MACON — Before Johnson High came away with a 61-51 win over Savannah High for the Class AAA state championship on Saturday in the Macon Centreplex, Atom Smashers assistant principal Derrick Butler was predicting a victory.
For the city of Savannah.
“It’s good competition, two great teams and two great coaches representing the city of Savannah,” he said. “We’re proud of both teams.”
And both put on a good show for an enthusiastic crowd of about 7,000 witnessing a slice of Savannah sports history.
For the first time in 45 years, two Savannah schools played for a Georgia High School Association championship, and for the second time Johnson emerged the victor.
The Atom Smashers defeated Beach for a title in 1968, a year after the Bulldogs won a historic title during the first integrated state basketball tournament.
This time, Atom Smashers star guard Tim Quarterman stepped up and poured in 21 points, including a spurt of nine straight points in the second quarter when Johnson pulled away to a nine-point halftime lead, 30-21.
The Smashers built the lead to 14 after three quarters and built the advantage to 16 in the fourth quarter.
“It will probably hit me in a couple of days,” Johnson coach Utaff Gordon. “Tim came through when we needed him to. The worst thing that can happen to you is when a big-time player doesn’t show up in a big-time setting, but Tim always comes through.”
It was the Atom Smashers’ first state title since winning a Class AAAA crown in 1992 when the team was led by another Quarterman, Arthur Quarterman, Tim’s late uncle.
For Savannah High, it was the second straight season to end in disappointment. The Blue Jackets, who were in search of their first state title since 1998, lost to Milton last season in the Class AAAAA championship game.
“I knew it would be a great thing that the trophy would be going back to (the city of) Savannah, I just hoped it would be going back to Savannah High,” SHS coach Tim Jordan said.