St. Pius Weekly Sports Recap

Volleyball and football were the only varsity teams in action last week at , and both recorded victories. Football moved into a tie at the No. 2 spot in the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) poll while maintaining the No. 2 spot in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution rankings. The Golden Lions boys’ cross country team continues to be the top-ranked team in the AAA ga.milesplit.com poll and moved up a spot to No. 4 in the All-Classification poll. The girls’ cross country team holds the second spot in the AAA poll.

Football continued its domination of Region 5-AAA, defeating previously unbeaten Grady (No. 5 GACA/No. 7 AJC), 49-16. The Golden Lions improved to 8-0 (5-0).  Senior T.J. Holloman, filling in for the injured Trey White at quarterback, rushed for 109 yards and four touchdowns. Junior Ryan Braswell gained 105 yards on the ground and scored a TD, while Nick Ruffin and Geno Smith added a rushing score each. Joseph Crochet led the defense with 10 tackles with Michael Healy and Danny Sutherland each recording seven. St. Pius X travels back to Grady Stadium this Friday night at 7:30pm to take on Washington. With the win over Grady, the Golden Lions secured the top spot in Sub-Region A, and will host either Woodward or Cedar Grove in the Region Championship game on November 4.

Volleyball (No. 2 GACA) returns to the semifinals of the state playoffs for the fourth time in five years with two wins last week. The Golden Lions faced off on Tuesday with No. 10 Dalton and recorded a 25-12, 25-15, 25-19 victory. On Saturday, St. Pius X hosted Gainesville in the state quarterfinals, and cruised to a 25-9, 25-13, 25-13 win, running its record to 48-5. The Golden Lions will take on Woodward (No. 3 GACA) at Woodward on Wednesday. The netters defeated Woodward in three games earlier this season in the only match-up between the two teams. If St. Pius advances, it will face the winner of the Sandy Creek-Riverwood semifinal. The Golden Lions have defeated Riverwood all three times this season, while dropping its lone match against Sandy Creek (No. 1 GACA) the last weekend of the regular season.

Both the boys’ and girls’ varsity cross country teams were off this past weekend preparing for the Region 5 meet on Saturday, October 29 at Mercer, Atlanta.

The competition cheer squad will participate October 29 at the Northeast Georgia Cheerleading Invitational at Winder-Barrow High School.