One down, one to go for the state's high school wrestling teams.
Collins Hill (Class AAAAA) and Pope (AAAA) were among the state championship winners at last weekend's traditionals tournament at Gwinnett Arena.
The two metro schools will be favorites again at this weekend's team duals, which were postponed from early January because of inclement weather.
The GHSA could not reschedule the entire event for the Macon Centreplex because of a previous booking. Instead, it has been spread out at five different locations this Friday and Saturday: Class AAAAA at Mountain View, Class AAAA at Ola, Class AAA at Locust Grove, Class AA at Toombs County and Class A at Bremen.
This is the first time wrestling's two state championship events have been held on back-to-back weekends.
Basketball
Milton (25-2) still has an outside chance at a mythical national championship. After struggling early in the season, the Eagles have been on tear with 15 straight wins, culminating with Saturday's victory over Centennial in the Region 6-AAAAA finals. Five Milton players scored in double figures in the championship game, led by Jordan Loyd with 17 points, five steals and seven assists and Shannon Scott with 16 points, eight assists and eight steals. Milton, which started the season ranked No. 1 by USA Today, has rallied back to the No. 4 spot. ...
Fayette County's Adam Smith is one of the state's most prolific scorers. He averaged 32 points over three games while leading Fayette County (26-2) to the Region 3-AAAA championship. The 6-foot-1 point guard signed early with UNC Wilmington.
Soccer
Five St. Pius soccer players will sign scholarships on Wednesday: Bryana Gold (Villanova), Kelsey Keown (Rhodes College), Elizabeth Kinsel (Georgia State), Andrea Papania (University of Dallas) and Andrew Wolverton (Penn State). ...
Who has the best soccer team in the state? The Collins Hill boys, according to the all-classification poll by the Georgia High School Soccer Coaches. Collins Hill, the two-time defending Class AAAAA state champion, is followed by Starr's Mill, Gainesville, Lassiter and McIntosh in the top five. On the girls side, North Gwinnett is No. 1, followed by Milton, Starr's Mill, Whitewater and St. Pius.
Baseball
Wheeler High pitcher Sam Bragg, who gained notoriety by striking out the first 14 batters in a game last season, worked with former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone before the start of his senior season. The two have the same dentist, who set up Mazzone to watch one of Bragg's throwing sessions and evaluate his professional potential. Mazzone ended up spending nearly two months with Bragg, developing a breaking pitch to compliment his 93 mph fastball. Bragg turned down a scholarship offer to Georgia to sign with Georgia Perimeter College to gain better position for the chance to get drafted out of junior college and play professional baseball earlier.
Misc.
Zach Boden, Lovett's all-time leading rusher, has decided to play football at Harvard. Boden finished his high school career with 3,863 yards, including 1,463 yards as a senior. He will be joined at Harvard by Tucker High's Norman Hayes, who has officially been accepted to the Ivy League school. Hayes, who has a 4.0 GPA, was a two-year starter at quarterback for Tucker.
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