sean Charleston (a Junior All-Star Classic selection), was also selected to the first team.

Arabia …

Continue reading DeKalb All-County baseball team announced »

The St. Pius boys, which won the Class AAA state championship in soccer last month, had another accomplishment.

The team finished as No. 1 in the nation in the Powerade Fab 50 by  ESPN Rise for high schools.

St. Pius had a 20-1 record and won the state championship for the second time in three years. Tyler Alexander tallied 18 goals to lead the Golden Lions, while goaltender Andrew Wolverton recorded 13 shutouts. Other top scorers were Drew Morgan with 13 goals and Alex Kowalski with 11.  St. Pius held on for a thrilling 5-4 win over Woodward Academy in the finals.

St. Pius coach David O’Shea said, “The team thoroughly deserves the award based on the hard work and effort that they have put in throughout the season.  They work hard for each other and display a real sense of team unity both on and off the field.  As well as their obvious talent, it is their drive and character that has propelled them to such a magnificent accolade.”

Continue reading St. Pius boys soccer finishes No. 1 in a national poll »

Here are 8 of the 9 athletes who competed at the USRowing Youth Nationals. The empty arm represents Taylor Hughes who jumped out of the boat at the US Rowing Southeastern Championships (held this year at the Olympic Rowing Venue at Lake Lanier) to speed back to Atlanta to graduate from Lovett. The other athletes are as pictured L-R (Veronica Jones, Casey Ward, Todd Summers, Nick Snow, Stephen Podwojski, James Holland, Jennifer Kish and Hayley Tanasijevich).

Roswell’s Saint Andrew Rowing Club (SARC) had an impressive showing at the 2011 US Rowing Youth National Championships last week at Oakridge, Tenn.  Out of a field of more than 1,500 elite rowers representing 148 teams and 23 states, SARC took two silver medals, advanced 4 boats to Grand Finals and one to Petit Finals. It was the best-ever showing for the club in its 23-year history — and one of only three clubs in the Southeast Region, and the only one from Georgia, to come home with two or more medals.  SARC is the …

Continue reading Roswell’s Saint Andrew Rowing Club has historic performance »

Milton High's Shaquille Johnson (AJC photo)

Courtcred.com’s Kerry Willis with a breakdown of the UA “Best of the Best” camp, which featured some of the state’s top high school basketball players:

• Robert Carter, Thomasville: Carter continues to prove that he should be ranked higher than his current #16 in the country. The big man was consistent all throughout the camp and fun to watch,  showing his complete post game on day one, then the next day proving that he could mix it up with a face-up game that extends out to the 3-point line.
• William Goodwin, Southwest DeKalb: The 6-foot-8 athlete looked to be on cruise control at the camp’s start, but he soon got to work on the glass with quick leaps for tip ins, offensive rebounds, and finished every dump off pass he got his hands on with a two-handed jam.  He did a great job of establishing post position and, when he was fed the ball, Goodwin used his quickness to convert baskets in the paint.
• Shaquille Johnson, …

Continue reading Analysis of 5 of Georgia’s top HS basketball prospects »

Alabama-Birmingham could benefit from hiring a Georgia high school coach as the college team’s head football coach, in the opinion of an Alabama columnist.

It must be noted that UAB currently has a coach, Neil Callaway, the former UGA offensive coordinator.

Rush Propst is the head coach at Georgia’s Colquitt County High School.

al.com’s Josh Bean wrote that “UAB could benefit from hiring a man with such clout” as Propst, who is the former coach at Alabama’s Hoover High School.

Here’s more from the column:

It’s time for a change. It’s time for UAB’s leadership to do something audacious, to transform its football program in much the same way it elevated the basketball program by hiring Gene Bartow.

UAB athletic director Brian Mackin can do it with two simple words: Rush Propst.

Let’s face it: People will pay attention to Propst, a polarizing figure in Birmingham and one of the most famous — and infamous — coaches our state has produced in a generation.

In a phone interview from …

Continue reading UAB should hire Georgia high school coach, writes columnist »

Brookwood is the defending champion in Class AAAAA football. Camden County and Lowndes are programs that have won three titles apiece since 2003.

Which will be the team to beat in 2011?

None of those, according to MaxPreps, which released one of the first national preseason polls on Wednesday.

Instead, Grayson – the only AAAAA program that has reached the quarterfinals or better each of the past four seasons – is the choice of Steve Spiewak, who coordinates the MaxPreps’ top 25.

Grayson, which returns about 11 of 22 starters, is the only Georgia team ranked, coming in at No. 25.

“The more I looked into Grayson, the more I liked them,’’ Spiewak said. “They have a quarterback [Nick Schuessler] who can allow them to expand out of their Wing T offense. Korey Jones [a running back] seems like a legit athlete that can be used a number of ways. Devin Gillespie and Terrius Watson will also benefit from an experienced offensive line. On defense, [defensive lineman] …

Continue reading Football: Is Grayson Georgia’s top team in 2011? One national poll thinks so »