With basketball finished, spring sports now dominate and no county dominates the spring sports quite like Gwinnett County. Parkview and Mill Creek met up on the baseball diamond last week in a non-region game and the drama was intense. Mill Creek received an eighth inning, two-run, pinch-hit home run from Nick Tillman to knock off the Panthers 3-1. Eric Alonzo struck out six for the Hawks in seven innings but received a no-decision. Greg Brody struck out two in his one inning of work to snag his first win of the season. Jesse Foster was tagged with the loss after going 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. Austin Wheeler drove in Parkview’s only run.
North Gwinnett and Dacula split a pair of games last week with the Bulldogs taking the first contest 6-3 and Dacula grabbing the back end with a 5-2 win. In North Gwinnett’s win, Chris Hawkins was 3-4 with a home run. Luke Tindol also was 3-4 with an RBI. In the second contest, Oliver Pratt picked up the win for Dacula with five strong innings, and he helped his own cause with a home run and two RBI in a 2-4 day at the plate. Hawkins also had a home run in the losing effort.
It was a busy week for North Gwinnett soccer star Danielle Au. The future South Carolina Gamecock was named Score Atlanta’s Prep Girls Player of the Week after returning from a shoulder injury to lead her team to a pair of big wins. First, Au helped North Gwinnett knock off No. 6 Mill Creek 3-0 with a goal and an assist, and Au set up another goal by drawing a foul against the Hawks. Later last week against Collins Hill, Au scored two goals and assisted on two others as the Lady Bulldogs defeated the Lady Eagles 4-2. Freshman Taylor Burns and Brooke Bortles also scored for North Gwinnett.
The latest state rankings were released by laxpower.com for boys and girls lacrosse. In the boys Class 5A, Peachtree Ridge was ranked No. 5 with Collins Hill right on the Lions heels at No. 7. Norcross checks in at No. 12 with Grayson making the top twenty at No. 19. The Eagles of Collins Hill last week put a huge number on Parkview with a 17-1 win. Collins Hill received five goals from Connor Squires in the win. Peachtree Ridge fell last weekend to Lambert 10-6. On the girls side, Gwinnett’s top school is Wesleyan at No. 21. Peachtree Ridge checks in at No. 24 with GAC entering the rankings at No. 28.
Gwinnett County will be the home to yet another high school this August as the new Lanier High School opens up on Buford Highway, just north of Suwanee in Sugar Hill. The school will go by the nickname of the Longhorns and already the Horns are installing coaches for its first season of sports. Billy Wells, formerly of Collins Hill is the new football coach and athletic director, and he quickly filled the boys basketball position, hiring North Gwinnett girls coach Tony Watkins. Watkins was 75-37 in four seasons with the Lady Bulldogs with three state playoff berths. Before joining North Gwinnett, Watkins coached at Woodward Academy and Shiloh. His career record stands at 509-250 with over 100 wins at Shiloh and a Class 3A final four appearance with Woodward Academy (1996-97). Watkins was an assistant coach on the 1980 Class 2A state championship squad. It was also announced that Watkins will help Wells with the football program.
The North Gwinnett basketball programs will both have new faces at the front next season Watkins’ departure, and now Len Garner has resigned. Garner told the Gwinnett Daily Post that he was asked to resign by school officials, which he did Monday. Garner took the Bulldogs to the Class 5A state playoffs four times in his seven years on the North Gwinnett bench, including last season’s 17-12 squad. The sixty-year-old Garner’s record was 111-80 at North Gwinnett.
In other coaching news…
Cliff Ramos built Collins Hill into a dominant wrestling program including the last three dual and traditional state titles during his sixteen years with the Eagles before resigning several weeks ago. The retirement didn’t last too long. Ramos has decided to stay involved in Georgia high school wrestling and will do so as the Greater Atlanta Christian School’s new director of wrestling. Ramos, a member of the Georgia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, has won nine overall state titles.
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