Fairchild is considered a four-star offensive lineman and signed in December to play football at the University of Georgia.
“It’s definitely going to be an adjustment, but I think it’ll be worth it,” Fairchild said earlier this month. “I think I did make the right decision with just sticking to football. I think once I get there to UGA, it’ll be enough. I’m definitely going to miss it. I’m going to miss Coach [Evan] Goff a lot. He was a real good mentor to me and a really big model for me. He really stuck with us for the past four years. I had football coaches in and out, in and out, in and out. He was the one guy that really stuck with the school, and he did what he said whenever we all first met him, which was he’s going to change our program forever – and he has.”
Dornan helped shatter glass ceilings in the fall, flashing her own skill on the gridiron. Dornan quarterbacked West Forsyth’s girls flag football team to the first-ever GHSA state championship, starring on defense for the Wolverines, too. It was the beginning of a busy season for Dornan, who started at guard for West’s girls basketball team and started at goalie for West’s state champion girls soccer team.
“I speak for me and I speak for all the girls on the team when I say that we are excited to be pioneers, because we didn’t have that,” Dornan said in December after West’s 26-25 win against Hillgrove in the Class 6A-7A state championship game. “I hope this encourages more girls to play.”
Dornan, who played four sports during her time at West — basketball, football, flag football, soccer — signed last month to continue playing soccer at Piedmont College.
In all, 28 athletes were honored at the banquet, which featured keynote speaker Micah Owings, a former MLB player who split his high school baseball career between Forsyth Central High School and Gainesville High School. Owings, a third-round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2005, encouraged those in the audience to be resilient and to dream and believe big.
2020-21 Boys Athlete of the Year – Dylan Fairchild, West Forsyth
2021-21 Girls Athlete of the Year – Haylee Dornan, West Forsyth
Football (Offense) – Aaron McLaughlin, Denmark
Football (Defense) – Patrick Corrigan, North Forsyth
Football (8-man Offense) – Bryce Balthaser, Pinecrest Academy
Football (8-man Defense) – Malachi Mathis, Horizon Christian Academy
Flag Football – Haylee Dornan, West Forsyth
Volleyball – Bella Tolone, Lambert
Softball (Pitcher of the Year) – Hannah Marchman, South Forsyth
Softball (Player of the Year) – Makenna Segal, South Forsyth
Cross Country (Boys) – Ethan Ashley, Denmark
Cross Country (Girls) – Carmel Yonas, South Forsyth
Basketball (Boys) – Devin McGlockton, South Forsyth
Basketball (Girls) – Cayla Cowart, West Forsyth
Swim & Dive (Boys) – Jack Aikins, West Forsyth
Swim & Dive (Girls) – Ella Jones, Lambert
Wrestling – Dylan Fairchild, West Forsyth
Baseball (Pitcher of the Year) – Will Robbins, Forsyth Central
Baseball (Player of the Year) – Gehrig Frei, South Forsyth
Golf (Boys) – Myles Jones, Lambert
Golf (Girls) – Sara Im, Lambert
Gymnastics – Emma Davies, Denmark
Lacrosse (Boys) – Danny Kesselring, Lambert
Lacrosse (Girls) – Cami Merkel, West Forsyth
Soccer (Boys) – Alex Guzman, Forsyth Central
Soccer (Girls) – Tori DellaPeruta, West Forsyth
Tennis (Boys) – Harrison Kim, West Forsyth
Tennis (Girls) – Brooke Despriet, Lambert
Track & Field (Boys) – Isaac Osifo, West Forsyth
Track & Field (Girls) – Grace Mangan, West Forsyth
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
