TUNE IN TO TITLE GAMES SEE BACK PAGE DECEMBER 10-16, 2008 ATLANTA’S WEEKLY SPORTS TALK NEWSPAPER VOL 4 NO 50 02 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! WWW.SCOREATL.COM DECEMBER 10-16, 2008 SCORE ATLANTA I 03 ™ STARTING LINEUP IN YOUR PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg FACE… MANAGING EDITOR Tad Arapoglou ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR David Gaudio WEBMASTER Alex Ewalt VIDEO MANAGER/PREP EDITOR Scott Janovitz BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick WWW.SCOREATL.COM SALES Travis Ball, Brian Pruett, Charles Rose OFFICE MANAGER Nakia Washington 4 I.J. Rosenberg writes about the state championships being played at the Dome, and BEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Falcons), Stephen Black also believes Matt Ryan is already one of the top NFL quarterbacks. (Kennesaw State), Jason Boral (Thrashers), James Butler ______________________________________________________________ (UGA), Dave Cohen (Georgia State), Johnny Crosskey (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps), Scott Janovitz 11 Check out our full breakdown of the high school football state (Hawks/Recruiting), Fletcher Proctor (Braves) championships! Can Connor Shaw (pictured) and Flowery Branch STAFF WRITERS Cranston Collier, Joe Deighton, Ricky Dimon, win their first state title? Rajesh Gupta, Zander Lentz, Andrew McCarron, Corey Mitchell, _____________________________________________________ Jessica Parker, Leighton Savary, Keafer Triplett, Derek Wiley 23 Allan Tuck previews the upcoming bowl games for Georgia DESIGN INTERNS Keith DeGruy, Chris Nunn, Bob Weldon and Georgia Tech, and also takes a look at the BCS CONTRIBUTORS Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky, matchups, including Florida vs. Oklahoma. Mitch Evans, Matt Judy, Tony Schiavone, Richard Diamond, __________________________________________________ Joe Haines, Brian Katrek, Chris Dimino, Mike Bell, Matt Stewart, Fred Kalil, Nick Cellini, Phillip Leopold, Dave Marshall, Greg 26 Fletcher Proctor writes on the Infinite Energy Atlanta Smith, Steak Shapiro, Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Hal Lamar, Chris Slam, which takes place this Saturday. Some of the Cotter, Roy Hickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff Woolverton, biggest names in tennis will showcase their skills. Chris Voss, Bob Rathbun, Courtney Capps, Bill Hartman, Chuck Dowdle, Shannon Alderman, Dan Kamal, Dennis Scott, C.C., A SCORE UPDATE: Hal Lanier, Jeff Batten, Micah Hart, Ben Wright, Can’t make it to the Georgia Dome this Friday and Saturday? Alan Vasquez, Andrew Vedlitz, Brian Jones Score Atlanta writers will be blogging and providing live SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry Bloom scores from all five title games on ScoreAtl.com and GPB.org. This week, stick with Score Atlanta and Georgia Public ™ SCHOOL Broadcasting for the state’s most extensivecoverage of the high LISTING school football championships! CHEROKEE/FORSYTH: Cherokee, Creekview, Etowah, Forsyth Central, North Forsyth, Sequoyah, South Forsyth, West Forsyth, Woodstock COBB: Allatoona, Campbell, Harrison, Kell, Kennesaw Mountain, Lassiter, TEAM PAGES I COLUMNS Marietta, McEachern, N. Cobb, N. Cobb Christian, Pebblebrook, Pope, S. Cobb, Sprayberry, Walton, Wheeler DOME SWEET DOME: Yes, DEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, Lakeside, Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius the Falcons’ loss in New Orleans was tough to COVER DESIGN BY DAVID GAUDIO. COVER PHOTO IS COURTESY OF DAVID MCGREGOR/PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS. X, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker swallow, but this Sunday the Birds return to the FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Douglass, Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, Georgia Dome, where they are 5-1 this season. 6 DUE UP-SCORE LIST 7 SPIN-C.C 9 MEMORY LANE Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward Academy And with the wild fans creating havoc for the GWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins Hill, Dacula, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill Tampa Bay Bucs, Atlanta just may improve to 3-0 10 OWLS-PANTHERS 12 FALCONS 13 SB CHALLENGE Creek, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan at home against NFC South opponents in 2008. 18 HAWKS 19 THRASHERS-BRAVES 20 BULLDOGS Photo courtesy of Ashley Jackson/Photographic Arts. 21 JACKETS 22 CALENDAR 25 PREPLAND-RECRUITING WWW.SCOREATL.COM 04 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! Dome to host great slate of state title games; Ryan is ‘one of NFL’s best’ he Georgia Dome will rock beginning this took them out last week in two overtimes. Roethlisberger hit the NFL in 2004 and you TFriday afternoon at 5 p.m. when the reno- So make sure to check out the games on have to go all the way back to Dan Marino in vated indoor facility will host the high school GPB TV and log onto SCOREATL.com for 1983 to find another reasonable comparison. real-time scores throughout the game and to state football championships for the first time. That year, Marino completed 58 percent of R All five games will be televised by Georgia check out our live blogging, which will give insight into what is happening on the field. his passes and threw for 2,210 yards and 20 E Public Broadcasting, about which Bob touchdowns, leading the Dolphins to a 12-5 Houghton, the general manger of broadcast And if you ever want to go back and V for the station, said, “For all these years we watch any of the 14 games we webcasted this record. As a rookie, Roethlisberger complet- have been able to conclude the basketball sea- season, hit up our site, push the “videos” tab ed 66 percent of his passes for 2,621 yards O and it will take right there. and 17 touchdowns. son and now we get to do so with football.” C It’s been a great year of high school After 13 games, Ryan is ninth in the football for both GPB and Score Atlanta, as RYAN ALREADY ONE OF NFL’S BEST … league with a quarterback rating of 92, we partnered to webcast 14 games from On my show last Sunday on 790 The completing 62 percent of his passes for E Zone, a sports fan called in and criticized me around the state while GPB televised one of 2,940 yards and 14 touchdowns. But H the 10 semifinal games last Friday as we T blogged live from the other nine games. We will do the same type of blogging for the state finals beginning early Friday N when Class 2A’s Buford takes on Calhoun O and again at 8 p.m. for the local 4A show- down between Marist and Tucker. Saturday’s action will start at 2 p.m. in the afternoon This weekend, all five high school with the A game between Wesleyan and football state championship games will be played at the Georgia Dome. Emanuel County Institute, followed by a 5 Several metro-area teams will be p.m. 3A matchup pitting Flowery Branch there, including Buford, which will against Cairo and ending with the Class 5A face Calhoun in hopes of its 30th con- matchup between Peachtree Ridge and secutive win and second straight Camden County at 8 p.m. The games will Class 2A title. Meanwhile, in Class 4A, also be streamed live at GPB.org. Franklin Stephens (pictured above) and the Tucker Tigers will have a NOW, HERE’S SOME PREDICTIONS … rematch with Marist after losing to the Wesleyan dropped down to A so it could War Eagles in September. Other metro compete at a higher level and plays in its first teams include Wesleyan (A), Flowery state championship against ECI, who is very Branch (3A) and Peachtree Ridge familiar with the championship game land- (5A). The above photo of Stephens is scape. But I’m going with Wesleyan here, courtesy of Karen Winston; the cover especially after its impressive win last week shot of Buford is courtesy of David over A power Lincoln County. McGregor/Photographic Arts. At 2A, Buford will take out Calhoun, MAKING THE LEAP: Even without superstar Percy Harvin, the Florida Gators took care of business at the “previous issues” tab and pulling up our though I wish the Wolves would seriously Georgia Dome last Saturday, beating top-ranked Alabama 31-20. Trailing at the start of the fourth quarter, SEC Championship section). consider moving up to Class 3A the next time Jeffrey Demps (pictured) hopped into the end zone to give the Gators a lead they would never relinquish. there is a realignment. Buford playing at the While the game lived up to its lofty The win propelled Florida to No. 1 in the AP poll, and the Gators will now face Oklahoma for the national 2A level is silly, as the Wolves will win their billing, the Gators were the better team, though title on Jan. 8. Photo courtesy of Doug Jackson/Photographic Arts. fourth state title in seven years. I did come away thinking these two teams are The 3A matchup is a surprising one, as going to dominate this conference as long as the Flowery Branch Falcons—sitting just a Urban Meyer is coaching Florida and Nick couple hundred feet from the Atlanta Falcons CATCH I.J. ON SUNDAYS Saban is at Alabama. training complex—were a third seed while There might not be two better coaches no one has come close to beating Cairo in the ‘For me, [Matt] Ryan is already one of the top five quarterbacks in the and recruiters in the country, and these two playoffs. This could be the best game of the teams will most certainly come back next five but I’m going with the Syrupmakers, league and most certainly should have a Pro Bowl spot this year.’ season ranked in the top five, with the who will bring the entire town of around Gators likely being No. 1 if quarterback 9,200 to the Dome. for saying that Falcons rookie Matt Ryan is more importantly, he has brought a team going to lead this team to a lot of Super into playoff contention at 8-5 after a 4- Tim Tebow returns.