The Central Georgia Sports Report

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Sunday's Report: HS playoffs, Devin Butts' service, Tattnall soccer, Mercer; Braves, Falcons, UGA, United; MLB, NBA, NFL, gambling, NASCAR, golf, colleges, NHL

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Around/about Central Georgia

Friends, family, teammates memorialize Butts

          Those who coached him and played with him were joined by friends and family as well as those with no real connection Saturday in a memorial service for Devin Butts.

Video tribute
Full obituary

          Stratford’s gym was about three-fourths full for ceremony of about two hours that was followed by burial at Macon Memorial Park Cemetery on Mercer University Drive.

          Butts died on May 5, five days after collapsing on a basketball court at North Carolina Central, where he was preparing to graduate this month and play one more season, in 2023-24.

           Pallbearers Austin Smith, Kylan Hill, Tyler Jordan, Kendall Greene, Steven Greene, and former Mary Persons standout Cam Holden each spoke during the service.

          A travel party of nearly 30 from the North Carolina Central basketball program and athletics department made a bus trip from Raleigh, N.C. for the service. Longtime head coach LeVelle Moton spoke, fighting emotions when discussing the connection between his 10-year-old son and Butts, as well as some friends and family.

          Most of Butts teammates from his final seasons at Stratford, as well as former Eagles O’Showen Williams and Quintez Cephus, attended, as did former AAU teammates, and even some area high school basketball officials.

          At the end of the service, North Carolina Central officials presented the Butts family with his jersey.

 

Favored St. Anne-Pacelli downs Tattnall with strong second half

          For a half, it didn’t seem like the top seed was facing the sixth seed, with Tattnall battling St. Anne-Pacelli to a 1-all tie in the GIAA boys soccer state championship at Mercer’s Betts Stadium.

          The second half was a little different.

          St. Anne-Pacelli took the lead when a shot that appeared to be blocked actually rolled into the net, and the Vikings went on to a 4-1 win over the Trojans, in their first boys state soccer championship.

          A nice header from Kirvin Driver off a pass from Slaton Berkner tied it up for Tattnall in the first half. But the favored Vikings were able to keep the Trojans at bay in the second half.

 

BSB-Mercer powers past Wofford

 

Around/About Georgia/Southeast

Ozuna hot, but not hot enough, Braves lose again

Injuries to Fried, Wright obstacles for Atlanta

Falcons sign pick Hellams

And Gwyn

Vick gives blessing for Robinson’s jersey choice

Meram scores twice to lead Charlotte over Atlanta

MTEN-Packed stadium watches Georgia advance

 

MLB/Baseball

Judge homers twice, Yanks roar back to top Rays

Rangers’ Gray takes no-hitter into seventh

Jansen blows ninth-inning lead for second straight day

Harper’s comeback stuns teammates

Verlander 21st to beat all 30 MLB teams

Roundup 

NBA/Basketball/WNBA

Sixer, Celtics amped for Game 7

Shroder gives props to Green after ejection

Healthy and happy AD and LeBron make Lakers a threat

Griner plays in first preseason game since detainment

Phoenix: ‘It hurts big time’ after embarrassing exit

Williams feels that pain, gets fired

Column-Suns quit in elimination game, expect big changes 

Football/NFL/USFL/CFL/XFL

Graduation day for Jalen Hurts

Graduation day for 59-year-old Todd Bowles

Cincy mayor skips trash talk while announcing week 17 game with KC

Cleveland bolsters line with Pro Bowl end Smith

Teammates at TCU, teammates with Chargers 

Sports and gambling

Gambling increases, NCAA rules remain strict with tough penalties 

Auto Racing

Truex wins pole at Darlington

Andretti would love more NASCAR-Indy crossovers 

Golf

Trio shares third-round lead at Byron Nelson

Johnson atop LIV Golf Tulsa 

College Sports

Column-Huggins still has a job?

JC baseball coach caught hiding communication devices in helmets

Ex-St. John’s coach Anderson suing for $45.6 mil

Michigan-to-Kansas transfer bemoans NIL $ at UM

Tennessee takes SEC softball tournament for sweep 

Boxing/UFC/MMA

Record crowd watches local fighter Battle deliver knockout

Olympic Sports

Olympic star Dressel returns to pool in Atlanta

Hockey

Eberle leads Kraken over Stars, into Game 7

Florida relishes first conference final in 27 years

Scoreboards

NBA scores/games

MLB scores/games

College baseball scores