VOLUME 9 ISSUE 21 DIGITAL | OCTOBER 18-24, 2013 | YOUR SOURCE FOR SPORTS IN GEORGIA

Time to look great!

SILVER LININGSOn To State! | Pg. 8

Is It That Bad? | Pg. 4

Metro teams enter state playoffs in softball and volleyball.

Chris Schutter discusses the severity of the Falcons’ injury situation.

Despite the myriad of recent futility, we give you something to be happy about when it comes

to the world of Atlanta sports. | Pg. 5

A TWO-TOUCHDOWN DEFICIT IS NOTHING AFTER YOU’VE COME BACK FROM CANCER.

Know a young athlete who overcame a serious injury or illness? Nominatethem for Comeback Athlete of the Month at choa.org/comeback.

©2013 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc. All rights reserved. For offi cial contest rules, visit choa.org/comeback.

NOMINATE NOW

Follow Children’s Sports Medicine on Facebook

3Vol. 9 Iss. 21 | October 18-24, 2013

PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ Galbiati Blalock SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR Stephen Black BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick

DIRECTOR OF SALES Melanie Snare & MARKETING SALES EXECUTIVE Drew Colon

BEAT WRITERS Ricky Dimon (Braves) Joe Deighton (Dream) Jay Underwood (Hawks) Brian Jones (KSU) Chris Nieman (UGA) Craig Sager II (Falcons) Donnell Suggs (Tech) Chris Schutter (GSU)

STAFF WRITERS Ryan Caiafa Sean Conway

TO ADVERTISE IN SCORE ATLANTA:404.256.1572

Copyright 2013 Score Atlanta Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Score Atlanta is published in print every other week on Fridays and a digital version is posted to ScoreAtl.com in-between print issues. Views expressed in Score Atlanta are not necessarily the opinion of Score Atlanta, its staff or advertisers. Score Atlanta does not know-ingly accept false or misleading editorial content or advertising nor is Score Atlanta responsible for the content or claims of any advertis-ing or editorial in this publication. No content (articles, photographs, graphics) in Score Atlanta may be used for reproduction without writ-ten permission from the publisher.

Score Atlanta is looking for writing interns. Please e-mail Stephen Black at sblack@scoreatl.com or call 404-256-1572 for more information.

Football All-Star Games will never be the same! The Georgia Elite Junior Classic will be held at McEachern High School on Dec. 28.

STARTING LINEUP 04 COLUMNISTS 05 08

SCORE LIST | NUMBERS

GEORGIA STATE | KENNESAW STATE GEORGIA | GEORGIA TECH

BRAVES | FALCONS HAWKS | SILVERBACKS

COVER DESIGN BY DJ GALBIATI BLALOCKCOVER PHOTOS COURTESY OF COLLINS HILL HS AND JIMMY CRIBB/ATLANTA FALCONS

ON THE COVER INSIDE THE PREPS

ON THE INSIDE AT SCORE STAY CONNECTED!

/SCOREATLANTASPORTS

@SCOREATLANTA

WWW.SCOREATL.COMWWW.GAPREPNEWS.COM

0612

13

4 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

As we enter Week 9 of the high school foot-ball season, 33 teams are without a win

and 35 teams are without a loss. Out of those 35 teams without a loss, at least 28 of them are guaranteed to see their perfect seasons fall short before the seven 2013 state champions are crowned. Not to mention, there was not one repeating football state championship last year when Norcross, Gainesville, Sandy Creek, Bu-ford, Jefferson, ELCA and ECI took the podium. On the volleyball court this past weekend, the upsets in the area tournaments continued the trend. Five of the six defending state cham-pions fell short in their area tournaments to region rivals and now enter the state playoffs without one of the eight coveted No. 1 seeds in each classification’s bracket. All five of those

defending champs will likely have to battle on the road in order to step back on the podium this year. Volleyball and softball state champi-ons will be crowned Nov. 1 and 2 and then the high school football regular season will wrap up the following Friday.

OWNER’S DILEMMA ... I am going to use this far-fetched basket-ball scenario to explain how the Falcons can im-prove their roster in this year’s draft by a change in draft-day philosophy so bear with me. You are about to play a pick-up game of basketball and you and your friend are the two captains that will pick the teams. You both are natural shooting guards and you need to pick four players to run the court with you. With a

swish you earn the first pick. Looking at the crop of players, you know that the two guys capable of running the point are the best overall players available. They are very similar, but in terms of overall skillsets these guys can get it done and are hard to stop. There are also two 6-foot-5 guys that you could use as a post-man and then a bunch of 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-2 guys that you could move around to make work where needed. With the first pick you take the best point guard out of the two. Your friend picks the bet-ter of the two 6-foot-5 guys with the second pick. He knows you already have a point guard and so he wanted to get the advantage down low. Not a bad move, but here is the dilemma. Do you take a decent tall guy to guard the big 6-foot-5 guy or do you take the other point guard who is a better overall basketball player than the big guy? My answer: take the other point guard. You now have the two best play-ers on the court with you and you have a major advantage in the backcourt. Game on! The Falcons are a successful franchise, but have developed a trend of drafting for need above picking up the best available talent. For this reason, the team lacks a lot of depth at certain positions that are neglected if there are already capable starters in place. Trading up for Julio Jones in 2011 has definitely been the

exception, however, in 2009 the Falcons had linebackers and felt they needed a defensive tackle so they drafted Peria Jerry with the 24th overall pick. Jerry has posted 41 tackles and 3.0 sacks since being drafted with the Falcons and is ac-tually having a productive season this year. On the flipside, current Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews was still available and was taken two picks later. Atlanta believed the linebacker posi-tion was in good standing but now five seasons later, we have two undrafted free-agent rookies starting at linebacker and zero depth. Not to mention Matthews was named the 2010 NFC Defensive Player of the Year, is a 4-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro and has posted 222 career tackles and 45.5 career sacks in his short career. This belief goes for any posi-tion; sometimes you just have to take the bet-ter player. Dent, Weatherspoon and Matthews at linebacker last year might have been able get Atlanta past San Francisco and to the Su-per Bowl. And also, I would rather have Russell Wilson (75th overall pick in 2012) holding Matt Ryan’s clipboard than quarterbacking the NFC West-leading Seahawks. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Cribb/Atlanta Falcons.

The current atmosphere is less than ap-pealing for Atlanta sports fans. It’s been

brought up over and over again the past week. Seemingly, the only time big TV networks want to say anything about Atlanta sports at all is when they collapse. In the past two weeks, Atlanta is 1-3 in baseball, 0-1 in football, 1-2 in NBA games and 0-3 in WNBA games. Grant-ed, the NBA is in preseason and WNBA hardly gathers any interest at all, but at this point, af-ter the Braves and Falcons choked within hours of each other, Atlanta fans would be happy to see anyone from Atlanta win a game or two.

INJURY PLAGUED ... But when are things going to turn around? There’s always a constant air of “We’ll get ‘em next time” when Atlanta loses in the playoffs, but now who knows if any of the teams will even make the playoffs. The Falcons are put-ting up their worst season in recent memory. They used to dominate games decided by one score either through being clutch or just get-ting the right bounce late in the game. From 2009-2012, the Falcons were 25-9 in games decided by one score. They’ve started the 2013 season with five straight one-score games and lost four of them, managing to salvage one win

from a less than impressive Rams team. The most common argument is that the team is plagued by injuries. The problem with that argument is that everyone is hurt. As most people know, football is a very physically de-manding sport and accidents happen. When you look at the official injury report from the NFL, the Falcons list of injured players is actu-ally one of the shorter lists. They’ve lost stars such as Steven Jackson, Roddy White and Ju-lio Jones, so it seems like the injury bug just bought a house and permanently moved into Atlanta. In reality, though, the Falcons have six players on I.R. and one win. The Patriots and Saints both have six players on I.R. to go with their five wins. How does the injury front look for the undefeated Broncos? They have seven players on I.R. and six wins and are favorites to win the Super Bowl by a wide margin. Some might argue that’s an unfair argu-ment. Most of the Broncos’ wins have come because of their offense, and the Falcons’ main issue is that Matt Ryan is getting beat up week in and week out. But even with tackle

Mike Johnson out for the year and tackle Sam Baker banged up, teams aren’t getting to Ryan more than usual. He’s been sacked nine times through five games and is on pace to be sacked 28 times, the same amount he was sacked last year. Also, two of the starters on injured re-serve for the Broncos are offensive tackles, one being pro bowler Ryan Clady. This season is the anti-2012 season. The Falcons aren’t winning games by the skin of their teeth anymore. They’re watching teams serve them up their own medicine. Last year, Matt Ryan led his team on seven game-winning drives. Seven! That’s tied for third all time. In 2010, he led them to six game-winning drives, tied for fourth. The thing that stands out with that statistic is that the Falcons were losing sev-en of 16 games last year, and they were hoping and praying Matt Ryan could lead them down the field to victory. Matt Ryan is a good enough quarterback, but when you depend on someone to lead a comeback almost 50 percent of the time the wheels will eventually fall off. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Cribb/Atlanta Falcons.

SAGER SAYS

SCHUTTER’S STANCE

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

BY CHRIS SCHUTTER | CSCHUTTER@SCOREATL.COM

VARSITY DRAMA AND THE FALCONS’ DILEMMA

BALL NOT BOUNCING RIGHT FOR FALCONS THIS YEAR

5Vol. 9 Iss. 21 | October 18-24, 2013

In the words of legendary Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, “What the hell’s

going on out here?” Whatever it is, it sure isn’t good. The los-ing trend in this state began on “Black Mon-day,” Oct. 7, when the Falcons kicked things off by losing at home on a last-second field goal to a New York Jets squad that was the laughingstock of the NFL just one year ago and is still seemingly far from a playoff con-tender. Additionally, Julio Jones suffered a season-ending broken foot—adding to a smorgasbord of injuries that already includ-ed Kroy Biermann, Steven Jackson and Sean Weatherspoon. Little more than an hour af-ter the Falcons’ setback, the Braves saw their 2013 season come to a sudden end in Los An-geles. On the brink of sending their division series back to Atlanta for a decisive Game 5, they coughed up a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning and lost 4-3.

will have to do so again. What’s the NBA equivalent of the afore-mentioned Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl? The first round of the playoffs, of course. That has been the Hawks’ final destination in three of the last six seasons and it has been the round of their final win in five of the last six campaigns (they got swept in the second round in 2009 and 2010 before extending the Bulls to six games in 2012). The conference quarterfinals—let’s assign that name to the first round to make it sound better—would be a borderline success for the 2013-14 Hawks. They missed out on high-priced free agents, did not pull the trig-ger on potential blockbuster trades, and they drafted for the not-so-immediate future.

SILVER LININGS ... It could, of course, be far worse. We could be Cleveland, or Buffalo, or Phoenix, or pre-Russell Wilson Seattle, or our baseball team could be the Cubs. But we aren’t. Our NFL team is loaded with talent and arguably one injury-free year away from the Super Bowl. Our MLB ball-club may be saddled with some horrendous contracts, but its corps is young and already benefiting from postseason experience. Our NBA franchise finally has a mostly-competent ownership group that hired a general manager, Danny Ferry, who did miracle work by unload-ing Marvin Williams and Josh Smith. By not pressing the panic button this offseason, Ferry may have elongated the building process but he has positioned the Hawks nicely for success down the road. Our state’s two major college football teams play for conference champion-ships on a relatively consistent basis. There’s no need—yet—to leave games ear-ly like Falcons fans did last Monday against the Patriots before almost missing what would have been a mind-boggling comeback. There’s no need to wear paper bags over heads to mask at-tendance. It may feel like Loserville, USA around these parts right now, but there’s a difference between Atlanta and other forlorn places: when we say “Wait ‘til next year,” we actually mean it. Photos courtesy of Jon Barash and DJ Gal-biati Blalock.

A DREAM DEFERRED ... To say things did not markedly improve in this city and throughout the state over the course of the week would be putting it nicely. Two other title hopes went up in smoke, starting last Thursday at the Gwinnett Center. Game 3 of the WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and the Minnesota Lynx had inauspicious un-dertones for the home team long before tipoff, when it had to be moved out of Philips Arena due to “Disney on Ice” of all things. Despite a change of venue, it was business as usual for Atlanta in the WNBA Finals. In its third finals appearance, it got swept in three straight games for third consecutive time (by Seattle in 2010 and by Minnesota in 2011). The Lynx won the three games of this year’s championship round by a combined 59 points—the first two by 25 points apiece. Thus ended a successful but luckless season in which the Dream were hit by injuries to key players Tiffany Hayes, Armintie

Herrington and Sancho Lyttle. “A true champion is someone who comes out and gives it their all,” Angel McCoughtry told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “We might not have it on the stat sheets and on the record books, but I believe we are champions for what we went through.” Georgia will have to settle for similar moral victories throughout the remainder of the college football season after seeing its own title hopes go up in injury-smoked flames. The Bulldogs suffered a crushing second loss by going down at home to Missouri, 41-26, last Saturday. They still have somewhat realistic SEC Championship aspirations, but their BCS chances are done. That is obviously in part due to a list of injuries that is headlined by Todd Gurley, but one that would require a manu-script longer than that of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” to accurately document. “Our first goal is to get to Atlanta (for the SEC Championship),” virtual one-man show Aaron Murray told the team’s website. “Missouri has a very tough schedule left. They might win all their games, or they might lose a couple and give us a shot. We just have to take care of business and we can’t lose anymore.”

MEDIOCRITY ... Georgia Tech also can’t lose anymore if it wants to make a return trip to Charlotte for the ACC Championship, but its situation is signifi-cantly more dire than that of its in-state rival. The Yellow Jackets already have two confer-ence losses this season after falling at home to Virginia Tech and getting run over in the second half in Miami during a 45-30 setback. They tied for first in the Coastal Division last year with three ACC losses (Tech advanced to the ACC Championship by virtue of Miami’s self-imposed postseason ban), but 2013 might not prove as favorable. Virginia Tech is already 3-0 in conference play and will be heavily-favored in all but one of its remaining games. Furthermore, the Jackets still have a date at Clemson on the schedule. Tech fans are not unaccustomed to booking trips to the likes of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, and they

THE BRIGHT SIDE

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

STATE OF EMERGENCY THROUGHOUT GEORGIA

ON THE COVER

6 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

OUR TWO CENTSOur email newsletter is something we take a lot of pride in at Score. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is a high school sports-heavy publication that we produce each day to fill in our readers on the latest happenings in Georgia prep sports. We send it out Monday through Friday throughout the year and Monday through Saturday during the fall.

Not only do we cover popular sports like football, basketball and baseball, we also cover every other varsity sport the GHSA fields. If you like Georgia high school sports at all, sign up for our email newsletter by visiting www.tinyurl.com/scorenewsletter and enter your email address(es) that you’d like added to the distribution list.

WH

O’S

HOT

WH

O’S

NOT

Falcons Schedule Triple-optionJohn FoxNorth Andover High School (MA)

Al Horford Finals Sweep

The Falcons may be 1-4 and virtually out of the NFC South picture, but a wild-card spot remains realistic. Their next three games are against Tam-pa Bay, Arizona and Carolina and two of their next five are against the Bucs. Those three teams have a combined re-cord of 5-11 and the Bucs are 0-5. A move can be made.

In two of its last three games, Georgia Tech has scored no more than 20 points. In a 17-10 loss to Virginia Tech, the Jackets had three turn-overs and a mere 129 rush-ing yards. In last Saturday’s 38-20 setback at BYU, they rushed for 242 yards but needed 53 attempts to do it while committing two more turnovers.

Colts’ owner Jim Irsay has apparently become delu-sional ahead of this weekend’s showdown against Peyton Manning and the Broncos, basically accusing Manning of bringing “only” one Super Bowl to Indianapolis. Broncos coach John Fox came to his quarterback’s defense, ac-curately labeling Irsay’s com-ments as “disappointing”.

Erin Cox, a senior captain of her high school volleyball team, drove to a party last week to take home a friend who was too drunk to drive. For her efforts, Cox was stripped of her captaincy and suspended for five games. Someone, or multiple people, in the North Andover school district is clearly out of touch with reality.

The Hawks’ big man scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds in 27 minutes dur-ing a Sunday preseason loss at New Orleans. In Horford’s other preseason appear-ance he had 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks in a loss to Mi-ami. The Hawks’ lone victory so far came on a last-second bucket by Dennis Schroeder.

The Dream have done well to reach three WNBA Finals in their short existence, but they still have not won a single game. After getting swept by Seattle in 2010, they were swept by Minnesota in both 2011 and 2013. Atlanta lost the first two games of these finals by a combined 50 points before falling by nine last Thursday.

SCORE LISTBy Brian Jones

Losses to Missouri all-time by Georgia after Saturday’s 41-26 defeat1

Points per game allowed by Georgia’s defense (105th in the country) 33.7Georgia high school football teams without losses this season35Georgia high school football teams without wins this season33

Career starts for Falcons receiver Harry Douglas10

Career starts for Falcons receiver Roddy White110

Passing yards per game by Matt Ryan this season (second in the League)313Passing yards per game by Georgia Tech this season (117th in the country)131

NUMBERSBy Craig Sager II

BACK TO WORKAfter having the last week off, the Falcons will be back in action on Sunday to face Tampa Bay. It’s an important game for the Birds as they try to fight out of the 1-4 hole they dug themselves in. If they can execute on offense and not give up the big play on defense, it should be an easy win.

BACK ON TRACKThe Bulldogs are also looking to bounce back as they lost to Missouri last week. They will be on the road against a Vanderbilt team that has struggled to find wins recently. But the Bulldogs should take nothing for granted. They have to take care of business and not let the Commodores think they have a chance to win.

NOW OR NEVERAfter winning the first three games of the season, the Yellow Jackets have lost their last three games and have struggled to find consistency on both sides of the ball. They will look to get back on the winning side when they face Syracuse on Saturday. It’s a must-win because if Tech falls to the Orange, it can kiss an ACC title shot goodbye.

TEXAS ROADTRIPAfter suffering a heartbreaking loss to Troy, Georgia State is looking to get its first win of the year when it travels to face Texas State. The Bobcats have lost their last two games so this could be the opportunity in which the Panthers can finally break through. Let’s hope they can get that first win so they can gain some momentum as the season winds down.

EAST COBB RIVALSYou thought Stephenson and Tucker was good last week? Then check out the game happening in Marietta as Walton goes up against arch-rival Wheeler for a battle of playoff positioning. If you can’t make it out to the game, be sure to watch it online at cssports.com. And make sure to visit scoreatl.com for scores of all the games throughout Georgia.

? “

ANSWER ON PAGE 14Georgia coach Mark Richt on his

team’s defensive struggles.

TRIVIA QUESTION

SANITY AT LAST

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE FALCONS LOST BACK-TO-BACK GAMES

TO TAMPA BAY?

“I think we’re getting a little better at it and I

think we’re doing the right things, but we just have to execute better. Part of it is the learning curve of the young defensive backs.”

By

Ric

ky

Dim

on

SCORE MORE

1. North Gwinnett2. McEachern3. Colquitt County4. Camden County5. Norcross

6. Hillgrove7. Lovejoy8. North Cobb9. Archer10. Peachtree Ridge

6. Gainesville7. Warner Robins8. Creekside9. North Paulding10. Ware County

6. Marist7. Mary Persons8. Stockbridge9. Cedartown10. Burke County

Score Atlanta Football Rankings

Class AAAAAA

1. Buford2. Washington County3. Cartersville4. North Hall5. St. Pius X

6. Carver-Columbus7. Jefferson County8. Hart County9. North Oconee10. Cedar Grove

Class AAA1. Northside-WR2. Tucker3. Kell4. Stephenson 5. Thomas Co. Central

Class AAAAA

1. Lovett2. GAC3. Lamar County4. Calhoun5. Washington-Wilkes

6. Brooks County7. Benedictine8. Jefferson9. Bowdon10. Northeast Macon

Class AA1. Sandy Creek2. Carrollton3. Griffin4. Statesboro5. Monroe Area

Class AAAA

1. ELCA2. Landmark Chr.3. Aquinas4. Mount Paran5. Prince Ave. Chr.

6. Darlington7. Mount Pisgah8. George Walton Aca.9. Calvary Day10. Pacelli

Class A-Private

1. Marion County2. Seminole County3. Johnson County4. Irwin County5. Clinch County

6. Trion7. Charlton County8. Lincoln County9. Dooly County10. Commerce

Class A-Public

The softball and volleyball state playoffs be-gan this week while cross country teams

impressed at Furman University.

SOFTBALL ... Collins Hill, which won the Region 7 regu-lar season championship, lost twice in a row to North Gwinnett (2-1, 1-0) in the region tourna-ment, netting the No. 5 Bulldogs the region’s No. 1 seed in the state tournament. North Gwinnett will host Milton in the first round of the state tournament. Collins Hill, which beat North Gwinnett in both regular season meetings, earned the No. 2 seed and will host Woodstock in the first round. Class AAAAA No. 10 Miller Grove won the Region 6-AAAAA championship by defeating Southwest DeKalb twice and Dunwoody once.

The Wolverines (20-2) host Winder-Barrow in the first round of the playoffs. Southwest DeKalb, meanwhile, faces Apalachee in the playoffs. Coach Bernice Foreman won her 156th game against Dun-woody Thursday in the Region 6 tournament. Foreman is now third in DeKalb County his-tory in wins behind former Tucker coach Pat Floyd (183 wins) and Columbia coach Steve Dennis (166 wins). Class A No. 6 Pace Academy won 21 games this year, four more than last year’s previous school record. The Knights made the quarterfinals in 2012 for the first time in school history and will face Mount Vernon next week for the chance to advance. Junior pitcher Lane Dikeman has been instrumental in Pace Academy’s season in earning 19 wins

in the circle. Junior shortstop Lauren Hadley, meanwhile, is hitting .600 with 26 RBIs while sophomore catcher Sarah Werner is batting .438 with 25 RBIs.

CROSS COUNTRY ... Several Georgia schools went out of state and fared extremely well against stiff com-petition at Furman University’s Gene Mullin Invitational. Harrison, Parkview and Collins Hill finished one-two-three in the boys cham-pionship heat. The victorious Hoyas were led by Ryan Brock’s 15:52 and they put all seven of their runners ahead of every other team’s fifth man. Greenbrier came in fifth thanks in part to Logan Hughes’ second-place time of 15:48. Harrison’s girls turned in a third-place performance, one point back of runner-up Col-lins Hill. Audrey Smith of Harrison ran a 19:10, good for eighth place overall.

VOLLEYBALL ... Class AAAAAA No. 1 Walton is the only defending state champion out of six that en-ters this year’s bracket as a No. 1 seed. No. 4 Pope has persevered through a season filled with injuries, and nearly upset No. 2 Sequoyah for the Area 7-AAAAA title. The Greyhounds will host Effingham County in the first round and the winner will face the winner of Loganville at McIntosh. A potential Pope at McIntosh meeting in the second round

would be a repeat of last year, when the Chiefs knocked the Greyhounds out of the playoffs. Last year’s Class AAAAA state champion, Whitewater, visits Clarke Central as a No. 3 seed in the first round. In Class AAAA, River Ridge, Marist, South Effingham, Veterans, Heritage-Catoosa, Locust Grove, Walnut Grove and Columbus earned the No. 1 seeds. Veterans hosts Redan on Wednesday and the winner will face the winner of No. 3 Ridgeland at defending state champion and second-ranked Sandy Creek. Class AAA reigning state champion Blessed Trinity is the No. 2 seed in this year’s bracket after falling to No. 1 St. Pius for the second time in the month of October. The top-seeded Golden Lions host Ringgold in the first round. The Class AA defending champion Lovett could not earn the top seed as Westminster claimed the Area 4-AA title. No. 1 Westmin-ster will host Coosa and No. 3 Lovett will host Model in the first round. In Class A, ELCA’s huge win over defend-ing state champion Landmark Christian earned it the Area 3-A title and a top seed in the play-offs. The Chargers will host Greenville and the No. 2 Eagles will host Central-Talbotton in the first round. Photos courtesy of Collins Hill HS, DeKalb Public Schools, Trey Schwartz and Samuel Romell Ashby.

PLAYOFF PRIMER

BY STEPHEN BLACK, RICKY DIMON AND CRAIG SAGER II

COLLINS HILL RIDING HIGH, WALTON EARNS TOP SEED

9Vol. 9 Iss. 21 | October 18-24, 2013

custom boxing mouthguards

custom roller derby mouthguards

custom roller derby mouthguards

custom skiing mouthguards

custom skiing mouthguards

custom football mouthguards

custom football mouthguards

impactcustom mouthguards

protect your smile, protect your brain.

Nearly 3 million teeth will be knocked out this year during sporting events!Impact Custom Mouthguards can help protect yours!

Your sport is intense, physical and even a bit dangerous! Impact understands because we play the same games you do. And we love it when it gets rough! But you have to protect your self when it does. When you “Snap” on an Impact Custom Mouthguard

you’ll immediately feel the difference. You’ll be able to breathe comfortably, speak easily and even drink with your guard in place. Most importantly you’ll be protected when the big hit comes - and we all know it’s coming!

Impact Protection, LLC5755 North Point Parkway • Suite 83Alpharetta, GA 30022Phone: 770-337-3364Help@ImpactMouthguards.comwww.ImpactMouthguards.com

ASK ABOUT TEAM DISCOUNTS

& FUNDRAISING

protect your smile!

1. Walton2. South Forsyth3. Johns Creek4. Harrison5. Chattahoochee

1. Lassiter 2. Brookwood3. Kennesaw Mountain4. Collins Hill5. North Gwinnett

1. McIntosh2. Sequoyah3. Starr’s Mill4. Pope5. Whitewater

1. Allatoona 2. Northgate3. Ola4. Greenbrier5. Heritage-Conyers

1. Marist2. Columbus3. River Ridge4. Veterans5. Heritage-Catoosa

1. Madison County2. Heritage-Catoosa3. Northwest Whitfield4. Veterans5. Locust Grove

6. Roswell7. East Coweta8. North Gwinnett9. North Cobb10. Centennial

6. Lambert7. Archer8. Hillgrove9. Mill Creek10. Lowndes

6. Northgate7. North Springs8. Union Grove9. Harris County10. Apalachee

6. Pope7. Sequoyah8. Creekview9. Union Grove10. Miller Grove

6. Sandy Creek7. Carrollton8. Southeast Whitfield9. Woodland-Stockbridge10. South Effingham

6. South Effingham 7. River Ridge8. Columbus9. Wayne County 10. Marist

Score Atlanta/AJC High School Volleyball Rankings

Score Atlanta/AJC High School Softball Rankings

Class AAAAAA Class AAAAAA1. St. Pius X 2. Blessed Trinity3. Woodward Academy4. Buford5. Sonoraville

1. Buford2. Ringgold3. Tattnall County4. Pierce County5. Central-Carrollton

6. North Hall7. North Oconee8. Oconee County9. Hart County10. Morgan County

6. Rockmart7. Blessed Trinity8. Jackson County9. Chapel Hill10. Dodge County

Class AAA Class AAA

Class AAAAA Class AAAAA1. Westminster2. Wesleyan3. Lovett4. GAC5. Jefferson

1. Heard County2. Wesleyan3. Jeff Davis4. Bacon County5. Calhoun

6. Kendrick7. Calhoun8. Westside-Augusta9. St. Vincent’s Academy10. Coosa

6. Bowdon7. Westminster8. Jefferson9. Harlem10. Social Circle

Class AA Class AA

Class AAAA Class AAAA1. Landmark Christian2. Walker3. Holy Innocents’4. Hebron Christian5. Savannah Christian

1. Gordon Lee 2. Georgia Military 3. Eagle’s Landing Chr.4. First Presbyterian Day5. Savannah Christian

6. ELCA7. Mt. Paran8. Savannah County Day9. Athens Academy10. Fellowship Christian

6. Pace Academy 7. George Walton Acad.8. Prince Avenue Chr.9. Hawkinsville10. Schley County

Class A Class A

With over 30 vitamins and nutrients, peanuts are a Superfood.

JeffPittmanGaGrowersVerticalAd.indd 1 8/27/13 10:22 AM

11Vol. 9 Iss. 21 | October 18-24, 2013

The dream is over, at least for this season. The Atlanta Dream won their third con-

ference title in the past four years, but could not muster a win in the WNBA Finals. For the second time, Atlanta fell to Minnesota three-games-to-none in the best-of-five champi-onship series. Tiffany Hayes and rookie Alex Bentley stepped up in Game 3 to combine for 38 points. Dream fans should still feel good about how the team performed this season. Angel McCoughtry had another career year and the postseason run proved that this team is still one of the best teams in the league.

SEASON REVIEW ... Atlanta finished second overall in the Eastern Conference with a 17-17 record af-ter starting 10-1. The season was salvaged by earning a playoff berth and sweeping Wash-ington and Indiana to reach the third WNBA Finals in franchise history. McCoughtry turned in another great season. The all-star forward finished first in the league in points (21.5), sec-ond in steals (2.7) and sixth in assists (4.4).

McCoughtry and guard Armintie Her-rington were named to the WNBA All-Defen-sive First Team. Herrington finished just behind McCoughtry in steals with 2.3. Rookie Alex Bentley improved her play in the postseason, averaging 9.7 points per game in the finals and gave Atlanta the other scorer that they were looking for in the playoffs. Atlanta turned an average regular season into a great playoff run and that is something that this franchise should be proud of.

WHAT’S NEXT ... The WNBA Draft has always been a source for Atlanta to build their squad. Last year’s second round and 13th overall pick Alex Bentley proved that she was worth the high selection and should improve as a starter next season. Picking another dynamic player that can play both ends of the floor should be the goal in this year’s draft. Atlanta should prob-ably look to take a forward that can shoot from the outside, which is something they lack. The return of injured forward Sancho Lyt-tle will be a key for next season. When Lyttle went out with a fractured left foot, the Dream was formidable in the low-post, but her injury hampered the team defense especially against Minnesota in the finals. Experience should help this team, going forward. They know what it takes to make the WNBA Finals, but now they have to take the next step in winning it all. Angel McCoughtry will be back and that makes Atlanta one of the favorites again to win the 2014 WNBA title.

DREAM BEAT

BY JOE DEIGHTON | JDEIGHTON@SCOREATL.COM

DREAM ENDS AS ATLANTA SWEPT IN FINALS

12 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

The No. 15 Georgia Bulldogs (4-2, 3-1) will travel to Nashville to take on the Vander-

bilt Commodores (3-3, 0-3) this Saturday for a noon kickoff that will be nationally televised by CBS. Georgia has dominated the series between these two programs with a 53-18-2 record. Under Mark Richt, the Dawgs are 11-1 against the Commodores and have won six consecutive contests dating back to 2007. The Bulldogs will have to shake off their first home loss in 15 games and be prepared for a hard-nosed team in Vanderbilt: these are no longer your father’s Commodores. Vandy coach James Franklin has established a differ-ent mindset and culture in Nashville and Richt is well aware of that notion and acknowledged that in his weekly Tuesday press conference. “We are going to Vanderbilt coming off a loss and one that stung, but we know in our league you have to shake it off and get ready to go again, because no one is going to feel

Georgia State will host the inaugural “Hoop Day” on Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. at the GSU Sports

Arena. The event is fan-oriented and will be centered on scrimmages from both the men’s and women’s teams. It is free to attend, in-cluding free parking. Season tickets will also be available as the Tickets to Tipoff Challenge brings GSU closer and closer to a sellout of the lower level. Fewer than 155 season tickets are still available in the lower level. GSU has 15 home games this season and packages start at $165, or $11 a game. The schedule for “Hoop Day” as well as the regular season schedule can be found at georgiastatesports.com.

HONORS AND AWARDS … The student-athlete of the week award was given to forward Ashley Nagy and wide receiver Albert Wilson this week. Nagy scored both goals for the women’s soccer team last

The Yellow Jackets flew a long way for what has quickly become a familiar result: an-

other loss. Georgia Tech’s loss last Saturday at BYU was its third in a row this season. At one point in the contest, Vad Lee com-pleted a 49-yard pass to wide receiver Michael Summers that immediately led to a two-yard Lee touchdown run. That tied the score at 7. The game ultimately ended with the Yellow Jackets on the losing end of a 38-20 decision at LaVell Edwards Stadium. With the loss, the Jackets left Provo, Utah with a 3-3 overall record after starting the season undefeated through three games. If you’re scoring at home, that means Tech is currently on a three-game losing streak heading into Saturday’s home-coming date with Syracuse. Lee finished Saturday’s contest with 133 passing yards and no touchdowns passes. Again, if you’re pretty good at math you re-alize that Lee only passed for 84 yards aside from the long completion to Summers. Georgia Tech’s signal-caller managed to add 41 yards and one touchdown on the ground.

The volleyball team is struggling to find wins lately as it sports an overall record of 7-11

as of Friday. But one of the bright spots for the Owls has been the play of outside hitter Kelly Marcinek who was named Atlantic Sun Con-ference Freshman of the Week on Monday. Marcineck, tallied a .459 hitting percentage with 21 kills against Northern Kentucky over the weekend. When the Owls played against Lipscomb, she racked up 15 kills and a .282 at-tacking percentage. “What a great honor for Kelly and our team,” Kennesaw State head coach Keith Sc-hunzel told ksuowls.com. “Despite battling some injuries, Kelly fiercely competes every time she puts on the Kennesaw State jersey, and that’s a testament to her winning mental-ity and to her desire to be great.” Marcinek and the rest of the Owls will be in action on Saturday when they face Mercer.

REMEBERING GREATNESS … On Saturday the KSU Department of

sorry for you. So that’s what we’ve been do-ing. Vanderbilt is a very good team. Coach Franklin has done a superb job with that pro-gram. Of course, the last time we were there it was a very heated game and a very close game. Thankfully we came out of there with the victory.”

DEFENSE … On the defensive side of the ball the Bull-dogs are still dealing with the transition of a youth movement due to the fact that 14 true freshmen have seen the field this season, not to mention seven of those 14 have started at one point or another. The Bulldogs’ turnover margin sits at minus-four heading in to Nash-ville, which is good for 14th in the SEC and 103rd nationally. Taking a look at the glass half-full, the Dawgs are third in the SEC with 16 sacks. Five of those sacks belong to junior defensive end Ray Drew, who is showing the Georgia faith-ful why he was a highly-touted recruit coming out of high school in 2011. Junior inside line-backer Ramik Wilson is second in the SEC in tackles with 61. Wilson has certainly elevated his game after registering just 10 tackles in 18 games prior to this season. The Bulldogs need some help in the East but are still are alive in regards to contending for the SEC East crown.

weekend against Troy, including one in over-time. Her game-winning strike came in the final minute of the first overtime. Nagy leads Georgia State with four goals and 10 points on the season. Wilson, a senior, had 268 all-purpose yards last Saturday in a loss to Troy. His 38-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter gave Georgia State a 28-21 lead. This was Wilson’s fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season. He leads the Sun Belt in yards per game (111.7) and yards per catch (20.3). The Panthers football team is now 0-6 on the year after it fell to Troy 35-28. Georgia State put together an impressive second half by scoring 21 points, but Troy was too much to handle. The Trojans eventually tied the game at 28 and took the lead from the Panthers with just over three minutes remaining. Ronnie Bell tied a school record with four touchdown pass-es thanks in large part to the incredible effort from Wilson. Wilson caught two touchdowns and had 119 yards on two kickoff returns. Bell was picked off late, with the game tied, and Troy marched 63 yards down the field to score a touchdown and seal the victory. The Panthers’ first Sun Belt Conference game welcomed a crowd of 17,732, the high-est this season. The first SBC road game for Georgia State will be Sat., Oct. 19 when it faces Texas State in San Marcos, Texas.

This was the Tech’s second consecutive setback against the Cougars. In a 41-17 home loss in 2012, the Jackets watched BYU score five offensive touchdowns—four of the rush-ing variety. This time around, the Cougars did it mostly with defense. They forced two turn-overs (compared to none of their own) and Alani Fua returned a Lee interception 51 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. That made the score 31-13 and put the game out of reach.

A LOOK AHEAD … There was another Justin Thomas appear-ance at quarterback for the Jackets against BYU, which will give the Georgia Tech faithful something to discuss on the Flats prior to Sat-urday. Thomas completed all three of his pass attempts for 25 yards and he threw a five-yard touchdown strike to Deon Hill to cap off the game’s scoring. This will be first meeting between Tech and Syracuse at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Previ-ously the teams faced each other in the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl. The Yellow Jackets won that contest 51-14 behind 207 passing yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Reg-gie Ball. Plenty of changes have to be made this weekend if the Yellow Jackets are to make progress toward bowl eligibility. Syracuse heads into Atlanta on the strength of an im-pressive 24-10 road victory against North Car-olina State.

Athletics will induct the 1994 baseball team to the KSU Athletics Hall of Fame. That team won the NAIA National title, the university’s first in any sport. The Owls finished with a 48-14 record, including a 20-8 mark in Geor-gia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The coach of that team was current head coach Mike Sansing, who was named Region and District Coach of the Year in 1994. The Owls were led by outfielder Fabian Herndon, who had .382 batting average. The ceremony will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn at Kennesaw starting at 4 p.m.

FLIGHT NIGHT … KSU will be busy on Saturday not only be-cause of the Hall of Fame induction, but the bas-ketball teams will also be introduced to fans on Saturday night at the Convocation Center. The event is called “Flight Night,” during which fans can get an up close and personal look at both squads while also introducing the 2013 home-coming king and queen. The men’s team will put on a slam dunk contest and both teams will take part in a three-point contest. There will also be a 10-minute scrimmage done by both the women and men. The women’s team will go first and the men will follow. Flight Night will tipoff at 7:15 p.m. The doors will open to the Convocation Center at 6:15 p.m. and fans can tailgate outside prior to entering the Convocation Center with free food provided to go along with games and other fes-tivities.

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

GEORGIA STATE

GEORGIA TECH

KENNESAW STATE

BY CHRIS NIEMAN | CNIEMAN@SCOREATL.COM

BY CHRIS SCHUTTER | CSCHUTTER@SCOREATL.COM

BY DONNELL SUGGS | DSUGGS@SCOREATL.COM

BY BRIAN JONES | BJONES@SCOREATL.COM

DAWGS TRAVEL TO NASHVILLE

PANTHERS TO HOST HOOP DAY

BYU TRIP PUTS LOSING STREAK AT THREE

FRESHMAN OWL LANDS VOLLEYBALL HONOR

13Vol. 9 Iss. 21 | October 18-24, 2013

With two weeks until the start of the regu-lar season, the Hawks’ roster continues

to take shape. Three players were released from the training camp roster this week. David Lighty and former Hawk Damien Wilkins joined undrafted rookie Adonis Thomas as those who were cut from the squad. The moves left one true small forward on the roster in DeMarre Carroll, which led general manager Danny Fer-ry to sign Cartier Martin. Martin played with the Wizards last season and will be compet-ing with James Johnson for the final roster spot and the backup small forward duties.

BOTTLE NECK ... Johnson is more versatile as he can also play the power forward spot, but if Martin can prove his worth this versatility may prove un-important with other options to backup Paul Millsap. With the Wizards last season, Martin

The offseason is officially here now that Braves general manager Frank Wren has

broken his week-long silence in the aftermath of his team’s quick playoff ouster at the hands of the Dodgers. Two of the biggest question marks are what to do about free agents Brian McCann and Tim Hudson. The general con-sensus is that McCann is gone while Hudson may return. “I think that Huddy is a guy that we would look to talk to and see where his head is and see what he’s thinking as far as coming back,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution quoted Wren as saying. “If we make that decision to bring him back, I think there’s no reason why he wouldn’t fit. There’s lots of ups and downs with pitchers getting over the hump at the big-league level, so having the depth and the wisdom of a vet-eran pitcher like Huddy helps in that process.” One coaching move has already been made, with third-base coach Brian Snitker being reas-signed as manager of Triple-A Gwinnett. Other

The 1-4 Falcons come off a bye week where the team looked to refocus, regroup and

reload before the final 11 games of the season. “We are disappointed but we are not dis-couraged,” assured head coach Mike Smith. The Falcons may not be discouraged, but they are definitely still depleted as they pre-pare to host (0-5) Tampa Bay this Sunday. Running back Jason Snelling made a return to contact on Wednesday after a concussion he suffered in the Week 5 loss to the Jets, but Ste-ven Jackson, Sam Baker and Akeem Dent did not participate in practice this week. Wide receiver Julio Jones will miss the rest of the season with his foot injury and Roddy White is still recovering from his injured hamstring after playing the first five games of the season on a damaged ankle. There is a list of new guys looking to step into the receiving roles for the Falcons, and extra practice reps with the first team these past two weeks will hopefully make up for the shortage of experi-ence. Harry Douglas was no longer the third

The Silverbacks earned their first decisive win in a while when they beat Minnesota

United FC 3-1 last Saturday. Atlanta earned its third straight home victory in front of a sellout crowd as well as its third straight win against Minnesota. Mike Randolph found Ruben Luna on a perfect cross in the 42nd minute. Luna headed the ball in to give the Silverbacks a 1-0 lead after plenty of shots on goal. Before that goal, Atlanta had two shots carom off the cross bar, and saved by the goalie. Midfielder Danny Barrera was substituted into the game in the 69th minute and made an impact shortly thereafter. On almost an identi-cal play, albeit with different players, defender Shane Maroney sent a great cross to Barrera in the box. Barrera headed it off goalie Van Eckle’s hands into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute. Minnesota responded to the 2-0 lead with a dangerously aggressive attack. It paid

average 6.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in limited playing time. These numbers are up from his career averages. The last couple weeks this pre-season should allow Ferry and head coach Mike Budenholzer to get a solid look at the way Mar-tin fits with the team and gather enough of an evaluation to decided which player, Johnson or Martin, is better for the team moving forward. With the uncertainty surrounding the bench, there is a starting lineup that has looked comfortable on the floor together this preseason. Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford make up the starting ro-tation and spread the floor putting pressure on the defense to close out on shooters. This will open up the inside of the defense for Jeff Teague and other cutters to drive to the rim. Along the baseline, Hawks fans can grow accustomed to seeing the big men working to-gether to develop open looks. With very com-parable games, Paul Millsap and Al Horford will set screens and picks to open each other up for shots at the rim or the 15-foot jump shots that both are so adept at making. This is a far cry from the past where Josh Smith worked bet-ter on his own, leaving Horford on an island to make plays based on his quickness. This new offensive scheme should allow Horford to de-velop more of a dominant game around the rim, which will make an already great player even better.

player personnel transactions, of course, are on the horizon. Both Dan Uggla and B.J. Upton are owed millions upon millions of dollars and may be paid simply to disappear (Uggla more likely than Upton). Atlanta is also potentially in the market for a true No. 1 starter to anchor a solid but unspectacular rotation.

A LOOK BACK … It is no secret what held the Braves back this season, not from winning the NL East—be-cause they still managed to accomplish that feat—but from snagging the NL’s top seed and ultimately advancing in the playoffs. Injuries were a huge factor even before the 2013 cam-paign, with Brandon Beachy and Jonny Venters on the shelf. McCann, Hudson, Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis all missed significant chunks of time. Atlanta’s two highest-paid players, Ug-gla and Upton, both hit well below .200. They combined for zero hits in three at-bats dur-ing the division series against L.A. (Uggla, of course, did not even make the roster). When healthy, Gattis was among the bright spots. The 27-year-old rookie had 21 homers and 65 RBIs in 105 games and 354 at-bats. Fellow newcomer Chris Johnson batted .321. Freddie Freeman, the team’s most con-sistent everyday player, hit .319 with 23 hom-ers, 109 RBIs and 89 runs scored. The Braves led the majors in ERA thanks mostly to Kris Medlen, Julio Teheran, Mike Minor and a bull-pen led by NL saves-leader Craig Kimbrel.

option and took reps as the starter and Kevin Cone, Drew Davis and newly-signed Brian Ro-biskie all participated in first-team action.

TAMPA TWO … With a 20-19 all-time mark against Atlanta, the rival Buccaneers are the only NFC South op-ponent that holds a winning record against the Falcons. In 2012 the series split, but since 2008 the Falcons have won seven of 10 meetings. This season, Tampa Bay has added a lot of new faces including the League’s premier lock-down corner Darrelle Revis. The Falcons secondary, which ranks 26th in the league with 274.8 allowed passing yards per game, will face a rookie quarterback for a second-consecutive game with Tampa’s Mike Glennon coming to town. The Tampa defense features lineback-ers capable of defending the run or pass and will challenge Atlanta’s aerial attack. Lavonte David has recorded four of the Buccaneers 14 sacks, while also hauling in an interception in the season opener against the Jets. Mason Fos-ter is another athletic backer that started the season with a 2.0 sack performance against the Jets and an 85-yard interception return for the touchdown against the Saints. Linebacker Dakoda Watson also intercepted Drew Brees and the Saints week 2. This linebacking corps will focus a lot at-tention to covering Tony Gonzalez who is com-ing off back-to-back 10 reception games for just the third time in his career.

off with a goal in the 82nd minute to bring the score to 2-1. It wasn’t Minnesota’s night, as Atlanta scored the same way in the 89th minute. Van Eckle fouled a rushing Mendes in the penalty area, and Mendes pushed it through for a 3-1 lead. Atlanta received three points for the win, and Minnesota’s season is all but over. Atlanta goes on the road for the last two regular season games of the season. They’ll be playing against the Fort Lauderdale Strik-ers on Saturday followed by a game against the Carolina Railhawks. Following their game in Carolina, the Silverbacks will host the first place NY Cosmos in Atlanta Silverbacks Park. This is the last game of the regular season be-fore Atlanta hosts the NASL Soccer Bowl the following Saturday.

BIG APPLE BOWL ... In all likelihood, Atlanta will be facing off against the NY Cosmos in the Soccer Bowl. At-lanta is starting to gain some steam following their first multiple goal win of the fall season, and they will need some momentum to be competitive against the red hot NY Cosmos. Nov. 2 will more than likely not be an elimina-tion game for New York, but Nov. 9, the cham-pionship, will be the last game of the season and will decide the 2013 champion.

ATLANTA HAWKS

ATLANTA BRAVES

ATLANTA FALCONS

ATLANTA SILVERBACKS

BY JAY UNDERWOOD | JUNDERWOOD@SCOREATL.COM

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

BY CHRIS SCHUTTER | CSCHUTTER@SCOREATL.COM

CUTS LEAVE POSITION BATTLE AT SMALL FORWARD

WREN USHERS IN BRAVES OFFSEASON

BATTERED FALCONS AWAIT WINLESS BUCS

‘BACKS BEAT DESPERATE MINNESOTA SQUAD

14 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

MAKE YOUR OCCASION

A SUCCESS!Great rates! Book your date!

? TRIVIA ANSWER

ATLANTA LAST LOST TWO GAMES IN A ROW TO

TAMPA ON DEC. 16, 2007 AND SEPT. 14, 2008.

We want to hear from you!Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Give us feedback on your favorite articles, tell us what you’d like to see in upcoming issues and stay up-to-date on sporting news from Metro Atlanta!

STAY UP-TO-DATE

STAY CONNECTED!

/SCOREATLANTASPORTS

@SCOREATLANTA

WWW.SCOREATL.COM

WWW.GAPREPNEWS.COM

WWW.TINYURL.COM/SCORENEWSLETTER

SCORE MORE