High school athletic programs in East Cobb and Northeast Cobb were among the best in the state of Georgia once again.

Two schools came close, but couldn't quite finish on top, as the prep sports season ended this weekend with Georgia High School Association baseball playoffs.

For the second year in a row, the Walton High School and Pope High School programs finished second in Class AAAAA and Class AAAA, respectively, for the Georgia Athletic Directors Association's Directors Cup honors.

Lassiter High School was fourth in Class AAAAA and Kell High School came in ninth in Class AAAA.

Walton, which reached the state football championship game and won state titles in volleyball, girls cross country and girls rack and field, collected 1189.5 points, eclipsed on the last week of the sports season by Brookwood, which finished with 1202 points.

Ironically, Walton was denied the all-sports title by the same school that crushed the Raiders in the state football finals. Grayson fell to Brookwood in the baseball semifinals, which was enough for the Broncos to claim the Directors Cup. Brookwood's Gwinnett archrival Parkview took the state baseball crown on Saturday. 

Walton also didn't get maximum points from its most dominant sports team, as the girls tennis team's state record winning streak and eight consecutive state title streak came to an end in the Class AAAAA quarterfinals. 

Lassiter finished with 1065 points, just behind the 1092 total for Milton, which downed the Trojans last week in a thrilling overtime boys lacrosse state championship game. The Trojans were state semifinalists in football, losing to Walton, as well as boys and girls swimming

Wheeler High School, the other East Cobb school in Class AAAAA, was in 35th place with 329 points. 

Pope repeated as state champions in volleyball and wrestling, and was runner-up in boys lacrosse for the second year in a row. The Greyhounds finished with 939 points to 1153.5 points for Marist. 

Kell, which finished with 737 points, got a big boost when the Longhorns' boys track team won the state championship earlier this month. 

Sprayberry High School was 49th in the Class AAAA Directors Cup standings with 221.5 points.