HS FOOTBALL ANYTIME YOU WANT IT SEE BACK PAGE OCT 29 – NOV 4, 2008 ATLANTA’S WEEKLY SPORTS TALK NEWSPAPER VOL 4 NO 44 02 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! WWW.SCOREATL.COM OCT 29-NOV 4, 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 5 I.J. Rosenberg takes this week off, so Tad Arapoglou comes in BEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Falcons), Stephen Black “off the pine” with his thoughts on the Georgia-Florida (Kennesaw State), Jason Boral (Thrashers), James Butler game and some last-minute Halloween costume ideas. ___________________________________________________ (UGA), Dave Cohen (Georgia State), Johnny Crosskey (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps), Scott Janovitz 13 Prep beat writer Alex Ewalt unveils this week’s (Hawks/Recruiting), Fletcher Proctor (Braves) high school football top 10 rankings and also STAFF WRITERS Cranston Collier, Joe Deighton, Ricky Dimon, has the results of the softball state champion- Rajesh Gupta, Zander Lentz, Andrew McCarron, Corey Mitchell, ships on page 14. Jessica Parker, Leighton Savary, Keafer Triplett, Derek Wiley _______________________________________ CONTRIBUTORS Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky, Mitch Evans, Matt Judy, Tony Schiavone, Richard Diamond, Joe Haines, Brian 14 Hawks beat writer Scott Janovitz breaks down the key elements to a successful season. Can the Hawks return Katrek, Chris Dimino, Mike Bell, Matt Stewart, Fred Kalil, Nick to the postseason in a stronger East? Cellini, Phillip Leopold, Dave Marshall, Greg Smith, Steak Shapiro, _____________________________________________________ Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Chuck Oliver, Hal Lamar, Chris Cotter, Matt Chernoff, Roy Hickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff 22 With the Florida game looming, Georgia beat writer Woolverton, Chris Voss, Bob Rathbun, Courtney Capps, Bill James Butler says Knowshon Moreno (pictured) and the Hartman, Chuck Dowdle, Shannon Alderman, Dan Kamal, Dennis ‘Dogs are right where they want to be. Scott, C.C., Hal Lanier, Jeff Batten, Micah Hart, Ben Wright, Alan Vasquez, Andrew Vedlitz, Brian Jones A SCORE UPDATE: If you can’t make it out to a high school football game this Friday night, SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry Bloom we’ve got you covered. Check out www.gpb.org/football/watch to view the Score Atlanta/GPB Game of the Week between Centennial and Lassiter ™ SCHOOL at 7:30 p.m. Also, be sure to head to Scoreatl.com for a live flash LISTING scoreboard with high school football score updates from all over the state! 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 TIME TO SLAM: Though Marvin DEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, COVER DESIGN BY DAVID GAUDIO; COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF ROB SAYE. Lakeside, Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius Williams will be serving a one-game suspension, the X, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker rest of the Hawks will be back in action when the FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Douglass, Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, 2008-09 season kicks off in Orlando! Last season, the 4 MEMORY LANE 6 DUE UP-SCORE LIST 7 SPIN-C.C. Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward Academy Hawks shocked the world by pushing the eventual GWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins Hill, Dacula, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the play- 10 GA STATE 11 KSU 13 HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Creek, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan offs. With a deeper bench, can the team build off that 15 FALCONS 16 THRASHERS 17 HAWKS-BRAVES success this season? Photo courtesy of Scott Cunningham. 18 UGA 19 TECH 20-21 CALENDAR 22 AD INDEX WWW.SCOREATL.COM 04 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game! NBA stars and UGA/Tech title memorabilia he NBA kicks off another season this BP Sports will have an Autograph & Tweek and it’s never too early to specu- Collectibles show at the Cobb County Civic late who is going to have an MVP-type Center Nov. 14-16. Autograph guests include year. Check out which player fans are bet- Bobby Cox, Kelly Johnson and Chris ting on to make it to the top on this week’s Chambliss, as well as other Braves. For more online auction report. details and show times, check out www.bpsports.com. • Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers Autographed Jersey FROM THE MAILBAG … • Derrick Rose Chicago Bulls Dear Dean: I have a 1980 Georgia Autographed Jersey Bulldogs Ranger 3-blade pocket knife. It has • LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers the Bulldog logo on it and the team won the Autographed Jersey title in 1980. What is it worth? • Kevin Garnett Boston Celtics Dear Dawgs Fan: 1980 was a big year Autographed Jersey for the Dawgs and a big year for Georgia • Dwyane Wade Miami Heat Bulldog collectibles. Coins, cups, shirts, Autographed Jersey mugs, beverages, photos, posters, food prod- ucts and, yes, even commemorative knives Give the early fan MVP award to Kobe were issued after they won the football Bryant, whose autographed jersey scored big national championship. Your item is worth with $685. Dwyane Wade came in second, $20. The Bulldogs hope to win another one knocking down $600, followed closely by this year and with a win over Florida this LeBron James at $575. Kevin Garnett weekend, anything is possible. grabbed $550. Rounding out the top five was Dear Dean: I went to school at Georgia No. 1 draft choice Derrick Rose with $500. Tech in the late 80s and early 90s. I have a You oughtta be in pictures. Longtime 1990 team-autographed football when Tech team photographer of the Dallas Cowboys, won the national championship. How much Ron St. Angelo, will be auctioning off his is it worth? entire collection next month. The collec- Dear Ramblin Wreck: Signed national tion consists of over 100,000 images and championship items are very popular with will be sold in one lot. The buyer gets the school alumni and college football autograph copyrights. Opening bid on this once-in-a- collectors. Your item is worth $500. Some of lifetime collection is $50,000. You can bid the players you may remember from the team on this item as well as hundreds of other include Marco Coleman, Ken Swilling and sports items at Lelands.com. Other high- Shawn Jones. Tech also has three other lights of the Nov. 21 auction will include a national titles from 1917, 1928 and 1952. 2007 Boston Red Sox World Series Ring, Want to know what your item is worth or 1986 George Foster New York Mets World have a question about a particular sports Series Ring, and several Babe Ruth item? Email me, Dean Zindler, at Autographed Baseballs. [email protected] WWW.SCOREATL.COM OCT 29-NOV 4, 2008 SCORE ATLANTA I 05 Anticipation leading up to Georgia-Florida and Halloween costume ideas inally, the time has come: Georgia vs. Florida. high-powered attack. Only one team has LAST-MINUTE IDEAS … F We’re seeing the significance of last managed to score more than 21 points If you’re reading this the day we hit year’s victory now. Aside from the fact that it against them this year. That team was Ole newsstands, you have two more days until Miss – who upset Florida 31-30. Even dat- gave the Bulldogs just their third win over the Halloween, so you’re running out of time R Gators in 18 meetings, it made the series rel- ing back to 2007, in three of Florida’s four to buy a costume. Last year I suggested evant again. Let’s be honest, Gator fans losses the Gators allowed 28 points or buying a New England Patriots sweat- E haven’t exactly been fearing the Bulldogs for more, including 42 to Georgia. shirt and headband, and walking around V the past two decades; even the 2002 Georgia Matthew Stafford won’t have to be with a camcorder to become the Patriots’ team that finished 13-1 and No. 3 in the flawless but he’ll have to be close. Finding coaching staff. A few people thanked me O nation lost to a Florida team that finished 8- A.J. Green as quickly and as often as possi- for the idea, so if you’re still searching 5. The Gators just had their number. ble will make the difference here; this kid is for something, here are a couple of new C But now there’s some REAL excite- growing into an NFL wide receiver in front sports-themed costumes you can pull off ment. Georgia fans are pumped because the of our eyes and Georgia needs to take at the last second. All are fairly cost- E ‘Dogs beat the Gators somewhat convincing- advantage. And we know Knowshon effective as well. ly last year, while Florida fans are unim- H pressed that the victory came when eventual T Heisman winner Tim Tebow was banged up. Both teams had a slip-up on Sept. 27 of this N season but have won the rest of their games. And both teams have not only SEC title O hopes but national title hopes, with Georgia entering the game No. 6 in the BCS standings and Florida at No. 8. Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs Oh, and wasn’t there some controversial caused quite a stir last year when the touchdown celebration or something last year? entire team hit the field to celebrate Don’t think just because the players and after their first touchdown against coaches aren’t talking about it heading into the game that it’s not on everyone’s minds.