Spencer Adams Highlights BLITZ Player of the Year Awards for 2014

White County's Spencer Adams took home Player of the Year honors in basketball and baseball.  Adams signed with UGA to pitch for the Bulldogs, but may elect to play professionally if he is drafted in the early rounds of the MLB Draft.

Spencer Adams Highlights Player of the Year Awards for 2014

DEMOREST, GA -

contact Brian Carter, Sports Producer at 3noutsports@gmail.com

All it takes is a glance back over the 2013-14 school year to see just how much talent we had in local prep sports.  Many of the standouts from this year have inked scholarships to play at the next level, while there are still plenty of holdovers that will lead their respective teams next season and in the years to come.

Spring 2014 saw many players come into their own, while we saw many that were expected to shine, do just that.  Spencer Adams, a White County two-sport star, was one of those prep athletes.  Adams took home the Boys Basketball Player of the Year award as well as nabbing the Baseball Player of the Year award by the slimmest of margins.  A complete look over this year's players of the year can be found here.   

Breaking down the players of the year by school goes as follows:

Habersham Central

Softball - Georgia Webb (Senior)

Volleyball - Caeli Chambers (Senior)

White County

Cross Country - Jenna Gearing (Sophomore)*

Boys Basketball - Spencer Adams (Senior)

Boys Golf - Garrett Rowland (Junior)

Baseball - Spencer Adams (Senior)

Dawson County

Girls Basketball - Sheyenne Seabolt (Junior)

Girls Soccer - Anela Melton (Junior)

Boys Soccer - Brandon Lund (Junior) 

Girls Golf - Madison Caldwell (Junior)*

Lumpkin County

Girls Tennis - Brittany Stewart (Senior)*

Towns County

NONE

Union County

Football - Joseph Mancuso (Sophomore)

Banks County

Boys Tennis - Gatlin Boswell & Justin Yang (Seniors)

Commerce

Wrestling - Chance McClure (Senior)*

Cheerleading (Team of the Year)*

Rabun County

Girls Track - Sally Woerner (Senior)

Boys Track - Charlie Woerner (Sophomore)

Hayesville

NONE

*Notates a repeat award winner from the 2012-13 school year also

This was an anomaly with the obvious overload of sophomore talent.  White County's Jenna Gearing has already earned six state titles in two years of varsity long distance running.  Two cross country titles are now joined by four state championships in the two long distance track and field events (1600 & 3200).  Gearing has a great shot at being the best in state history, and can very easily become decorated with as many as 12 state titles with a clean sweep the rest of her career.

Rabun County's Charlie Woerner is a phenomenal football player on both sides of the ball, and was narrowly beat out for Player of the Year by Union County sophomore QB Joseph Mancuso.  Both are talented players we will see on the gridiron for two more seasons!  Woerner took home the Track Athlete of the Year award, and should win at least one state title before his T&F career wraps up.  

Madison Caldwell of Dawson has become the second girl to win back-to-back Golfer of the Year awards in the history of BLITZ (2009-Present), joining Lumpkin County's Morgan Wood in 2010 and 2011.  Caldwell has a shot to win three straight, while Gearing can do the same in cross country in fall of 2014.  Gearing narrowly missed winning her second straight Track Athlete of the Year when Rabun's Sally Woerner got much love from the voting panel after winning a state title in hurdles.

All in all, it was another incredible year for Northeast Georgia prep sports, and look out for Rabun's football team, which is loaded with talent, along with Dawson County's boys and girls soccer teams, the latter of which is the heavy favorite to win state next year.    

Lee Shaw's Rabun County Wildcats In Line for Big Season

Rabun County went 6-5 last season, making the AA State
Playoffs for the 1st time since 1998, and putting together
its first winning season since 2000 under coach Lee Shaw.

Coach Lee Shaw is featured on the latest episode of BLITZ, sharing his thoughts on his first year at Rabun County in 2012, when he took over a Wildcats program that hadn't made the playoffs since 1998 and hadn't had a winning season since 2000.  And of course, as Coach Shaw is so great at doing, (see Flowery Branch 2002-2011), he has begun turning this Rabun team into a powerhouse.  A 6-5 season and a first round playoff appearance put Rabun back on the map and brought plenty of excitement.

"Our guys had a tough schedule, but it was exciting to watch them believe some, the community buy in.  I tried to bring that same mentality that I had at Flowery Branch, that winning mentality.  We're closing the gap on some of the bigger schools and we're figuring out how to win."

Despite last season's success, Shaw would be the first to say this is merely a stepping stone for this program.

"We're taking it, seems like every week, to another level, but the hardest thing is once you get 6-4, 6-5 like we were, not to get complacent. Because to me, it was a good season to start off, but it's only one game past average. We're looking for something bigger and better than that and these guys have really committed to that."

Coach Shaw's quarterback apple never falls far from the tree.  A Rabun alumni and standout QB in his day, he passed the torch on to sons Jaybo (Georgia Tech; Georgia Southern QB) and Connor (entering SR year as starting QB at South Carolina).  Even after Connor's departure from The Branch in 2009, following his incredible 2008 junior season that saw the Flowery Branch Falcons go to the State Title game in the Georgia Dome, Shaw has coached two other Division-I signal-callers.  In 2009, Connor Shaw finished his career at Flowery Branch with a semi-final showdown at Gainesville in what is arguably one of the greatest football games in GHSA history.  You can see the highlights here of the 2009 AAA Semifinals, which also featured big-time play-makers in Blake Sims (Alabama QB/RB) & TJ Jones (Notre Dame WR).

Shaw's next two QB projects were Habersham Central SR transfer Austin Brown (UAB) in 2010, followed by North Hall SR transfer Kanler Coker (North Carolina) in 2011 before departing Flowery Branch with an overall record of 79-41, averaging 10-11 wins per season by the 2005 season.  Rabun's SR QB Wes Holcombe is back for the 2013 season.  Shaw's main weapon found some success last year, tossing over 2,000 yards with 16 TD, and that has the head coach feeling like Holcombe can be just as capable of picking up a D-I offer.

"Wes has the same makeup as they do. He's a dual threat QB, this system is great for him. I'm expecting a big year out of him, and I really hope he gets credit due to him in the recruiting game."

Needless to say, Shaw and his QB Holcombe, along with other play-makers such as highly-touted sophomore WR/DB Charlie Woerner, are expecting big things in 2013.  Who know's...quite possibly we could see another Lee Shaw run in the playoffs as we've been accustomed to seeing while he was at Flowery Branch.

"Certainly anything's possible when you make the playoffs.  We proved that at Flowery Branch, going on the road and beating some team's that we shouldn't have in the early years.  A lot of things have to fall into place. The game's we lost last year came in the second half...we're trying to put four quarters together.  It's a real exciting time for Rabun County football."

Dawson, White County feature three award winners each in Blitz Players of the Year

The 2013 Blitz spring sports players of the year are finally here!!!

BASEBALL - Brett Westmoreland (SR 1B) White County Warriors
BOYS SOCCER - Brooks Fulford (JR GK) Dawson County Tigers
GIRLS SOCCER - Tina Libao (FR CM) Dawson County Lady Tigers
BOYS GOLF - Eli Crumley (SR) White County Warriors
GIRLS GOLF - Madison Caldwell (SO) Dawson County Lady Tigers
BOYS TENNIS - Bobby Nguyen (JR) Banks County Leopards
GIRLS TENNIS - Brittany Stewart (JR) Lumpkin County Lady Indians
BOYS TRACK - DiKerrio Ramsey (SR) Commerce Tigers
GIRLS TRACK - Jenna Gearing (FR) White County Lady Warriors

Congrats to all of our winners, who were much-deserving!!

Spring Sports Players of the Year & Blitz Cup Champions Announcements Coming Soon...

The always-anticipated Blitz Players of the Year will soon be announced for the Spring of 2013.  The 2012-13 school year has been one of the best in terms of athletic success among our local teams.  The Blitz Cup Standings, soon to be completed, has Dawson County in the lead by a mere ten points over Commerce (first year in Blitz coverage), and only 20 points over White County.  White has the chance to make the leap and get the win if the boys golf team has an almost perfect day on the links, one that would result in a state title, a low medalist and at least three golfers in the top five.  A long shot, but it could happen.  White County took home the Blitz Cup in the 2010-11 season, while Dawson won the inaugural award in 2009-10.

The fall of 2012 featured the following Players of the Year:

Football - Tyler Dominy (Dawson Co SR)
Softball - Jenna Abbott (Dawson Co SR)
Volleyball - Haley Gerrin (Habersham Central SR)
Boys Cross Country - Dylan Johnson (Hayesville SR)
Girls Cross Country - Jenna Gearing (White Co FR)

The winter of 2012-13 featured the following Players of the Year:

Boys Basketball - Tyler Dominy (Dawson Co SR)
Girls Basketball - Carly Gilreath (Dawson Co SR) & Stephanie Patton (Towns Co SO)
Wrestling - Chance McClure (Commerce JR)

As we are set to announce the spring sports players of the year, we take a look back at the previous winners in each sport:

BASEBALL:
2010 - David Sosebee (White Co JR)
2011 - David Sosebee (White Co SR)
2012 - Zach Wall (Hayesville JR)

BOYS SOCCER:
2010 - Nolan & Sawyer Hemmer (Habersham Central SR)
2011 - Vincent Thomas (Union Co SR)
2012 - Jose Lara (Habersham Central SR)

GIRLS SOCCER:
2010 - Kaitlyn Hooper (White Co JR)
2011 - Kaitlyn Hooper (White Co SR)
2012 - Emily Stowers (Dawson Co SR)

BOYS GOLF:
2010 - Aaron George (Lumpkin Co JR)
2011 - Aaron George (Lumpkin Co SR)
2012 - Lee McCoy (Habersham Central SR)

GIRLS GOLF:
2010 - Morgan Wood (Lumpkin Co FR)
2011 - Morgan Wood (Lumpkin Co SO)
2012 - Cara Gowder (Banks Co JR)

BOYS TRACK:
2010 - Andrew Seay (Habersham Central SR)
2011 - Taylor Guthrie (Lumpkin Co SR)
2012 - Jocquise Lloyd (Hayesville SR)

GIRLS TRACK:
2010 - Madalyn Walters (Dawson Co SO)
2011 - Madalyn Walters (Dawson Co JR)
2012 - Jessie Dotson (White Co SR)

BOYS TENNIS:
2010 - Thomas Flowers (White Co SR)
2011 - Will Jarrard (Lumpkin Co SR)
2012 - Jake Schaefer (Banks Co JR)

GIRLS TENNIS:
2010 - Abby Brown & Claire Stovall (Habersham Central SR)
2011 - Ginny Rhoades (Towns Co SR)
2012 - Kayla Olin & Eryn Cochran (Towns Co JR/SO)

The incumbents of Zach Wall (baseball), Cara Gowder (girls golf), Jake Schaefer (boys tennis) and the doubles combo of Kayla Olin & Eryn Cochran (girls tennis) are in the running to win again, but are up against heavy competition.

The following is the list of Blitz Cup winners by season:

2009-10: Dawson Co (122 pts)
2010-11: White Co (142 pts)
2011-12: Habersham Central (127 pts)

Current Blitz Cup standings for 2012-13:

Dawson Co.....156
Commerce......146
White Co........136
Union Co........108.5
Banks Co........102
Hayesville........94
Towns Co........81
Lumpkin Co.....67.5
Habersham.......23