CHAMPIONS!
The Cedartown Lady Bulldogs celebrated a big win over the weekend as they brought home a Class AAAA state title.
COLUMBUS — After their final performance of the season, the Cedartown competition cheerleaders celebrated what they felt was their absolute best effort with their coach.
About an hour later, the judges agreed.
After taking first at seven straight competitions this season, Cedartown captured the program’s first ever state title Saturday in Columbus, capping off a perfect season with the Class 4A championship.
“I was jumping up and down like a fool, and I think that’s the first time I’ve immediately greeted the team on the mat after the routine,” Cedartown coach Brigitte Tillery said. “I’m embarrassed to see myself if this was recorded, but I was just so happy for the girls.”
Cedartown’s win marked the completion of the GHSA Cheer leading State Championships for a group of local squads who represented the area well over two days of competition at the Columbus Civic Center.
In Class AA, three local squads came up just short of a title with Armuchee finishing fourth, Coosa third and Pepperell taking second. The three teams finished behind Vidalia, whose score of 258 edged Pepperell by 11 points.
Cedartown’s routine received a score of 281, tied with Pierce County as the highest total during the first half of Saturday. It put Cedartown well ahead of second and third place finishers Chestatee and LaGrange.
The squad’s routine included high- flying aerials and saw members stay in sync when performing formations and tumbling.
When they were announced as the winners, the Cedartown cheerleaders either broke into tears or yelled in utter joy. Tillery spent much of the time running and hugging anyone on her team she could see.
“All that’s running through my mind is how these girls worked so hard and I have pushed them so hard to things they didn’t think they could achieve,” Tillery said. “All that hard work just resulted in success. I’m so proud. … I don’t know what to say.”
For Pepperell, its run- ner-up finish goes down as the program’s best finish since it won a state title in 2004. Coach Jessica Chester’s team was third behind Coosa and Armuchee at the region meet, and had to qualify for Saturday’s finals via a top-eight finish in sectionals Friday night.
Pepperell had been changing and slightly altering its routine all year, according to Chester, and this past week was no different. But the Dragons embraced an underdog mentality, knowing that their best performance could earn them a trophy.
“We just reminded ourselves that the only thing that we can control is our performance,” Chester said. “We can’t control what the judges give us or what anyone else does or says, but we control ourselves and we have to be clean.”
Coosa came into Saturday as the Region 7-AA champions and defending Class AA state champions. Like Cedartown, they had yet to lose a competition all season.
Coosa coach Brandon Jenkins was quick to praise the other local teams and said he was very proud of what his team accomplished this year. But the sting of missing another state title was certainly felt.
“I’m proud of my team and we had a great routine, just a couple of things went wrong with us,” Jenkins said. “That’s just the nature of the beast, and some- thing that can happen in a big meet like this.”
Rockmart also qualified for the Class AA finals, but did not finish in the top six Saturday. Trion took third in the Class A Public finals on Friday night while Model competed in the co-ed finals.