Mo Dixon will become the new head coach at Cobb County football power Walton High School, Score Atlanta learned from a source Tuesday morning.

Dixon, who last season was the defensive coordinator at Brynes High School in South Carolina, is considered

Photo by Ty Freeman

one of the top defensive minds in the state and made a name for himself as defensive coordinator when he was at North Gwinnett for seven seasons. His hiring is pending approval from the Cobb County School System and he will be formally introduced at the school on Wednesday.

The other finalist for the job was East Paulding head coach Chuck Goddard, who was Walton's defensive coordinator during its 14-1 season in 2011 and run to the school's first state championship game. Goddard has gone 11-1 and 8-4 during his two seasons at East Paulding.

Walton's search committee worked for more than two weeks finding a new head coach, receiving hundreds of applications and interviewing nine coaches. The four brought back for second interviews were three assistants 

and Goddard. The assistants were Collins Hill offensive coordinator Sean 

Calhoun and Brookwood OC Phillip Jones.

Dixon has been a head coach twice before, at North Broward Prep in Boca Raton (Fla.) and Hazard High School in Kentucky. He replaces Rocky Hidalgo, who left last month to take the head job at Glynn Academy in Brunswick.

According to a story last year in the Gwinnett Daily Post, Dixon spent the last seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at North Gwinnett, building one of the state's top defenses. The Bulldogs won three straight region championship and were the Class AAAAA state runner-up in 2007. North recorded 14 shutouts during that span and had one of the state's top scoring defenses. They also also knocked off several nationally ranked teams, including Grayson, Prattville (Ala.), Crenshaw (Calif.) and East St. Louis (Ill.).

Walton, who made the Class AAAAA state championship game in 2011, has gone 6-5 and 7-4 over the last two seasons and lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Defending Class A-Public state champion Charlton County won its second state title on Monday with a 2-1 victory over Gordon Lee. The Indians were shelled in Game 1 of the finals 13-3, but forced the Game 3 with a 7-3 victory in the backend of Saturday's double-header.

In Class AA-AAAAAA, the semifinals were played on Monday and five of the 10 series will come down to a deciding Game 3 today. Milton and Lambert advanced in Class AAAAAA and set the

Photo by Whitney Reddin

state championship field. The Eagles swept Johns Creek 4-3, 3-0 and will host Lambert in the finals, which swept Parkview 3-1, 4-2. Milton and Lambert showcased their deep bullpens and Lambert used three pitchers in its 4-2 Game 2 victory.

Class AAAAA shared a similar theme in Monday's double-headers. Greenbrier took Game 1 3-2 over Whitewater before getting smoked 14-5 in Game 2. Houston County won its Game 1 6-2 over Gainesville, but the Red Elephants exploded for a 13-7 victory in the nightcap. Gainesville and Houston County play their Game 3 at 5 pm and Greenbrier and Whitewater will also hit the field at 5 pm.

In Class AAAA, visiting Carrollton edged Veterans 5-3 and 5-4 to advance to the state championship and Crisp County swept Alexander 7-2, 3-0 to meet the Trojans there. Carrollton will host the championship series and history will finally be repeated. Carrollton's only state title came in 1962 and Crisp County's lone triumph was in 1961.

Blessed Trinity dominated Hart County 13-5, 10-2 on Monday to advance to the Class AAA finals. The Titans opponent is to be determined as Buford and Cartersville await their winner-take all Game 3 at 5:55 pm. The biggest storyline of the semifinals came with the ejection of Cartersville head coach Stuart Chester. The coach received an automatic dismissal from the game for having a video camera operating from the dugout. According to the GHSA, photography is allowed from the dugout but not filming or video recording and the action requires an automatic ejection and two-game suspension.

In Class AA, there are still four teams fighting to keep their seasons alive. Benedictine and Wesleyan split their semifinals series on Monday and Westminster defeated Region 6 rival GAC 12-4 to force a Game 3. Benectine and Wesleyan play an early 1:30 pm Game 3 today and Westminster and GAC will take the mound at 5:30 pm for their rubber match.