In our DTL Download series, learn how Universal Joint in Lawrenceville gives back to the community, including a creative business change during the pandemic to help people get supplies.
Also:
What had been a dominant debut in Class AAAAAAA for the Buford football team will end without practices on Thanksgiving week.
Walton stunned the previously unbeaten and No. 1 Wolves 42-35 Friday night in the second round of the state playoffs, handing the hosts their earliest postseason exit since 1999. It snapped Buford’s 22-game winning streak and was the first playoff loss for both fourth-year head coach Bryant Appling and his players, who had gone 16-0 since 2019.
The Wolves were on a three-year run of state championships — the past two in AAAAAA and the 2019 title in AAAAA — and their last postseason loss was Nov. 23, 2018 to Bainbridge in the quarterfinals. Buford also had won 30 straight home games against Georgia teams dating back to that Bainbridge loss, and it hadn’t dropped a game to a Georgia team since September 11, 2020 at North Cobb. Walton quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski, running back Makari Bodiford and visiting Raiders broke all of those runs of prosperity for the Wolves, which entered the game ranked high in every major national poll for high school football, including Number 2 by High School Football America and Number 6 by both MaxPreps and USA Today. Hecklinski completed 21 of 38 passes for 313 yards and four touchdowns, Bodiford rushed 27 times for 83 yards and two TDs (in addition to a TD catch) and Walton racked up the most points allowed by a Buford defense since a 48-24 loss to Archer on Sept. 21, 2018. The Raiders (9-2) advance to play at Carrollton in next week’s quarterfinals, while Buford finishes 11-1.
Buford had held six of its past seven opponents to seven points or less, but Walton put up 29 in the second half — 21 in the fourth quarter alone.
Two Gwinnett County school board members raised questions about Gwinnett County Public Schools’ data on discipline incidents in schools, with one of them publicly rescinding her support for the district’s new discipline policy on Thursday night.
Board members Mary Kay Murphy, who announced she no longer supports the discipline policy, and Steve Knudsen raised different concerns about data that has been presented to the school board about discipline.
Knudsen railed against GCPS Superintendent Calvin Watts while referring to numbers the board received earlier in the day about violent incidents, and comparing that to data the board received last month about tribunals being down.
The violent incident data presented on Thursday showed that, between August 1 and October 31, incidents involving handguns, fighting, pellet guns, razors or blades and other physical altercations between students were up from the same time period during the 2021-2022 school year. Watts responded to Knudsen’s criticisms about the increase in major incidents versus the decrease in tribunals by asserting the district will not allow violent behavior, or other major infractions, to occur. Murphy said she is concerned that not all discipline incidents, particularly nonviolent offenses, are being reported in the district’s discipline numbers.
When she asked Director of Academic Support EricThigpen about that issue earlier in the day, he said the district is still looking at how it responds to absence without leave issues. AWOL situations are considered low level violations under GCPS’ new discipline policy, which means teachers are designated with handling the discipline for those infractions.
Thigpen said data has shown that absence without leave violations, like other more serious violations, are up this year.
Cam Robinson rushed 21 times for 135 yards and two touchdowns to lead Mill Creek to a 43-7 victory over North Cobb in the second round of the Class AAAAAAA state playoffs at Emery Sewell Stadium Friday.
The Hawks , who scored 43 unanswered points and held the Warriors to 122 total yards, will host Westlake in the quarterfinals next Friday. Meanwhile, North Cobb watched its season come to a close in the second round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Leading 36-0 at halftime, Mill Creek scored on its first possession of the second half, driving 65 yards on 10 plays to go-ahead 43-0 on Clark’s 1-yard scoring run with 9:14 left in the third period. The touchdown gave Mill Creek its 43-0 advantage. The Hawks outgained the Warriors 265-28 in total offense in the first half. North Cobb had three first downs compared to 12 for Mill Creek. The Warriors failed to complete a pass in the half.
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs recently announced that it will award $27,980,800 in 9% Housing Tax Credits to construct or preserve 28 affordable rental housing developments, including two in Albany. Once completed, the properties will provide below-market rents to families, seniors, and persons requiring supportive housing.
The two Albany developments include $1,149,909 for Pointe River, a family project, and West Pointe Senior, a $1,069,661 Housing for Older Persons project.
The 28 awardees were among 61 applications. The awards are equitably distributed across Georgia. The awards include nine new construction rural developments, seven new construction Atlanta Metropolitan developments, eight new construction other metropolitan developments, and four developments preserving existing housing. The selected developments will target varied household tenancies — Family, Housing for Older Persons, and Elderly — and include supportive housing for persons with disabilities and housing integrated with supportive services for survivors of domestic sex trafficking.
The nearly $28 million in Housing Tax Credit awards will generate approximately $360 million in private equity contributions. The equity, in turn, will fund the construction or rehabilitation of 1,688 units affordable to low- and moderate-income Georgians earning up to 80% of the Area Median Income. In addition to the tax credit-funded units, 89 market-rate units will be constructed or rehabilitated to produce mixed-income developments
For the fifth straight year, Grayson will be practicing on Thanksgiving Day after beating Camden County 28-10 in the second round of the Class AAAAAAA football playoffs in a matchup of the last two state championship coaches at Grayson.
For Rams’ head coach Adam Carter, the win was special, especially considering it was against his mentor and former Grayson head football coach Jeff Herron. The Rams were able to put the game away midway thanks to the efforts of their defense. A sack by freshman Tyler Atkinson, while he was sitting on the ground, moved the ball back to the Wildcats’ 9. Then, another fumble by the Wildcats’ was recovered by Tennessee-commit Jalen Smith on the 2, setting the Rams up with first-and-goal.
From there, it was Taylor again rushing it in giving the Rams the final points of the game.
With the win, the Rams will now travel to Milton for their fifth straight quarterfinal appearance, and seventh in the last eight years.
#GwinnettDailyPost #Georgia #LocalNews
-
-
-
-
The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.
This podcast was produced and published for the Gwinnett Daily Post and GwinnettDailyPost.com by BG Ad Group
For advertising inquiries, please email j.southerland@bgadgroup.com
For more information be sure to visit www.bgpodcastnetwork.com
https://www.lawrencevillega.org/
https://www.fernbankmuseum.org/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
