Our football coverage will be greatly expanded this year, but we still can’t be everywhere at once, that’s why we’re urging people to call in scores, e-mail them to sports@thecitizen.com or post them on the website when they get home from a game.

Former Clayton State power forward Stephen Cox was hired recently as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Mercer out of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Cox joins head coach Mark Slonaker’s staff at Mercer following a three-year stint at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Fla.

Chris O’Reilly, a senior at East Coweta High School, has been skating for seven years, and his success, specifically at a Free Flow Tour stop in Dallas, Texas, has qualified for the AST Dew Tours’ PlayStation Pro in Orlando in October. If O’Reilly wins the Free Flow Finals, he will win wildcard entry into the actual Playstation Pro and will compete against the world’s best vert skateboarders, people like Bucky Lasek and Shaun White.

In other softball action Tuesday, the Starr’s Mill Lady Panthers defeated the Fayette County Lady Tigers for the second time this season, 6-1.

The Whitewater Wildcats finally had the opportunity Thursday to get on the field and play against someone other than themselves, facing Heritage in a preseason game in Fayetteville.

The 10th annual “Up The Creek” softball tournament was stopped short because of inclement weather, but not before a number of local teams showed their mettle.

Canongate Golf Clubs is pleased to announce the completion of a $3.5 million renovation of Whitewater Creek Country Club in Fayetteville, Georgia. August 15 was the opening day of play on the recently renovated greens at Whitewater Creek Country Club in Fayetteville, Georgia. The 18-hole Arnold Palmer design has been undergoing significant upgrade since Canongate purchased the facility in late 2005. The latest course projects have also included installation of drainage and new sand in all bunkers, leveling of tees, newly appointed tee signs and cart path upgrades.

One of the hardest tasks in sports is hitting a baseball.

Just imagine attempting to hit a baseball while legally blind.

Starr’s Mill and Sandy Creek’s volleyball teams both played in the Sequoyah tournament over the weekend and did very well. The Lady Panthers won the whole thing and Sandy Creek placed third.

Kyle Meyhoefer and Sarah Phinney placed among the top swimmers at the GRPA District IV championship swim meet held July 7.

Michelle Stegall(Starr’s Mill) led QCS, qualifying in the 200- meter dash, 400-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay. Stegall, the Georgia High School AAAA 400-meter champion, posted a personal record 54.45 in the semi-final round of the national event, and finished in fifth place overall. Lauren Crim(Woodward Academy), Mia Jones(Sandy Creek), Tayler Toles(Banneker) and Stegall ran a very respectable 3:58.53 in the Young Women’s 4x400-meter relay. Toles and Shauntia Mosley(Lovejoy) also qualified in the Long Jump.

The unranked McIntosh Lady Chiefs wanted nothing more Tuesday than to defeat one of the top teams in the state, the fourth-ranked Northgate Lady Vikings.

The Peachtree City Panthers, a local 14U basketball team, returned from the YBOA National Tournament in Orlando last week where the team earned a spot as one of the top 20 teams. After playing three games in pool play, the Panthers won the first round playoff game with an impressive win over the New Orleans Heat 69-47. The win put the Panthers in the Winner’s Bracket.

Sharpsburg resident Douglas Wood, 9, recently attended a Cha

While enjoying a week at the beach, Starr’s Mill varsity basketball cheerleaders attend the UCA Cheer Camp in Hilton Head and bring home the second place trophy for the extreme routine dance as well as receiving four additional superior ribbons.

One of the goals of every softball team in the state is to start the season with a win and go from there.

In late July Mary Chaudoin returned from her second summer session as a member of the USA Volleyball Youth National A2 Team. Made up of the nations top 50 players, the squad trained and competed for ten days in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., competing against teams from Canada and Puerto Rico.

Whitewater head football coach Amos McCreary won his second Crying Towel award at the Peachtree City Rotary Club's meeting today. All of the football coaches for Fayette County's five public high schools were in attendance. The goal of the Crying Towel Luncheon is for the coach to give his sob story on why his team would have the toughest road this year.

Last Tuesday was Harry Potter’s brithday, and in honor of the birth of “The Boy Who Lived,” Golden Park in Columbus became Hogwarts Park and the Columbus Catfish became Gryffindor, while their opponents, the West Virginia Power, became known as Slytherin.

There are times when I like to turn back the clock and think of the glory days when I was an avid sports card collector back in the 1980s and early 90s.

Peachtree City’s summer recreational swimming team, the Pirates, swam to its best performance in the team’s history of 30 years. The team placed third out of 22 teams in the state at the Georgia Parks and Rec. Swimming Championships held July 20-21 at the Augusta Swim Center.

The SouthSide Pioneers competed in what has gone down in history as the largest youth track and field meet in the history of track and field. The setting was the 2007 AAU National Junior Olympics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. The Pioneers competed in 16 events in six days, battled temperatures over 90 degrees and came away with two medals.

After winning the USSSA-AAA State Championship last season, the 12U Home Plate Chile Dogs moved up to the Major level this season where they finished 3rd in the state tournament.

On July 15th the Fayette Sidewinders closed out a great season by placing 3rd at the USSSA All Star World Series in Rock Hill, SC.

Every summer, hundreds of people and their families race across the country on back roads in antique cars in an event known as the Great American Race. Last year, Tyrone resident Jody Knowles and his cousin, Tony, won the rookie division and placed fifth overall out of 110 racers. While things didn’t go as well for the young men this year, they still enjoyed the event and likely have more Great Races in their future.

The Castrol GTX Friday Night Drags returns to action this Friday night, August 3rd, as Atlanta Motor Speedway kicks off the second half of the points season on the eighth-mile drag strip along pit road. All eight divisions of racing will be in action along with the waxed shimmer of the Show-N-Shine car, truck and motorcycle show. Race fans can also look forward to the first appearance of the Wheel-Standing School Bus, which will travel the drag strip at just over 100 miles per hour while riding on its two rear wheels.

The Redwine Rays, a swim team from Fayetteville’s Lakeside on Redwine subdivision, won the first place trophy at the Southern Crescent Swim League championship meet held on July 14, 2007 at the Clayton County Recreation Pool. The Redwine Rays earned the first place title over six other teams from Fayette, Henry and Clayton counties.