Central Georgia Sports ReportMay 13, 2023Comment

Saturday's Report: Scoreboard; FPD/Stratford championship, Georgia College, GHSA track, Rutland/FVSU/Bleckley County alums/XFL finale, GHSA track, Mercer; Falcons, Braves, UGA, Tech; NBA, NFL, MLB

Central Georgia Sports ReportMay 13, 2023Comment

📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D📰

High School

⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Playoffs

Bethlehem Christian 11, FPD 1; Bethlehem Christian 8, FPD 7

The hosts trailed 1-0 after three, but went for five in the fourth to take control, and then pull away for the six-inning win. FPD (20-14) was outhit by 10, and had four errors and four unearned runs. Brady McHugh had half of FPD’s four hits. The nightcap was a battled, FPD trialing 2-0, leading 3-2, and tied at four until BC’s four-run fifth. FPD got within 8-7 after six, and had runners on first and third with one out and second and third with two outs but couldn’t push across the tying run in the bottom of the seventh. Colton McDonald went 3 for 3 with four RBI for FPD, Keon Johnson and Reynolds Handberry adding two hits each.

Edmund Burke 6, Gatewood 2; Gatewood 8, Edmund Burke 7

Etowah at Houston County, ppd.
The teams will try again with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 1 p.m.

Piedmont 7, SW Georgia 6; SW Georgia 3, Piedmont 2

Strong Rock 5, Tattnall 4
Game 2 is Saturday at noon at Strong Rock.

Valwood 11, JMA 1
Game 2 was postponed until 1 p.m. Saturday, scoreless in the bottom of the third.

🏫 🏫 🏫College 🏫 🏫 🏫
Links have either a story (with box included) or a box

⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Georgia State 11, Georgia Southern 3
Georgia Tech 8, Duke 5
Mercer 10, Wofford 6
Missouri 13, Georgia 3
North Alabama 8, Kennesaw State 5

Lacrosse

W-Notre Dame 21, Mercer 6

🥎 🥎 🥎Softball 🥎 🥎 🥎

Mercer 4, ETSU 3; Samford 2, Mercer 1, Southern Conference Tournament

Pro

⚾ ⚾ ⚾ MLB ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Toronto 3, Atlanta 0

⚽ ⚽ ⚽MLS⚽ ⚽ ⚽

📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰

Honor Roll

WTEN-Four Georgia College players on all-district academic list

MTEN-And the men put four on the list

Alumni Update

Marquette King (Rutland/FVSU), Willie Taylor III (Bleckley County) in XFL championship

A pair of Central Georgians will play for a championship ring Saturday night in the XFL championship game.

It’s being played Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Alamodome in San Antonio, and televised on ABC, with the Arlington Renegades facing the D.C. Defenders.

Arlington’s starting punter is former Rutland and Fort Valley State standout Marquette King.

He is fourth in the league with a 46.5-yard average on 40 punts, with five inside the 20 and three touchbacks, plus a long of 70.

The 34-year-old played with Oakland (2012-17) and Denver (2018) in the NFL, and averaged 46.7 yards a punt on 446 tries.

Despite being consistently one of the league’s top punters, he was released by Denver in the 2018 offseason, and was in active until a COVID-shortened 2020 season with St. Louis in the XFL.

Former Bleckley County standout Willie Taylor III is a defensive lineman on the Renegades. He has 16 tackles and an interception in 11 games. He started his college career at Washington State and had 67 tackles in 42 games in four seasons, and finished at Eastern Kentucky in 2022, with 37 tackles.

Arlington also has defensive lineman T.J. Barnes of Georgia Tech. On the D.C. roster: defensive lineman Davin Bellamy and offensive lineman D’Marcus Hayes of Georgia.

Around/About Central Georgia

FPD pulls away in second half for GIAA state title win

The offense and the defense clicked for FPD as the Vikings topped Stratford 4-0 to win the GIAA Class 4A girls soccer title Friday night at Mercer’s Betts Stadium.

FPD finishes 17-1, Stratford 16-3.

Westminster beat Trinity Christian 2-1 on penalty kicks (3-0) in the girls AA game. The boys from Trinity Christian at 2 p.m. and Tattnall at 6 p.m. go for championships on Saturday.

FPD led at halftime after an early free-kick goal from Bowen Matthews, who drilled a shot high and left only a few minutes into the championship.

Matthews, an eighth-grader, added a penalty kick a little more than eight minutes into the second half, and Katelyn Jackson took Laura Chan’s cross for a score to pretty much put it out of reach about six minutes later.

Matthews sealed it with about four minutes left, giving FPD its first girls state soccer title since 2018 (GHSA).

Bleckley County, GMC add GHSA track hardware

Class A/Division I
Girls

1600: 1. Ella Gibbs, Bleckley County, 5:00.36; 8. Claira Lynch, Bleckley County, 5:21.39

Boys

1600: 1. Luke Churchwell, Bleckley County, 4:17.98; 5. Caleb Darsey, Bleckley County, 4:31.91

Class A/Division II
Girls

1600 (5:34.54): 2. Maria Knapp, GMC, 5:40.30

Boys

1600: 1. Julian Council, GMC, 4:45.91

          Bleckley County added two more GHSA state track titles on Friday with wins in the 1,600-meter run.
          Ella Gibbs won girls championship in Class A/Division I, while Luke Churchwell defended his championship, Bleckley County in Class AA last year.
          GMC added to its point totals in the event, thanks to a win by Julian Council in Class A/Division II boys 1,600, and a second place by Maria Knapp on the girls side.
          Bleckley County's girls have 21 points, 24 points behind A/I leader Oglethorpe County. The Royals boys are also fifth with 21 points, 12 behind No. 1 Swainsboro.
          GMC's sixth-place girls are 15 points behind A/I leader Montgomery County, and the fifth-place Bulldog boys have 20 points, 21 behind Schley County.

WLAX-Big start by Notre Dame dooms Mercer

BSB-Sanford slam erases Wofford comeback in Mercer win

Around/About Georgia

First day of Falcons’ rookie camp in the books

Fontenot on Robinson over Carter

Breaking down Atlanta’s schedule, and the byes

Another look at the slate

Strider handles Braves, Bassitt handles Braves more

Bowers expected to stabilize a new-look offense

BSB-Tech pops No. 10 Duke

WTEN-Georgia advances to NCAA quarterfinals

Football/NFL/USFL