St. Pius Football Crushes No. 5 North Oconee 50-14

Five of the six fall sports saw action last week. Football moved up to No. 2 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution AAA poll after an impressive win Friday night. The volleyball team continues to occupy the No. 3 spot in the AAA Scoreatl.com/AJC poll. The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams are in the top spot and No. 2 spot in AAA in their respective ga.milesplit.com polls while the male harriers are No. 2 in the all-classification poll. Softball traveled to Columbus over the weekend for a tournament.

The Golden Lion football team opened its home season with a 50-14 dismantling of then-No. 5 North Oconee. Ryan Braswell rushed for 83 years and three touchdowns to lead St. Pius (2-0). Jack Spear and Nick Ruffin also ran for a TD each. Michael Sikorski had two of the Golden Lions four interceptions, including one returned 72-yards for a touchdown as time ran out in the first half to give St. Pius a 36-0 lead at the break. Dalton Wilson led all tacklers with eight stops. The Golden Lions travel to No. 6 Thomson on Friday at 7:30pm.

Volleyball advanced to the Gold Pool of the Lovett Block Party for the first time in school history. After dropping the opening match to Whitewater, the Golden Lions (16-11) rattled off three straight wins versus Holy Innocents’, Northgate and Etowah. In the first round of the playoffs, St. Pius used the blocking of Kasey Mack and hitting of Emily Morrison and Leah Hardeman to knock of Harrison before succumbing to Woodward in the semi-finals. Mack finished the weekend with 11 blocks. The Golden Lions open Area 5-AAA play at home Tuesday, hosting East Hall and Buford before hosting a play-date on Saturday.

Boys’ cross country continued its early season success finishing third in the Berry Invitational in the 5A/6A Division behind Mill Creek and Marietta. Austin Sprague finished first overall, while Joey Ferrugia placed 13th. Andrew Anastasiades and Calvin Tirrell completed the course in 17th and 20th, respectively. The harriers will travel to Carrollton for the Carrollton Orthopedic Invitational on Saturday.

The girls’ cross country squad took first overall in the 1A-4A meet at the Berry Invitational. Devon Dabney completed the course eighth overall to pace the Golden Lions. Katie Glenn finished 13th and Emma Jayne Braxton placed 19th in the event. The ladies will participate in the Warpath Invitational at Boling Park in Canton on Saturday.

Softball had a mixed week as it dropped an 11-8 contest to Lovett. Jordyn Portis and Natasha Sherrod banged out three hits each while Carson Travers added two to lead the Golden Lions (4-9) 12-hit attack. St. Pius bounced back with wins over Shaw and Hardaway in Columbus before dropping a game to Greater Atlanta Christian on Saturday. Travers had three of the Golden Lions’ 13 hits against Hardaway while Sarah Rawls and Natalie Corso added two apiece. St. Pius travels to Towers on Tuesday, Woodward on Thursday before hosting McNair on Friday.