High School Sports
Sonny Smart, father of Georgia coach, dies after Sugar Bowl fall
“Sonny fell while walking during the day on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans and fractured his hip,” the school said. “He was hospitalized and underwent hip surgery; unfortunately, complications arose. He fought valiantly but was unable to overcome his injuries.” Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of […]
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“Sonny fell while walking during the day on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans and fractured his hip,” the school said. “He was hospitalized and underwent hip surgery; unfortunately, complications arose. He fought valiantly but was unable to overcome his injuries.”
In a statement, the University of Georgia said he died at 12:15 a.m. ET Saturday while surrounded by his wife, Sharon, and their three children: Karl, Kirby and Kendall.In the statement, the Smart family expressed their gratitude to the Ochsner Medical Center staff in New Orleans.Sonny Smart was a longtime high school football coach in Alabama and Georgia.Sonny Smart played football at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a football coach at Holtville High School in Alabama and led the baseball team to a state title in 1982. He later coached at Bainbridge High in Georgia, where Kirby Smart played safety for him, and Rabun County High in north Georgia.Georgia’s Kirby Smart said a lot of his “core beliefs” as a coach came from his father, Sonny, who coached him in high school. Joshua L. Jones/USA Today NetworkKirby Smart spent part of New Year’s Day with his father at the hospital after the Sugar Bowl was pushed back to Thursday because of a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in which a pickup truck driver killed 14 people and injured dozens more.
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer offered his condolences on X, saying his “heart hurts for the Smart family.””He was a very wise man, a man of few words. I tried to follow his mantra as a coach. I’ve certainly evolved from going to coach for other people, but a lot of my core beliefs came from the way he ran our programs in high school.”Georgia coach Kirby Smart’s father, Sonny, died early Saturday morning after suffering complications from hip surgery he underwent following a fall in New Orleans before the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the school announced. He was 76.”Additionally, they ask for your continued prayers for those affected by the tragic events that occurred in the early hours of New Year’s Day,” the statement said. “The Smart family treasures everyone’s thoughts and prayers and now prays for God’s comfort, strength, and guidance.””He’s taught me so much just about the way you handle things, the right way, the wrong way,” Kirby Smart said of his father in January 2023. “Control the controllables. The moment’s never too big if you’re prepared. And I always watched the way he prepared our teams and our staff in high school.The Georgia coach returned to the hospital shortly after the Bulldogs’ 23-10 loss to Notre Dame in a CFP quarterfinal Thursday.Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
High School Sports
Wellesley sports update
The latest Wellesley, Mass., sports news: WHS girls’ 2024 soccer team ranked in top 25 nationally The United Soccer Coaches organization doesn’t move quite as quickly as do the players on the field. It has just issued recognitions for fall teams, and the 2024 Division 1 Champion Wellesley High School girls’ soccer team has earned […]
The latest Wellesley, Mass., sports news:
WHS girls’ 2024 soccer team ranked in top 25 nationally
The United Soccer Coaches organization doesn’t move quite as quickly as do the players on the field. It has just issued recognitions for fall teams, and the 2024 Division 1 Champion Wellesley High School girls’ soccer team has earned a Rankings Award as one of the top 25 nationwide.
“This achievement sets your team apart from other teams, demonstrating your program’s commitment to success on the field and befitting the accomplishment of your team and its student-athletes during the recently completed season,” according to the organization.
High flying ultimate team
Congrats to the Wellesley High Ultimate Frisbee Team, which won the Division 2 Amherst Invitational Tournament this past weekend.
Coach Jim Chen writes: “This year was the 32nd Amherst Invite, and it attracted some of the best national east coast teams. As a first-year team last year, we came in 5th. This year, Wellesley went undefeated (5-0), and avenged over Monument Mountain HS twice to win the Div2 championship.”
Captains Sam Hano and Jason Chen led the way throughout the weekend.
More: Ultimate frisbee’s future in Wellesley up in the air (2023)
We welcome photos & updates on Wellesley sports action: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com
High School Sports
Athletes of the Month
The Catholic Star Herald highlights the Diocese’s student athletes who stood out during the month of April. Marissa Gras Marissa Gras Holy Spirit High School, Absecon Lacrosse Marissa Gras’ raw athletic ability helped her become not only a steady goaltender on the Holy Spirit High School girls lacrosse team, but also the program’s all-time leader […]
The Catholic Star Herald highlights the Diocese’s student athletes who stood out during the month of April.
Marissa Gras
Holy Spirit High School, Absecon
Lacrosse
Marissa Gras’ raw athletic ability helped her become not only a steady goaltender on the Holy Spirit High School girls lacrosse team, but also the program’s all-time leader in saves.
Gras, a soccer player by trade, took up lacrosse during her sophomore year when the team had an opening at goalie. Since then, the Spartans senior has been tremendous, making her 200th career save on senior night against our Lady of Mercy Academy on April 14. Two games later, Gras made nine saves in a tight 9-8 victory over Lenape to break Piper Martin’s record of 209, which was set in 2022.
Through April, Gras made 61 saves as Holy Spirit was 7-4, and she had 223 saves for her career. Gras will play soccer next year at Rowan College of South Jersey, Cumberland Campus.
Sophia Greenwood
Paul VI High School, Haddonfield
Golf
Make it back-to-back championships for the Paul VI High School girls golf team as the Eagles bested the field for the second straight year at the 26th annual Camden County Commissioners Cup on April 29.
Held at Valleybrook Country Club in Blackwood, Sophia Greenwood of Paul VI won the individual girls title by shooting a 90, leading the Eagles to the team title.
Greenwood started her season strong by carding a 48 at the nine-hole Moorestown Invitational on March 24. She finished the month even stronger by shooting a season-best 41 (five-over-par) on March 30 in a win over Lenape to give Paul VI a 7-1 record.
Greenwood, a senior from Medford, will attend Lehigh University next year.
Anthony Hermenau
Holy Spirit High School, Absecon
Lacrosse
A steady goal-scorer since he was a freshman, Anthony Hermenau became the latest addition to Holy Spirit High School’s 100-goal club in boys lacrosse.
Hermenau needed just six goals to reach the milestone entering the 2025 season, and he accomplished the feat in just his third game on April 4 with a hat trick in an 8-7 victory over Clearview.
Hermenau has posted five hat tricks on the season, including a five-goal game against Lenape on April 24, which matched a career high. Hermenau scored 25 goals and assisted on 11 more in the month of April and stood at 119 career goals heading into May. He will play Division II lacrosse next year at Coker University in South Carolina in the South Atlantic Conference.
Braeden Lipoff
Gloucester Catholic High School, Gloucester
Baseball
Braeden Lipoff’s season started red-hot. The junior catcher hit .655 in the month of April as the Gloucester Catholic High School baseball team began its quest for a third consecutive state title.
In his first 10 games of the 2025 season, Lipoff hit safely in every game, contributing 20 hits and 15 RBIs while scoring 12 times. The East Carolina University commit uncorked a 5-for-5 effort April 26 against Saint Augustine Preparatory School at the Downbeach Coaches vs. Cancer showcase in a battle of the two top-ranked teams in the state. Lipoff homered twice that game and drove in seven runs in a 14-5 victory to help keep the Rams rolling on an undefeated season.
Jack Kelly Lyons
Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill
Golf
The Camden Catholic High School boys golf team had a fantastic showing at the 26th annual Camden County Commissioners Cup thanks to stellar shooting by junior Jack Kelly Lyons.
Kelly Lyons fired an eight-over-par round of 80 at Valleybrook Country Club in Blackwood on April 29 to capture second place individually while helping the Irish take second place in the team standings in a field of 17 schools.
In nine-hole matches this season, Kelly Lyons has posted a score of 39 on several occasions, including back-to-back games on April 24 and 28. His 39 against Pennsauken on April 28 was the best score of the match.
Kristen Wareham
Wildwood Catholic Academy, North Wildwood
Softball
Kristen Wareham’s hot bat at the top of the order has helped Wildwood Catholic Academy surge up the standings this season.
The senior catcher carried a .606 batting average into May, hitting safely in all of the Crusaders’ first 10 games. With a small bench, Wareham’s defensive play has been a crucial part of Wildwood Catholic’s game plan each outing as she forms the battery with pitcher Emma Johnson.
Wareham has helped lead the Crusaders to a 5-5 record by driving in 14 runs through April 30. She started the season with a bang with nine hits in her first two games, including a career-high five-hit effort in a 23-0 win over Pleasantville.
High School Sports
Pope Leo XIV's Creole heritage highlights complex history of racism and the church in America
NEW ORLEANS — The new pope’s French-sounding last name, Prevost, intrigued Jari Honora, a New Orleans genealogist, who began digging in the archives and discovered the pope had deep roots in the Big Easy. All four of Pope Leo XIV’s maternal great-grandparents were ”free people of color” in Louisiana based on 19th-century census records, Honora […]
NEW ORLEANS — The new pope’s French-sounding last name, Prevost, intrigued Jari Honora, a New Orleans genealogist, who began digging in the archives and discovered the pope had deep roots in the Big Easy.
All four of Pope Leo XIV’s maternal great-grandparents were ”free people of color” in Louisiana based on 19th-century census records, Honora found. As part of the melting pot of French, Spanish, African and Native American cultures in Louisiana, the pope’s maternal ancestors would be considered Creole.
”It was special for me because I share that heritage and so do many of my friends who are Catholic here in New Orleans,” said Honora, a historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the French Quarter.
Honora and others in the Black and Creole Catholic communities say the election of Leo — a Chicago native who spent over two decades in Peru including eight years as a bishop — is just what the Catholic Church needs to unify the global church and elevate the profile of Black Catholics whose history and contributions have long been overlooked.
Leo, who has not spoken openly about his roots, may also have an ancestral connection to Haiti. His grandfather, Joseph Norval Martinez, may have been born there, though historical records are conflicting, Honora said. However, Martinez’s parents — the pope’s great-grandparents — were living in Louisiana since at least the 1850s, he said.
Andrew Jolivette, a professor of sociology and Afro-Indigenous Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, did his own digging and found the pope’s ancestry reflected the unique cultural tapestry of southern Louisiana. The pope’s Creole roots draw attention to the complex, nuanced identities Creoles hold, he said.
”There is Cuban ancestry on his maternal side. So, there are a number of firsts here and it’s a matter of pride for Creoles,” said Jolivette, whose family is Creole from Louisiana. ”So, I also view him as a Latino pope because the influence of Latino heritage cannot be ignored in the conversation about Creoles.”
High School Sports
HIGHLIGHTS
SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — The Spokane Indians allowed six runs in the seventh inning en route to a 10-1 loss to the Vancouver Canadians. The Indians and Canadians are now tied 2-2 through four games of the six-game homestand. The Canadians got on the board first in the first inning as a fielding error brought […]
SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — The Spokane Indians allowed six runs in the seventh inning en route to a 10-1 loss to the Vancouver Canadians. The Indians and Canadians are now tied 2-2 through four games of the six-game homestand.
The Canadians got on the board first in the first inning as a fielding error brought home Adrian Pinto to make it 1-0 Vancouver.
The Indians responded in the bottom of the fourth, when a pickoff attempt by Grant Rogers sailed into center field, allowing EJ Andrews Jr. to take third and turn the corner toward home, where the throw to the plate was not in time and the Indians tied the game 1-1.
The tie was short-lived, as Vancouver scored two runs in the fifth inning off a Sean Keys home run. The Indians threw a bullpen game and had seven different pitchers in the game, with Austin Becker throwing 2.2 innings in relief of Jordy Vargas, the longest of any pitcher for Spokane.
One more run scored in the sixth inning for Vancouver before Eddie Micheletti Jr. hit a home run to left-center field, which scored two runs and made the score 6-1 in favor of the Canadians.
An Adrian Pinto single scored another run, and the next batter, Aaron Parker, blasted one to left field for a three-run homer to put the Canadians up 10-1. Grant Rogers earned the win for Vancouver, going 5.0 innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out seven.
The Indians look to win Game 5 of the series on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
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