This episode of the Cobb Sports Podcast discusses the current reclassification process being conducted by the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) and its potential impact on Cobb. This realignment happens every two years to ensure even competition among Georgia high schools and prevent unfair contests.
Additionally, the episode highlights notable achievements within the District, such as Brittany Hughes's accolade as Swim Coach of the Year, innovative programs like Harrison's "Dirt Dog" initiative, and getting 1% better each day.
Key takeaways:
Cobb County School District is one of the largest districts in the country with over 16 competing high schools and a deep pool of talent in every sport.
Speaker A:This is the Cobb Sports Podcast.
Speaker A:Let's dig in.
Speaker A:Welcome to the Cobb Sports Podcast.
Speaker A:And once again, we're sitting here in Don Baker's office talking about all things sports and how they relate to Cobb county schools.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And one of those things, Don, is one of those things that are somewhat out of our control but happen every two years.
Speaker A:But GHSA is doing their reclass for all the high schools in the state, and that happens every two years.
Speaker A:And wanted to talk and just let people know that this is coming.
Speaker A:So your current region and class that your favorite high school is in may get shaken up a little bit here.
Speaker B:But just may look a little different.
Speaker A:Talk a little bit about why this happens and where we're at in the process.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So every two years, the ghsa, it's almost kind of a stabilizing measure to make sure that schools of a similar size are playing one another.
Speaker B:It accounts for student movement.
Speaker B:It accounts for the opening of new schools and just the movement of people in general.
Speaker B:And so it's a way to kind of stabilize that.
Speaker B:You have schools of a similar caliber and similar size more than anything else playing each other.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you're not getting.
Speaker A:Not getting a blowout every Friday because a huge school is playing a school of 500 students or something.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker B:If you don't have a classification system, you have schools in this state that have 4,000 kids in it playing a school that has 100 kids.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so by doing this, it makes sure that those schools are equally placed.
Speaker A:And along with that, so there's the classification process, which are the large 1A, 2A, 3A.
Speaker A:Up to now, 7A.
Speaker A:Next year, we'll have 7A.
Speaker A:But then.
Speaker A:Then within that, then there's the regions.
Speaker A:And as this process continues, and I think you said the process lasts until that, we should know by the time we go on Christmas break where our schools are at, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, Correct.
Speaker B:So the GHSA should have the classifications done within the next couple weeks.
Speaker B:They'll get the numbers from the state, and then they'll put everybody in a classification, seven A through single A.
Speaker B:And then schools will have a week to appeal that placement.
Speaker B:After that, they will then put everybody in Regents, and you will have a week after that to appeal your region placement.
Speaker B:And then by the time we go on our Christmas break, it should be wrapped up with a bow.
Speaker B:And at that point, you'll know where your school is, both classification and what region.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:So keep your podcast player tuned to the Cobb Sports podcast and there will be more to come in November and then hopefully we'll have the full answers in December for you so you'll know where you're at.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:So specifically now let's talk about what's going on in Cobb, Don.
Speaker A:And there's again, we talk about your internal newsletter that you send out because there's always great stories going on that aren't they're sports related, but they aren't necessarily about this team is winning this region or they're going to be.
Speaker A:And we'll talk more about those specifics where we're at right now in Fall Sports with Brad McBrayer on the second segment of today's podcast.
Speaker A:But Brittany Hughes, which is a name that we've mentioned several times on the podcast in years past, but she was awarded the GHSA Swim Coach of the Year.
Speaker A:And there was something, oh, the National Federation of State High School Association's Swim.
Speaker C:Coach of the Year.
Speaker A:A state level and a national level.
Speaker A:She's won Swim coach of the Year.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just a really well deserved honor.
Speaker B:Really underscores her outstanding leadership of that Trojan swim and dive program.
Speaker B:Laster girls captured their sixth consecutive state championship last February.
Speaker B:Let me say that one more time, right?
Speaker B:Six in a row.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean that's like, I don't know, that's New England Patriot type stuff.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:I mean like that's on a completely different level.
Speaker B:But year in and year out they are in the mix.
Speaker B:And you know that that program has really become a model of consistency and excellence over the years.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I think one of the things that you've that you said when we talked about her previously is that there's something in the water over there.
Speaker A:Over there.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean we had a conversation about that, about, you know, a lot of it has to do obviously with really good kids that come in and compete at a high level.
Speaker B:But there's also a culture aspect to that as well.
Speaker B:That stuff doesn't just happen.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And she's done a really good job creating that culture around how they perform.
Speaker B:And really not that this is singular to them, this is really across the board regardless of the sport.
Speaker B:But what I have noticed from afar watching that swim program is how they encourage one another.
Speaker B:It has nothing to do with who's in the water.
Speaker B:They really root for one another and applaud their teammates success really more than their own.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And during the day Brittany is a guidance counselor for Lassiter.
Speaker A:So she's doing all around great work at the school, not just in the pool, and not just as a coach, but as a guidance counselor as well.
Speaker A:So great job.
Speaker A:Brittany Hughes.
Speaker A:Congratulations.
Speaker C:Congratulations.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker A:Along those lines, recognizing things kind of happening behind the scenes.
Speaker A:Harrison has this program called the Dirt Dog.
Speaker A:What are dirt Dogs?
Speaker B:I had to make a phone call when I first found out about this.
Speaker B:I called Wes Ellis, athletic director over at Harrison.
Speaker B:I said, tell me more about this.
Speaker B:And a few years ago, the Harrison Hoya baseball program, they introduced it kind of internally.
Speaker B:And so within the team, they would recognize what they called a dirt dog.
Speaker B:And it was a player driven tradition that really celebrated teammates, that focused on those small things that make a difference.
Speaker B:And that's really what reeled me in.
Speaker B:I believe that in life, there are no small things.
Speaker B:Everything matters.
Speaker B:And so that title was reserved for those people that embraced hard work, consistency, attention to detail, all of those little things, those small things that.
Speaker B:That you need in order to be excellent.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And this is beginning to transcend Harrison itself.
Speaker B:Well, it's one of those kind of things.
Speaker B:Like, they started to do that.
Speaker B:They started to place a focus on those small things.
Speaker B:And then, oh, by the way, it transitioned on the field with them winning over 20 games last year.
Speaker B:And so they have taken that and said, how can we kind of bring this back to that Harrison High School community?
Speaker B:And so they are recognizing teachers, staff members, fellow students.
Speaker B:I know that there was one instance where a young man helped one of the baseball players study for a test, and he was able to make a good grade.
Speaker B:And so that player recognized his classmate, who's not a baseball player, as a dirt dog because he invested in him.
Speaker B:And as a result, he was able to get a good grade on a test.
Speaker A:So it's not just about what's happening on the field, correct?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, they've made it into, again, more of a culture thing.
Speaker B:Teachers that they find really pour into them.
Speaker B:They have reached out to them and made them and kind of brought them into their community.
Speaker B:And then even recently, I saw where they extended it to some fifth graders that they stepped up to be on the school news.
Speaker B:Evidently, fifth graders typically don't, you know, maybe these guys didn't typically do that, and they built up enough courage to do it.
Speaker B:These kids saw it, and so they recognized them.
Speaker B:And you talk about smiles.
Speaker B:I mean, it was like superheroes had shown up and given them superpowers.
Speaker B:And so I know that they did that.
Speaker B:They Recognized their school resource officers.
Speaker B:And I even saw Brad Wheeler, board member, who they recognized for his support of their athletic program.
Speaker B:So really has gone both inside that Harrison community and outside of that community as a way to focus on those little things and doing things the right way day after day that make a big difference.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's how you ended your segment in the newsletter on that.
Speaker A:You said little things that are done the right way day after day and make a big difference.
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker A:And another.
Speaker A:Another way that that's being recognized around the district is by Wheeler AD Barry Bowdrey.
Speaker A:He's doing this thing called Wildcat walks.
Speaker A:So what are Wildcat walks?
Speaker B:Yeah, so Barry is.
Speaker B:And he hasn't told me this, but I'm assuming that he got a little bit of inspiration from Josh Matthews over at Pope, who does walking with the AD where he talks about things in their athletic program.
Speaker B:Barry has started these Wildcat and it's a new initiative over there.
Speaker B:Real simple thing that he does.
Speaker B:It's about a 45 second walk.
Speaker B:It's kind of a walk and talk with student athletes where he essentially he asks them two questions.
Speaker B:Who are you and in what ways are you working to become 1% better each day?
Speaker B:That 1% motto is kind of a motto of the internal athletic department, myself and the athletic directors trying to get 1% better each day.
Speaker B:So he's just taking that and applying it to these conversations that he's having with his student athletes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I mean, and if you think about it, you know, 1% is sounds.
Speaker A:Sounds pretty insignificant, but at the same time, it's completely achievable.
Speaker B:It's doable.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think that's the.
Speaker B:Too many times people see things as mountains.
Speaker B:They're like, there's no way we could get to that top of that mountain.
Speaker B:Of course not.
Speaker B:Unless you just start taking one step at a time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But then conversely, if you think about that, well, If I get 1% better each day, in about three months.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, I'll be 100 better.
Speaker B:That can really be transformational if you let it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's pretty amazing.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Another.
Speaker A:Another great program that that happens is at Alatoona and it's the Turner's.
Speaker A:The Turner's here.
Speaker A:Well, the Turner's Heroes program has.
Speaker A:Has kind of transcended Altoona now, but it be.
Speaker A:It began there.
Speaker A:So talk a little bit about.
Speaker A:About Turner's Heroes and then about the game.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Great initiative.
Speaker B:In memory of a former buccaneer, Turner Cockrell, who passed away and they.
Speaker B:Every year, they have a Turner's Heroes Night.
Speaker B:Really, really cool deal.
Speaker B:You know, everybody on that campus has a cape as they are.
Speaker B:It's tied to Turner's Heroes, which is a nonprofit dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer and then really celebrating those young patients as superheroes.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because that's what they are.
Speaker B:And they were able, recently at a home game, they raised over $10,000 for, you know, for Turner's Heroes on what they call Heroes Night.
Speaker C:Hero's Night.
Speaker A:This is what, the sixth game now?
Speaker A:Seventh game.
Speaker C:They've been doing this for a while.
Speaker B:They have been doing this for a long time, and I think it gets bigger every year that they do it.
Speaker B:And it's really just a testament to the family and to the school for making it part of their DNA that they.
Speaker B:It's a commitment not just to athletic excellence, but to service and leadership, and that's.
Speaker B:It makes a huge difference in the lives of these kids.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And not only that, but at the game, usually the other team is wearing capes, too, and they're supporting the cause as well.
Speaker B:Yeah, we've seen that.
Speaker B:We saw that over at Pope when Pope and Lasseter played for the Mat Hobby game, and the Lasseter staff pre game.
Speaker B:You know, they wore Matt Hobby T shirts during the pregame part of the game.
Speaker B:I think this is.
Speaker B:Causes like this are universal.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:You know, they're something that anybody can get behind.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:And I'm really glad that they buy in, you know, on nights like this.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:To remind us that there's.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:Yeah, the game's important, but there's.
Speaker A:There's other things that are actually way more important than the game itself.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:Great job, Altoona, for another successful fundraising football game with Turner's Heroes.
Speaker A:And again, like Don said, that gets bigger every year, and we're glad to see that.
Speaker A:And maybe one day we won't be even having to have this conversation about pediatric cancer.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:All right, so the last thing I want to talk about with you, and we'll talk with.
Speaker A:With Brad about a specific instance of this that they're.
Speaker A:That they're doing at.
Speaker A:At Harrison with the High School hall of Fame.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I don't know if you want to call it a program, but.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But every.
Speaker A:Every high school in.
Speaker A:In the.
Speaker A:In the district has a athletic hall of fame that they sometimes every year, sometimes, occasionally, sometimes as necessary, they induct people into their high school athletic hall of Fame.
Speaker A:So talk about that a little bit and why that's important.
Speaker B:Well, I Think that it's extremely important to recognize those that dug the well that you drink out of, that made the fire that you warm yourself by.
Speaker B:It's a way to look back at the people that laid the foundation for the programs that exist today and to appreciate them in that way.
Speaker B:And obviously, you know, some schools are a little bit more actively involved in it than others, but.
Speaker B:And I know for a long time when I was a local school ad, when I was at Kennesaw Mountain, we didn't have alumni, right.
Speaker B:They were.
Speaker B:It was a new school.
Speaker B:And so you had to build that alumni base to put people in hall of Fame after.
Speaker B:Because again, it could depend on what your criteria are and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:Are those criteria dependent on each school?
Speaker B:Correct?
Speaker B:Okay, yeah.
Speaker B:They typically, you develop a committee in your school, you come up with whatever your criteria is, and then you determine how often you want to award.
Speaker B:Is that gonna be an every year thing?
Speaker B:Is that gonna be every other year or every five years or whatever it may be.
Speaker B:And so it looks a little bit different based on the campuses, but those are special nights all the way around, recognizing those that came before us and laid the foundation, which is really, really good.
Speaker B:And the idea of recognizing, especially in a situation like over at Harrison, anytime that you.
Speaker B:Someone comes back, right.
Speaker B:And they're coaching in their school, that is super special because you know exactly where their heart is all the time.
Speaker B:So that's really, really, really cool.
Speaker B:Events across the county.
Speaker A:Okay, so before I jump over and start talking to Brad here, is there anything that I haven't asked you that you wanted to add for this, for this month's podcast?
Speaker B:I don't think so.
Speaker B:I know that you guys are going to talk a little bit about the postseason coming up.
Speaker B:I would just encourage everyone to get out and support your teams that are playing in the postseason.
Speaker B:Because this is when the rubber hits the road, go out and support, support them.
Speaker B:And we appreciate you for doing it.
Speaker C:As promised, we are doing this segment with Brad McBrayer, our resident sports expert on all things Cobb sports.
Speaker C:And Brad has.
Speaker A:Has been.
Speaker C:Had a pretty exciting weekend.
Speaker C:There was now officially there's two fall sports that have come to an end, Softball and volleyball.
Speaker C:And Cobb had representatives in both of those.
Speaker C:Both of those sports, unfortunately, one went when one didn't go our way and one did go our way.
Speaker C:So, you know, we can't.
Speaker C:We can't win them all, I guess, Brad.
Speaker C:But, but.
Speaker C:So let's talk a little bit about those sports that, that have, that have officially ended their season.
Speaker C:So let's, let's start with softball.
Speaker D:Yeah, we'll start with the bad news.
Speaker D:The bad news from the good news.
Speaker D:Yes, we had four teams in Cobb county that made it to what's called a tournament bracket.
Speaker D:In softball.
Speaker D:It's the double elimination portion of the state championship.
Speaker D:North Cobb and Walton made it in the 6A bracket, but unfortunately got knocked down as did Lasser in 5 way 5A.
Speaker D:Kell from 4A went all the way through the winners bracket undefeated.
Speaker D:And then unfortunately they got swept in the championship.
Speaker D:But so Kale came in second and had a great run through that softball tournament.
Speaker C:So when you say swept, they, they ended up having to play two games.
Speaker D:Right, Right.
Speaker D:They had to.
Speaker D:The, the losers bracket champion had to basically win twice in order to win.
Speaker D:And so Kell was unable to knock off east side.
Speaker D:They lost two close ones.
Speaker C:All right, so congratulations for making it all the way, Kel.
Speaker C:Unfortunately, you know, the ball.
Speaker C:Ball didn't fall your way.
Speaker C:But, but you know, runner up in, in, in 4A isn't bad either.
Speaker C:So, so, so congratulations on a great season to all those teams in softball.
Speaker C:And, and then we have some good news to report in volleyball.
Speaker D:Yeah, in volleyball we had some great teams that made it deep.
Speaker D:Hope in 5A went all the way to the semifinals.
Speaker D:They eventually lost to Woodward Academy who ended up winning the State Championship in 5A.
Speaker D:In 6A.
Speaker D: ey actually haven't won since: Speaker D:And they had a tough draw in the tournament.
Speaker D:They had to beat the number two seed Buford in the quarterfinals and they swept them.
Speaker D:And then in the semifinals, they faced the fourth ranked team in the state, North Forsyth, and they actually lost the first two sets, but then they stormed back and won three in a row to send themselves to the championship.
Speaker D:And in the championship, lo and behold, they have to face the number one team in the state, which was Alpharetta, who had a 32 match win streak.
Speaker D:Alpharetta won the first set, but obviously Walton wasn't phased after what they had faced already.
Speaker D:And they won three straight sets and they brought home their 16th title in school history.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:So, yeah, they didn't even have to get to the fifth.
Speaker C:The fifth match or the fifth game.
Speaker D:They did not.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Good for them.
Speaker C:All right, so congratulations Walton, on your 16th.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:That's a lot of teens.
Speaker D:That's impressive.
Speaker C:That's, that is impressive.
Speaker C:So, and this is, that's with the first year head coach, Ashley Jones.
Speaker C:Great job winning the.
Speaker C:The 6A state title in volleyball.
Speaker C:And then we've also got cross country, which is getting close.
Speaker C:The regular season's over.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker C:They ran.
Speaker C:Was it sectionals or regionals?
Speaker D:It's kind of a combination regional sectional.
Speaker D:It's a weird way how they do it, but yes, it was the regionals and sectionals this past weekend and we had a ton of representation.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:For a Altoona, both the boys and the girls cross country team advanced to the state.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:The, the boys got second in their sectional and the girls got fifth.
Speaker C:And does that mean their.
Speaker C:Their whole varsity team will run the.
Speaker D:That's correct.
Speaker D:Their whole team will run and then the top five score.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:And the way they do it in cross countries, it's kind of like golf is.
Speaker D:You want to.
Speaker D:You want to have the lowest score.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:In, in the team competition.
Speaker D:And so if the, the fastest runner in the race, they get one point and the second fastest runner gets two points and so on.
Speaker D:Want the lowest score possible.
Speaker C:So if your number one finishes first and your number two comes in 100, you're.
Speaker C:You're already at 101 points.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Exactly.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Exactly.
Speaker D:And the reason I bring that up is I want to point out what Pope did in 5A.
Speaker D:Pope, obviously they're, they're the defending state champions in 5A and they have the defending individual champion, Josie Hutchinson.
Speaker D:And they typically use this sectional meet as just a warm up for the state.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:Because they're that good.
Speaker D:But they still want it.
Speaker D:They.
Speaker D:They had.
Speaker D:Josie again won the sectional.
Speaker D:She's the first fastest runner.
Speaker D:She was.
Speaker D:Her teammate came in second, a teammate came in fourth and a teammate came in eighth.
Speaker D:They, they had 29 points as a team to win in the girls.
Speaker D:And just by comparison, the second place team had 107 points.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:So they had a 78 point win on the girls side of things.
Speaker C:And I think that's what they.
Speaker C:What happened last year too at the, at the state tournament or the, the state meet.
Speaker C:I think they were so far ahead.
Speaker C:It was, it was like, like that.
Speaker C:It was like 20 or 30 points.
Speaker C:Their whole, their whole team crossed the finish line and the second place team.
Speaker D:Was like, they just dominated.
Speaker D:That's why they, they use this as a warmup race.
Speaker D:But they, they're just so good.
Speaker D:They win it.
Speaker D:So the boys and the girls both for Pope advance to the state.
Speaker D:The boys and the girls both for Lasser advanced the state.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:And the boys for Kennesaw Mountain advance for the state in 5A.
Speaker D:In 6A.
Speaker D:Interestingly, Harrison, they came in third in boys and.
Speaker D:And the girls won their me.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:And so by the comparison, I just.
Speaker D:I thought it was worth noting.
Speaker D:Nora Henderson won the Girls meet in 6A for Harrison and she had a teammate that came in fourth and came in fifth.
Speaker D:They won the.
Speaker D:The team portion by 12 points.
Speaker D:So that just kind of shows you the difference.
Speaker D:One, there's by 78 points.
Speaker D:Harrison won theirs by 12 points.
Speaker D:But still they.
Speaker D:They won.
Speaker D:And so Harrison, both boys and girls are going to state, as are both the boys and girls for Hillgrove and Campbell.
Speaker C:Okay, so a lot of representation and that will be run this weekend.
Speaker C:The Whatever.
Speaker C:Whatever the date is.
Speaker D:It's November 7th and 8th.
Speaker A:7Th and 8th.
Speaker C:And that's.
Speaker C:That's in Carrollton.
Speaker C:And that.
Speaker A:That will.
Speaker C:That will wrap up the entire cross country season for the state.
Speaker C:All of our teams should be racing, I think on.
Speaker D:On Saturday and it's a good bet we'll.
Speaker D:We'll bring home some medals.
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So yeah, so we've already got one state championship and hopefully we're looking at a couple more here after.
Speaker C:After this coming weekend.
Speaker C:And that brings us to two seasons that are.
Speaker C:That are.
Speaker C:Are.
Speaker C:Are still going on the regular season of.
Speaker C:Of football.
Speaker C:It is completed.
Speaker A:It's done.
Speaker C:We know the.
Speaker C:We know the seeds, we know the brackets now for the first round of.
Speaker C:Of the playoffs starting in 4A.
Speaker C:We have one team that made it to the playoffs and that's Kell.
Speaker C:They will be taking on Hampton in.
Speaker C:In a home game on November 14th.
Speaker C:Kel won their region region six.
Speaker C:So that puts them at home for the first round and the second round if they win their first game.
Speaker C:And we look forward to seeing Kell, who statewide they're ranked number five in 4A and like I said, they're region region six champions.
Speaker C:So good luck to Kell in their first round home playoff game in two weeks in 5A.
Speaker C:Sprayberry team two in region six.
Speaker C:And they're also ranked number 10 in 5A.
Speaker C:They will be playing at home against Lee County.
Speaker C:So good luck sprayberry in your 5A home first round playoff game.
Speaker C:And we look forward to seeing how the Yellow Jackets do in their game against Lee county.
Speaker C:And then it's 6A.
Speaker C:Lots of teams represented in for Cobb in 6A.
Speaker C:We have five.
Speaker C:Actually we have.
Speaker C:North Cobb is the Region 5 region champion.
Speaker C:They're repeating as region champions from.
Speaker C:From last year and they'll be taking home Pauldon county at home McEachern region champion in region three and they're, they're following up their region championship from 23.
Speaker C:So region region three champion Nikitron will be taking on Walton, who they played the first game of the year at, at Mercedes Benz in the Corky Kel.
Speaker C:So McEachern's actually ranked number four in 6A and they're 10 0, having a great year, having a great season.
Speaker C:So we look forward to that, that rematch between McEachern and, and Walton, and that will be played, of course, at McEachern.
Speaker C:On the other side of the bracket in 6A, we have Harrison.
Speaker C:Harrison is the runner up to McEachern in Region 3, and they'll be hosting Marietta for their first round playoff game.
Speaker C:And then Hillgrove, Region 3 Team 3, they will be taking on North Paulding and they will be traveling to North Paulding.
Speaker C:Kind of a short, short little trip, almost a local trip, but yeah.
Speaker C:So Hill Grove, Team 3 in Region 3 will be playing North Paulding at away at North Polding for their first round playoff game.
Speaker C:So that's going to be the, the look for the playoffs for Cobb county schools.
Speaker C:Seven teams overall in, in the, the three different classifications that Cobb's a part of.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So all the playoff games for our Cobb teams are in this first round close to home because most of them are at their home field.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:And the ones that happen to be on the road, Walton is playing at McEachern.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker D:And Hill Grove is playing at North Paulding.
Speaker D:So it's not too far away.
Speaker D:So it's a chance for the home crowds and the visiting crowds to go and make some noise and impact those games as well.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:We have 77 football teams, which is really about.
Speaker C:That's just one team short of, of, of half of the, of the, the, the football high schools that we have in, in, in Cobb County.
Speaker C:So we, we have, we have good representation here, but we will, we will see how that shakes out November 14th in the first round and, and then we'll, we'll report on that next time and we'll see where things go from there.
Speaker C:We also wanted to talk about, I mentioned that we would when I was talking to Don, Christina Johnson from Harrison.
Speaker C:You wrote the article on cobsports.org about.
Speaker A:That, and you spent a lot of.
Speaker C:Time interviewing her and talking to her, finding about her as a person and as a coach and as a teacher.
Speaker C:So what did you learn about Christina Johnson?
Speaker D:Yeah, Christina Johnson's a great story, especially in terms of Cobb County.
Speaker D:She is a Cobb county elementary school teacher at US Elementary.
Speaker D:She is a Cobb County School's high school coach.
Speaker D:She is coaching the volleyball team at her alma mater, Harrison High School.
Speaker D:And then of course, all her kids are in Cobb county schools as well.
Speaker D:So she's Cobb county strong, if anybody is.
Speaker D:But hers is a great story because she was inducted into the Harrison High School hall of Fame.
Speaker D:She was a great volleyball player in her day as a student athlete.
Speaker D:Went and played college volleyball as well, is in the hall of Fame at lagrange College also.
Speaker D:And now being recognized this year in the Harrison hall of Fame in the same class as Justin Fields, by the way.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker D:Which was kind of impressive.
Speaker D:So she is, we'll say she's a Hall of Famer with Justin Fields, but hers is a great story.
Speaker D:Just that she's somebody that grew up in Cobb, played in Cobb as a student athlete, now teaches in Cobb and coaches in Cobb and had a very successful volleyball program as a coach as well.
Speaker D:So it was a great story to tell and she's a great person and it was fun highlighting her.
Speaker C:Okay, finally, flag football.
Speaker C:They're what, halfway through their season in, in.
Speaker C:In flag football and McEachern's picking up right where they left off.
Speaker C:They.
Speaker C:They won the, they won the state championship last year for their region and this year, their.
Speaker C:Last year, zero had a, had a completely unblemished season.
Speaker C:This year they're 8.
Speaker C:0.
Speaker C:They're.
Speaker C:They're literally picking up where they left off.
Speaker C:And Ava Cousins, the Keitrons, I mean, what to call her, she's the quarterback.
Speaker C:She's.
Speaker C:She's a, I mean, she, she's an all purpose player.
Speaker D:She's the Dion Sander.
Speaker C:She is.
Speaker C:Yeah, she plays, she plays quarterback, wide receiver, safety.
Speaker C:I mean, she, she play.
Speaker C:She's all over the field and she's.
Speaker C:According to coach Jake Bergdorf, she's their, she's their best player.
Speaker C:And, and she exemplifies it with, with that, that you can read on the article on Cobb sports, but she was selected as the Georgia High School Football Dailies player of the week, and Ava Cousin was.
Speaker C:Ava Cousins was selected as that.
Speaker C:She's a senior and like I said, she plays all sorts of different positions.
Speaker C:She has scored many touchdowns and rushed many yards through many.
Speaker C:I mean, she's just, she's just killing it.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Good job, Ava.
Speaker C:She has a 3.8 GPA and she was athlete of the week for, for Cobb in October 16th.
Speaker D:So she's juggling two sports and all those school books at the same time.
Speaker C:Amazing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:You know, it's worth saying, people may be wondering how is it that flag football is only in the middle of their season but they end at the same time as tackle football?
Speaker D:Well, usually for those who don't know, if you go to a scheduled flag football game, they play essentially three games in one night because three teams are there in a night, say team A, team B, team C, team A will play team B, team A will play team C and then team B will play team C. And so if you go to one of those nights, you can get three games in, in a short amount of time.
Speaker D:And so that's how they can kind of have a shorter season than tackle football.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it's almost like a mini tournament each, each, each time they play.
Speaker C:But, but yeah, so they, we've mentioned before but they have a running clock so they know once it's what, two 20 minute halves I think.
Speaker C:So each game is essentially.
Speaker C:And then there's I think a 10 minute break in the middle.
Speaker C:So each game clock time is about 50 minutes long.
Speaker C:Every once in a while they'll allow them to take a timeout.
Speaker C:I think it's in the last minute or so they'll do like a one minute.
Speaker C:They stop the clock for a second.
Speaker C:And so there's a couple of places where the clock stops but for the most part it just runs.
Speaker C:So you know when you, when you go to a flag football and you see three games, you're, you're not going to be there until 2:00 in the morning.
Speaker C:It, it runs about the, about all three games will run about the length that a regular football game would, you know, about two and a half, three hours.
Speaker C:So, so you're, you're, you know what kind of time investment you're getting in.
Speaker C:But you're going to see some, some outstanding competition on the field.
Speaker C:These, these, these girls play hard and, and it is fun to watch.
Speaker D:They throw the ball around a lot.
Speaker D:It's not just hand it off and see how far they can run.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker D:I, you know I did the flag football preview article for this Cobb Sports this year and some of the stats from these quarterbacks are in the multi thousands in yards for a season.
Speaker D:So they throw the ball around.
Speaker C:Yeah, so, so that's going to do it for the, the on field action report for the Cobb Sports podcast for October.
Speaker C:Thanks for joining us Brad.
Speaker C:And do you have anything to say before we, before we check out here?
Speaker D:So get those flag football and football teams to bring home some more trophies.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker C:So congratulations Walton, and we look forward to announcing many more state championships as the year progresses.
Speaker C:And thanks for listening to the Cobb Sports Podcast.
Speaker A:I hope you enjoyed this episode and learned something that you didn't know about sports and student athletes around the district.
Speaker A:We'll do this again next time, but until then, keep supporting your favorite schools and teams around Cobb.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening.