St. Pius finished the first week in which all six fall sport teams saw action. Competition cheerleading opened its season at Meadowcreek last weekend. Volleyball continues to sit in the No. 3 spot in the AAA Scoreatl.com poll. Football dropped to No. 5 in the Georgia High School Football Daily/Atlanta Journal-Constitution AAA pool. In the ga.milesplit.com cross country polls, the Golden Lion boys' squad dropped to No. 2 in AAA and No. 7 in the all-classification poll. The lady harriers continue to sit in the No. 2 spot in the AAA poll.
On the gridiron, the Golden Lions dropped a 21-14 decision on the road at then No. 5 Thomson. The loss was the first in the regular season for St. Pius (2-1) since 2010 and only the third regular season loss since 2007. Jack Spear passed for 95 yards, including a touchdown strike to Branden Mitchell in the third quarter. Ryan Braswell rushed for 70 yards and a TD. Dalton Wilson led the defense with 10 tackles while Nick Ruffin added nine. The Golden Lions will host Lovett at 8pm on Friday night.
Volleyball opened Area 5-AAA with victories over East Hall and Buford last week. The Golden Lions (21-12, 2-0) hosted a play date over the weekend, taking three of four matches. St. Pius defeated Starr's Mill and Westminster, 2-0, while knocking off Lassiter, 2-1. McIntosh took a 2-1 win over the Golden Lions. St. Pius travels for area play at Cross Keys and will also play West Hall at Cross Keys on Tuesday. The netters will then head to Karns High School in Tennessee for a team tournament on Friday and Saturday.
Boys’ cross country finished second to Brookwood at the Carrollton Orthopedic Invitational. Austin Sprague captured the boys' championship while Calvin Tirrell finished seventh. Joey Ferrugia and Andrew Anastasiades placed 11th and 18th, respectively, at the meet. The harriers participate in the Battle of Atlanta Cross Country Invitational at Nash Farms on Saturday.
The girls’ cross country squad was the top AAA finisher at the Warpath Invitational in Canton this weekend and placed eighth overall as Katie Glenn paced the squad with a 31st place finish. Emma Jayne Braxton ran 32nd with Sarah Fristoe coming in 46th place. The ladies will also head to Nash Farms for the Battle of Atlanta this weekend.
Softball took two of three Region 6-AAA games last week to up its region record to 3-1. The Golden Lions (8-10) defeated Towers 17-2 before dropping a 6-2 decision to Woodward. St. Pius bounced back with a 15-0 win over McNair. The team will face Blessed Trinity and Decatur at home on Tuesday and Thursday before traveling to Central Gwinnett and Loganville over the weekend.
Competition cheer finished fourth in the Meadowcreek Invitational and will travel to North Gwinnett for the Bulldog Classic this weekend.