Dalton State College's first-year men's soccer program pulled in two major awards from the Southern States Athletic Conference. The Roadrunners' Kerem Daser was voted coach of the year by his peers, and junior foward Tomide Adabale was the newcomer of the year. Adabale and teammates Isael Gutierrez and Ibrahima Sissoko were All-SSAC second-team selections, and central defender Gutierrez - who played at Southeast Whitfield High School - and goalkeeper Diego Gonzalez made the all-freshman team. Daser previously was a league coach of the year at Georgia State in 2000 and at Georgia Military in 2011. He said he was "flattered and humbled" considering the quality of the league's coaches, and he praised assistant coach Rene Enang and his young team as well as athletic director Derek Waugh for their part in the program's quick success. Adabale led the SSAC in scoring as Dalton State finished 11-7-1 overall and 4-4 in the SSAC.
* The top-seeded Bryan College men's soccer team beat fifth-seeded St. Andrews 4-0 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament semifinals Wednesday at Bryan and will play No. 2 seed Union in the championship game Friday at 7 p.m., also in Dayton. Union beat sixth-seeded Truett-McConnell 2-0 on Wednesday in the second semifinal. Kevin Roenpage had three assists and Charlie Clarke scored two goals as Bryan improved to 13-4-2 while dropping St. Andrews to 9-8-1. Rafael Mentzingen and Jason Ward also scored for the Lions, Miles Christian added an assist and Alex Horton and Josue Fernandez spent time in goal, with each recording a save in the shutout, Bryan's fifth this season. Union improved to 15-1-1 while dropping Truett-McConnell to 10-6-3. Concerning AAC awards, Bryan midfielder Mentzingen was the conference's freshman of the year and also got the "Golden Boot" award, and the Lions' Drew Courtney was voted coach of the year. Mentzingen, fellow freshmen Clarke and Horton and seniors Christian and Joel Glover made the all-conference team along with Tennessee Wesleyan junior David Baisden. Bryan freshman Dino Jones and Wesleyan seniors Laurence Hutchinson and Nduku Kemjika were second-team picks. Christian played at Bradley Central High School.
* Two Bryan sophomores, goalkeeper Morgana Hardt da Silva and forward Hana Mizoguchi, made the All-AAC women's soccer team for 2015. So did Southeast Whitfield graduate Kristabelle Rangel of Point University. The All-AAC second team included the Tennessee Wesleyan quartet of senior midfielder Alexis Dalberth, junior defender Holly Vetter, sophomore keeper Taylor Young (from McMinn Central) and freshman forward Dayna Randall.
Basketball
* A packed room at Silverdale Baptist Academy watched senior basketball standout Megan Lewis sign scholarship papers Thursday from Union University in Jackson, Tenn. She averaged about 14 points and three steals a game and hit 113 3-point shots last year and also was recruited by Lee University and Alabama-Huntsville in Union's NCAA Division II league. Oglethorpe in Atlanta also showed considerable interest. "I like that it's a private Christian school (like Lee, her other finalist) and what it stands for, and when I went there I really enjoyed the coaches and the players," Lewis said about Union. SBA coach Tim Thompson reminded the gathering of her talent, competitiveness and clutch play at shooting guard but praised even more highly her Christian service and example.
* The Bryan College women's basketball team improved to 4-0 by winning 90-83 against visiting Keiser University on Wednesday. Courtney Murphy scored 34 points for the Florida team.
* Cleveland State's basketball teams both lost Tuesday night at Snead State, 70-60 in the women's game and 65-50 in the men's. It was the first loss after four wins for the Lady Cougars, who got 19 points from Von Harrison and 11 from JLynn Majors. Darrion Leslie had 22 points for the Cougars (2-3).