The school had no state titles a year ago. Baseball could be 3rd this year.

North Paulding baseball coach Matt Richardson broke tradition on Monday when his team dominated a Georgia powerhouse to make the state championship.

Right after the Wolfpack shook hands with Parkview, the team didn’t meet with the coaches. Richardson let his players rush straight to the fans, celebrating a 12-2 semifinal win and the continuation of a historic athletic year for North Paulding.

The school, which opened in 2007, had never won a team state championship in any sport entering this school year. Then the Wolfpack won titles in cheerleading and girls basketball, and Richardson saw school spirit explode.

The enthusiasm created an electric game three environment on Monday, a winner-take-all contest with a state title berth on the line.

“Seeing our student body painted up, our students all around the third base side, and we have a big hill out in the outfield that was packed with community members,” Richardson said. “I really think that provided a huge juice for our guys, just to play at home.”

North Paulding’s baseball team, arguably the school’s most successful program over the last decade, is now two wins away from adding to the titles list. Senior shortstop Cade Cox hoped his team would be the first to bring North Paulding a championship, but he’s enjoying the challenge of ending the year — and his high school career — with another trophy.

“All of us as a group were kind of like, ‘Darn, we didn’t get it, but we could get it in the same year,’” Cox said. “It was an exciting thing to know that we could follow that up.”

The Wolfpack will take on a familiar opponent when the Class 6A championship series starts on Tuesday. North Paulding will face Etowah, which has won two state titles in the last 10 years and boasts one of the most talented rosters in the state.

The Eagles have five players ranked in the top 10 of their respective classes in Georgia, according to Prep Baseball Report.

Etowah’s senior class alone has Georgia’s top-ranked MLB Draft-eligible high schooler, Trevor Condon. It also features University of Georgia commit Matthew Sharman and Georgia Tech commit Deion Cole. UGA and Georgia Tech just won regular season championships in the SEC and ACC, arguably the toughest two conferences in college baseball.

North Paulding has a pair of Division I commits in Wesley Moering (Southern Miss) and Lawson Sheffield (North Alabama), but many of its starters will play college baseball at lower levels.

“Coach (Dennis) Jordan, who I took over for, always talked about how North doesn’t get the D-I guys,” Richardson said. “We’ll get one or two, and then we’re just filled up with a bunch of blue collar guys that will go JUCO or D-II but just know how to play the game the right way, and that’s kind of what our team is.

“We’ve got a couple of guys that will go on to Southern Miss or South Alabama, but then we also get our North Georgias and our Columbus States. These guys are just tough, gritty guys.”

North Paulding has no shortness of confidence entering the series, especially since the Wolfpack beat the Eagles in a region-opening series back in February. It was the program’s first step toward its first region title under Richardson.

Sheffield believes the familiarity with a region opponent will serve his team well on Tuesday.

“We’ve already seen all their guys,” Sheffield said. “For us two as hitters, it makes it more comfortable going into the box already knowing the shapes of all the pitches and what they have to offer.”

Sheffield wants to end North Paulding’s historic year on a perfect note, but he also wants to make an impact beyond 2026. The senior third baseman believes a win over an annual state title contender like Etowah would send a bigger message about the program.