Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Greyhounds routed Decatur to set up a Lambert rematch; the seasons for Pope baseball and Walton girls lacrosse end.
The Pope High School boys lacrosse team raced out to a big 8-1 halftime lead, including its first goal seven seconds into the game Wednesday to down Decatur 11-6 to advance to the Class AAAA state championship game. For the second year in a row, the Greyhounds will face undefeated and No. 1 Lambert, which had its closest scare all season in a 10-7 win over Westminster in the other semifinal. The championship game will take place on Saturday at Lambert, which is located in the Suwanee area of Forsyth County, at a time to be announced. In last year's final, Pope rallied to trail Lambert 8-7 in the third quarter before the Longhorns stretched out their lead to win 14-7. Pope stars Holland Frost and Dan Maples were named all-state …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Raiders' senior soccer star has been named the Georgia boys' player of the year for 2011-12
Walton High School soccer standout Holden Fender has been named the Gatorade Georgia boys' player of the year for 2011-12. Fender, a 6-foot-1 midfielder, scored 10 goals and had 13 assists for the Raiders, who were eliminated from the Georgia Class AAAAA quarterfinals on Saturday. An integral part of Walton's state championship team last year, Fender is the second Raiders' player in recent years to win the Gatorade award, joining Connor Barbaree (2007-08). Fender has been selected for the U.S. Soccer Under-17 men's national team and competes with the Sandy Springs-based Concorde Fire Club. As Concorde coaching director Gregg Blasingame told GHSA.net: “Holden has a couple of strengths that set him apart from the rest. He totally controls …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
They Greyhounds travel to Gwinnett today in the state quarterfinals as pro scouts take a look at star pitcher Duane Underwood.
Another season, another strong run for the Pope High School baseball team. For the second year in a row, the Greyhounds have reached the Georgia Class AAAA quarterfinals. In 2011, they were eliminated at home against Whitewater. Today they'll try to advance on the road when they face Loganville at 4:30 p.m. Pope, which is 24-7, has developed a knack for getting things done in the clutch this season. As coach Jeff Rowland told The Marietta Daily Journal: “We’ve been in five playoff games and four have come to the last pitch. They realized they have to stay focused for seven innings where anything can happen. We’ve come out on good end of those games and are playing pretty well right now.” While Ben Levine was Pope's pitching star in the …
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Pope boys and the Walton girls are still in the hunt for state championships this week.
After spanking Lovett on Saturday, the Pope High School boys lacrosse team might be on its way toward a rematch with Lambert for the Georgia Class A-AAAA state championship. The Greyhounds, who won 14-4 in a quarterfinal matchup, must play at Decatur in Wednesday's semifinals. Undefeated and top-ranked Lambert, which throttled St. Pius X 11-5, also has to go on the road, facing Westminster, ranked No. 11 in the latest Georgia prep lacrosse poll. Lambert, based in Suwanee, has been dominant all season, failing to score at least 10 goals in a game only once -- that in a 7-3 win over Westminster in March. No. 18 Decatur scored something of an upset in downing 12th-ranked Chattahoochee 6-5 on Saturday. Pope, ranked No. 6, is taking a 15-3-1…
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The Greyhounds were fourth in the Class AAAA state boys meet, while the Wildcats came in third in Class AAAAA.
A week after the Walton High School girls track team won a state championship, two East Cobb boys teams competed for titles. Pope High School and Wheeler High School had to settle for podium finishes at the Georgia High School Association boys track and field meet in Albany, but there were also some strong individual performances to note. Pope's fourth-place finish in Class AAAA included a state champion, Patrick Fleming, who won the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:18.10. Other top finishers for Pope in individual events included Austin Card, who was second in the high jump; Marco Vahoua, third in the shot put; Myles Everett , fourth in the long jump; and Fleming, fifth in the 3,200-meter run. Pope's regional and East Cobb rivals got …
Saturday, May 12, 2012
It was a tough night for Raiders teams on Friday as Parkview won in overtime and the boys tennis team was eliminated.
Walton's hopes of winning a second consecutive boys Class AAAAA state championship slipped away in the final seconds of overtime on Friday. The Raiders lost two separate leads against Parkview in their quarterfinal matchup, and ultimately fell 3-2 to the Gwinnett school at Raider Valley. Zachary Welsh got the game-winner on a header for the Panthers with 12 seconds to play, as Walton teams finished a disappointing day in Georgia High School Association competition. Earlier on Friday, the boys tennis team lost by the same score 3-2 -- to Westlake in the Class AAAAA semifinals in Jonesboro. Walton's soccer loss was the second by an East Cobb school to Gwinnett in the quarterfinals. Lassiter's run was ended on Friday in a 4-2 loss to …
Friday, May 11, 2012
The Raiders boys soccer team plays host to Parkview tonight, while the Pope baseball team has advanced.
While the Walton High School girls tennis team's streak of eight consecutive Georgia High School Association state titles has ended, the boys are still alive. The Raiders will face off against Westlake in one of today's Class AAAAA semifinal matches after downing Milton earlier this week. In the other half of the bracket, North Cobb plays Alpharetta. Today's winners meet tomorrow for the state championship. All the matches are at Clayton County International Park in Jonesboro. Tonight at Raider Valley, the defending state champion Walton boys soccer team puts its title on the line in a quarterfinal game with Gwinnett powerhouse Parkview at 8 p.m. The Raiders got off to a slow start in their first season under coach Bruce Wade, who …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The Greyhounds will face Northgate in a decisive Class AAAA second round game today; boys lacrosse advanced but girls soccer was eliminated.
It was a bad news, good news, bad news, good news day for Pope High School sports teams Wednesday. The baseball team lost to Northgate 5-4 in a Class AAAA second round tournament game at Pope. But the Greyhounds will play again today, in the fnale of the best-of-three series against the Gwinnett school that starts at 5 p.m. The Pope girls soccer team, however, is packing up its gear for another season. The Lady Greyhounds fell 3-2 to McIntosh in the second round of the Class AAAA tournament. And the Pope boys lacrosse team, last season's runners-up in Class A-AAAA, defeated Blessed Trinity 13-7 in its first round match on Wedneday. A busy sports week continues for East Cobb schools as spring seasons reach their climax. Walton's …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Danielle Santos has been named a basketball assistant coach for the SEC regular season champions.
Former Wheeler High School basketball star Danielle Santos was named an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky Tuesday. Santos scored more than 1,100 points, pulled down more than 500 rebounds and had nearly 500 steals during her high school career for Wheeler, which reached the state quarterfinals during her junior season in 2001. She played at the University of Florida when current Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell was an assistant, and earned her degree in exercise and sports sciences in 2006. For the last two seasons, Santos has been an assistant coach at Illinois State. Prior to that, she served in a similar capacity at Hofstra University, where her former Wheeler coach, Krista Kilburn-Steveskey, is the head coach. Kentucky is …
Offensive lineman Thomas O'Reilly may transfer to Georgia Tech.
Thomas O'Reilly got a head start on his college football career when he enrolled at Auburn University in early 2011, shortly after graduating from Pope High School. But the former Greyhounds' offensive lineman and high school All-American is on the move after not playing a down for the SEC school. The Opelika-Auburn News reported Tuesday afternoon that O'Reilly, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, has been granted his release. A number of media outlets, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, are speculating he may transfer to Georgia Tech. O'Reilly was ranked No. 7 in the nation at his position coming out of Pope. But after being redshirted during Auburn's 2011 national championship season, he suffered injuries and fell down the Tigers' depth …
