Dexter Dawson will take over the Americus-Sumter head coaching job, less than two weeks after former head coach Reginald Mitchell turned in his April 11 resignation. Dawson is the school's assistant principal and has head coaching experience at Twiggs County where he led the Cobras in 2010.

Dawson played at Georgia Southern before joining the Arena Football league according to the Americus Times-Recorder.

According to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, Americus-Sumter started as a program in 2004 and Dawson will be the program's sixth head coach in the 11-year existence and the fourth head coach in the past four seasons. The Panthers come off back-to-back 4-6 seasons. 

2014 COACHING CHANGES MASTER LIST

The Marietta Board of Education set an unofficial target of $10 million to revamp historic Northcutt Stadium. Three propsals were set including an estimated low of $6.5 million and a high of $16 million.

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Harrison remained unbeaten and clinched the Region 4-AAAAAA title by defeating Kennesaw Mountain 3-0 Tuesday. The Hoyas are still No. 1 in Georgia's highest classification and will look to finish off the regular season undefeated when they face North Paulding on the road Tuesday.

The top teams from Class AAAAA and Class AAAA squared off against each other last Wednesday, and McIntosh got

Photo by Greg Scanlan

manhandled by Marist 6-0. Second-ranked Pope is hot on McIntosh's trail after beating No. 7 Northview 1-0 last Friday. In Class AAAAA, Villa Rica is making an appearance at No. 9 in the rankings after upsetting Northgate 3-2 last Thursday.

Class AAA No. 1 St. Pius X and Class AA No. 1 Greater Atlanta Christian both scored convincing victories last Thursday. St. Pius took care of No. 5 Woodward Academy 3-0 while Greater Atlanta Christian blanked Lovett 2-0.

Class A No. 1 First Presbyterian traveled to Brookstone last Thursday and came away with a 5-0 win. Jordan, which picked up a victory over Bremen, moved into the Class AA top 10. In Class A, Atlanta International School slid into the 10th spot following a 2-1 defeat of Walker and a close 1-0 loss to ninth-ranked Pace Academy.

SEE LEFT PANEL FOR RANKINGS

The state playoffs began this week and the Buford girls opened the Class AAA playoffs with a 5-0 win over Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe. Annalea Stevens, Baily McCammon and Katie Quinn played singles for the Wolves and all came away with wins.

Over in the Class AAAAA playoffs, the Gainesville girls defeated North Atlanta 3-0. Katherine Wright won at No. 2 singles while Brinkley Frankum won at No. 3 singles. The No. 2 doubles team of Haley Frankum and Josie Every came away with a victory.

For the boys, Lassiter defeated Mill Creek 3-0 in the Class AAAAAA playoffs. Daniel Yun, Christopher Yun and Johnathan Jemison got singles wins for the Trojans.

Pope won its first-round matchup with South Paulding 4-0 in the Class AAAAA playoffs. Austin Bates and Michael Busby got singles wins for the Greyhounds while the doubles team of Harrison Watkins and Mark Fisher were also victorious.

Five teams from DeKalb County are set to do battle on Wednesday and Thursday. The Dunwoody boys and girls will face Clarke Central. The boys will be lead by Luke Bynum who has an 11-5 record in No. 1 singles.

The Chamblee girls will face Madison County in the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs. Gabrielle Robinson leads the Lady Bulldogs with a 9-1 record in No. 1 singles.

The Lakeside boys will face Gainesville in the Class AAAAA playoffs. Aksel Kretsinger-Walters leads Lakeside boys with a 6-3 record in No. 1 singles.

The Druid Hills boys will face Kennesaw Mountain on Thursday in the first round of the Class AAAAAA playoffs. Chase Gooding leads the Red Devils with a 6-2 record in No.1 singles. Druid Hills is the only DeKalb team playing on Thursday while the other four will play on Wednesday.  

Lambert junior Michaela Owen signed a scholarship last week to play college golf for Auburn University. Owen, daughter of Oglethorpe University men's golf coach Jim Owen, will skip her senior year of high school and join the Tigers in the fall of 2014.     

"We are really excited that Michaela is coming to Auburn," head coach Kim Evans assured. "She is a proven player and one of the best juniors in Georgia. We welcome her to the Auburn family and look forward to her success here." 

Success is exactly what Owen has achieved with the Longhorns. Her records at the school include low score in a nine-hole match (34), best round at a state tournament (71) and lowest stroke average at 18-hole events (74.0). Lambert captured the Class AAAAAA state championship last season and Owen earned low medalist honors following a playoff. She won three times on the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour in 2013 while also finishing first at the U.S. Girls Junior Qualifier in Prattville, Ala.   

As for on-course news last weekend, Brookwood hosted the Bronco Invitational at Summit Chase Country Club in Snellville. Even without Owen, the Lambert girls had no trouble winning the team title. Their top three golfers combined for a 222 total, 14 strokes clear of second-place Gainesville.

Kayley Marschke carded a 73 for top individual honors, Lauren Lightfritz shot a 74 and Alison Crenshaw was close behind with a 75. Although Gainesville could not keep up with the Longhorns, the Elephants' 236 steered them well clear of the other six competitors that rounded out the eight-team field. Gainesville was led by Meg Callahan (76) and Morgan Reece (79).     

The Peachtree Ridge boys fired a 315 with their top four golfers to take home the Bronco Invitational title ahead of runner-up Brookwood (319) and third-place Creekview (326). Three Lions shot in the 70s-low medalist Steven Payne (75), Charles Huntzinger (76) and Alvaro Gallego (79). Payne recorded a one-over 37 on the front nine while Huntzinger shot 38-38 and played his last five holes in even par to cement the Lions' victory.     

Region tournaments are taking place throughout the state this week and must be completed by next Monday before sectionals and ultimately the state championships are held next month.