The high school baseball season will end this weekend with the state championships taking place all across the state and that will mean the high school sports season for 2009-10 will officially come to a close. This also means the Regions Bank Championship month will come to a close which is all part of determining who will win the Regions Director’s Cup for each classification.
A total of 44 state championships will have been awarded after this weekend, but the entire year was one that not many fans of high school sports will never forget. Here’s a look at the 2009-10 high school sports scene.
FALL FRENZY…
If you going to talk about high school sports in Georgia, you have to start with football. South Georgia was able to continue their dominance with Camden County (5A), Peach County (3A) and Wilcox County (1A) taking home state titles. But Buford showed they are the hottest program in Georgia, winning their third consecutive 2A state title. And last year was considered a down year by many because they lost to Lovett early in the regular season and many people liked the way Calhoun was playing. But led by Jessel Curry and Kolton Houston, the Wolves took care of the rest of their opponents (including Calhoun in the finals) and go on to win their seventh state title in school history.
In other fall news, the Pope volleyball team won their first state title by defeating cross-town rival Walton in the finals. What made this contest interesting is both teams won two games in the match and Walton was up 13-8 in the final game and needed just two points to win. But Pope was able to score seven consecutive points and come away with the 15-13 win and take home the state title.
MILTON, COLLINS HILL MAKE HISTORY…
Basketball is another high school sport that gets a lot of attention and many fans had their eyes on Milton who won their first 5A state title this past season, defeating Westlake in the finals. They did so with the help of top-notched junior Shannon Scott, Dai-Jon Parker and Julian Royal along with sophomore sensation Evan Nolte. And since they will back next year, not only will they be the favorite to win the Class 5A title once again, they will most likely be a candidate to win the national championship. Other state winners were Miller Grove (4A), Columbia (3A), Greater Atlanta Christian (2A) and Wesleyan (1A). For the girls the winners were Norcross (5A), SW DeKalb (4A), Columbia (3A), Buford (2A) and Wesleyan (1A).
Wrestling has been a sport that has grown rapidly over the past 10 years and there has been no other program that has done more during that span than Collins Hill. They won the dual state title and the traditional state title which makes a total of nine traditional and dual titles since 2002. One of the standouts on the squad was T.J. Mitchell who won three state titles and over 300 matches. The other traditional state title winners are Alexander (4A), Gilmer (3A), Jefferson (2A) and Bremen (1A).
ROUNDING OUT THE YEAR…
One story that stood out this spring was the Walton girls’ tennis team who won their seventh consecutive state title. It’s clear that they are the most successful tennis program in the state right now, but what makes their story better is their win against Centennial in the finals which broke the Georgia high school sports record for longest winning streak with 133 match victories. Another big story comes from Gwinnett County soccer which dominated the state championships as Collins Hill won the boys 5A title and the North Gwinnett girls taking home the 5A championship.
So when baseball ending this weekend, there will be 44 state championships during the spring season. That is the most when it comes to the three seasons, but that is also no surprise because there are more sports played during the spring. During the winter season, 19 state champions were crowned and in the fall 24 teams took home first place trophies. Add that up and it comes to 87 state champions during the 2009-10 year. When you count the individual titles, the GHSA has awarded over 200 state titles over the year. And, with the way high school sports continue to grow in Georgia, expect that number to grow in the next five to 10 years.
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