St. Pius Volleyball Finishes as State Runners-Up

As the calendar turned to November, fall sports at St. Pius have either finished or in the stretch run as winter sport practices begin. Volleyball advanced to the state title game for the second consecutive season. Football moved up in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution AAA poll to No. 7 after its win Friday night. Boys’ cross country continued to sit in the top spot in the ga.milesplit.com poll, while the lady harriers are No. 2 in their poll.

The Golden Lions bounced back on the gridiron with a 24-17 victory over then-No. 7 Blessed Trinity. Nick Glass returned an interception 39-yards early in the second half to give St. Pius (7-2, 4-1) a 16-14 lead. Ryan Braswell capped a 12-play, 96-yard drive on a one-yard touchdown run with just over a minute to play to lift the Golden Lions past the Titans. Michael Sikorski clinched the win with an interception on the ensuing possession. Branden Mitchell added a 50-yard TD run for St. Pius. The Golden Lions can clinch the Region 6-AAA title with a win at Decatur Friday night.

The Golden Lion volleyball team advanced to the state championship and finished as state runners-up for the second consecutive year. The Golden Lions (43-18-1) defeated then-No. 2 Woodward 3-0 in the semifinals to secure a spot in the title game against Area 5 rival, Blessed Trinity. The Titans knocked off St. Pius in three straight deuce games, 30-28, 25-23, 26-24. It marked the third time in five years that the netters have finished as state runners-up and fourth time the team has advanced to the final four in that time frame.

Boys’ and girls’ cross country both finished as runners-up at the Region 6-AAA meet in McDonough. Austin Sprague won the boys’ meet with Calvin Tirrell finishing third. Joey Ferrugia placed fifth and Andrew Anastasiades finished the course in 11th place. The male harriers were edged by one point by Woodward.

The lady harriers placed four in the top eight and finished seven points behind Blessed Trinity. Margaret Crawford and Emma Jayne Braxton paced the Golden Lions finishing second and fourth, respectively. Elizabeth Pettit and Katie Glenn placed sixth and eighth respectively. Both teams head to the state championship meet in Carrollton this Saturday.

Competition Cheer finished third at the region meet, and qualified for state sectionals this weekend in Macon.