Archive for March, 2013

By Score Atlanta

Milton suffered its first loss of the year over the weekend, falling to Florida power St. Thomas Aquinas, but the Eagles hold on to the top spot via their win over previously-ranked Etowah early last week. Centennial stays at No. 2 despite a loss to the Bolles School out of Jacksonville after a pair of impressive wins over Georgia schools. Lassiter fell from No. 4 to No. 6 after dropping a decision to new No. 10 Walton. Chattahoochee is also new to the rankings at No. 9.

In boys A-AAAAA, Northview and Decatur remain No. 1 and 2, respectively. Decatur knocked off No. 6 McIntosh 12-8 on Friday. Westminster moved up to No. 5 after taking out Class AAAAAA No. 8 Roswell. New No. 7 Lovett has been hot of late, knocking off McIntosh, No. 9 Holy Innocents’ and Pope. Marist moved into the poll at No. 10 as Greater Atlanta Christian dropped out after several losses.

Grayson jumped into the girls Class AAAAAA rankings at No. 9 after dispatching Archer and Newnan last …

Continue reading Lacrosse: Blessed Trinity girls enter rankings »

Compiled by Score Atlanta

Baseball

Arabia Mountain 10, Jonesboro 2

Carrollton 13, Centennial 11

Dunwoody 7, Walker 3

Effingham County 7, Bradwell Institute 1

Glynn Academy 18, Windsor Forest 0

Hardaway 4-1, Northside-Columbus 1-4

Kennesaw Mountain 8, Stephenson 0

Oglethorpe County 7, Cedar Shoals 4

Lassiter 5, Franklin County (Ky.) 1

Richmond Hill 13, Groves 0

Wesleyan 5, Greater Atlanta Christian 4

Westminster 7, Lovett 6

Boys Soccer

Lassiter 8, Woodstock 0

Parkview 1, Richmond Hill 0

Girls Soccer

Lassiter 4, Woodstock 0

Parkview 8, St. Vincent’s Academy 1

Boys Lacrosse

Bolles (Fla.) 12, Centennial 11

Greenbrier 14, M.L. King 4

Lovett 10, Pope 3

St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) 15, Milton 7

Girls Lacrosse

Decatur 9, Lakeside-Evans 8

Greenbrier 16, M.L. King 5

Continue reading Saturday spring sports scores »

Friday spring sports scores

Baseball

Allatoona 10, Villa Rica 0

Appling County 4, Tatnall County 0

Arabia Mountain 21, Clarkston 6

Baconton Charter 7, Miller County 6

Bowdon 6, Jordan 3

Burke County 10, Cross Creek 2

Carrollton 10, Shaw 2

Cartersville 9, Sonoraville 0

Chapel Hill 18, Douglass 0

Columbus 4, Troup 3

Crisp County 15, Albany 0

Dalton 9-9, Ridgeland 1-1

Dunwoody 6, Tucker 1

Dutchtown 7, Woodland Henry 3

East Coweta 12, Langston Hughes 2

Effingham County 3, Glynn Academy 2

Glascock County 8, Lincoln County 6

Hawkinsville 6, Marion County 5

Harrison 6, North Cobb 3

Johns Creek 4, Alpharetta 3

Kennesaw Mountain 15, Campbell 0

LaGrange 10, Fayette County 3

Lamar County 7, Macon County 0

Lanier 7, Chestatee 0

Locust Grove 8, Stockbridge 0

Loganville 9, Apalachee 1

Lowndes 13-1 Colquitt County 2-11

Marietta 6, Hiram 0

McEachern 8, Hillgrove 5

North Atlanta 10, Mays 3

North Paulding 8, New Manchester 0

Parkview 20, Shiloh 2

Paulding County 8, Rome 5

Peachtree Ridge 3, …

Continue reading Friday spring sports scores »

By Score Atlanta

Class AAA No. 1 Blessed Trinity has won eight straight games and will travel to Fort Myers, Fla. next week for the Perfect Game High School Showdown. The Titans defeated No. 8 St. Pius on March 29 in an important Region 6-AAA matchup. Pitcher Reed Scott tossed a complete game shutout in the 4-0 win while Nathaniel Maggio stroked a 2-run homer and C.J. Brazil connected on a 2-run double. … Despite losing catcher Jarrett Freeland, a Georgia signee, Class AAAAAA No. 4 Parkview has won four of five games heading into spring break. Like Blessed Trinity, the Panthers will take part in the Perfect Game High School Showdown in Florida. Parkview beat Archer Wednesday 5-3 as junior starter Christian Vann got the win after pitching three innings and striking out eight. Senior outfielder Micah Finley went 4-for-4 with three RBIs. … Class AAAA No. 3 Marist edged Columbia 8-7 in nine innings Monday as the War Eagles drew 17 walks in their victory. Marist pitcher Jordan …

Continue reading Baseball: Blessed Trinity, Parkview roll up wins before Florida trip »

Signing Day has passed, but several pretty good local high school basketball players are still looking for the right school.

Some have choices, others don’t, but exposure is the idea behind the World of Sports Private vs. Public Senior All-Star Basketball Games will be held Saturday at the renovated Tri-Cities gym.

Top boys players include first-team all-state forward Naquavious King of South Atlanta and Region 6-AAA player of the year Solomon Mangham of Woodward Academy.

The top girls players are Miller Grove’s Tashi Thompson, Woodland’s Lindsey Reed, Luella’s Carrington Johnson and Hughes’ Briunca Caldwell, all first-team all-region selections.

‘’Atlanta has a lot of unseen talent, especially the girls,’’ game founder Joshauwa Brown said. ‘’Some kids need that extra platform to get noticed to get an athletic scholarship.’’

The coaches will be Darron Rogers (boys) and Hilda Hankerson (girls) of Westlake, David Jones of Greenforest Christian (boys) and Jackie Cowan of …

Continue reading Local all-star game gives unsigned players another look »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

Corey Jarvis is used to stepping into tough coaching situations and being successful.

In 2005 he took over at M.L. King, filling the shoes of Ken Barrow, who captained one of the most successful starts to a football program in state history by leading the Lions to a record of 25-12 in their first three seasons. Jarvis went 49-11 in five seasons with playoff appearances in all five.

Then Jarvis moved on to Duluth, where the team had gone an abysmal 6-54 in the six seasons prior to his arrival. Though the Wildcats didn’t make the playoffs or finish with a .500 record, Jarvis led them to twice as many wins (12) in just three seasons as they had achieved in the previous six.

Now Jarvis will take on another challenge at Mays, a program known for never quite getting as much success out of its talent as it should. The Raiders have made the playoffs in seven of the last 10 years but have advanced past the first round just three times in that span.

“I …

Continue reading 50-in-50: Mays begins Corey Jarvis era »

By Score Atlanta

Peachtree Ridge received a game-winning goal in overtime from Doug Podetke to pull off a 6-5 victory on the road against Pope. Sourish Ray was strong in goal for the Lions to earn the victory. … Collins Hill received two goals apiece from Russell Gardner, Connor Pittman and Zach Cao in a 12-3 win over Newnan. … Chattahoochee picked up another victory Tuesday, 9-3 over Alpharetta. Senior Lucas Sparks scored five goals while Jack Cioffi added seven ground balls, three forced turnovers, one goal and two assists. Quentin Johnson pitched in with three assists in the victory. … Class A-AAAAA No. 10 Whitefield Academy jumped on Northgate early and never let up in a 13-1 victory. Dallas Darling scored five goals to lead Whitefield Academy while Preston Blair added three. … Brothers Ross and Jeff Mathis led Hillgrove past North Atlanta 12-4. Ross had three goals while Jeff provided two scores in the Hawks’ victory. … Class AAAAAA No. 2 Centennial continues to impress …

Continue reading Lacrosse: Centennial knocks off another ranked foe »

Camden County promoted offensive coordinator Welton Coffey on Thursday to replace Jeff Herron as head football coach, athletics director Gary Blount confirmed.

Coffey has coached at Camden since 2006 and was part of state championship teams in 2008 and 2009. Coffey came to Georgia in 2003 to be the offensive coordinator at Valdosta under Rick Darlington.

Coffey had been head coach of his alma mater, Raines of Jacksonville, and led that school to a Class 4A championship in Florida in his first season there, 1997. The team improved from 4-7 to 15-0.  At Raines, Coffey coached future NFL players Kevin Youngblood, Lito Sheppard, DeJuan Green and Jabar Gaffney.

Coffey will replace one of the state’s most successful coaches in Herron, who took the head coaching job a Class A private school Prince Avenue Christian earlier this month. Herron’s record was 146-18 in his 13 seasons in Kingsland. He won three state titles and 12 region titles, including Region 1-AAAAAA in 2012, when …

Continue reading Camden County promotes coordinator Coffey to replace Herron »

Burke County coach Eric Parker has worries on defense where he lost six starters from last year’s squad. (Jason Getz, AJC)

If the question last year was how much damage Burke County quarterback Donquell Green could do by himself – and the answer was “considerable” – then the question going into the 2013 season has to be this: With a more experienced supporting cast around him, who’s going to slow the Bears down?

The expectations are high, with the Bears having won at least 11 games each of the past three years. They won the 2011 AAA state title when Green was a sophomore, and led eventual state champion Sandy Creek in the fourth quarter in the AAAA semifinals last year.

Green is one of the most explosive players in the state, having amassed than 3,070 yards combined passing and rushing and accounting for 49 total touchdowns as Burke County went 11-2.

“He’s a special player. For what we do he is just tailor-made,” said Burke County coach Eric Parker. “He’s playing with a lot of …

Continue reading 50 in 50: Burke County »

Compiled by Score Atlanta

Baseball

Blessed Trinity 18, Cross Keys 0

Bradwell Institute 14, McIntosh County Academy 3

Buford 7, North Hall 3

Cairo 9, Thomasville 5

Callaway 5, Central-Carroll 3

Calvary Day 9, Strong Rock Christian 3

Cross Creek 7, Aquinas 3

Dacula 5, Brookwood 2

Darlington 11, King’s Ridge Christian 9

Decatur 14, Towers 2

Dunwoody 6, Arabia Mountain 1

Dutchtown 15, North Clayton 0

Emanuel County Institute 7, Metter 6

Etowah 4, Woodstock 1

Franklin County 2, Elbert County 1

Glynn Academy 13, Liberty County 3

Hardaway 7, Brookstone 2

Hillgrove 9, Kennesaw Mountain 1

Hiram 1, Lithia Springs 0

Holy Innocents’ 6, Landmark Christian 4

Jackson 7, Mary Persons 3

Jefferson 13-1, Social Circle 1-0

Johns Creek 8, North Forsyth 3

Jones County 12, Luella 2

Lakeside-DeKalb 13, Tucker 3

Lambert 13, Centennial 3

Locust Grove 5, Jonesboro 3

Marietta 10, South Cobb 4

Marist 15, Chamblee 0

McEachern 4, Harrison 3

Milton 4, Hamilton (Az.) 3

North Cobb 11, Campbell 0

North Paulding …

Continue reading Wednesday spring sports scores »

By Stephen Black

Score Atlanta

Class AAAAAA No. 1 Lassiter came up big in the last week with shutout wins over Etowah and Wheeler. On Friday, the Trojans (12-0) dispatched Wheeler 5-0. Lassiter rectified the woes it had defensively against Roswell, which scored three goals on the Trojans on March 19. Lassiter jumped out to a 3-0 half-time lead and cruised to the Region 5 victory, which saw two goals each by freshman sensation Munear Abousaud and senior Alex Champion. Senior midfielder Robbie Cutchin also found the back of the net.

“We had been working on our attack,” said first-year Trojans coach Sam Dietrich. “Making that final pass in the final third and working as a group offensively. Our opponents had been putting numbers behind the ball making it extremely difficult to score.”

Following the win over Wheeler (3-5-1) Lassiter beat another Region 5-opponent, this time Etowah (8-4). Champion again struck twice while Cutchin completed the scoring for Lassiter. The Trojans …

Continue reading Soccer: Lassiter shuts out two region opponents »

Kenny Dallas, hired as North Cobb Christian’s football coach earlier this month, has changed his mind and will be staying at Grace Christian Academy in Tennessee.

The former Landmark Christian coach told North Cobb Christian athletics director Keith Bollinger of his decision last weekend in an email, leaving Bollinger confused and disappointed.

“Frankly I still don’t understand why a guy says he’s going to come, signs a contract, then gets cold feet after a couple of weeks and says he’s pulling out,’’ Bollinger said. ‘’But that’s what he did. He basically emailed us over the weekend and said ‘I can’t do it; my family doesn’t want to move.’ I’m disappointed in how he ran his timeline and his follow through.’’

Dallas did not immediately return a call to his cell phone on Wednesday.

Dallas’ hiring to the private school in Kennesaw was viewed as one of the better hires of the off-season. Dallas was head football coach at Landmark Christian in Fairburn for 11 seasons. His record …

Continue reading Dallas changes mind, leaves North Cobb Christian confused, disappointed »

The DeKalb County Basketball All-Star Games, to be played Thursday, April 4, at Tucker, have secured virtually every top senior in the school system. That should make for two pretty good games given that five DeKalb public teams played in the state finals this season.

The rosters include boys players Tahj Shamsid-Deen of Columbia (Class AAAA player of the year, Auburn signee) and Davonte Fitzgerald of Tucker (Region 6-AAAAA player of the year, Texas A&M signee) and girls players Miah Spencer of Columbia (AAAA player of the year, N.C. State signee) and Kaliyah Mitchell of Stephenson (former AAAA player of the year, Penn signee).

The coaches will be Johnny Toombs of Towers and Angela Nash of Druid Hills (girls) and Steve Clark of McNair and Jerome Lee of Druid Hills (boys).

Here are the rosters. All-state players are noted in bold.

Lee’s boys – Bakari Copeland, Arabia Mountain, Philip Reeves, Arabia Mountain; Deionte Menessee, Cross Keys; Clarence Williams, Druid Hills; Deshon …

Continue reading Shamsid-Deen, Spencer highlight loaded DeKalb basketball all-star games »

Georgia’s Mark Richt and Alabama’s Nick Saban are among six ACC and SEC head coaches who will be speaking at the second Georgia Minority Coaches Association “Super Friday” Coaches clinic on April 26.

The event will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn North in East Point.

The lineup is Richt (1 p.m.), Jimbo Fisher of Florida State (2 p.m.), Butch Jones of Tennessee (3 p.m.), James Franklin of Vanderbilt (4 p.m.) Gus Malzahn of Auburn (5 p.m.) and Saban (6 p.m.).

For more information, contact clinic director Ahmand Tinker at artink67@msn.com.

Continue reading Richt, Saban to speak at Georgia Minority Coaches Association »

It may not be anywhere near championship time in the high school sports world, but the NCAA Tournament has our minds turned toward titles.

Watching all the great teams battle and fight for the national championship makes us remember all the awesome high school champs of the past, particularly the ones that won a lot. For some, a whole lot.

Pretty much every sport has had its share of dynasties, taking over the sport for years at a stretch. Given that us Listers basically haven’t won much of anything in our lives, we’re pretty much in awe of them all.

So, in that spirit, here are the top 10 dynasties in state history …

10. Buford softball 2007-present

Six straight titles is easily the most ever in softball, and nothing indicates the run is on its way to ending anytime soon. The Wolves have built a dominant program, sending players to UGA, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Alabama, etc., during the stretch. Record since 2007: 190-31-2.

9. Taylor County girls basketball 1968-72

Never …

Continue reading Jeff Haws’ Top 10 List »