WED, NOV 13 @ 8PM1314_HWK_ScoreAtl_11.13_NYK_10.25x1.7.indd 1 10/30/13 10:06 AM

VOLUME 9 ISSUE 24 | NOVEMBER 8-14, 2013 | YOUR SOURCE FOR SPORTS IN GEORGIA

Time to look great!

WRESTLINGPRODIGY

Harrier Heaven | Pg. 8

Bad Luck Birds | Pg. 4

See inside for the state finals meet preview.

Joe Deighton laments the Falcons’ injury concerns.

WWE star Titus O’Neil makes his personal “investors” proud. | Pg. 5

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THIS COMEBACK ATHLETE HAD A LONG ROAD BACK.

TODAY IT’S 8.5 MILES.Know a young athlete who overcame a serious injury or illness? Nominatethem for Comeback Athlete of the Month at choa.org/comeback.

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3Vol. 9 Iss. 24 | November 8-14, 2013

PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg

ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ Galbiati Blalock

SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR Stephen Black

BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick

DIRECTOR OF SALES Melanie Snare & MARKETING

BEAT WRITERS Ricky Dimon (Braves) Joe Deighton (Dream) Jay Underwood (Hawks) Brian Jones (KSU) Chris Nieman (UGA) Craig Sager II (Falcons) Stephen Black (Tech) Chris Schutter (GSU)

STAFF WRITERS Ryan Caiafa Alex Ewalt

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Copyright 2013 Score Atlanta Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Score Atlanta is published in print every other week on Fridays and a digital version is posted to ScoreAtl.com in-between print issues. Views expressed in Score Atlanta are not necessarily the opinion of Score Atlanta, its staff or advertisers. Score Atlanta does not know-ingly accept false or misleading editorial content or advertising nor is Score Atlanta responsible for the content or claims of any advertis-ing or editorial in this publication. No content (articles, photographs, graphics) in Score Atlanta may be used for reproduction without writ-ten permission from the publisher.

Score Atlanta is looking for writing interns. Please e-mail Stephen Black at sblack@scoreatl.com or call 404-256-1572 for more information.

Football All-Star Games will never be the same! The Georgia Elite Junior Classic will be held at McEachern High School on Dec. 28.

STARTING LINEUP 04 COLUMNISTS 05 08ON THE COVER INSIDE THE PREPS

ON THE INSIDE AT SCORE STAY CONNECTED!

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SCORE LIST | NUMBERS

GEORGIA STATE | KENNESAW STATE GEORGIA | GEORGIA TECH

BRAVES | FALCONS HAWKS | SILVERBACKS

COVER DESIGN BY DJ GALBIATI BLALOCKCOVER PHOTOS COURTESY OF ATLANTA FALCONS, WALTER PINION AND WWE SMACK DOWN.

0612

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4 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

With it being the beginning of November, the Falcons are at the halfway point of

the season. And to say that they aren’t making the grade would be an understatement. The Falcons are 2-6 and the teams they defeated (St. Louis and Tampa Bay) have los-ing records. The last two games for the Falcons have been especially rough, falling to Arizona 27-13 and to Carolina 34-10. In order for the Falcons to turn things around, they have to click on all cylinders, which is something that has not happened all year. And with Seattle coming into town on Sunday, they know it’s now or never when it comes to making a push for the playoffs.

NO RUSH … Atlanta’s offense was expected to be a

juggernaut and help the team make a run in the playoffs. That has not panned out because the rushing attack for the Falcons has been no-where near up to par. With an average of 64 yards per game, the Falcons rank last in the NFL. Part of the reason they have struggled in the run game is Steven Jackson missed over a month of action with a hamstring injury. The other reason is the offensive line has been un-able to get the initial push off the line of scrim-mage when it comes to run blocking. This has led to Matt Ryan throwing the ball a lot more than he should. A prime exam-ple of that is he attempted 61 passes in the loss to Arizona. A few weeks earlier, he threw 54 passes in the setback against New England. Speaking of Ryan, he actually played well for most of the first half of the season. The last

two games do not show it, as he threw a com-bined seven interceptions, but before those he was playing at an elite level. Among the recent problems is that Ryan has largely been without Jackson, Julio Jones and Roddy White, so he has been forced to carry the load and it looks like it has caught up to him. The Falcons offense generally has to score 30 points a game in order for it to be considered successful. The unit has reached that mark in just two games—both of the team’s wins.

YOUTH ON DEFENSE … The main reason the Falcons need to score 30 points on offense is to protect a de-fense that is still finding its way. With the loss of Sean Weatherspoon for at least half the year, Kroy Biermann for the entire year and other defensive starters missing a few games with injuries, defensive coordinator Mike No-lan has been forced to play some younger guys who were not expected to see a lot of action at this point of the season. Linebackers Joplo Bartu and Paul Worri-low are among the young guys who have seen plenty of playing time. Both were undrafted free agents who impressed the coaches dur-ing training camp. Bartu is second on the team with 42 tackles while Worrilow is coming off a 19-tackle performance against Carolina.

There is also youth in the secondary with rookies Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford. The two players have a combined three inter-ceptions but are having their share of growing pains as they have been beat by opposing re-ceivers quite a few times this season. But the two big reasons for the defen-sive struggles are sacks and turnovers. The Falcons have only 18 sacks this season, which puts them near the bottom of the league. They also have a turnover ratio of negative-7. At the end of last season, the Falcons were +13 in that category.

TURN IT AROUND … The question is can the Falcons make a second-half comeback? The reason why they won a lot of games the last five years is that they played mistake-free football. They didn’t turn the ball over and they didn’t commit costly penalties. Ryan has to play like he did in the first six games of the season in order for the Falcons to get back on the winning track. If he can help ignite the offense, Atlanta has a shot of doing some good things in November and December. It won’t be easy, but if there’s anything we learned from the Falcons since 2008, it’s that they will never give up. Photo of Paul Worrilow courtesy of the At-lanta Falcons.

No one thought it would be like this. No one thought they would be 2-6. The Falcons

aren’t going to make the playoffs this year. Coming off of an NFC Championship loss, everybody had the Atlanta Falcons pegged as one of the favorites to go to the Super Bowl. An opening game loss at New Orleans was no big deal, no cause for concern. The Saints are a good team and they had their head coach back. Who could blame the Falcons for losing a game like that? Then, the avalanche of injuries came. No one thought that Steven Jackson, a player who has more career rushing yards than any other current running back, could get hurt. Every-body expected more from Jackson. Nobody

thought Julio Jones would go down. He did. No one thought Roddy White would miss a game for the first time in his nine-year career. He did. The Falcons have been decimated by in-juries, more than any team in recent memory. This Falcons team is shaping up a lot like the 1999 Falcons. That team came off of the fran-chise’s only Super Bowl appearance. That team lost their star running back in the second game of the season. That team started 2-6 and fin-ished 5-11. This team has started 2-6 and looks like a 5-11 team right now.

DAWG DAYS ... Remember when beating Florida actually meant something? Most Georgia fans would

have died to have a three-game winning streak against Florida at least once over the past two decades. Georgia beat Florida last Saturday 23-20 to earn its third straight win over the Gators. It just didn’t feel like it afterwards. Both teams came in with a 4-3 record. The game didn’t have that same mid-season buzz to it. It did have a lot of anger to it. There was pushing and shoving and half-punches thrown at the end of this game. The Dawgs nearly blew a 20-point lead and escaped with the victory. This has been a strange season for UGA. There was so much promise with a top-5 rank-ing, then there were three losses and maybe a lost season, but now there is hope again. The Bulldogs are still alive for a berth in the SEC Championship Game. Aaron Murray is still the quarterback and Todd Gurley is still the run-ning back. This team is still very good with a lot to play for. The goal of beating Alabama and winning the SEC is still a possibility and that is still exciting to think about. Games against traditional rivals Auburn and Georgia Tech remain, as does more winna-ble games versus Appalachian State and Ken-tucky. If Gurley remains healthy and stays away from any more fisticuffs, Georgia’s offense will

be potent. But can the defenses slow down the prolific running attacks of Auburn and Georgia Tech? That is the quest for the Dawgs.

GOODBYE, MR. BELLAMY … Walt Bellamy died at the age of 74 last Saturday. The history of the Atlanta Hawks cannot be written without the Hall-of-Fame forward. Bellamy joined Atlanta in February 1970, towards the end of his career. He was there with then rookie “Pistol” Pete Maravich and “Sweet” Lou Hudson. He helped lead the Hawks to the playoffs, four straight seasons. Bellamy has a record that will probably never be broken. In 1968-69, he played 88 reg-ular season games after being traded from the Knicks to the Pistons. There are, of course, only 82 regular season games during the year. Walt Bellamy was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1962 after averaging 31.6 points per game for the Chicago Packers (now the Washing-ton Wizards). The 31.6 average ranks second all-time for rookies behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 37.6 ppg in 1960. He also won Olympic Gold for the United States basketball team in the Rome Olympics in 1960. Photo courtesy of Rob Saye.

KEEPING UP WITH BIG B

CUP OF JOE

BY BRIAN JONES | BJONES@SCOREATL.COM

BY JOE DEIGHTON | JDEIGHTON@SCOREATL.COM

FALCONS DOWN, BUT ARE THEY OUT?

FALCONS INJURY ISSUES ARE OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS

5Vol. 9 Iss. 24 | November 8-14, 2013

Thaddeus Bullard, better known as WWE superstar Titus O’Neil, is climbing the

ranks in the business and is taking advantage of the very unique opportunity in front of him. A Tampa native, Bullard has had to work for every opportunity he got. “I didn’t come from a silver spoon back-ground,” Bullard said. He grew up watching wrestling with his grandmother, who made sure wrestling was turned on right after her grandchildren were finished watching their cartoons every Satur-day morning. Bullard played football for the University of Florida on scholarship and played in the Arena Football League after graduating from Florida. All the while, an opportunity for a future as a WWE superstar was waiting in his own backyard.

GETTING STARTED ... Bullard’s road to wrestling was unique from the start. His neighbor in Tampa is Dave

His character is pretty much just him “acting” as he normally would. If it seems like the cha-risma comes easy to him when he is cutting promos, it’s because he is comfortable in his own skin and it translates flawlessly into the ring and in front of the camera. “This company gave me the opportunity to show my character, my humor, when I’m up-set,” Bullard said. He’s right on in that respect. A big hurdle for most young superstars is being comfort-able from a charismatic standpoint and being able to get the crowd involved. Bullard looks like a seasoned vet in both those regards, even though he only signed in 2009.

FAMILY FIRST ... Bullard is a family man, and he’s come into a family business. Character development has a dual meaning when it comes to the WWE. The program has been primarily PG-rated for just that reason. Although Vince McMahon usually plays a heel, a terrifying one at that, at his core he is a man who loves is family and gives back as much as possible. The WWE is a family and they work hard together while look-ing out for one another. Even with no offseason and the physi-cal and mental toll the wrestling business can have on a person, Bullard wouldn’t have it any other way. “With anything in life you have to make sacrifices, but with those sacrifices nothing has been compromised,” Bullard said. “I’m still very active in my community, with my children and the people who are family to me. It will all pay off in time.” The thing that stands out about Bullard, as a wrestler and as a man, is that he works hard to take advantage of every opportunity that is presented to him. He works hard to be the best, but regardless of what the future holds he will sleep easy knowing he made the best of himself. He is a family man, in a fam-ily business, pursuing a career as a superstar like the ones he watched with his grandmother, when he was just another kid in Tampa with a brilliant future no one could predict. Photos courtesy of WWE Smack Down.

Batista. Yes, that Dave Batista. The four-time World Heavyweight Champion, two-time WWE Champion, three-time World Tag Team champion and WWE Tag Team champion. Oh, and he headlined WrestleMania 21, which is in the top five for highest-grossing pay-per-view pro wrestling events ever. Batista suggested the WWE long before Bullard even considered it. Then one day, driv-ing by the Florida Championship Wrestling Complex (which is now NXT), Bullard decided to see what it was all about. He was asked to come back and speak with someone about the business after the show that night. So Bul-lard picked up his kids from school and went to the show. It was the first time he had seen wrestling live, and that night he was speaking to NXT president Steve Keirn about Bullard’s future. “I had a 15 min conversation with Steve Keirn,” said Bullard. “About 20 minutes after leaving, WWE called saying they wanted me

to try out. I tried out on a Friday and the follow-ing week I was in Pittsburgh for a physical. Two weeks later I was in FCW.” Bullard took this opportunity as a bless-ing. It was a chance for him to show people his true character, put smiles on people’s faces, and give back to his community in ways he might not have been able to otherwise. He has been working hard every day like few others in order to cement his name in WWE history. At 4:30 a.m., Bullard is up and on his way to the gym. He does this every day regardless of what city he is in. Whether he’s at home, in a hotel gym, or working out at the University of South Carolina facilities with former coach Steve Spurrier, his drive never fails. His motivation isn’t to prove his doubters wrong, but to prove his believers right. “I’ve worked very hard my whole life,” Bullard said. “People have invested in me who didn’t have to.” Bullard believes that not working hard for those people who invested in him would be selling them short.

ROLE MODELS ... As a fan, Bullard is a huge fan of Dwayne Johnson, know in wrestling as “The Rock”. Few superstars have been able to accomplish what The Rock has from a wrestling standpoint and from an entertainment standpoint, and that’s the type of superstar Bullard is aspiring to be. The Rock had a similar start to Bullard’s, in that they each started with nothing and had to work hard every chance they got to make something for themselves. Bullard has other motivations as well. He is as dedicated as a father as they get. His fam-ily, whether actual family or friends who are basically family, are the top priority in his life. The character Titus O’Neil’s name is a combi-nation of his youngest son’s name, Titus, and O’Neil in reference to Shaquille O’Neal. “Shaq has always been one of my favorite athletes because he did more than just basket-ball,” Bullard explained. “I wanted to be more than just a wrestler I wanted to be known as an entertainer as well.” Anyone who’s seen Bullard can see that being an entertainer doesn’t come hard to him.

TITUS O’NEIL

BY CHRIS SCHUTTER | CSCHUTTER@SCOREATL.COM

FORMER SEC STAR TAKES TALENTS TO THE RING

ON THE COVER

6 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

OUR TWO CENTSOur email newsletter is something we take a lot of pride in at Score. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is a high school sports-heavy publication that we produce each day to fill in our readers on the latest happenings in Georgia prep sports. We send it out Monday through Friday throughout the year and Monday through Saturday during the fall.

Not only do we cover popular sports like football, basketball and baseball, we also cover every other varsity sport the GHSA fields. If you like Georgia high school sports at all, sign up for our email newsletter by visiting www.tinyurl.com/scorenewsletter and enter your email address(es) that you’d like added to the distribution list.

WH

O’S

HOT

WH

O’S

NOT

Todd Gurley TurnoversBraves’ honors Miami DolphinsRobert Godhigh Zero wins

Not coincidentally, the Geor-gia Bulldogs scored one of their three biggest wins of the season right when Gurley returned to action. The sopho-more running back amassed 187 yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns in Georgia’s 23-20 over Florida last Saturday. Gurley has 679 total yards and seven touch-downs in five games.

The Atlanta Falcons have a negative-7 turnover margin through eight games this sea-son, putting them second to last in the NFC and tied for fifth to last in the NFL. They have turned it over eight times (sev-en on Matt Ryan interceptions) in the last two contests while losing by a combined score of 61-23 to Arizona and Carolina.

Andrelton Simmons won the National League Gold Glove for shortstops last week. Fredi Gonzalez is now one of three finalists for NL Manager of the Year, which will be revealed next Tuesday. Former man-ager Bobby Cox was recently announced as a candidate for 2014 induction into the Na-tional Baseball Hall of Fame.

There are still more questions than answers and there may always be more questions than answers. Whatever the real story is, more than a few people have to be at fault. Clearly the current Miami Dolphins’ crisis is not limited simply to Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. Only one thing is certain: this is not going to end well.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are also on the mend, having won three in a row following a three-game slide. Godhigh has three rushing touchdowns in his last two outings, having produced none in the first seven games of the season. The senior racked up 200 yards on just 11 carries in wins over Vir-ginia and Pittsburgh.

Moving to the FBS as a new member of the Sun Belt Con-ference is a tough task, but is just one win really too much to ask? The Georgia State Panthers are still winless nine games into the season and only one of their four conference games has come against an opponent currently in the top three of the SBC. Three games remain. Time is running out.

SCORE LISTBy Brian Jones

Number of teams interested in Brian McCann according to his agent10

Number of playoff series Brian McCann has helped win in Atlanta0

Days until the MLB Winter Meetings32Years since Georgia had a three-game winning streak against Florida23Mark Richt’s record in games the week after the Florida game8-2

Matt Ryan’s passer rating against teams below .500 this season133.1

Matt Ryan’s passer rating against teams at or above .500 this season82.73

Number of Hawks players who are 6-foot-10 or taller3

NUMBERSBy Chris Schutter

BAD HALFThe first half of the NFL season is over and the Falcons would love to have a mulligan. They are 2-6 and looking for answers in terms of getting back on track. They will have to find them quick because the Seattle Seahawks are coming to town and would love nothing more than to make the Falcons more miserable.

The Bulldogs got a big win over Florida, but they did not look very sharp. Fortunately, Georgia will face Appalachian State on Saturday and that should give it an opportunity to work on weaknesses. But the most important thing is to leave the game healthy, because the Dawgs will need all capable bodies against Auburn and Georgia Tech.

BACK TO BASICS

NEW RIVALRYAs you know, Georgia plays Georgia Tech after Thanksgiving. But there could be a new in-state holiday rivalry as Georgia State will face Georgia Southern next season. With both teams playing in the Sun Belt Conference, this could get heated—especially with both schools trying to get the same recruits. I have to admit, I can’t wait to see these teams go at it.

HOOP ACTIONThe Hawks have begun their season and all the college teams in the area will begin play this weekend. Mike Budenholzer’s Hawks have looked solid so far, compiling a 2-2 record as of Wednesday. As for the college scene look out for Georgia State because with the talent it has coming back, it has a chance to make it to the Big Dance.

LAST CHANCEIt’s the final week of the high school regular season and teams are looking for wins to clinch a region title or get the last playoff spot from their respective regions. Can Class AA No. 1 Lovett hold off GAC in Region 6? Will Lassiter be able to defeat Etowah and be king of Region 5-AAAAA? Go to ScoreATL.com on Friday night to see.

? “

ANSWER ON PAGE 14Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer after

a recent win over Sacramento.

TRIVIA QUESTION

SANITY AT LAST

HOW MANY CONSECUTIVE TIMES

HAVE THE HAWKS DEFEATED SACRAMENTO AFTER TUESDAY’S WIN?

“The way we are playing it’s going to be different guys for

us each night. ... That’s what it takes to

get wins.”

By

Ric

ky

Dim

on

SCORE MORE

1. Colquitt County2. Norcross3. Camden County4. Collins Hill5. North Gwinnett

6. Hillgrove7. Lovejoy8. McEachern9. Archer10. North Cobb

6. Warner Robins7. Northside-WR8. North Paulding9. Ware County10. South Paulding

6. Wayne County7. Stockbridge8. Statesboro9. Burke County10. Mary Persons

Score Atlanta Football Rankings

Class AAAAAA

1. Buford2. Washington County3. Cartersville4. Carver-Columbus5. North Hall

6. Callaway7. Appling County8. Elbert County9. Woodward Academy10. Hart County

Class AAA1. Tucker2. Kell3. Thomas Co. Central4. Gainesville5. Creekside

Class AAAAA

1. Lovett2. GAC3. Lamar County4. Calhoun5. Washington-Wilkes

6. Brooks County7. Benedictine8. Jefferson9. Bowdon10. Heard County

Class AA1. Sandy Creek2. Griffin3. Monroe Area4. Carrollton5. Marist

Class AAAA

1. ELCA2. Aquinas3. Mount Pisgah4. Prince Ave. Chr.5. Mount Paran

6. Landmark Chr.7. Calvary Day8. Christian Heritage9. Athens Academy10. Darlington

Class A-Private

1. Seminole County2. Johnson County3. Irwin County4. Clinch County5. Charlton County

6. Marion County7. Dooly County8. Hawkinsville9. Commerce10. Mitchell County

Class A-Public

Region championships took center stage on the cross country trails throughout Georgia

over the weekend, offering sneak previews of the upcoming state meet. In Region 4-AAAAAA, The Marietta boys edged host Harrison by 12 points last Wednes-day after seeing its top four runners finish in a 16-second span between 16:01 (Khayvonn Benson, second overall) and 16:17. Roles were reversed in the girls heat, with Harrison getting the best of Marietta by five points. The Blue Devils’ Mary Jeanne Assinzo prevailed in 18:51. In Region 5-AAAAAA last Saturday, Wal-ton and Etowah finished first and second, re-spectively, in both the boys and girls meets. The Raiders also boasted the individual cham-pion in Avery Bussjager, who clocked a time of 18:19. Kenan Farmer of Walton broke the tape

in 15:44, three seconds ahead of Woodstock’s Owen Bailey. St. Pius blitzed the competition in both Region 6-AAA competitions last Tuesday. The Golden Lion boys turned in a blistering average time of 15:46, led by Austin Sprague’s 15:01. The St. Pius girls also won comfortably, thanks to Margaret Crawford’s individual triumph in 18:47. Most of the top teams in Class AA hail from Region 6, which competed last Thursday at Wesleyan. The Lovett girls took advantage of Wesleyan’s decision to rest some of its top runners as the Lions defeated both third-place Wesleyan and runner-up Westminster. The 2013 GHSA state cross country championships will take place this Saturday at Carrollton High School.

SOFTBALL ... Collins Hill won the Class AAAAAA state title for the fourth time in five years behind a prolific offense that scored five or more runs in six of the Eagles’ nine playoff games. The Ea-gles were led by seniors Jordan Adicks, Shelly Mooney, Calli Star and Laine Simmons. Coach Paul Pierce’s squad lost just one playoff game, to Harrison in the double-elimination champi-onship bracket. Buford won its sixth consecutive state title and second in a row in Class AAA. The Wolves lost just one game all year, to Collins Hill during the regular season. Buford seniors Bria Bush (Tennessee), Tessa Daniels (Florida State), Jordan Deep (Georgia Tech), Noah Sud-derth (Georgia Gwinnett College) and Morgan Walters (Missouri) will play softball in college next season. In Class AAAAA, Ola won its first softball state title in school history, but it was the sec-ond straight championship by a Henry County school as Union Grove won it last year. Also in Henry County, Eagle’s Landing Christian won its fifth softball state title and first since 2009, its last of four straight state titles.

VOLLEYBALL ... Walton was the only school to successful-ly defend its 2012 state crown this season, and a big reason for the Raiders’ Class AAAAAA

title defense and current run of four straight state championships was Jessica Sloan. The outside hitter is committed to play at Dayton next fall and finished her senior season with 546 kills in 116 sets played. Sloan added 19 kills on 40 swings in the state championship. Class AAAAA-champion McIntosh will graduate twins Rhana and Rhegan Mitchell along with Miara Bryant, Mollie Michel, Kas-sandra Robert and Abbi Schelkopf. The Mitch-ell twins are bound for Virginia Tech and Schel-kopf is heading to Jacksonville State. Leah Hardeman, who finished the season with more than 500 kills including 35 kills in the state championship, led St. Pius to the Class AAA podium. Setter Molly Gunn and libero Ryan Boykin are the future of the Golden Lions. Wesleyan has a lot of talent returning next fall. Senior Hannah Hoskins will be missed as the Wolves’ back line of defense, but Noni Thompkins, Kendra Koetter, Lauren Frerking and Emma Bivins all return, and the champs will be a favorite in Class AA. Koetter recorded 23 digs while adding 43 assists in the state champion-ship game and Frerking finished with 17 kills. Class A state champion Holy Innocents’ got clutch performances from sophomore Haley Collins, junior Sarah Joe and sophomore Sarah Porter in the Class A state title match. Photos courtesy of DeKalb County Schools, Anne Appleton and Dave Buschell..

PREP SPORTS

BY STEPHEN BLACK, RICKY DIMON & CRAIG SAGER II

CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS READY FOR STATE MEET

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Last weekend’s edition of the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party was a prime example

of how the addition of a player or two can really make a difference in the outcome of a game. Sophomore tailback Todd Gurley, who some experts proclaim as the best running back in college football, returned to the gridiron to face the Florida Gators. It was the first time in four weeks since sustaining a high-ankle sprain against the LSU Tigers that Gurley had suited up and seen action. It was evident that the Bull-dogs were a different team with the presence of their workhorse. With Gurley in the backfield, the Dawgs are 5-1 and they are an offensive threat due to the balance between the running and pass-ing game while averaging 219.8 rushing yards in those six contests. Georgia’s lone loss with Gurley was a heartbreaker against the Clem-son Tigers to begin the season. Without Gurley, it is a different story. Georgia averages 190.3 rushing yards per game and is 1-2. He is the single most impor-

Georgia State basketball is raring to go. On Monday, the Panthers played their last

exhibition game, in which five players scored in double-figures. They won 94-38 over Fort Valley State after beating Shorter 90-60 last Saturday. The Panthers managed to hold Fort Valley state to an abysmal 22.1 shooting per-centage while shooting nearly 56 percent themselves. Ryan Harrow, a Kentucky trans-fer, scored 19 points in 20 minutes and went 4-for-6 from deep. Fellow seniors Devonta White and Rashaad Richardson both scored 12 points, while R.J. Hunter added 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. GSU will host South-ern Poly on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the regular-season opener before paying a visit to Vander-bilt next Tuesday.

STILL WINLESS … The Panthers football team has been consistent all year, although not in the way it would like. Georgia State lost yet another

Thrice as nice on the Flats. The Yellow Jack-ets plowed past Pittsburgh 21-10 Saturday

night in Atlanta for their third straight win, all in ACC play, all by double-digits. Tech is now bowl eligible at 6-3 (5-2 in the ACC). However, one of this season’s toughest challenges yet comes next Thursday at No. 7 Clemson. A win would keep the Jackets’ nar-row division title hopes alive.

PANTHERS PLASTERED ... Before a Homecoming crowd of 52,312 at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Tech took an early 14-3 lead on its way to beating Pitt. The Jackets’ suddenly stubborn defense allowed just 228 yards including minus-5 on the ground. The of-fense actually fumbled twice, but ran for 276 yards. David Sims led the Jackets with 94 yards on 18 carries while Robert Godhigh rushed six times for 89 yards, including touchdown runs of 35 and 11. Sims scored Tech’s other touch-down on a 12-yard scamper in the first quarter.

Basketball season has hit Kennesaw State and the men’s team took part in an exhibition

game last Saturday and another on Monday. The Saturday game was against Covenant College and Owls came away with a 95-66 win. They were led by senior Drew McGee, who scored 13 points to go along with nine rebounds. Four other Owls scored in double-figures—Orlando Coleman, Andrew Osemhen, Bernard Morena and Yonel Brown. Monday’s contest was against Piedmont College and the Owls came out on top 85-78. This was a game in which the Owls had to make a late rally in order to emerge victorious. Nigel Pruitt led the Owls with 17 points and he netted four-three pointers in the win. He hit a go-ahead three late in the second half to help the Owls hold off Piedmont. KSU will start its regular season on Friday when it faces Youngstown State at the Convo-cation Center.

tant player on the Dawgs’ roster due to his ability to make game-changing plays. Oppos-ing defenses are forced to adjust their game-plans when No. 3 is in the lineup.

RECORDS TO BE BROKEN … Senior quarterback Aaron Murray has been named as one of 16 semifinalists for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award per a statement via the Davey O’Brien Na-tional Committee this week. Murray has been a consummate quarterback during his college career at UGA and has broken many school and SEC records. He is only two touchdowns shy of breaking former Heisman Trophy win-ner Danny Weurffel’s SEC passing touchdown record, which stands at 114. The Tampa native will seek to break that record this Saturday be-tween the hedges when the Bulldogs play the Appalachian State Mountaineers.

SEC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK … Senior defensive tackle Garrison Smith was voted as the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week on Monday for his performance against the Gators. Smith tallied a career-high nine tackles and 2.5 sacks. Kicker Marshall Morgan was voted as the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for making all three of his field goals, including a 49-yarder. Morgan was also selected as one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which honors the nation’s top kicker. He leads the country with 2.2 field goals per game.

battle, this time to Bobby Petrino’s Western Kentucky team last Saturday. GSU falls to 0-9 on the year and is still in search of coach Trent Miles’ first win as the Panthers head. The story within that game against Western Kentucky was Albert Wilson placing second in career all-purpose yards in the FBS behind WKU’s Anto-nio Andrews. Wilson had 144 total yards last Saturday compared to Andrews’ 143. Wilson is still more than 700 yards shy of Andrews’ mark, so don’t expect him to catch up in the last three games of the season.

ON THE PITCH … The men’s soccer team traveled to North Carolina at Chapel Hill last Tuesday to face off against the 17th-ranked Tar Heels. The Pan-thers lost 1-0 in their last road game of the season to fall to 8-9-1 this year. After five shots on goal in the first 22 minutes of the match, Tyler Engel found a goal for the Tar Heels. At the half, UNC had an impressive lead in shots (8-1). Georgia State’s final chance came in the 90th minute when Amiri Abraham’s shot was just wide. The Panthers have faced three top 25 teams this season and this was their first loss to a top 25 team. They tied Washington and defeated Furman earlier this fall. Georgia State’s season finale is against Belmont on Nov. 15, when it will honor the seniors. Jamal Keene, Caleb Kernan and Michael Nwiloh will be honored before the match at 7 p.m.

BACK AGAIN ... When Tech takes on Clemson Thursday, it will be the second straight time the Jackets have travelled to Death Valley to face the Ti-gers. Traditionally, that hasn’t been a bad thing for the Ramblin’ Wreck, which leads the series at Clemson 10-7. Tech also has the edge in the all-time series 50-26-2. However, Clemson has won the past two in Memorial Stadium. The Tigers have another talented, offense-heavy squad this season and has raced to an impressive 8-1 record, including a season-opening win over Georgia that put the Tigers in the national title picture until a humbling 51-14 loss to Florida State on Oct. 19. Quarterback Tajh Boyd has again been solid for the Tigers, throwing for 2,620 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushing for 194 yards and seven more scores. Roderick McDowell leads Clemson on the ground with 677 yards and three touchdowns. In the win over Geor-gia, McDowell ran for 132 yards. The Clemson defense has been as good as it has been in a while under defensive coor-dinator Brent Venables. The Tigers are fourth nationally in third-down defense, holding op-ponents to just 28.6 percent on third-down conversions. Georgia Tech had no issues moving the ball last year in Death Valley, rushing for 339 yards and throwing for another 144. However, the Jackets had trouble stopping Boyd and the Clemson offense as they allowed 601 yards in a 47-31 loss.

LEADERS CHOSEN … But before the basketball season could begin, head coach Lewis Preston had to select the team captains. Preston went with Brown, McGee and Delbert Love as the team captains and the head coach obviously felt comfortable with his decision. “I am very happy with the selection of these three men as captains,” Preston said. “Drew, in his short time here, has embodied everything I believe in and brings an added toughness. Del-bert is showing a continuation of his maturity as both a player and a leader and for Yonel, this signifies the respect our players have for him.” Brown and Love played in all 30 games last year while McGee is a senior transfer from Miami of Ohio.

FOOTBALL TRYOUTS … With the inaugural football campaign ap-proaching for the Owls, the coaching staff is looking for the right players to field in 2015. And while they are working hard bringing in recruits, the coaches also want to see if any students off the street can help make the team better. On March 22, 2014 the coaching staff will hold open tryouts at the Perch—which is locat-ed at the KSU Sports and Recreation Park. Stu-dents must be enrolled in 12 hours of course-work during the spring semester and have to fill out the right paperwork. The paperwork has to be delivered to the coaches offices between January 8 and January 30.

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

GEORGIA STATE

GEORGIA TECH

KENNESAW STATE

BY CHRIS NIEMAN | CNIEMAN@SCOREATL.COM

BY CHRIS SCHUTTER | CSCHUTTER@SCOREATL.COM

BY STEPHEN BLACK | SBLACK@SCOREATL.COM

BY BRIAN JONES | BJONES@SCOREATL.COM

GURLEY SETS TONE AS DAWGS BEAT FLORIDA

HOOPS BEGINS AS FOOTBALL STRUGGLES CONTINUE

TECH STREAKS INTO ANOTHER DEATH VALLEY MEETING

OWLS PREP FOR HARDWOOD SEASON

13Vol. 9 Iss. 24 | November 8-14, 2013

Through four games of the NBA season, the Hawks have a 2-2 record and have had dif-

ferent standout performers each night. The offense has been a pleasant surprise while the defense as a whole has left much to be desired. In Mike Budenholzer’s new offense the pace has increased, opening up more plays out in transition for the wing players. Early in the season it is apparent that the combo of Paul Millsap and Al Horford will be a lot more efficient on the offensive end than Horford and Josh Smith were in the past few seasons. Millsap has been effective stretch-ing the floor knocking down mid-range shots, drawing his defender out of the paint. This has allowed Horford more space with which to op-erate under the basket. Close to 50 percent of Horford’s shots have come in the paint, where he is converting on two-thirds of his opportuni-ties. The same can be said for Millsap, who is capitalizing on the open space provided when Horford steps out to the top of the key.

The Atlanta Braves saw eight players file for free agency last week, tied for fourth most

in Major League Baseball. Tim Hudson and Bri-an McCann were among them, joined by Luis Ayala, Scott Downs, Freddy Garcia, Kameron Loe, Paul Maholm and Eric O’Flaherty. Teams had until Monday at 5 p.m. to make qualifying offers to their free agents, who have a week to accept or decline. Atlanta made a one-year, $14.1 million qualifying offer to McCann, who is expected to sign elsewhere. If he does, the Braves have assured themselves of receiving a compensatory draft pick. They also issued a one-year, non-qualifying offer to Hudson, whom the Braves have a much better chance of bringing back. The 38-year-old righty is recovering from a season-ending broken ankle suffered this summer and he is expected to be 100 percent in time for spring training. Hudson may begin throwing some-time in November. Meanwhile, Atlanta declined a $1.6 million option on outfielder Reed Johnson. The team in-

The Falcons were on the receiving end of a 34-10 drubbing last Sunday in Charlotte

that dropped Atlanta to 2-6 on the season. The Carolina Panthers’ defense limited Matt Ryan to 219 passing yards and forced four turnovers, including three interceptions. Ryan will now face a Seattle defense that ranks second in the NFL in both total defense and pass defense on Sunday.

ANGRY BIRDS … Atlanta has won four straight matchups with Seattle, including January’s memorable 30-28 win in the 2013 NFC Divisional playoffs. The Seahawks are 4-1 on the road this season and boast the best record in the NFC at 8-1. Seattle’s receivers benefit from second-year quarterback Russell Wilson’s ability to throw in the pocket or out on the run and Golden Tate is a physical target who creates space for his quarterback. Tate’s combination of speed and power helped the four-year pro haul in a career-long 80-yard touchdown reception two weeks ago in a 14-9 win over St. Louis.

The Silverbacks played their final regular-season game of the 2013 campaign last

Saturday, when they suffered a 1-0 loss to New York. Atlanta has now dropped three in a row and is limping into the final match of the year. That will come against the same New York team in the same venue, Atlanta Silverbacks Park, but with very different implications. If the Silverbacks win their match on Saturday, they will be the 2013 NASL Champions. It’s kind of hard to believe. The Silver-backs have had a terrible fall season, finishing second to last in the league with more losses than wins. Fortunately, they had a better spring season in which they finished first—earning themselves home-field advantage for the Soc-cer Bowl, the NASL Championship match. The Cosmos, on the other hand, were dominant all fall season. They won the fall championship by a full eight points with only one loss. New York has been in first place for the past eight weeks, winning seven matches

POINT MEN … Another reason for the offense scor-ing over 100 points in each game is the play from its point guards. Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder are both facilitating the offense very effectively and Schröder is progressing each time he sees the floor. Against the Kings on Tuesday night, Schröder showed aggressive-ness by driving the lane and kicking the ball out to shooters on the perimeter. The Hawks are averaging close to nine three-pointers a game, led by Kyle Korver and new addition Cartier Martin.

NEW ARRIVALS … Martin and fellow newcomer Demarre Car-roll are giving the Hawks solid production from a position that was in doubt entering the season. Martin is averaging 10.8 points per game and Carroll is averaging 8.3 points and each is provid-ing a defensive presence on the wing. As the season goes along, the team will begin to develop the chemistry that seems to be lacking at this point. The defensive sets are slowly coming together and individual efforts are appearing more decisive. As the players get more comfortable with their roles on defense, they are able to act quicker and more confident-ly to make plays. One of the veterans making his play noticed on the defensive end is Elton Brand. His presence is often felt by using veteran sav-vy to take charges and to limit second-chance points by controlling the defensive glass.

stead went the route of a $150,000 buyout.

NEWS AND NOTES … Despite wide speculation that pitching coach Roger McDowell would bolt for Phila-delphia, he is returning to Atlanta. McDowell initially declined a one-year contract extension with the Braves but eventually bagged a two-year deal. “I think I speak for our entire pitching staff in saying that we are ecstatic that our organiza-tion has brought back the man behind our staff’s success the past few years,” Kris Medlen said in a text message to the Atlanta Journal Con-stitution. “He’s been enormous for my personal development, as well as the rest of our staff.” Former manager Bobby Cox is on the Expansion Era ballot for the National Base-ball Hall of Fame, with possible inducted into Cooperstown next summer. That means Cox, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux could all be en-shrined at the same time. “That would be so special,” Cox told the AJC, referring to induction alongside two of his best pitchers. “I can hardly even think about something like that. If I ever got elected in, a lot of it would be-cause of those guys. That’s for sure.” Manager Fredi Gonzalez is a nominee for National League Manager of the Year, along with Clint Hurdle of Pittsburgh and Don Mat-tingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers. No Braves players are up for either NL MVP (Freddie Freeman was thought to be a possibility) or the NL Cy Young (Craig Kimbrel was speculated). Winners will be announced next Tuesday.

It can take a couple of guys to bring down some of Seattle’s physical playmakers, espe-cially running back Marshawn Lynch—who is on pace for another 300-plus carry season after bulldozing for a career-high 1,590 yards last year.

ALL-PRO SHOW … Defensively, the Seahawks’ strength is in the secondary, which is headed by 6-foot-3, 195-pound cornerback Richard Sherman. The All-Pro finished last season with a team-high eight interceptions. All-Pro safety Earl Thom-as leads this year’s team with 61 solo tackles and has added four interceptions through nine games. Thomas picked off Ryan in the fourth quarter of the 2012 playoff game, giving Se-attle momentum it used to take a brief fourth-quarter lead. Tony Gonzalez, Julio Jones and Roddy White were able to challenge Seattle’s duo last season, but with White and Jones injured, Atlanta’s young wideouts will have to win this difficult assignment. “Seattle has got a very good defense,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith. “They have two good defensive backs…Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman. They have some guys that can rush the passer up front. It will be a chal-lenge for our offensive line.” Pass-rusher Cliff Avril was signed by Se-attle from Detroit in March after tallying 20.5 total sacks with the Lions from 2011-2012. Avril has found success this season with defensive tackle Clint McDonald and ends Chris Clem-ons and Michael Bennett leading the front.

over that time span. The Cosmos couldn’t beat Atlanta in the spring season because they didn’t even play. This fall season is actually the Cosmos’ debut appearance in the NASL and they are absolutely bullying the competition.

DON’T COUNT ‘EM OUT … While both teams elected to rest their starters in preparation for the Soccer Bowl next week, last weekend’s game revealed some hope for Atlanta. Although they lost, the Silver-backs dominated most of the 90 minutes. They had three clear scoring chances but lacked the finishing ability. New York on the other hand, had one good chance and took advantage. If there’s any hope for the Silverbacks, it’s the fact that they held New York’s explosive offense to just one goal last Saturday. The Sil-verbacks are the only team to surrender fewer than three goals to New York in the season se-ries. If they want to have any chance, they will need a duplicate of that effort on the defensive end while hoping to somehow find the net a few times on offense. So it all comes down to next Saturday. It doesn’t matter how different Atlanta has played from spring to fall. It doesn’t matter that New York didn’t even compete this spring, nor does it matter that the Cosmos dominated this fall. The entirety of 2013 comes down to which team can score more goals than the other on Saturday at Silverbacks Park.

ATLANTA HAWKS

ATLANTA BRAVES

ATLANTA FALCONS

ATLANTA SILVERBACKS

BY JAY UNDERWOOD | JUNDERWOOD@SCOREATL.COM

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

BY CHRIS SCHUTTER | CSCHUTTER@SCOREATL.COM

NEW-LOOK HAWKS OFF TO SOLID START

FREE AGENCY UNDERWAY FOR BRAVES

FALCONS HOST NFC-LEADING SEAHAWKS

‘BACKS HOST PRESTIGIOUS SOCCER BOWL

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