Legendary Coach Reaches Milestone
When I think of Harlem, I do not think of Laurel and Hard. I think of Jimmie Lewis – the legendary baseball coach who was a two-sport standout at Harlem, graduating in 1970. After playing baseball at South Georgia and then Augusta College, Lewis returned to Harlem as an assistant coach in 1977. Two years later, he took over as the head baseball coach and he has been “Top Dog” ever since.
On Wednesday night, Harlem topped Grovetown 6-1 to improve to 2-1 on the young season, Lewis’s 44th season at the helm. The victory was win number 800 for Lewis. There were plenty of friends, family, former players on-hand, and even fireworks, to celebrate huge achievement. In his tenure at Harlem, Lewis has captured five state titles, 14 region crowns and now stands as the third winningest coach in Georgia history.
Congrats to Coach Lewis on the monumental milestone.
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Record Setting QB Makes College Choice
Greenbrier Quarterback Brooks Pangle spent the last two seasons re-writing the school, Columbia County and CSRA record books. The 6-foot-2-inch signal caller went 402 of 670 passing for 5,692 yards and 52 touchdowns (versus only 11 interceptions) in his two campaigns as the Pack’s starter. As a junior, he led the state in Class AAAAA with 31 touchdown passes. As a senior, he tossed 21 touchdowns, while only throwing one interception. He holds virtually every passing record for the entire area and has racked up so much hardware, it likely will not fit in his dorm room next year.
That dorm room will be located in Statesboro, as Pangle signed last week to play at Georgia Southern. He had offers from Mercer and Furman, but with the Eagles hiring for Southern Cal Coach Clay Helton and adding Bryan Ellis as offensive coordinator made all the difference for Pangle. Ellis led one of the highest scoring offenses in the country last year at Western Kentucky and loves to put the ball in the air. The QB Room in Statesboro will be extremely crowded, but before his time in Statesboro is over, I have a strong feeling that Pangle will make his presence felt.
Crawford Picks Up First Major Offer
Augusta Christian sophomore basketball star Elijah Crawford has been destined for greatness for quite some time. He started turning heads as a middle schooler, where he was dominant in both football and basketball. The hardwood is his first love and the 6-foot-2-inch standout wasted little time in showing everyone he was ready for the high school game last season as a freshman. He poured in 20 points per game and led the Lions all the way to the state final four. Then, he spent the summer showcasing his talent to college coaches as part of The Skill Factory AAU program, so there was little question this kid would one day play at the next level.
This season, Augusta Christian has even more talent, but Crawford is the unquestioned leader. He has helped lead the team to a 21-5 mark overall and an unbeaten 7-0 record in region play. He recently topped 1,000 points for his career and needed less than two seasons to do it. While he has plenty left to accomplish at the high-school level, it certainly had to feel great to receive his first major Division I scholarship offer, when Xavier University in Cincinnati made him an offer recently. Crawford’s to come. Future is incredibly bright, and Xavier’s Offer is the first of many to come.
For UGA Star Coming Home, Washington County Hires Robert Edwards
More than a few eyebrows were raised when Washington County did not bring back popular and successful Coach Joel Ingram. The Golden Hawks were only 5-5 last season, but all five losses were to playoff teams, and they had a win over Swainsboro, who played in the state semi-finals. I thought to myself that WACO better make a good hire here because they may end up regretting this decision. Well, one thing is for sure…they silenced a few doubters by bringing back a hometown kid with an impressive resume by hiring for Washington County star Robert Edwards. Edwards was a part of some incredible teams for the Hawks in the 90’s and was the 1992 state defensive player of the year. He signed with UGA and began his career in the Dawgs Secondary. However, his career took off when he was moved to running back. He wound up being a first round pick by The New England Patriots in the 1998 draft. He rushed for over 1,100 yards as a rookie and appeared to be headed to a Hall of Fame career. However, he suffered a knee injury while taking part in the NFL’s Beach Football Game during Pro Bowl Week. He missed three seasons before trying to come back in with the Miami Dolphins in 2002. However, he would only carry the ball 20 times that season and then retired from the game.
Edwards got in to coaching and served six seasons as the head coach at Greene County, then he took over a Riverwood Program that had gone 2-8 in 2017. Over the last four seasons, he has helped Riverwood post a 32-11 record and a pair of region championships. He now takes over his alma mater and one of the top programs in the state. Since 1992, Washington County has 288 wins, which ranks 10th in the state.
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Booker Takes Over at Augusta Prep
Augusta native Todd Booker was recently named the new head football coach at Augusta Prep. The Columbia County private school was searching for a coach for just the second time in program history. Harry Bacheller will not be back next year after starting the program in 2009 and being at the helm for 13 seasons, including winning a GISA State Championship in 2013. Booker, a former standout athlete at Butler certainly has plenty of coaching and leadership experience. He has coached in the area for over 20 years, including stints as head football coach at Hephzibah and Harlem. He also served as athletic director at Grovetown for 11 years and has spent the last five years as an administrator.
Booker will take over a team that was 4-7 a year ago and he will be tasked with trying to grow the program. The Cavaliers had the leanest bench (in terms of numbers) in the entire area. Booker has shown he can rebuild a program. He took over a struggling Harlem team, but in his five seasons with the Bulldogs he took them to the state playoffs three times and really galvanized the community around the program. There is little doubt that is exactly what the folks at Augusta Prep are hoping he can do on Flowing Wells Rpad.
Ashley Brown covers sports for The Augusta Press. Reach him at Ashley.brown@theaugustapress.com
