Gainesville (19-2-1) welcomed Woodward Academy (18-3-1) to City Park for the Class AAA boys championship, and early on the game two teams felt each other out. Read more >

Westminster pulled off back-to-back Class AA titles after stopping Blessed Trinity in penalty kicks for a 1-1 (4-2, PKs) victory. The Wildcats took the lead with three minutes to play in the first half on a Josh Bennett goal, staking the defending champions to a 1-0 lead at intermission. Read more >

Despite stumbling a bit at the beginning of the month, the Gwinnett Braves continue to remain atop the South Division standings with a comfortable lead over the remaining competition. The G-Braves are also neck and neck for the International League’s best over-all record. Read more >

Even the casual NFL fan can tell you that games can’t be won and playoff spots can’t be clinched in mid-May. Regardless, the Atlanta Falcons are having a great offseason month. Read more >

In the Class AAAA boys state championship game, Lambert beat Greenbrier (21-2) 5-0 after four goals by junior Bakawsu Kinteh. The Longhorns (23-0) captured their first state championship in just the third year of program history. Read more >

The Columbus Blue Devil girls soccer team waits in anticipation on the eve of the Class AAA championship game. The Blue Devils wait ready to massage away the irritation of not having won a state title in the program’s history. They look to join the boys program that has already won a state title in its history. Headman Rusty Oliver is in his fifteenth year and is proud of where the program has come since the start of his Blue Devil tenure. Read more >

It’s the halfway point of the season for the Georgia Force and they are right where they want to be: on top of the American Conference South division.

But it has not been an easy ride for the Force because they have been up-and-down all season long. Read more >

The Atlanta Falcons figured out the almost impossible. They found a way to make headlines two days before the annual NFL draft, in a year in which they don’t even have a first-round pick. General manager Thomas Dimitroff traded a seventh-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles today for cornerback Asante Samuel, a four-time Pro Bowler willing to rework his contract.

In the Eagles’ mindset, Samuel became expendable when they added two other star cornerbacks last summer, Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

As is often the case with premier players with huge contracts, Samuel suddenly became a victim of the salary cap numbers game.

Samuel has agreed to rework his contract to a more cap-friendly number to join the Falcons’ defensive backfield. Read more >

The Atlanta Braves made several moves last week, locking in all of their arbitration-eligible players for another crack at the playoffs. After agreeing to terms with Martin Prado and Jack Wilson on one-year deals, the team inked Eric O’Flaherty, Jair Jurrjens and Michael Bourn. The team also signed reliever Peter Moylan to a one-year, incentive-laden deal to avoid arbitration. Read more >

The Atlanta Braves avoided salary arbitration hearings with the team’s three remaining arbitration-eligible players Tuesday, agreeing to one-year contracts with starter Jair Jurrjens, reliever Eric O’Flaherty and outfielder Michael Bourn. The financial terms of the deals were not disclosed by the team Read more >

Last season, the Atlanta Braves bullpen was a strength for a squad that just missed out on the playoffs. Craig Kimbrel, Eric O’Flaherty and Jonny Venters even received a feature story from Sports Illustrated about their shutdown abilities. As good as the pen was one year ago, though, the 2012 relief corps could be even better.

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Sunday’s NFC wild card matchup at MetLife Stadium across the Hudson River from New York City features two teams that have gotten used to advancing to the postseason regularly lately … with mixed results.

The NFC East champion New York Giants (9-7) went on an amazing playoff run in 2007 that ended with a 17-14 upset victory over the then undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona. Since 2005, the Giants have advanced to the playoffs six times.

The No. 5 seed wild card Atlanta Falcons (10-6) have made the playoffs three times in the last four seasons, which is unprecedented territory for a team that is also experiencing its first ever back-to-back postseason runs. The Falcons’ recent regular season success is the product of the collaboration between general manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Mike Smith, both hired before the 2008 season. Read more >

No LeBron James. No Dwayne Wade. No problem for the Hawks?

Think again.

Not only did the Hawks fail to take care of the Heat, but they spent 63 minutes on court with the undermanned visitors and never came close to taking control of the game. After three overtimes, Miami escaped Philips Arena with a 116-109 victory on Thursday night.

Atlanta, which had gone into Miami on Monday and defeated a much more dangerous Heat squad with James and Wade, trailed for almost the entirety of the rematch. The home team finally earned a lead late in the fourth quarter, but Chris Bosh–the only member of the “Big 3″ standing–nailed a tying three-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining to force overtime.

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Archer’s recent run of dominance continued with a title at the Heart of Dixie Classic last Thursday. Archer was led by Hunter McCleskey’s championship, coupled with second-place finishes by Ernest Alexander and Zach Wright. Read more >

Parkview traveled to Hilton Head, S.C. to participate in the Seahawk Slam last Thursday. Thanks to eight placers, Parkview finished fifth out of 24 teams. Parkview was led by Kamaal Fhakur’s win in the 132-pound class. Khalil Fhakur finished second in the 160-pound class and An Vu (113) and Harrison Schmid (195) each finished fourth. Jordan Matlack (138), Will Anderson (120), Andrew Webb (126) and Edwin Lindsey (145) also helped Parkview with high finishes. … Douglas County hosted a quad meet Thursday and Meadowcreek dominated the event. Meadowcreek beat Villa Rica 63-15, Douglas County 57-20 and Lithia Springs 78-6. Key performers for Meadowcreek included Dante Bennett (120), Rene Deluna (126), Angelo Pineda (132), Alex Steele (160), O.G. Harden (170), Ryan Moore (182) and Alex Lucio (285). … Read more >