Archive for the ‘A’ Category

David Boyd, the boys basketball coach who won six state championships before his forced resignation at Milton last year, is the new head coach at Excel Christian, a private Class A school in Cartersville.

”Blessed to be back in the game,” Boyd posted on his Twitter account on Monday. ”Looking forward to meeting all the players’ parents and the players at Excel Christian Academy at 6:00pm tomorrow [Tuesday].”

Boyd replaces Jon-Michael Dickerson, who took a job as a graduate assistant at Memphis University.

Excel Christian was 26-3 last season and lost to Aquinas in the Class A private quarterfinals.

Boyd was had coach for state championship teams at Milton in 2010 and 2012. Several of his Milton players have gone on to play for major college programs. They include Evan Nolte (Virginia), Julian Royal (Georgia Tech), Shannon Scott (Ohio State), Dai-Jon Parker (Vanderbilt), Shaquille Johnson (Auburn) and Charles Mann (Georgia).

Boyd resigned in September amid allegations that he …

Continue reading David Boyd hired at Excel Christian »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy waited seven years to celebrate another baseball championship. Saturday evening, they had to wait about a little longer than anticipated.

Leading Mt. Paran Christian 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh of Game 2 with the bases empty and two outs, after already defeating the Eagles in Game 1 (5-1), the Chargers thought they had recorded the final out of the series when freshman Cole Ganopulos got fellow ninth grader Taylor Trammell to ground out to first on a full count. ELCA players charged the field and dog piled on top of Ganopulos, as did several enthusiastic students from the bleachers. But the ball had hit Trammell’s foot and was ruled a foul ball by the home plate umpire.

Not to worry. After the fans went back to the stands and all the players collected their gloves and hats, Ganopulos zipped a fastball on the outer edge of the plate for a called strike three and a Class A Private School state title for …

Continue reading Class A Baseball Private School Championship: ELCA defeats Mt. Paran 5-1 and 4-1 »

Commerce head football coach Marvin Justice has resigned after two seasons, according to Commercetigers.com.

Justice extended Commerce’s streak of playoff berths to 16 and had records of 4-7 and 5-6.

But Commerce, a Class A state power starting in the 1970s under Ray Lamb, has suffered three straight losing seasons for the first time since World War II. The first of the three came under coach Steve Savage, who won 181 games in his 22 seasons. Savage won a state title at Commerce in 2000.

Commerce upset eventual Class AA champion Jefferson in the 2012 season opener but failed to maintain the pace amid key injuries.

Justice had been a defensive coordinator under Savage for five seasons.

Continue reading Commerce football coach Justice resigns »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

All signs pointed to a blowout Friday night at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy.

The Warriors (26-3), top ranked in Class A in the AJC Top 10 for weeks, had already defeated Greenforest Christian by 30 points three months ago, and were in a foul mood, after being upset by St. Francis in their region championship game last weekend. Additionally, they were none too pleased with the No. 4 power ranking they received from MaxPreps and the Georgia High School Association.

And, despite having one of the state’s most talented players in senior guard Moses Johnson, who has signed with Chattanooga, SACA was still clearly the better team on paper. But this time, the Warriors didn’t win by 30. They won by 40.

SACA bolted out to a 30-7 lead after one quarter en route to a 72-32 win over Greenforest in the first round of the Class A private school state tournament.

Warrior head coach Jackie Cowan said she expected a great effort from her team and she …

Continue reading Class A Girls (Private): SACA 72, Greenforest Christian 32 »

First-round matchups are unofficial. If you notice errors, please point them out.

Girls first-round games will be played Tuesday. Boys first-round games will be played Wednesday. Schools that have home games for both their boys and girls teams may schedule double-headers, putting both games on Tuesday or Wednesday, if the opposing schools agree.

CLASS AAAAAA

BOYS

(R3-#4) Douglas County at (R2-#1) Druid Hills

(R4-#3) Campbell at (R1-#2) Brunswick

(R2-#4) Luella at (R3-#1) Tri-Cities

(R1-#3) Valdosta at (R4-#2) Hillgrove

(R5-#4) Walton at (R8-#1) Shiloh

(R6-#3) Centennial at (R7-#2) Peachtree Ridge

(R8-#4) Dacula at (R5-#1) Wheeler

(R7-#3) Meadowcreek at (R6-#2) Chattahoochee

(R4-#4) McEachern at (R1-#1) Tift County

(R3-#3) Westlake at (R2-#2) Rockdale County

(R1-#4) Coffee at (R4-#1) North Cobb

(R2-#3) Morrow at (R3-#2) Newnan

(R6-#4) Lambert at (R7-#1) Norcross

(R5-#3) Cherokee at (R8-#2) Archer

(R7-#4) Collins Hill at (R6-#1) Alpharetta

(R8-#3) Berkmar (R5-#2) Roswell

CLASS …

Continue reading Basketball: First-round playoff games in all classifications »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

It’s déjà vu all over again for W.D. Mohammed boys head coach Farad Abdur-Rahman.

For the second time in his career he has taken a team at the tiny, Muslim-based school in East Atlanta and taken it from worst to first. Seven years ago it was the girls’ team. Now, he has done the same with the boys’ squad as the Caliphs enter region tournament play this week as the Region 5 regular season champions and the top-ranked team in Class A (No. 2 in the private school power rankings).

To take one team – boys or girls – to the top of the rankings more than once in a career is a great accomplishment. To do it with the boys and girls teams at the same school might be unprecedented.

“I was talking to a friend of mine and he said he thinks I might be the only coach in Georgia to take the girls to No. 1 and then take the boys to No. 1. I never even thought about that,” Abdur-Rahman said. “I’m truly humbled.”

What makes the coaching feat even more …

Continue reading Class A Blog: Abdur-Rahman has W.D. Mohammed boys No. 1, seven years after leading the girls there as well »

Final rankings before the region tournaments. New No. 1 in Class A – WD Mohammed.

Special note – AJC.com will be publishing schedules for all 48 region tournaments beginning at 3 p.m. today (Sunday).

Special note II – There are a half-dozen scores of ranked boys teams from Friday/Saturday that haven’t been reported. If we get those scores before 5 p.m., rankings might change.

Missing – MLK-Mays, Columbia-Chamblee, Vidalia-Toombs, Westside-Burke, Taylor County-Macon County.

Class AAAAAA

1. Tift County (21-4)

2. North Cobb (21-4)

3. Norcross (19-6)

4. North Gwinnett (19-5)

5. Hillgrove (22-3)

6. Westlake (21-4)

7. Shiloh (19-6)

8. Peachtree Ridge (17-8)

9. Chattahoochee (19-6)

10. Wheeler (16-8)

Notes: No. 1 Tift County beat Valdosta 63-46 on Saturday to close out the regular season for ranked teams. … Previous No. 3 (now No. 7) Shiloh was upset by Dacula 65-54 last week but clobbered Archer 69-44 on Friday in a game that decided the No. 1 seed in Region 8. … Previous No. 7 …

Continue reading Boys rankings: WD Mohammed new No. 1 in Class A »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

Something many detractors of the Class A power rankings feared would happen, has indeed happened.

Due to the fact that the importance of region tournaments has been lessened somewhat by the power rankings, the coaches from Region 2 have decided to cancel this year’s tournament. After the regular season comes to a close at the end of the week, basketball will be over for the majority of the teams in Region 2.   The Lanier County boys have the most to lose. The Bulldogs were in the top 16 of the public school power rankings early on but fell out recently.

Lanier (15-7, 7-4) should close out the season this week with wins at Clinch County (7-5, 3-4) tonight and Irwin County (4-18, 4-8) on Friday, which won’t provide a lot of points. Playing extra games in a tournament, especially advancing to the semi finals or the finals against No. 3 Wilcox County or No. 6 Turner County, could have gone a long way toward boosting the Bulldogs’ power …

Continue reading Class A Blog: Region tourneys marginalized by power rankings; SACA girls, Mitchell boys send messages; updated power rankings »

Private schools are becoming so prevalent and powerful in Georgia’s Class A that the GHSA is now split into public and private divisions in its smallest classification.

The trend is gaining momentum this year as two prominent members of the Georgia Independent School Association are considering jumping to the Georgia High School Association.

One GISA member, Mount de Sales of Macon, has already made the move effective in 2014-15.

Now, Tattnall Square and Stratford Academy, also of Macon, are considering joining now that arch-rivals Mount de Sales and former GISA rival First Presbyterian Day School of Macon will no longer be GISA members. First Presbyterian joined the GHSA in 2010 and reached the Class A private football quarterfinals in 2012.

As many as 11 GISA schools have moved to the GHSA over the past decade including 2012 football state champion Eagle’s Landing Christian and the current No. 1-ranked Class A boys basketball team, North Cobb Christian.

But football …

Continue reading GISA heavyweights Stratford, Tattnall consider GHSA »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

They say heavy is the head that wears the crown. That goes for queens as well as kings.

Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy head coach Jackie Cowan knows that all too well. Her Warriors have been ranked No. 1 in the AJC Top 10 since the beginning of the season, have had the No. 1 Class A power ranking since it was first released three weeks ago, and are 19-2 overall. One of the losses (57-56) was to St. Joseph Catholic, the top-ranked team in West Virginia, during a holiday tournament. The other was to Region 6 rival Darlington, now ranked No. 2 right behind SACA.

In the game, SACA trailed by double digits at one point but rallied before eventually falling by one, 47-46. Cowan said her team was suffering from the blissful hangover of being the only team in Georgia to knock off giant Wesleyan, ranked No. 1 in Class AA, 49-46, the night before traveling to Rome to face Dalton. SACA was shellacked by Wesleyan, 68-44, in last season’s Class A …

Continue reading Class A Blog: SACA and Cowan driving toward state title, latest power rankings »

Below is a list of former Georgia high school football players from Class A schools who were on college rosters in 2012.

This list is the work of Tucker Tigers fan Steve Slay, a researcher with the Georgia High School Football Historians Association whose hobby is providing hard-to-find, fascinating information of all sorts about high school players and teams in the state. He’s compiled this information for the past four years, at least. It’s a remarkable effort. AJC.com is giving him a forum to share his work.

Here are the links to the lists for each classifications:

AAAAAA

AAAAA

AAAA

AAA

AA

A

College players by A school:

12 – Savannah Christian

11 – Landmark Christian

11 – Marion County

9 – Darlington

8 – Eagles Landing Christian

7 – Charlton County

7 – Lincoln County

7 – Miller County

7 – Mitchell County

7 – Our Lady Of Mercy

7 – Seminole County

6 – Aquinas

6 – Holy Innocents

6 – Twiggs County

6 – Whitefield Academy

6 – Wilcox County

5 – Emanuel County Institute

4 – Athens …

Continue reading Georgia players in college football (A) »

The No. 1-ranked North Cobb Christian boys basketball team proved to Whitefield Academy for the second time this season that it is the new team to beat in Class A, but for the second time this season the defending state champion didn’t go down without a fight.

Kendall Crute scored 10 of his team-high 27 points during a 15-4 run late in the third quarter as North Cobb Christian slowly pulled away for a 65-45 victory in a Region 6-A Division B game at North Cobb Christian on Friday.

North Cobb Christian (18-2, 10-0), which won the first meeting between the teams 47-39 on Dec. 14, remains alone in first place in the subregion. Whitefield Academy (5-5, 9-8) is No. 16 this week in the private-school points system that will determine the teams that will make the playoffs. Only the top 16 will qualify.

“It’s still Whitefield Academy, and do they ever play hard,” North Cobb coach Greg Matta said. “That’s just their tradition, and they come after you.”

North Cobb Christian’s lead was …

Continue reading Boys basketball: North Cobb Christian 65, Whitefield Academy 45 »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

As was the case with the Class A power rankings for football in the fall, this has turned into the winter of discontent for many basketball coaches and fans in the state’s smallest classification.

The power ranking system, used for the first time in state history to determine playoff participants and seedings, came under fire by some football coaches who thought aspects of it hurt deserving teams. Now some basketball coaches are balking as well, particularly when it comes to two aspects of the system in basketball — no points for playing out-of-state teams and no extra points for playing teams from higher classifications.

However, Ralph Swearngin, executive director of the Georgia High School Association, said most of the complaints haven’t reached his office.

“I honestly haven’t heard many,” Swearngin said this week. “I’m not saying that no one has issues with the system but I really haven’t heard any complaints.”

In football, Class A teams …

Continue reading Class A Blog: Swearngin hears no evil (yet) on basketball power rankings, key games this weekend »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

Time for this week’s look at the new power rankings in Class A basketball. Love it or loath it, the power ranking system is here to stay – for this season at least. (Next week we’ll examine how the system is working out thus far.)

But first we check in on a team that is quickly staking its claim as one of the contenders for the boys private school title: W.D. Mohammed (18-1). Tuesday night, the Caliphs, ranked No. 5 in this week’s AJC Top 10, served notice that they are indeed for real, with a 43-42 win over No. 3 Greenforest Christian. The Eagles’ (14-4) previous losses were to South Atlanta (14-3), No. 10 in AAAA, Norcross 11-6), ranked No. 6 in AAAAAA and Wenonah, the top ranked team in Alabama in AAAAA.

All of this seemed impossible just three years ago when head coach Farad Abdur-Rahman jumped from leading the W.D. Mohammed girls team over to the boys. In the five years prior to his arrival, the Caliph boys were a combined 27-84 …

Continue reading Class A Blog: W.D. Mohammed boys continue to rise, latest power rankings »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

Shake up at the top of girl’s privates

Darlington, ranked No. 4 in the AJC Top 10 and No. 3 in the Class A private school power rankings last week, knocked off top-ranked Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy (15-2, 4-1), 47-46 on Tuesday. Senior center Terar Stewart, a Class A Player of the Year candidate, led the way for the Tigers with 22 points.

The win vaulted Darlington (12-4, 5-0) to the top spot in Region 6 – Division A, and will impact the poll and the power rankings as well. The rematch is Feb. 2 at SACA.

Graddics leading Turner County

Turner County has a solid chance of bringing two public school state titles back to Ashburn, and the keys to that accomplishment live under one roof.

Antania and Antonio Graddic are integral parts of their respective teams. Antania, a 6-foot-4 senior center, is averaging 15 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks per game for the Rebels, who are 14-3 overall, and undefeated (8-0) in Region 2 with a No. 2 …

Continue reading Class A Blog: Shake up atop private girls, Graddics leading Turner, girls POTY candidates »