Score Atlanta Vol. 10 Issue 7

Time to look great!

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 7

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FEBRUARY 21-27, 2014

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YOUR SOURCE FOR SPORTS IN GEORGIA

Dawgs Lose Another | Pg. 4 Safety Josh Harvey-Clemons latest in long line of ex-Georgia stars.

Region Champs | Pg. 8 We review the region basketball tournaments in this week’s prep cover story.

SAT, FEB 22 @ 7:30PM

PEACHY IN SACHI No shortage of Winter Olympians with Georgia ties. | Pg. 5

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LAST YEAR SHE HAD THE WINNING

COMEBACK STORY. WHO WILL IT BE THIS YEAR? Know a young athlete who overcame a serious injury or illness? Nominate them for Comeback Athlete of the Month at choa.org/comeback. ©2013 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc. All rights reserved.

For official contest rules, visit choa.org/comeback.

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Vol. 10 Iss. 6 | February 14-20, 2014

STARTING LINEUP PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg

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COLUMNISTS

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ON THE COVER

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INSIDE THE PREPS

GENERAL MANAGER Melanie Snare

ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ Galbiati Blalock SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR Stephen Black

BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Marcus Nabors

BEAT WRITERS Ricky Dimon (Braves)

Joe Deighton (Gladiators) Jay Underwood (Hawks) Brian Jones (KSU) Joe Deighton (UGA) Craig Sager II (Falcons) Stephen Black (Tech) Jay Underwood (GSU)

STAFF WRITERS Ryan Caiafa Alex Ewalt

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Copyright 2014 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 knowingly accept false or misleading editorial content or advertising nor is Score Atlanta responsible for the content or claims of any advertising or editorial in this publication. No content (articles, photographs, graphics) in Score Atlanta may be used for reproduction without written permission from the publisher.

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SCORE LIST | NUMBERS GEORGIA STATE | KENNESAW STATE GEORGIA | GEORGIA TECH BRAVES | FALCONS HAWKS | GLADIATORS

COVER PHOTOS COURTESY OF ROB SAYE, TY FREEMAN AND SCOTT CUNNINGHAM.

ON THE INSIDE AT SCORE Score Atlanta is looking for writing interns.

Please e-mail Stephen Black at sblack@scoreatl. com or call 404-256-1572 for more information.

The state traditional wrestling championships originally scheduled for Feb. 13-15 have been postponed until Feb. 21-22 due to the weather conditions. However, CSS will televise a highlights show the following week with two hours worth of the top video clips. The broadcasts will be produced by PlayOn! and with help from Team Georgia Wrestling.

STAY CONNECTED! /SCOREATLANTASPORTS @SCOREATLANTA WWW.SCOREATL.COM WWW.GAPREPNEWS.COM

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SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

CUP OF JOE

TONY G MAY STICK WITH CBS OR WILL HE?

BY JOE DEIGHTON | JDEIGHTON@SCOREATL.COM

T

he NFL on CBS will have a different look when the 2014 season rolls around. Former Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez will be one of the analysts on the pregame, halftime and postgame show each Sunday. Gonzalez will be replacing two hall-of-famers in Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe, who seemed to have worn out their welcome at CBS after a decade. The show will now feature Gonzalez along with host James Brown, Boomer Esiason and former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher. The future first-ballot tight end will give the show a fresh perspective and more of a feel for today’s game. Gonzalez has the looks, the charisma and a good voice for football. Everybody likes Tony Gonzalez and he should be a good fit for CBS.

Is this really what Tony wants to do? He

says it is and we believe him, but there’s a small bit of doubt in everyone’s mind. Who knows? Maybe Gonzalez might jump out of the analyst seat and back into an Atlanta Falcons uniform. It is still possible that Gonzalez could play again, even though he says he’s retired. It’s been done before at CBS. Back in 2004, Deion Sanders jumped from the analyst seat to the Baltimore Ravens to finish off his career at the age of 37. While this seems unlikely for Gonzalez, the Falcons wouldn’t mind if he came back for just one more season.

SPRING IN THE AIR …

The ice has melted and winter seems to be on the way out this week as the Atlanta Braves have reported to spring training in Lake

BIG B

DAWGS LOSE ANOTHER TALENTED PLAYER TO OFF-FIELD ISSUES

BY BRIAN JONES | BJONES@SCOREATL.COM

almost the same thing each year for the I t’sBulldogs.

Some very talented Georgia players have

done things to get themselves kicked off the team in recent years. It happened to Zach Mettenberger, it happened to Nick Marshall and it happened to Isaiah Crowell.

Now it’s Josh Harvey-Clemons who was kicked off the team on Tuesday for violating team rules. What exactly Harvey-Clemons did has not been announced, but whatever he did cost him an opportunity to make an impact this season.

So the question is where do the Bulldogs go from here? Losing Harvey-Clemons big because he was the team’s starting strong safety and there is not a lot of depth at the position.

Corey Moore and Quincy Mauger are the

leading candidates to take over. Both players are solid, but they don’t have the athleticism and upside like Harvey-Clemons.

Another possibility is to have Tray Matthews move to strong safety from free safety and have that spot and open competition between Mauger and some of the younger players that are coming in.

No matter what happens, the Bulldogs lost another talented player that could have been a difference maker in Jeremy Pruitt’s system. What will happen to Harvey-Clemons is unknown. But let’s hope he becomes a better person and get’s his life back on track.

JUST GOT PAID …

One player that does not have to get his

Buena Vista, Fla. The defending NL East champions are poised to defend the division title and make a run at the World Series this year. Unlike other top teams, the Braves did not make any big free agent signings in the offseason.

Instead, they decided to sign Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel and Julio Tehran to big contract extensions with big-time money. Now was the time to sign these players.

Braves manager Freddie Gonzalez has had ideas of putting Heyward at the lead-off spot in the lineup and he probably will start there in 2014. The combination of speed and power that Heyward brings to the Braves lineup will give the team an advantage at the start of every game.

Kimbrel has quickly become the best closer in baseball over the last two seasons. Last year, Kimbrel had 50 saves and a 1.21 ERA. A lockdown closer has been key for the past few World Series champions and Kimbrel could be the key to taking the Braves all the way this year.

Teheran flirted with a no-hitter last year and is one of the best young-arms in the Atlanta rotation. If he can get to the seventh or eighth in most of his starts, the Braves will be in tremendous position to win a lot of games.

Freeman has become a great fielder and a

clutch power hitter. He signed the biggest contract at eight-years and $135-million and will be looked to as the team’s leader.

life back on track is Craig Kimbrel who recently signed a four-year $42 million deal to stay a Brave until 2017.

Kimbrel has been the most dominant closers the last three seasons and show no signs of slowing down. He has scored 50 saves each of the last three seasons and has been an All-Start each year.

But did they overpay for a player that will only see 60 innings of work?

Absolutely not and here’s why. Whenever you have the best player at that position, you do whatever it takes to get the player signed. It may be easy to find a solid closer, but Kimbrel is not just a solid closer.

From a numbers perspective, he is having a better start to his career than Mariano Rivera.

In fact, Rivera has only recorded over 50 saves twice in his career. Kimbrel has already done three times, so there’s a chance he could go down as one of the best in history if he keeps it up.

With him signed along with Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward and Julio Teheran, the Braves are telling the fanbase that we like the makeup of this team and with the core group in place we have a chance to do some special things in the near future.

I’m not sure what will happen in the future for the Braves, but they have a good group of players that will be competitive for many years.

FALCONS UPDATE …

What is going on in the world of the Falcons? Other than preparing for the NFL Draft, they have been making moves in order to get ready for free agency.

The past few weeks, the Falcons have released OL Garrett Reynolds, CB Asante Samuel and LB Stephen Nicholas. And with Tony Gonzalez joining the NFL pregame show on CBS, the Falcons will reportedly get $7 million in cap credit.

What this means is the Falcons currently have $20 million of cap space. That is really good because they will need to make some moves this free agency and the draft to improve the offensive and defensive lines.

And when it comes to finding line help in free agency, there are plenty of names to choose from. Carolina Panthers DE Greg Hardy would be huge upgrade on the defensive line while Baltimore Ravens OT Eugene Monroe would help bolster the offensive line. Both players will cost the Falcons money, but something tells me they are not done making moves it terms of cutting players. Based on what they have done so far, they don’t want to have another season like they did in 2013.

Photo of courtesy of Pouya Dianat/Atlanta Braves.

HAWKS SLIPPING …

Midway through the 2013-14 NBA season, the Atlanta Hawks looked like a team poised to make a run for a top seed in the NBA playoffs. Over the last few weeks, however, the team has faltered and lost six straight games.

Perhaps the worst defeat of the six was against Memphis in which the Hawks allowed the Grizzlies to shoot one, count it, one free throw! The Hawks lost one of the strangest games in NBA history 79-76. The one-free throw attempt, which was made, set a record for fewest attempts in a game in the shot clock era (1954-55-present). The 79 points allowed

by Atlanta were the fewest allowed by the team this year.

The six-game slide has dropped the Hawks to 25-27 and into the fifth-spot in the Eastern Conference. Losing any more games could put Atlanta in danger of sliding right out of the playoff picture. In a weak conference, the Hawks will never be in position of not having a chance at the postseason, but they better be careful.

Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons.

Vol. 10 Iss. 6 | February 14-20, 2014 along with teammate Lauryn Williams after two heats over a Canadian duo that is ranked No. 1 in the world. At the 2010 Vancouver Games, Meyers captured bronze in this event while working the brakes for her team.

“I knew going into Vancouver, (that) my best shot was as a brakeman,” Meyers told 11alive.com. “I wasn’t going to make it as a driver. So as soon as that was over, two weeks later, I was in the trenches trying to learn how to drive.”

The student has now become the teacher, schooling all other participants on the sport’s grandest stage.

ON THE COVER

LOCAL FLAVOR IN SOCHI

FORMER THRASHERS LEAD ASSORTMENT OF OLYMPIANS WITH GEORGIA BACKGROUNDS

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

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tlanta may have once hosted the Summer Olympics (1996), but games of the winter variety are a much different story around these parts. Heck, just a few inches of unrecognizable white stuff virtually shut down the city last month and an ice storm did the same last week. Simply put, we don’t do winter around here. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our state does have its fair share of ties to the current Sochi Olympics.

GEORGIANS …

Two athletes in Sochi hail from Georgia and both have already made plenty of headlines. In fact, short-track speedskater Kyle Carr has found himself in the news without even competing. First, Carr’s mother—Lisa Cervantes—thought she would be unable to make the trek from her home in Peachtree City all the way to Russia. Thanks to a healthy number of generous donations, Cervantes made it to Sochi after four flights spanning a total of 30 hours. At long last she would witness her son

fulfill his Olympic dream.

Or would she? Team USA’s 5,000-meter team consists of five skaters, but only four compete in an event. Carr was left off the semifinal roster, as the team instead chose to rest him prior to a final for which it was favored to qualify. With four laps to go in last Thursday’s race, American Eddy Alvarez crashed and, just like that, the team’s hopes seemed to evaporate. Afterward, though, video review confirmed that Alvarez had been impeded by a South Korean while he was in qualifying position. The ruling automatically sent the United States through to what will be a crowded final on Friday, but one not so crowded as to prevent Cervantes from doing what she set out to do: watching her son in the Olympic Games.

At the Sanki Sliding Center, bobsled driver Elana Meyers of Douglasville was on course for a gold medal through the first half of two-women competition (results were not available at press time). Meyers, who played basketball and softball at Lithia Springs, had a .23-second lead

FORMER THRASHERS …

The NHL is no more in Atlanta, but a handful of Olympic hockey participants once roamed the ice of Philips Arena as Thrashers. None is more famous or better at his craft than Russian star Ilya Kovalchuk. We’ll put it nicely and say the highly-touted home team underachieved in Sochi (Russian president Vladimir Putin would likely put it much differently). In group play, the Russians won only a single game in regulation (over Slovenia), lost to the United States in a shootout and survived Slovakia—also in a shootout. After coasting past Norway in round one of knockout stages, they were unceremoniously bounced from the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Finland on Wednesday.

All of it, however, was no fault of Kovalchuk. He lit the lamp once against Slovenia, converted two of his shootout attempts against Team USA (including one in a must-make situation), scored the shootout clincher against Slovakia, added another goal against Norway and notched his team’s lone score against Finland. Can a former Thrasher get some help, please?

One guy getting plenty of help is Johnny Oduya, who played in Atlanta for two seasons (2009-2011) and assisted on Chicago’s Stanley Cup-winning goal in Game 6 at Boston last summer. As of Wednesday, Oduya’s Sweden had cruised through group play with a perfect record and best goal differential—good for the No. 1 seed in the knockout rounds, in which it opened with a 5-0 destruction of Slovenia.

Other Olympians with Atlanta Thrashers backgrounds are Kari Lehtonen (goalie, Finland), Ondrej Pavelec (goalie, Czech Republic),

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Blake Wheeler (forward, USA), Arturs Kulda (defenseman, Latvia) and Ilya Nikulin (defenseman, Russia). Wheeler and the impressive Americans rolled through round-robin competition undefeated, highlighted by their thriller against Russia. Kulda and the upstart Latvians went winless in group play but reached the Olympic quarterfinals for the first time in history by avenging a loss to Switzerland with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday.

FRONT OFFICE …

Of course, it’s not entirely about the athletes. The director and general manager of the United States’ women’s hockey team has previous work experience in Atlanta. Reagan Carey started as a marketing and special projects assistant for the Thrashers in 2002 before taking over as marketing coordinator in 2003.

She later served as the director of fan development and youth marketing for Atlanta Spirit, LLC, which is the Hawks’ parent company.

Cary is at the helm of what is inarguably one of the two best women’s hockey teams in the world. Not counting their head-to-head showdown last Wednesday (Canada won 3-2), the United States outscored opponents 18-2 in three games and Canada held a combined 11-1 advantage over its trio of adversaries. The Canada-USA rematch came on Thursday with much higher stakes—the gold medal, to be exact—but results were not available at press time.

Mike Plant, the Braves’ Executive Vice President of Business Operations, is serving as interim President of the U.S. Speedskating Board of Directors. Speedskating so far this fortnight has been every bit as bad for the United States as it has been good for the Netherlands. As of Wednesday, the Netherlands had earned a whopping 21 of its 22 total medals in speedskating. Zero of Team USA’s 21 medals had come in either short-track or long-track, although it has several short-track contenders competing later this week.

How will the games ultimately turn out?

We will find out this weekend. But we now know at least one thing: Georgia had a surprisingly significant role in Sochi.

Photo of Johnny Oduya is courtesy of Jon Barash. Photo of Mike Plant courtesy of Sean Dougherty USA TODAY SPORTS

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Frank Wren

Kenny Gaines

Good for Gonzo

Not a whole lot went right for the Braves in the early stages of this offseason, but their general manager is on a spending spree at the moment. Buoyed by his team’s impending move to a new stadium in Cobb County, Wren has locked up Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Julio Teheran and Craig Kimbrel all for multiple years.

The Georgia men’s basketball team lost at Tennessee on Tuesday, but it is still a solid 8-5 in the SEC. Gaines, a former Whitefield Academy standout, scored 21 points in a 61-60 win over Ole Miss last Saturday. He was the only Bulldog in double-figures against the Vols with 13 points. The sophomore is second on the team at 12.1 ppg.

There will not be another comeback for Falcons’ tight end Tony Gonzalez, at least not on the field. Gonzalez will waste no time starting his next career, as he was hired by CBS on Tuesday to be an NFL analyst. He will join the crew of “The NFL Today,” which is set to include James Brown, Bill Cowher and Boomer Esiason in 2014.

SCORE LIST

By Brian Jones

HARDWOOD ACTION

After a long delay due to the snow, the high school basketball state playoffs will kick off this weekend. Class AAAAAA-AA girls will start on Friday and the boys will start on Saturday. Then the Class A will kick things off on Monday. Be sure to check AJC.com as well as scoreatl. com for roundups of all the first-round action.

WHITE ARRESTED

Falcons wide receiver Roddy White was arrested on Tuesday on a failure to appear warrant. White allegedly failed to appear in court on a traffic charge for having non-transparent material on his car windows. There is nothing to worry about, Falcons fans. This is a minor issue and it will be resolved as soon as possible.

GONZALEZ ON CBS

Tony Gonzalez has moved on quickly, as he will part of CBS’ NFL pregame show. Gonzalez will join James Brown, Boomer Esiason and Bill Cowher and will help replace Shannon Sharpe and Dan Marino. I would have loved to see him in a Falcons uniform, but it’s good he will still be close to the game. Good luck, Tony G!

DONE DEAL

Craig Kimbrel is a wealthy man, as he agreed to a deal that will pay him $42 million over the next four years.

Kimbrel has been baseball’s most dominant closer the last three years, having tallied more than 50 saves each season. This is a great deal for both parties and I can’t wait to see Kimbrel in action throughout the 2014 campaign.

WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

The basketball playoffs are not the only thing going on this weekend. The wrestling state championships will take place on Friday and Saturday and six different high schools will host the event. If you can’t make it out to the championships, be sure to watch it on CSS the following Sunday, Monday and Saturday, March 1.

WHO’S NOT

By Ricky Dimon

WHO’S HOT

SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

Josh HarveyClemons

Atlanta Hawks

Conference losses

Things have gone from bad to worse for Harvey-Clemons since tipping a Hail Mary pass into the arms of Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis. The sophomore safety, who missed the Gator Bowl due to a suspension, was kicked off the team on Tuesday for repeated violations of team rules. He had already been docked three games of the 2014 season.

All of the sudden, talk has gone from home-court advantage in round one of the playoffs to tanking for a lottery draft pick. That’s what happens when a team goes from four games above .500 to two games below .500. The Hawks had lost six in a row heading into Wednesday’s date with Washington after losing to Indiana on Tuesday.

Georgia State finally fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in Sun Belt Conference play, as it lost at Troy last Saturday.

Still, the Panthers are 11-1 in the league and easily in first place. Georgia Tech, on the other hand, is just 4-9 in the ACC. It has dropped three of its last four after getting blown out by Duke 68-51 on Tuesday.

NUMBERS

OUR TWO CENTS

By Craig Sager II

Our 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 sportsheavy 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.

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TRIVIA QUESTION

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME GEORGIA TECH BEAT DUKE IN MEN’S BASKETBALL? ANSWER ON PAGE 14

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SANITY AT LAST

“I’m excited about it.

Getting a chance to stay here, place you like to be, place you want to be for a long time. I’m really happy with the whole thing.”

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez after getting a contract extension, the terms of which were not disclosed.

12 2.8

DeKalb basketball teams that qualified for the 2014 state tournament Sacks per game given up by the Atlanta Falcons in 2013

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Georgia products in the national top 247 rankings for Class of 2015

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Former Falcons first-round picks on Atlanta’s roster last season

24.1

Points per game averaged by St. Pius X junior Asia Durr

4 $42 MILL

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Times that Josey’s Darius Williams has scored more than 40 points this season Amount of four-year contract signed by Braves’ closer Craig Kimbrel Points and three rebounds

by Paul Millsap in his NBA All-Star game debut

ERIC BERRY | DB

DEMARCO MURRAY | RB

CJ SPILLER | RB

Š 2014 adidas AG. adidas, the 3-Bars logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group.

adizero 5-star | 6.7 oz

REGION TOURNEYS

OVERTIME DECIDES MULTIPLE HOOPS REGION CHAMPIONS

BY CRAIG SAGER II AND STEPHEN BLACK

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n Class AAAAAA, Wheeler (Region 5), Alpharetta (Region 6) and Douglas County (Region 3) claimed region titles in overtime thrillers. Wheeler used an Avery Patterson buzzer beater to top rival Walton for the third time this season 78-76. Alpharetta pulled away in overtime and beat Lambert 75-65 and Douglas County took care of Newton 81-75. In Region 2, Luella claimed the region crown with a 4036 win over Newton. In Region 4, South Cobb pulled off its third straight upset with a 55-53 win over Hillgrove.

Warner Robins cruised past NorthsideWarner Robins for the Region 2 title in Class AAAAA. Mundy’s Mill took a 79-77 victory over McIntosh for the Region 4-AAAAA title and Osborne held off Sprayberry 79-74 for the Region 7 title.

In Class AAAA, there were eight semifinals games and one championship matchup with Johnson-Gainesville and Eastside in Region 8.

Johnson-Gainesville clinched a top seed in the state tournament with an 88-67 win.

In Class AAA, Washington County claimed the top seed out of Region 3 with a 48-44 win over Swainsboro. Regions 5-8 also determined their region champs on Tuesday and Cartersville (Region 5), Cedar Grove (Region 6), Buford (Region 7) and Morgan County (Region 8) won their respective region titles.

Buford won in a 56-29 blowout over Dawson County and got big contributions from D’Marcus Simonds and Rakim Lubin. Simonds dropped a game-high 20 points and Lubin netted 15.

In Class AA, Laney beat Westside-Au-

Pre-State Meet Score Atlanta Wrestling Rankings Class AAAAAA

Class AAAAA

1............................. Archer 2...............Camden County 3....................... Collins Hill 4................Chattahoochee 5...........................Grayson

1...................... Cambridge 2... Woodland-Cartersville 3................................ Pope 4......................... Allatoona 5.......................Creekview

6.................. North Forsyth 7..................South Forsyth 8................North Gwinnett 9.............................Etowah 10.............. Mountain View

gusta 63-45 in the Region 3 title game and Northeast-Macon edged Putnam County in double overtime 83-81 for the Region 4 championship. Kendrick won Region 5 with an 8280 edge over Manchester and Calhoun topped Model 55-50 for the Region 7 crown.

Treutlen secured the Region 3-A title at home on Tuesday with its 67-62 win over Portal and Dooly County claimed the Region 4-A title at home with a 61-57 win over Hawkinsville. Greenforest Christian used a dominant overtime period to win the Region 5 championship with a 79-66 win over Landmark Christian. Reigning Class A-Public state champion Wilkinson County cruised to an 81-69 win over Aquinas in the Region 7 championship game and Athens Christian topped Athens Academy 80-68 for the Region 8 championship.

GIRLS RESULTS ...

While boys action was hot and heavy Tuesday around the state, there were several intriguing girls games as well. The game of the night on the girls’ side was Class AA No. 3 Wesleyan edging No. 2 GAC 55-52 in overtime to take the Region 6 title. The Spartans led by 12 in the second quarter but tournament host Wesleyan came back and eventually tied the game on a shot by Nikki McDonald with sec-

Class AAAA 1..............................Gilmer 2..............Lumpkin County 3........................... Lithonia 4........................Alexander 5.................................Cass

Class AA 6........................ Carrollton 7.......................Glenn Hills 8........................ Chestatee 9.............................. Marist 10........... South Effingham

Class AAA 6....................Ware County 7......................Whitewater 8................................... Ola 9........... Effingham County 10...............Clarke Central

1............................. Buford 2..................Banks County 3................Morgan County 4.......Woodward Academy 5......................Sonoraville

onds left to force overtime. McDonald finished with 15 while GAC was led by Brianna Cummings’ 31 points and 11 rebounds. Spartans star Syndi Means fouled late in the fourth after scoring 12 points.

No. 8 Osborne beat Sequoyah 54-47 to win the Region 7-AAAAA championship behind Nikira Goings’ 16 points. The host Chiefs were handicapped when sisters Lauren and Kelley Hartman each fouled out.

Class AAA No. 2 Buford thumped North Hall 53-21 to win the Region 7 tournament. Bree Horrocks had 17 and Camille Anderson added 15 for the Wolves. The Wolves trailed early on but opened up a 23-12 lead by half time.

Pike County won the Region 2-AAAA championship with a 64-54 win over Peach County. Pike scored the final seven points of the game to pull away and seal the game.

Shaineequah Fluellyn had 22 points and Nausia Woolfork scored 18 for the Pirates.

No. 6 South Effingham won the Region 1-AAA championship after a 37-34 victory over Richmond Academy. Shae Leverette led the Yellow Jackets with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Photos courtesy of Ty Freeman.

1.........................Jefferson 2............................Bremen 3....................Social Circle 4................Toombs County 5..................................GAC

6...............................Lovett 7...................East Laurens 8...........................Spencer 9.........................Pepperell 10................. Westminster

Class A 6.........................St. Pius X 7...................Elbert County 8................Oconee County 9........................ North Hall 10.............. Blessed Trinity

1.......................Commerce 2......................Gordon Lee 3..................Turner County 4....................... Darlington 5.............. Mt. Zion-Carroll

6...............Holy Innocents’ 7............. Athens Christian 8.....Strong Rock Christian 9..................Mount Vernon 10......Eagle’s Landing Chr

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SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

Score Atlanta/AJC Basketball Rankings AAAAAA Boys

1.........................Westlake 2.........................Norcross 3.......................... Wheeler 4.......................Tift County 5............... North Gwinnett 6.............................Walton 7..............................Milton 8...................Pebblebrook 9.............. Douglas County 10................... McEachern

AAAAA Boys

1.........................Allatoona 2....................Miller Grove 3...........................Jenkins 4..................... Sprayberry 5.................... Stephenson 6................ Clarke Central 7.............................Tucker 8............... Warner Robins 9............................... Drew 10........ Heritage-Conyers

AAAA Boys

1........................ Columbia 2....................... Alexander 3..............Eagle’s Landing 4..................South Atlanta 5................Fayette County 6..........................Eastside 7...................... Glenn Hills 8...................... Statesboro 9.........................Westover 10...................... Riverdale

AAA Boys

1........Johnson-Savannah 2........................Savannah 3.....................Cartersville 4........ Washington County 5.............................Buford 6...............Morgan County 7........................ St. Pius X 8..................Elbert County 9................Blessed Trinity 10..................Cedar Grove

AA Boys

1................................. GAC 2.............................Vidalia 3..............................Laney 4.................... Manchester 5...........................Calhoun 6..............................Model 7........................ Jefferson 8............................Pelham 9..................Taylor County 10.........Northeast-Macon

A Boys

1.......Whitefield Academy 2.....Greenforest Christian 3...................... St. Francis 4....... Landmark Christian 5......North Cobb Christian 6...........................Aquinas 7..........Mt Vernon Presby.

8.............. Calhoun County 9.............Athens Christian 10............ Holy Innocents’

AAAAAA Girls

1..................... McEachern 2.........................Parkview 3.............................Archer 4................Mountain View 5......................... Hillgrove 6..................North Forsyth 7.........................Westlake 8...................... Brunswick 9.........................Norcross 10..........................Hughes

AAAAA Girls

1.........Southwest-DeKalb 2..............................Salem 3.............................Tucker 4.....................Forest Park 5............................... Drew 6.................... Stephenson 7..............................Hiram 8.......................... Osborne 9...........Effingham County 10....................Greenbrier

AAAA Girls

1..............................Redan 2....................Cross Creek 3........................ Columbia 4....................... Columbus 5................Fayette County 6.............South Effingham 7.............. Monroe-Albany 8........................Chestatee 9........................Carrollton 10...............Mary Persons

AAA Girls

1........ Washington County 2.............................Buford 3........................ St. Pius X 4................Tattnall County 5..............................Beach 6................. Dodge County 7...............Morgan County 8...............Central-Carroll 9..................North Oconee 10............Franklin County

AA Girls

1.........................Kendrick 2................................. GAC 3........................ Wesleyan 4..............................Laney 5............................Pelham 6.......................Armuchee 7..............Bleckley County 8...............Putnam County 9...........................Calhoun 10...........................Vidalia

A Girls

1.............. Holy Innocents’ 2...... SW Atlanta Christian 3...................... St. Francis 4......George Walton Acad.

5............... Randolph-Clay 6.......................Darlington 7............................Claxton 8.................... Calvary Day 9............................Paideia 10...................Gordon Lee

Save $5!

Sat. March 15 1:00pm

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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

HARVEY-CLEMONS GETS BOOT FROM FOOTBALL TEAM

BY JOE DEIGHTON | JDEIGHTON@SCOREATL.COM

G

eorgia safety Josh Harvey-Clemons was dismissed from the football team on Tuesday for violating team rules. This dismissal comes after Harvey-Clemons had already been suspended for the Gator Bowl and assessed another three-game ban for the 2014 season.

It seems that the UGA staff had enough of the troubled safety and decided to end things for good. Harvey-Clemons had violated the team’s marijuana-use policy twice, which resulted in the suspensions.

He played in 11 games during the 2013 campaign and finished third on the team with 66 total tackles, including 5.5 for loss. HarveyClemons also had an interception, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. It was the sophomore who tipped the Hail Mary pass into the arms of Auburn’s Ricardo Louis in a heartbreaking 43-38 loss to the Tigers last season. Now, this is another heartbreaker for both fans and Harvey-Clemons.

GEORGIA STATE

UNBEATEN SUN BELT STREAK COMES TO AN END

BY JAY UNDERWOOD | JUNDERWOOD@SCOREATL.COM

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ven though Georgia State’s program-best 14-game winning streak was snapped last Saturday, the Panthers are still having one of their better seasons in recent memory. They currently sit at 18-7 after rebounding against Texas State on Monday night. Georgia State still sits atop the Sun Belt Conference with a 10-1 record and with six games to play it looks like a lock for one of the top two spots in the Sun Belt Tournament. That would give the team an all-important double-bye straight through to the semifinals.

FIRST CONFERENCE LOSS …

In their loss to Troy, the Panthers showed that even when they are not playing their best game they have the resiliency to stay competitive and fight back regardless of the circumstances. Early in the contest, Georgia State struggled to get shots to fall while Troy was shooting the ball well and getting to the freethrow line with regularity. If the Panthers want

TENNIS ACTION …

The No. 12 Georgia men’s tennis team took to the courts at the ITA National Indoor Championships at the Galleria Tennis and Athletic Club in Houston last weekend. Georgia faced off against a tough 10th-ranked Texas Longhorns’ in the round of 16 and the overall match could not have been more competitive.

Doubles action went well for the Bulldogs, who took a quick 1-0 lead in the match by winning the best-of-three doubles competition. The combo of Hernus Pieter and Ben Wagland won its set 6-3 before Nathan Pasha and Garrett Brasseaux also won 6-3 to give the Bulldogs a clean sweep of doubles. Illinois, however, earned the first three singles wins to seize a 3-1 advantage before the Bulldogs pulled even at 3-3. That set the stage for Wagland’s decisive contest at the No. 3 singles spot. Late in the final set, the sophomore was assessed a code violation that resulted in forfeiture of the match and gave Texas a 4-3 win. Wagland had an outburst following his disqualification and was subsequently suspended by the team for the remainder of the tournament.

He later apologized for his actions.

“Texas was better,” head coach Manuel Diaz told the team website. “They were good, especially in the third sets that they won. Give them all the credit in the world. Our guys have to learn from this, grow from this, and try to be tougher tomorrow. It was an unfortunate way to lose today, but those are the rules.”

to make a deep postseason run, they will need to learn from this loss and use it as motivation to start games more aggressively.

BALLING BACKCOURT …

With one of the most underrated backcourts in the country, Georgia State features three guards who can fill up the box score in Ryan Harrow, Devonta White and R.J. Hunter.

Now that they have finally grown comfortable playing together, they are feeding off of each other, stepping up when one of their teammates is having an off night, or feeding the hot hand until the opposing defense changes its scheme in an attempt to shut down a specific player.

This three-headed attack has led to more open shots for Manny Atkins, who had a midseason lull in which he was struggling to find open look and led him to press himself into bad situations and bad shot attempts.

He has now gotten his game back on track.

The senior is shooting the three-ball with tremendous accuracy (45.5 percent) and at a higher clip (4.5 attempts per game) than in past years. Atkins’ shooting is the x-factor of the team and it is a telling indicator of Georgia State’s overall success.

Harrow, Hunter and White have all now eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for their careers and with Atkins just seven points shy, by season’s end there will be four active Panthers with 1,000 career points.

GEORGIA TECH

JACKETS EDGE BC, FALL TO DUKE

BY STEPHEN BLACK | SBLACK@SCOREATL.COM

eorgia Tech dropped to 4-9 in the ACC afG ter falling 68-51 to No. 6 Duke Tuesday in Atlanta. The Blue Devils led 43-27 at the half

and cruised to their 10th ACC win.

It was the first sold out home game of the season in McCamish Pavilion. Robert Carter Jr. led Tech with 13 points while Kammeon Holsey added 12.

Marques Georges-Hunt hit a three-pointer with less than a second left as Tech defeated Boston College 74-71 on Feb. 13 in Atlanta.

Georges-Hunt finished with 15 points and the Jackets were led by Daniel Miller’s 18. Holsey led Tech with nine rebounds and also contributed 15 points

The game had been delayed one day due to icy weather in the Atlanta area on Wednesday. With the win Tech solidified its lone sweep over an ACC opponent this season.

BATTLE IN MIDTOWN …

The baseball team started the season 1-2 after its Battle in Midtown round-robin over the weekend. The Jackets earned a win over

KENNESAW STATE

BASEBALL TEAM STARTS 2014 SEASON; PENTECOST WINS AWARD

BY BRIAN JONES | BJONES@SCOREATL.COM

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aseball season is now in full swing and the Owls are off to a solid start. They opened the season against Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, but the Owls unfortunately came away with an 11-10 loss. That was the first game of a doubleheader and the Owls were able to calm down in Game 2, winning 5-1. Kal Simmons and Max Pentecost were the top players for the Owls, as they notched five hits apiece in two games. Simmons had a triple in the first game while Pentecost had two doubles.

Game 2 was all Owls, as they scored three runs in the first inning and never looked back.

Starting pitcher Travis Bergen struck out nine batters to earn his first win of the year. Game 1 was not the same story, as MTSU was all over the Owls to start the game, leading 5-1 after three innings. The Owls answered with four runs in the fourth to tie the game. But the Blue Raiders regained the lead with a solo homer in the fifth and two more runs in the seventh.

Old Dominion in the season-opener and suffered subsequent losses to VCU and Radford.

Third baseman Matt Gonzalez, a Harrison grad, led the Jackets by hitting .400 for the weekend with four hits, three doubles two RBIs and two stolen bases. A.J. Murray, Arden Pabst and Daniel Spingola each connected on triples during the three-game event.

Dusty Isaacs got the lone win for the pitching staff after closing out the Old Dominion game with 3.1 innings of no-hit relief.

The Jackets will host UNC-Greensboro this weekend in a three-game series.

NEWS AND NOTES …

The Lady Yellow Jackets fought admirably but fell to No. 2 Notre Dame 87-72 Monday night in South Bend. Coach MaChelle Joseph’s squad fell to 17-9 overall and 7-6 in the ACC. Tech had 22 points off turnovers but lost the battle in the paint 52-30. Aaliyah Whiteside led Tech with 21 points while Tyaunna Marshall had 19 points and a game-high 11 boards. Freshman sensation Kael Davis added 15 points.

Tech will host Maryland Sunday before travelling to Florida State on Thursday. The Lady Jackets end their season on March 2 against Boston College.

Senior offensive lineman Ray Beno, sophomore offensive lineman Trey Braun and freshman kicker Harrison Butker were each named to the ACC’s All-Academic team Monday. To be eligible for the vote, players must have a cumulative 3.0 GPA and a 3.0 the previous semester.

Kennesaw State scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 10-8 lead, but the Blue Raiders scored three runs in the eighth before hanging on for the win.

The rubber game was on Sunday and the Owls took no prisoners as they smothered the Blue Raiders 18-1. KSU racked up 20 hits while being led by Simmons, who went 4-for-7 and drove in four runs. Pentecost and Matt Bahnick each tallied three hits and starting pitcher Nathan Harsh allowed one run in five innings of work.

The Owls played at Georgia on Tuesday and scored a 10-7 win over the Bulldogs. Simmons and Chris McGowan each drove in three runs and pitcher Justin McCalvin earned the win after giving up two runs in three innings..

PENTECOST HONORED …

Pentecost had a strong offseason and it has carried over in the early stages of the regular season. The All-American catcher won Atlantic Sun Player of the Week for his work against MTSU. Penetecost recorded eight hits including three doubles in the three games against the Blue Raiders. He also caught a couple of runners stealing from base as well.

“I’m happy for Max,” head coach Mike Sansing told ksuowls.com. “He had a great weekend and it’s indicative of how well he’s performed for us all spring and fall. We’re excited for him and what this season has in store.”

Vol. 10 Iss. 6 | February 14-20, 2014 ATLANTA HAWKS

LOSING STREAK FINDS HAWKS BELOW .500

BY JAY UNDERWOOD | JUNDERWOOD@SCOREATL.COM

T

he break is over, but the Hawks are still struggling to find their winning ways as their losing streak has reached six with Tuesday’s loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers. Atlanta got a team-high 19 points from Kyle Korver on five buckets from downtown, but it still fell 108-98. This losing streak also began at Indiana’s hands, with an 89-85 home loss on Feb. 4. The latest setback puts the Hawks two games under .500 and they are clearly trending in the wrong direction.

INJURY BUG …

Atlanta continues to be bitten by the injury bug, which is a factor in their recent slide.

DeMarre Carroll and Gustavo Ayon are the newest members on the Hawks’ injury report.

Carroll was held out of Tuesday’s contest due to a sore hamstring that has been bothering him the past week. While he is sidelined, Cartier Martin will be the primary small forward.

ATLANTA BRAVES

BRAVES LOCK UP KIMBREL, TEHERAN

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

A

n offseason almost as icy as the recent weather in this state has taken a sudden turn for the better. Not long after falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the divisional round of the playoffs, the Braves lost both Tim Hudson (Giants) and Brian McCann (Yankees) to free agency. It looks like general manager Frank Wren did not like saying goodbye to some of his best players, because he has been a man on a mission of late. Wren has not stopped since locking up Jason Heyward for two years and Freddie Freeman for eight earlier this month.

He signed closer Craig Kimbrel to a four-year, $42 million deal earlier this week.

“I’m very excited,” Kimbrel told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “If I didn’t want to be here, this wouldn’t be going on. We’re playing to win. This is where I want to be.”

The deal came one day prior to Kimbrel’s scheduled arbitration hearing. By securing its last three arbitration-eligible players, Atlanta

Martin is with the Hawks for the second time this season after a brief stint in Chicago. Ayon has been filling in for Pero Antic, who was the starter following the injury to Al Horford. However, he found himself in the trainer’s room during Tuesday’s game in Indiana. Ayon appeared to hurt his shoulder in the first half against the Pacers and did not return. He was questionable for Wednesday’s home date with the Wizards (results were not available at press time).

Elton Brand is now the only healthy center on the roster, which is filled with undersized power forwards to complement him.

This presents a major problem against bigger teams such as Indiana and Memphis. Antic is due back soon and that should alleviate some of the issue, but it will still be a deciding factor in how far the Hawks can go this season.

SWEET LOU …

Lou Williams started the second half of the season off on a good note, putting in 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting at Indiana while sparking scoring runs off the bench. This is why Atlanta brought him in and if he can continue giving head coach Mike Budenholzer these types of performances moving forward, the Hawks will improve their already-competent bench unit. This will allow Mike Scott to play as the secondary option and get him even more good looks, as he has emerged as a real scoring threat in his sophomore season.

still has not dealt with a hearing since John Rocker’s case back in early 2001. It also came just a few days after inking starter Julio Teheran to a six-year, $32.4 million contract.

WREN, GONZALEZ ALSO EXTENDED …

The extension spree continued with Wren, himself, on Wednesday. It also included manager Fredi Gonzalez, who along with Wren was entering the final year of his contract. President John Schuerholz said the Braves wanted to get them extended now to prevent any possible distractions during the season. Terms of the deals as of Wednesday afternoon were not yet disclosed.

“They’ve done wonderful jobs for us and we’re glad we were able to get that done,” Schuerholz told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “We’re not going to talk about the terms.

But they have been extended.”

“I love being here and I love being a part of what we’re doing,” Wren added. “I’m excited about it…. Fredi’s done a good job. I continue to see him growing. You win 96 games, and we’ve won more games over the last three or four years than any team in the National League, so I think it’s all a function of people doing good jobs. I continue to see him get more and more comfortable. It was a hard spot that he was put in, following Bobby (Cox).”

ATLANTA FALCONS

FALCONS SIGN CARIMI, HIRE NEW STADIUM GM

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

tlanta hired offensive line coach Mike Tice A this offseason to improve a unit that gave up 2.8 sacks per game in 2013 and on Monday

the team added interior lineman Gabe Carimi to the roster. Exacts terms of the one-year contract were not disclosed. The 6-foot-7 Wisconsin alum was a first-round pick in 2011 and spent two seasons with Chicago before being traded to Tampa Bay last season. In the past 22 years, the Falcons have spent just one firstround pick on an offensive lineman, so having a young and athletic guy with top-round talent could spark the positive change for which the line is looking.

STADIUM NOISE …

Scott Jenkins was hired on Tuesday to be the GM of the new Atlanta Stadium. Jenkins most recently served as president of ballpark operations with the Seattle Mariners at Safeco field.

“Scott joins us at an important time in the new stadium’s development,” Falcons President & CEO Rich McKay said. “His experience,

GWINNETT GLADIATORS

GLADIATORS LOSE TWICE TO ORLANDO

BY JOE DEIGHTON | JDEIGHTON@SCOREATL.COM

T

his week brought two more games against the Orlando Solar Bears and two more tough losses—both on the road—for the Gwinnett Gladiators. The second defeat, which came last Saturday, stung the most because the Gladiators had a great chance to win. A 4-2 loss last Friday was respectable, but the Glads were even more competitive one day later. Halfway through the third period, Dirk Southern put Gwinnett on top 4-3 after taking a pass from Joey Haddad and beating the Orlando goalie over his left shoulder. The Gladiators nearly scored late in the third, but the Solar Bears were up to the challenge and were able to tie the game at 4-4 with just 9.8 seconds left in the game. Orlando went on to win in overtime, 5-4. The Glads have been the victims of some tough defeats this year, but this one really hurt.

STREAKS AND MILESTONES …

Evan Bloodoff has been one of the most

13

dedication, leadership and passion for sports and facilities management will add tremendous value as we finalize the stadium design and begin construction in April. We look forward to his contributions in these areas, as well as in managing the operations of the stadium beginning in 2017.”

The Wisconsin graduate has been at the forefront of the green building movement in sports venues and currently serves as the president and chairman of the Green Sports Alliance. He was also honored with the 2013 Natural Resources Defense Council Game Changer Award and the 2012 NW Energy Coalition Conservation Eagle Award.

“Mr. Blank’s vision to create a cutting edge design will set a new standard for the stadium experience,” said Jenkins. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to join the effort to bring this vision to life. This stadium will create an icon for Atlanta that will have many positive impacts in the city, region and state.”

WHITE HOUSED …

Four-time Pro Bowler and Atlanta’s record-setting receiver Roddy White was arrested Tuesday morning. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, White allegedly failed to appear in court on a traffic charge and had an outstanding warrant related to a charge for “non-transparent material on windows.”

White’s bond was $168 and he was released approximately 90 minutes after Gwinnett County police booked him in the Gwinnett County Jail.

consistent players in the Gladiators’ lineup since joining the team last year. Bloodoff will play his 100th game in a Gwinnett Gladiator uniform this week. The forward has scored a goal in three of the past four games and he has a total of 17 this season.

Rookie forward Marshal Everson has been coming on in the past few weeks. Everson has five goals and three assists and he finished with a plus-five rating over the past six games.

In 30 games this year, Everson has 14 goals and 12 assists.

Forward Casey Pierro-Zabotel has seven points (one goal, six assists) in the past four games. Pierro-Zabotel led the Glads in points last year with 75, but he has been limited this season to 10 points in 13 games.

ON THE DOCKET …

After playing one of the hottest teams in the league last weekend in the Solar Bears, the Glads will now face the defending ECHL champion Reading Royals twice this weekend.

The Royals come into Gwinnett Arena as the first-place team in the Atlantic Division with a 28-17-1-1 record. Former Gladiators’ forward Domenic Mondaro leads the Royals with 15 goals in 46 games. This will be the first time the Gladiators face Reading this year. The Royals will test Gwinnett especially with a great goalie in Olivier Roy, who is 13-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .922 save percentage this season.

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