Jaguars Rebooting For Next Season

The Georgia Class 5A state runner-up Cedar Shoals Jaguars are gearing up for next season as the summer schedule begins. The Jaguars competed in a team camp at North Oconee high school over the weekend and will compete in the Miller Grove Shot Clock league later this month as a play date participate against Mays, Stephenson, defending 6A champion Langston Hughes, Heritage-Conyers, Rockdale, Meadowcreek, Tucker and Forest Park beginning June 12th.

Cedar Shoals must replace seven rotation seniors from last seasons team including 5A player of the year and leading scorer Phlandrous Fleming (Charleston Southern). That core unit led the Jaguars to three consecutive trips to the semifinals the past three seasons including the runner-up finish last season.

Rising seniors Jai’vanni McDavid, Darien Appling and Keivasiay Ball along with sophomore Jaden Williams have been tasked with engineering the sustaining of the programs recent success under head coach L’Dreco Thomas. The group has help as the Jaguars have added a pair of sophomore transfers in Quincy Canty and Jalen Jackson.

Quincy Canty, a 6’5 forward who was an All-Region 8-1A Private selection last season, comes over from neighboring private school Athens Christian. Canty led the Eagles in scoring while averaging a double-double and guided the Eagles to a quarterfinal finish last season in 1A Private.  Canty was not with the team this past weekend as he was participating in the Crossroads Elite Camp in Indianapolis, Indiana, a camp Phlandrous Fleming attended as a sophomore as well. Carter plays travel ball with the EYBL Georgia Stars.

Jalen Jackson, a 6’2 guard, comes over from Lincoln County. Jackson averaged 7 points and 7 rebounds as a freshman last season for the Red Devils. Jackson will also play football for the Jaguars.

The 2nd Annual L’Dreco Thomas Youth Basketball Camp will be held June 26th-29th at Cedar Shoals High School. Registration dates are June 8th (3pm-5pm) and June 15th (4pm-6pm) in front of Turner-Neathery Gymnasium. Walk-up registration will be held on June 26th beginning at 12pm.  Last years camp featured over 75 campers attending the four-day camp which features shooting, dribbling, passing, rebounding, defensive and skill development drills with current Jaguar varsity players. Special guest speakers included current University of Georgia basketball players along with other notable guest from around the basketball and Athens community. For more information and registration contact Coach Thomas at 706-546-5375 or via email thomasl@clarke.k12.ga.us.

Phoenix Lose Regular Season Finale

The Atlanta Phoenix (6-2) had their two game winning streak snapped in the regular season finale to the defending WFA Champion D.C. Divas (5-3).

Atlanta entered the game averaging 50.2 points per game including scoring 70 against the South Carolina Smash earlier this season but were shutout for the first time this season. D.C. scored touchdowns on its first two possessions for a 14-0 lead.

Play was halted in the second quarter due to a brief lightning delay. When play resumed the Divas tacked on another touchdown to go up 21-0 and that score held until halftime.

In the second half D.C added two more touchdowns including a pick six by Dana Blakely for the final score of 34-0. Divas quarterback Amanda Congialdi passed for two touchdowns in the victory.

Despite the loss Atlanta qualifies for the WFA (Women’s Football Alliance) Division I playoffs.

2017 Georgia Baseball Champions

The 2017 baseball season came to a close in Georgia this week with the crowning of eight state champions across the seven classifications for the first time in state history.

All but one classification featured a sweep in the championship series. In Class 4A the Marist War Eagles (25-17) won the final two games to defeat Blessed Trinity (36-6) 2-1 in their best-of-three series to win its 13th state championship.

Etowah (28-16) swept Woodstock (26-17) in 7A to win its first state championships. Etowah won the second game in eleven innings to complete the series sweep. This series featured two teams from the same county (Cherokee)

Pope (34-6) swept Lee County (28-14) in 6A to win its third state championship.

Loganville (30-13) swept Wayne County (28-14) in 5A to win its third state championship.

North Hall (33-11) won its first state championship with a sweep of Pierce County (28-10) in 3A.

Jeff Davis (33-8) won its first state championship by sweeping Elbert County (33-9) in 2A.

Schely County (34-2) swept Gordon Lee (27-8) in 1A Public while Savannah Christian (34-3) swept Tatnall Square (30-5) in 1A Private.

Despite the added classification there were no repeat champions this season in Georgia.

The latest Perfect Game Top 50 HS rankings have not been released yet. As of the week of May 22nd Blessed Trinity (No. 9), Pope (No.11), Woodstock (No.42), Etowah (No.44) and North Gwinnett (No. 48) were the only teams ranked from Georgia.

Pope (No.11) and Etowah (No.44) are poised to move up when the latest rankings are released while the remainder of the Georgia field will just have to wait and see.

Etowah and Woodstock were one of two championship series that featured teams from the same region with Marist and Blessed Trinity being the other. Blessed Trinity won all four previous regular season games against Marist before losing the final two in the finals.  Woodstock finished third while Etowah finished fourth in region 4-7A with both posting sub-500 region records as Walton and Lassiter finished one-two in the region. Woodstock won both regular season season meetings with Etowah. Walton and Lassiter were eliminated in the second round to Mill Creek and North Gwinnett respectively

Georgia was well represented throughout the baseball season in the Perfect Game Top 50 HS rankings. In addition to the five teams currently in the rankings, Winder-Barrow, Walton, Parkview, Mill Creek  and Allatoona also were ranked nationally during the season.