Bleckley County enjoying state Director’s Cup trophy for Class 2A

The standings were all but final back in late May, with only a few events left, and Bleckley County was a cinch.

But outgoing athletics director Benjy Rogers wouldn’t talk much about the Royals winning the Georgia Athletics Directors Association Director’s Cup all-sports trophy for GHSA Class 2A, as well as for girls sports, until all sports were done and points added up.

The official celebration came a few weeks ago when the trophy for both honors arrived in Cochran. Nothing changed for the Royals in the overall race, and they topped Vidalia 937-5-893.5. Bleckley County girls retained the top spot over St. Vincent’s, 552.5-518.

Bleckley County’s boys dropped one spot to ninth.

Bleckley County swept boys and girls state titles in cross country and tennis, finished second in boys track, fourth in girls golf and reached the semifinals in girls basketball.

Dodge County dropped one spot to sixth in the final overall race in Class 2A but remained third in boys and 13th in girls.

The biggest jump among Middle Georgia teams was Tattnall Square. Thanks to a trip to the Class 1A private school baseball title series, the Trojans moved up from 48th overall with 320 points to 30th, and from 42nd in boys with 184 points to 19th.

Most Middle Georgia programs and teams stayed put from the standings of late May, with several dropping only one or two spots based on the final results of baseball.

Veterans in Class 5A, West Laurens in 4A and Stratford in 1A finished in the top 10 in overall programs in their respective classes. Veterans also finished in the top 10 in boys and girls sports.

Signing/commitments update

Warner Robins offensive lineman Christian Armstrong announced his commitment on Sunday to Florida State on Twitter.

If he stays with the decision, it would continue a recent pipeline from Middle Georgia to Tallahassee, including former Houston County softball standout Jessica Burroughs, Veterans baseball player Tyler Daughtry, former Tattnall Square girls basketball star Ivey Slaughter and Jones County boys basketball alum Jarquez Smith.

Help Wanted/Help Found

Mary Persons promoted boys basketball assistant coach Lamon McElhaney to replace Kurt Greene as the girls basketball head coach. McElhaney is a Georgia State graduate and has been teaching and coaching for about a half-dozen years.

Macon County is still looking to hire a girls basketball head coach to replace Quantavias Allen, who left to take over the boys program at Lovejoy.

Monticello has hired Christopher Pennamon to replace B.J. Thomas as the boys basketball head coach. Thomas was hired for the same position at Henry County.

Pennamon was an assistant at Heritage-Conyers, where he had also been the girls basketball head coach.

Former longtime Taylor County boys basketball head coach Anzy Hardman is back on the sidelines and not far away, taking over at Manchester. Hardman, who spent one year in retirement, coached at Manchester from 1990-95 before taking over at Taylor County in the late 1990s, winning Class 1A titles in 2001-02.

An early football look

Preseason practice is a month away, but Calpreps.com has its state rankings out, for all classes.

Class 1A public state champion Macon County is the top Middle Georgia team at No. 14 and is by far the highest-ranked team in one of the three smallest classes.

Class 3A Peach County is No. 23, with Class 6A Northside No. 32 and Houston County No. 69.

Taylor County, a region rival with Macon County, is No. 99, and Class 4A Mary Persons No. 100.

John Milledge is the top non-GHSA team at No. 109, with Gatewood — a 17-0 loser to John Milledge in the GISA Class 3A title game last season — next at No. 182.

The site ranked 476 teams in the state.

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Bleckley County enjoying state Director’s Cup trophy for Class 2A."