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BOYD TO COACH EAST JACKSON

Six-time state hoops champ David Boyd will coach East Jackson next year. See the story below and also read about Steve DeVoursney resigning at Griffin and check out this week's lacrosse notebook. 


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In This Issue
Baseball Rankings
Score Atlanta
Breaking News
DeVoursney Resigns
Lacrosse Notebook
Rankings Rundown
Falcons Cheer Tryouts
Score Poll
Trivia
Question: 
What are the four schools that basketball coach David Boyd has led to state titles? 
 
Today's answer can  
be found in the newsletter!

 

Wednesday's answer:

The Pope boys soccer team is 8-0 in region play and has not lost to a Class AAAAA opponent all season.
BASEBALL RANKINGS

Rankings were released Tuesday afternoon.  

 

Class AAAAAA

1. Lambert

2. Parkview

3. Walton

4. Mountain View

5. West Forsyth

6. Etowah

7. Tift County

8. Kennesaw Mountain

9. Milton

10. East Coweta

 

Class AAAAA

1. Whitewater

2. Allatoona

3. Houston County

4. Hardaway

5. Loganville

6. Greenbrier

7. Gainesville

8. Starr's Mill

9. Sprayberry

10. Stephenson

 

Class AAAA

1. Marist

2. Crisp County

3. Columbus

4. Worth County

5. Redan

6. Columbia

7. Locust Grove

8. Veterans

9. Griffin

10. Carrollton

 

Class AAA

1. Buford

2. Blessed Trinity

3. Pike County

4. Pierce County

5. Thomson

6. St. Pius

7. Callaway

8. Chapel Hill

9. North Hall

10. Jackson County

 

Class AA

1. Jefferson

2. Westminster

3. Bremen

4. Calhoun

5. Wesleyan

6. Lovett

7. Cook

8. Benedictine

9. Fitzgerald

10. Bowdon

 

Class A

1. ELCA

2. Mount Paran

3. Charlton Co.

4. Pace Academy

5. King's Ridge Chr.

6. Athens Christian

7. ECI

8. Schley County

9. Brookstone

10. Hawkinsville

 

 







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Thursday, April 10, 2014


SCORE ATLANTA PUBLICATION
 
Check out this week's publication!


 

BREAKING NEWS
by Stephen Black
 
Boyd to be hired at East Jackson

 

State high school hoops fans will see a familiar face in gyms next year. David Boyd, who has won six boys state basketball titles at four different schools, will lead East Jackson during the 2014-2015 season, according to Boyd and East Jackson principal

Photo by Ty Freeman

Jamie Dixon. The school will officially announced the hire Thursday at an information session at the school. Boyd was at Excel Christian last year, but resigned during the season.

 

Boyd was not sure if or when he would get back into coaching until former Milton athletics director and current East Jackson principal Jamie Dixon contacted him.

 

"I began to realize East Jackson was close to Athens (UGA) where my daughter Christina is a junior and my wife graduated from," Boyd said. "One of my former players, Charles Mann, is doing really well there and I have a great relationship with (Georgia assistant coach) Jonas Hayes and I have a real good relationship with Coach Fox."

 

Dixon and Boyd worked together at Milton where Dixon was the athletics director while Boyd coached the boys hoops team. It was there the pair established a relationship of mutual respect.

 

"David brings an ability to coach basketball unlike I have seen anywhere in my career," said Dixon. "His ability to make kids better is phenomenal. It is second-to-none in my opinion."

 

ROOM TO GROW ...

 

While East Jackson is a relatively new school with little success on the hardwood, Boyd sees potential in the Athens-area program.

 

"The community seems very hungry for a winner," Boyd explained. "The gym is very nice especially for a AAA school. The weight room is just incredible, it looks like a college weight room. It looked like a situation where you could come in there and build a program and the community would really appreciate that. I went to one of their games at the end of the year and was very impressed with the enthusiasm of their student body and the potential of their players."

 

Boyd began his head coaching career at his high school alma mater, Campbell, in 1980 and was there until 1993. He led the Spartans to the 1982 state title. He then took the job at Tucker, where he won another state championship in 1996. Boyd then moved to Gwinnett County's Berkmar and won back-to-back state championships there in 2000-2001. After a four-year stint at Riverdale, Boyd landed at Milton in 2008, where he won state gold in 2010 and 2012. At the north Fulton school, however, Boyd was forced out in 2012 due to what was termed "undue influence."

 

"A lot of families wanted to be a part of what we were doing," said Boyd of his career at Milton. "It is an excellent school, great basketball program, guys getting scholarships, being held accountable in the classroom, and so it was a situation where people wanted to be. And I feel like the only thing I did wrong there was care a little bit too much about making sure that families were making the right decision for their sons."

 

PROGRAM BUILDER ...

 

Boyd sat out the 2012-2013 season, then was hired to coach at Excel Christian in Cartersville. He resigned midseason before moving to St. Simons. After a few months of rest, the Georgia State graduate is back on the hardwood. Highly experienced in rebuilding programs, this will be Boyd's seventh head coaching job. Making a first impression is important when trying to turn around a program, according to Boyd.

 

"I want to make sure we get off to a great start and talk about setting goals as a team and as individuals," he explained. "And we'll talk about work ethic, effort and those kinds of things that you can control and just really get everybody excited going to work and I'm going to send out a grade sheet to teachers to let them know that's going to be an important part now."

 

East Jackson has not had a winning season since 2008-2009 when the Eagles went 15-14.

 

The hire is pending board approval, which will meet on April 14.

 


GRIFFIN COACH RESIGNS
By Craig Sager II
 
DeVoursney turns in surprise resignation

 

 

Griffin's veteran head coach Steve DeVoursney announced that he would be resigning on Tuesday before he met with his team Wednesday to break the news.

 

"Today [Wednesday] will be my last day at head football coach at Griffin,"said DeVoursney in an interview with the AJC. "We won a state championship. Lost a bunch

Photo by Craig Sager II

of coaches. It was a long season. Felt like it's time to move on and pursue other things. I have no idea where I'll coach again. I'm wide open. I'll start looking today and see what happens.''

 

This past season, DeVoursney joined rare company by leading Griffin to its first outright state title in school history and a first perfect season (15-0). DeVoursney joined an even shorter list by becoming one of the few individuals in Georgia history to win a state title as a head coach and player. DeVoursney reached the podium as a player in 1988 with R.E. Lee.

 

DeVoursney came to Griffin as an assistant in 1996 and was defensive coordinator in 2000 before he got the head coaching job midseason when head coach David McNight was let go. According to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, DeVoursney won 107 games in his last 10 seasons at Griffin and leaves behind an all-time 128-35 record in his 13 seasons.

 

Griffin has been one of the top producers of college talent in the state the past several seasons and its quarterback Jaquez Parks was named AJC 2013 Georgia All-classification Player of the Year before signing with Kennesaw State this past February.

 

I spoke with Griffin athletic director Dr. Kennedy Holt on Wednesday to see if there were any disciplinary obstacles or infractions that influenced DeVoursney's decision to resign. Holt did not suggest any wrongdoings but did mentioned the next step in this process would go through the Griffin-Spalding County Scphool District, which will finalize the resignation before a new hire could be made. According to the district's director of community services Judy Parker, the position should be officially opened and posted within the upcoming week.

 

 


LACROSSE NOTEBOOK
By Craig Sager II
 
North Gwinnett boys suffer first loss, Kell girls seek perfection

 

The North Gwinnett boys lost their first game of the season on Tuesday to out of state power McCallie (Tenn.) 12-6. That leaves 9-0 Hillgrove as the lone undefeated team remaining in Class AAAAAA. Northview (13-0) is the only undefeated boys team left in

Photo by Deanna Fiveash

Class A-AAAAA. The Bulldogs' loss came to one of the better teams in Tennessee and McCallie faces a total of five Georgia teams this year. Westminster was able to win a 6-3 defensive struggle on March 7 with McCallie and Pope pulled off a 9-4 victory on March 15. Lassiter (April 19) and Alpharetta (April 25) are the remaining Georgia teams that will face the Tornadoes.

 

North Gwinnett has just four games remaining in the regular season (Etowah, Parkview, Grayson and Peachtree Ridge). Its 12-6 loss to McCallie was the first time all season that the Bulldogs have allowed double-digit goals.

 

A matchup to look for before this weekend is Walton vs. Westminster. The (8-2) Raiders are ranked No. 4 in Class AAAAAA and have arguably played the toughest schedule in the state. Walton's two losses came to Class AAAAAAA No. 1 Milton 12-11 and Class AAAAAAA No. 2 Harrison 11-7 early in the season. Westminster is ranked No. 2 in Class A-AAAAA and its only losses came to Harrison (10-7) and Northview (7-6).

 

On the girls side, Kell improved to 10-0 on Tuesday with a 21-1 win over Creekview. The top-ranked Longhorns' quest perfection will be tested with a trip to Lassiter on Friday before tilts with Westminster and Northview this upcoming week.

 

LEGACY CUP ...

 

Before the playoffs arrive, the end of April (25th-26th) will be highlighted by the 2014 Legacy Cup. Elite teams from all over the nation (as far away as California) come to compete in this highly competitive tournament that is in memory of Parker Jackson, a former Milton player that died in a car accident in 2006. The event will showcase a total of 14 boys games and 12 girls games over the two days. Centennial, Alpharetta, Cambridge, Milton, Riverwood, Walton, Decatur, Etowah and Lambert will represent Georgia in the boys games and Milton, Cambridge, Lassiter, Lambert and Marist will represent from the girls side. Event details can be found at

 

 

 

RANKINGS RUNDOWN
 
Jefferson takes over at No. 1 in AA

 

Jefferson is the new No. 1 in Class AA after Lovett lost three of four and

Photo by Stephanie Lamm

Westminster dropped a game to GAC last week. Wesleyan leapt into the top five after taking two of three from Lovett. Bowdon debuted in the top 10 with an impressive 12-3 record.

 

The Class A combined rankings remained the same while, in Class AAA, Blessed Trinity shot up to No. 2 after winning 10 straight, including impressive victories over McEachern and St. Pius X. White County dropped out of the rankings after losing four straight. St. Pius X has won 10 of 11 and, after being unranked two weeks ago, has shot up to No. 6.

 

The state's largest classification, AAAAAA, saw Region 4-rivals Harrison and McEachern fall out in the wake of multiple recent defeats while Kennesaw Mountain debuted in the top 10 with a 7-2 mark in Region 4 and a 14-5 overall record.

 

Loganville has climbed into the top five in Class AAAAA after eight straight wins while Gainesville slid down to No. 7 after losing four of six.

Veterans made the Class AAAA rankings this week with a solid 14-3 record while Carrollton found its way back in having won six straight.

 


SEE LEFT PANEL FOR THE RANKINGS

 


ATLANTA FALCONS UPDATE


 

Dear Coach,

We wanted to provide an update regarding the 2014 Atlanta Falcons Coaches Clinic hosted by Head Coach Mike Smith. Due to the NFL Draft which is now in May and required commitments, the next Coaches Clinic will be held in March 2015. Please save the date for the Atlanta Falcons Salute to High School Football reception for Georgia high school football head coaches on Saturday, December 13 at the Georgia Dome. 

 

Please save the date for the Atlanta Falcons Salute to High School Football reception for Georgia high school football head coaches on Saturday, December 13 at the Georgia Dome. 

 

For other Atlanta Falcons youth and prep football program information, please visit atlantafalcons.com/youthfootball or on twitter @AFPlayFootball

 

Thanks so much for your support of the Atlanta Falcons. 

 

All inquiries should be directed to David Quiroga, Youth and Prep Football Coordinator at 770-965-4310 or [email protected]

 

Sincerely, 

Atlanta Falcons Community Relations Department 

DIRECT PHONE: 770-965-4310  

 

gaoa
SCORE POLL
 

 


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