Area Schools Provide Memorable Highlights in 2011

The holiday season is a festive time of celebration, and perhaps one of the biggest jubilant traditions is the multitudes of year-end  countdowns and reviews.

From pop culture to politics, pre-teens and pun dents alike often rate the most memorable moments of the past 12 months with fondness as magical episodes that will forever live in the annals of history.

Things are no different here in southwest Atlanta, and in 2011, the sports calendar was full of epic highlights from the second the peach ball dropped at midnight on Jan. 1.

The talent student-athletes from , and shined brightly in 2011, making their presence felt not only in their local communities, but statewide.

This past year began with frigid temperatures outside, but the local gyms were a blaze of glory with heat on the hardwood from both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams.

Perhaps one of the biggest moments of 2011 occurred on a frosty Saturday night by a legendary figure in Georgia high school sports.

On Jan. 22, players and fans at Tri-Cities High School were an eyewitness history when Westlake girls’ head coach Hilda Hankerson clinched the 400^th victory of her illustrious career following a 68-44 rout over the Lady Bulldogs.

This win was one of many by the region’s team down the stretch, which ultimately led to the girls’ and boys’ programs from all three schools securing a spot in the state playoffs in February. However, the Mays Lady Raiders and Westlake Lions were the only area clubs to advance to the second round.

Although football games are played in the fall, football season is a 365-day run, and several local gridiron greats were honored on Feb. 2 for National Signing Day. Among the players who inked college scholarships during this nationwide event were Mays Raiders Devonte Bailey (Tusculum
College), Darrius Caldwell (University of Illinois), Greg Eason (Navy), Timothy McCoy (Tusculum College), Roderick Thompson (Georgia State University), Westlake Lions Tahir Blount (Youngstown State University), Ronnie Harris (Stanford University), Amir Mustafaa (University of West Georgia), Quinton Rucker (North Carolina Central University, Chris Tavarez (Duke University), Washington Bulldogs Adonis Lovejoy (Tusculum College), Courtney Hunter ( Johnson C. Smith University), Dekeishon Phifer (Tusculum College), Davonta Rogers (Virginia Union University), Zachery Witchett (Hinds Community College) as well as Therrell Bulldogs Karnorris Benson (Western Carolina University) and Railey Lindley (Valdosta State University).

During the spring season, Westlake once again found itself re-writing the history books, and this time, the boys’ tennis team was at the forefront of discussion.

Westlake had a year unlike any other as it rolled over the competition during the regular season and Class AAAAA tournament. On May 7, the Lions advanced all the way to the state championship match, but fell versus Brookwood 3-1. Westlake’s improbable run made it the first predominately African American school to reach the state finals in Georgia.

When school resumed in the fall, the fierce competition returned with Mays leading the charge on the gridiron.

Mays featured the dominant football program in the neighborhood, finishing 8-3 clinching a berth in the playoffs. The 2011 season also marked the third consecutive season in which the Raiders advanced to the postseason. Mays cracked the top-10 state rankings early in the year and won all eight games in convincing fashion. Head coach Domonic Calloway’s squad posted double digit margins in their victories, but were upended by perennial powers Tucker, Marist and later Pope in the first round of the postseason on Nov.
11.

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