Sectional qualifying for the state golf championship later this month took place

Mark Brock

throughout Georgia on Monday. The Greater Atlanta Christian boys made it through to Class AA's finals with a stellar performance at Blueberry Plantation Golf and Country Club in Alma. Freshman Davis Smith and sophomore Steffen Smith fired matching rounds of 4-over par 76 to lead the Spartans. Sophomores Ben Shipp and Alex Kimm carded scores of 78 and 80, respectively, as Greater Atlanta Christian recorded a team total of 310.              

Wesleyan also advanced with an overall score of 348. The Wolves were paced by Will Harper's 85. Both Greater Atlanta Christian and Wesleyan will compete on May 19 at Applewood Golf Club in Keysville.              

The Lady Spartans also qualified for their state championship by finishing fourth at The Lakes at Laura Walker. Elizabeth Mizell shot an 83 to lead the way. They will be bidding for the Class AA title at Pointe South Golf Club in Hephzibah.              

The North Hall and White County boys successfully punched their tickets to the Class AAA state championship with respective team scores of 326 at Sunset Country Club in Moultrie. At Bull Creek Golf Course in Columbus, the Johnson-Gainesville girls advanced to the Class AAAA championship by finishing sixth at the sectional tournament. Jenny Barrett led the Lady Knights with a 96. They will go for the title along with the rest of Class AAAA's contenders at Waynesboro Golf Course. Statesboro's boys and girls both qualified at Bull Creek. The girls were led to a sixth-place showing by Briana Jones, Emily Olssen and Sarah Jane Bowers. Trevor Dailey led the Statesboro boys with an 83.              

Dalton boys head coach Hunter Johnston, whose team qualified for the Class AAAA state tournament, said the Bull Creek course was as demanding as any his team has forayed onto this season. "What I am really proud of is that this course has so many doglegs and it is very tight and is just a very difficult course if you aren't used to it," he told the Dalton Daily Citizen. "This course made your mental approach to the game crucial. We knew it was tight and knew if your shot wasn't accurate that you weren't going to score very well. The guys came through today."

West Forsyth replaced head coach Frank Hepler with offensive coordinator

Photo by Blaine Davis

Adam Clack on Monday. The Wolverines averaged 36.5 points per game the past two seasons under Clack, and he takes over the program with 12 years of coaching experience. Clack had made coaching stops at Southeast Bulloch and South Forsyth prior to joining West Forsyth and also coaches wrestling at the school.

Clack became an assistant coach at West Forsyth under Hepler for the Wolverines' inaugural 2007 season. Clack coached the secondary for the first couple seasons but would move to offensive coordinator in 2011. Helper announced his resignation on Monday, April 14 to move back to Florida for family reasons and a coaching position at Cypress Bay High School (Fla.). Helper previously spent 14 years at the helm of Plantation High School in Florida.

West Forsyth has seen seven consecutive winning seasons and compiled a 51-18 record in the seven years according to the GHSFHA. New West Forsyth principal Heather Gordy was responsible for leading the search for Hepler's replacement and just second head coach in school history. The staff has remained almost completely intact the past several years and keeping the hire in-house with Clack would keep it that way.

The resignation of several veteran head coaches has been a theme across the state this offseason, but perhaps nowhere more than Region 6-AAAAAA. All three top playoff seeds from the 2013 season out of Region 6 (Alpharetta, West Forsyth, Lambert) have resigned and all three have replaced their head coaches with offensive coordinators. Alpharetta replaced Jason Dukes, who took a job at Smiths Station in Alabama, with offensive coordinator Jacob Nichols. Lambert also promoted its offensive coordinator Louis Daniel, replacing Sid Maxwell. Chattahoochee, also in Region 6, promoted its defensive coordinator Vince Strine to replace Michael Owens after he resigned after his only season with the team.