New sports lead to 106 schools winning state titles

A record-high 106 Georgia high schools won 185 team state championships this academic year as new GHSA sports created historic opportunities.

East Paulding and Stilwell School of the Arts, competing in sports the GHSA sanctioned in the past five years, won championships for the first time.

Stilwell won the Class A-2A dance competition, which the GHSA sanctioned in 2021. Stilwell is Clayton County’s magnet school for performing arts and competes only in dance and eSports.

“This achievement means a lot for our school because we are not a traditional high school with sports programs,” said Stilwell coach Brianna Wiggins-Smart, a ballet and dance instructor for the school of about 575 students. “We hope that people begin to see the great things that Stilwell is doing in Clayton County and in the state of Georgia.”

East Paulding, a 31-year-old school, won its championship in eSports, which got its GHSA start in 2018. East Paulding won in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a Nintendo fighting game. Another eSports champion, Forsyth Central, earned its first GHSA title since 1997 by winning Rocket League, a vehicular soccer video game.

Flag football, sanctioned in 2020, allowed Southeast Bulloch to win its first sports championship since 2003.

The number of state titles has increased to 185 from 106 in past 10 years, mostly because of adding classifications, but new sports have contributed. The GHSA added slow-pitch softball in 2017, eSports in 2018, flag football in 2020, dance in 2021 and gameday cheer in 2021. The GHSA also added bass fishing in 2021, but fishing champions are awarded to individuals and not schools.

Traditional sports presented their usual opportunities, as well.

Joining East Paulding and Stilwell Arts in winning their schools’ first GHSA titles in 2021-22 were Grovetown (boys basketball), Trinity Christian (football) and Pinecrest Academy (girls soccer).

Spencer’s championship in boys basketball was the Columbus school’s first in any sport since 1973.

Fitzgerald’s football team captured the school’s first boys championship since 1996 and first in football since 1948.

Brooks County’s football title was the school’s first in any sport since 1994, when the Trojans also were football champions.

North Atlanta won girls cross country and girls tennis. Those were the school’s first titles since 2000.

Lumpkin County’s girls basketball team won its school’s first championship in a girls sport.

The schools winning the most championships were familiar. Westminster, a Buckhead private school, led with 11. That ties the state record that it set in 2013.

Following Westminster were fellow private schools Marist (nine), Pace Academy (seven), Lovett (six) and Wesleyan (five). Buford, with five, had the most among public schools. Schools winning four state championships were North Oconee, Lake Oconee Academy, Lassiter and Walton.