Christopher James

FRANKLIN — I think there’s more than a little disappointment in the minds of Greenback’s wrestlers today.

The Cherokees were ousted from the championship bracket last night after losing to defending A-AA state champion Hixson in the quarterfinals of the TSSAA state dual wrestling tournament. The event’s blind draw meant what played out like a championship-type matchup was contested in the first round.

“I had some people, some refs, come up to me after and say that should be the state finals match,” Blackmon said. “It just goes to show us that one match could’ve gone the other way and we could’ve been sitting in the state finals.”

Greenback has bounced back from that 36-33 loss and is in position to grab third in a few moments, the bare minimum first-year coach Bryant Blackmon said he would accept last night.

Assistant coach Justin Ridge, who took the Cherokees to the semifinals last year in Clarksville before being derailed by Hixson, echoed that same sentiment. Ridge, who stepped down to focus on his duties as head football coach, saw his team fail to win a single consolation match after losing to the Wildcats last year.

He said he’d make sure Greenback found itself into the consolation championship this time around. The ‘Kees kept their coach’s word by defeating Montgomery Central, the same team that ended their tournament in the consolation rounds last year.

FRANKLIN — Both Maryville and Greenback seem comfortably bound for the second round of consolations here inside the mammoth Williamson County Expo Center.

And what a place it is. Ten mats on the arena floor make for plenty of space and lots of simultaneous action during the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s state dual wrestling tournament. Last night, Rebels coach Mark Humphrey told me moving the tournament from Clarksville High School was a good decision.

Wrestlers go at it in the TSSAA state dual wrestling tournament in Franklin

“There’s so much more space here,” Humphrey said. “In Clarksville we had to run from gym to gym. They got a lot of space. … The view is as good as Clarksville. I don’t think the seats are quite as good as Chattanooga just because they don’t go up very steep.
“It’s a little hard to see everything. There’s so much space. I’d say this arena is 100 yards long.”

That appears to be the general sentiment with the only complaints concerning some viewing angles. The sheer size of the arena makes it difficult to keep track of mats that aren’t adjacent. That will come into play more during the individual tournament, slated to start here in two weeks, which moved from UT-Chattanooga’s McKenzie Arena.

For now, this place has the feel of a wrestling festival.

The dozen or so William Blount girls basketball players assembled to listen to their teammates talk to a reporter couldn’t hold back the giggles when Sami VanVranken was asked about a “16″.
“It’s a punishment,” VanVranken said. “It’s pretty rough. It’s not fun. I’d rather not do it.”
“And then get right back on defense,” interrupted sophomore Tatum Burstrom.
“Yeah, right back on defense. That’s tough,” VanVranken finished.

The 16 is not the suicide windsprint of old. Players line up on one sideline and must run 16 widths of the court in one minute.
“The first week was tough. We had a ton of 16s,” Burstrom said. “We ran for the littlest things, but it got us tougher I think. We’re way more in shape.”
Lady Govs coach Matt Fowler isn’t just running his team ragged in the first week to keep them fit. WB has to be a team that thrives on speed and stamina. It can go no other way when the Lady Govs platoon of guards struggles to crack 5-foot-6. It can only get worse after wing Brittany Tipton went down with a practice injury Thursday. Fowler had said the junior could be the district’s biggest surprise. Now her height of at least 5-foot-8 could be missing come opening night, leaving the pressure on the 5-foot-9 VanVranken.
“We work them so hard on getting the ball up and down the court, ’cause we have to,” Fowler said. “We can’t play a half-court game with Maryville when they have Miranda Maples and Torie Vaught and the Whaley girl. We want to run ‘em.”
A year ago WB hit a brick wall when the 3-point shooting it depended on at the start of the season was shut down. With the perimeter game defended, the Lady Govs couldn’t take advantage of quickness to penetrate and make tough 2’s. Not so this year, says Burstrom.
“I worked on my ball handling,” the 5-foot-6 Burstrom said. “Every time I drove in last year, I’d lose it. I worked on my shot and finishing inside.”
For tiny teammate Shelby Click (5-foot-3), her offseason focus wasn’t playing organized ball, but getting in the gym and keying on ways to get off the perimeter and to the hole.
“I worked on all the things I need to work on that wasn’t going to happen if I played AAU like shot off the dribble, better ball handling, finishing inside,” Click said. “It’s (made) a big difference.”
Building that second dimension to a guard-dominant offense is what Fowler sees as the key to becoming relevant in the county once more and making a return to the region tournament for the first time since 2006.
“(Last year) We could drive, but once we got in there we couldn’t make the shot,” Fowler said. “That’s what we’ve worked on all summer, being able to get in there and make a tough, 2-point shot against a bigger player.”

Stats courtesy Coacht.com

Matt Fowler loves to practice.
Even more than playing games, the William Blount girls basketball coach says. I believe the guy and if Tuesday’s practice is any indication, he likes to run, too. Fowler was a bundle of energy, shepherding his team up and down in a full court scrimmage.
Practice is the sort of thing that’s helped the fifth-year coach reclaim his team from the ashes of a one-win campaign two years ago. Behind a pair of dynamic freshman classes, he’s confident his team can repeat last year’s 10-win improvement.

“20 (wins), minimum,” Fowler said. “We don’t think there’s any body we can’t play with.”
An offseason program that started when this year’s junior class, including do-it-all guard/post Sami VanVranken, guard/wing Shelby Click and wing Brittany Tipton, was in fifth grade has developed the talent Fowler needs. The addition of Tatum Burstrom and Sarah Wilson last year filled out a starting five for WB that now has a year of experience behind them.
“When I took over this job we had no AAU program, there was no summer camps,” Fowler said. “There was a lot of people in the community that decided they want to have a good basketball team over here. So, you had parents coaching, parents taking them to play AAU ball, parents paying to travel. … You’re starting to see that we’re going to compete with everyone from now on, starting this year.”
Fowler is salivating over the elementary players who are growing up in an established feeder program. He seems just as excited with this year’s group, which returns nearly all of the offense and rebounding from the 2008 squad. VanVranken will have to apply everything she’s learned in the last six years, acting as a post who can drive and also step back and knock down a 3.
She should have plenty of help from the Lady Govs talented guards. WB proved it had three sharpshooters in Click, Wilson and Burstrom who could deliver a dagger from deep at any time last year. Their development could just make Fowler’s vision of competing with county powers a reality.
“Heritage has a great program. Maryville has a great program,” Fowler said. “We’re going to have one now.”

A new district, but still the same old obstacles for the Alcoa boys basketball team.
While football has gotten all the attention when it comes to reclassification, the shuffling has, at least in a small way, an effect on virtually every sport. Basketball is no exception, where Alcoa leaves a loaded league with Fulton, Carter and Austin-East for the friendlier District 4-AA, where it seems the stiffest competition will come from Stone Memorial, who ended Alcoa’s season in the region tournament last year.

“This district is not as athletic as the one we’re coming from,” Tornadoes coach Micah Marsh said. “But you still got to play that other district to get anywhere you want.”
And that’s the problem for Marsh. The new district features just one team who had a better record than Alcoa last year (the Panthers, at 24-7), but all those powerhouses from the Tornadoes former district still lurk on the opposite side of the region.
“People can say what they want, ‘Well, you’ll have a few more wins,” Marsh said. “Well, our schedule probably is a little easier without Fulton and A-E and Carter on it of course, but it ain’t going to get easier when the time comes.”
Alcoa will still get to meet up with the Roadrunners thanks to a first-round pairing in a holiday tournament at Gibbs. The Tornadoes surely will have to face one of those three schools come March. A sectional berth requires Alcoa to finish at least second at the region tourney. That means likely knocking off at least two of the four 20-win monsters that call District 3-AA home. As Marsh put it, the region still runs through the two-time defending AA state champion Falcons.
“The district is the district,” Marsh said. “The region is where it matters. … You can take what you want. You want to play them twice during the season and then be ready for them in the tournament or not play them and try to pick up a game here or there.”

Alcoa moves from a district with four 20-win teams, to one with just a single 20-game winner. (source: coacht.com)

This should give Alcoa a boost.
Logan Sharp, a backup quarterback for the Tornadoes football team last year, started focusing solely on basketball last spring. That means boys basketball coach Micah Marsh will have his senior point guard on the floor right away and not have to wait for the football team’s annual run to the state title to end in December.

“I played AAU in the summer and that helped a lot,” Sharp said Monday. “I gained 10 pounds from offseason conditioning and workouts. I think I made the right decision.”
Marsh said he thought this year was the first time Sharp was able to play AAU in the summer. It’s paid off, drawing the guard some small college interest. It’s also going to help an Alcoa squad that comes in with just two seniors and a bevy of sophomores.
“He’s been to several programs, gotten stronger, gotten quicker,” Marsh said. “I think he’s feeling really good about his game right now. It’ll help a lot with senior leadership. He knows what’s going on.”
Having Sharp around should help the Tornadoes get out of the gate, something they’ve struggled with in the past while waiting for football season to end. Alcoa is just 5-8 in November since 2001, and last year went 1-4 playing its first November games since 2004.
“Usually you get back from football in December,” Sharp said. “You play state on Friday and your first (basketball) game is Monday, so it takes a while to get into condition. Now, you’ve been (in) basketball condition since April.”
Sharp’s young teammates are thankful for that. They won’t be out there alone, trying to feel their way through the first few weeks of the season.
“He’s a big part of this team and with him being here for the Hall of Fame games, that’ll help us a lot,” sophomore Hunter Ramsey said. “He’s a great player. He helps us with the plays and he helps everybody get involved. He’s just a good teammate.”
Stay tuned to see how much of an impact Sharp’s presence will have when the Tornadoes play games later this month against Wartburg Central (Nov. 17), McMinn County (Nov. 19) and Gibbs (Nov. 23).
“Our young guys are talented, you know,” Sharp said. “I feel like an older brother sometimes. … We’re all good friends. We go out to eat a lot. They kind turn to me for advice and stuff. I’m cool with it. I like feeling like an older brother.”

COOKEVILLE —

Brandon Cole returns fumble 55 yards for SM score.. Dalton Wheeler returns ensuing kickoff 85 yards for touchdown of his own.
Halftime comes early thanks to the TSSAA mercy rule.

Tallant’s 28-yard scramble sets up a 12-yard touchdown run for Toney. For those of you scoring at home, that’s five on the day.

Toney punches in from 8 yards out.

Fumbled pitch by SM recovered by Brooks Cunningham at the 16. Tallant hits Chaz Barnes for a touchdown on the next play

Stone Memorial fumbles and Darrell Warren recovers the ball at the 10. Toney jogs in on the next play.

Taharin Tyson’s turn to shake through the D. His 40-yard run sets up a two-yard touchdown rush for Toney.

Toney bounces in and out and is gone, 67-yard touchdown run.

Stone fumbles on the first play, Tallent is intercepted on Alcoa’s second play, and now the Tornadoes have the ball back after a 3 and out

Stone wins the toss and will receive the kick.

Live here at Tucker Stadium in Cookeville, where both Alcoa and Stone Memorial have taken the field. The press box is clearly in the midst of renovations for the state championships in December, but its still a pretty nice box with wireless and everything.
I had my doubts about coming here in December, but so far color me impressed with the folks at Tennessee Tech. This stadium and campus are pretty nice, and there does seem to be plenty of parking adjacent to the stadium. So far, the only issue was with the referees, who couldn’t find a dressing room that wasn’t locked. That was quickly remedied and in the words of one official, “They aren’t going to start without me.”
As for the game, the Panthers enter last in District 4-AA, a pedestrian 2-6 overall. Alcoa is unbeaten and well, Alcoa. Jaron Toney on artificial turf should be fun. The Tornadoes (7-0, 3-0) can clinch a playoff berth with a win.

Alcoa even brought its inflatable helmet.

GREENBACK —

Thomas Viar sneaks in for a 2 yd TD.

MW down to GB 5.

Burnette returns 41 yard INT for score.

Petty 45 yd td run.

GB drive stalls at MW 44

GB is stopped at the MW 22 just before the half ends.

Both offenses stalling.

73 yard TD run from Richard Seymour.

GB fumbles for a third time in this opening quarter. 4th and 24.

GB punts again.

Teams trade INTs.
MW gets a first down but forced to punt

Midway wins the toss and will receive.

Another Friday, another trip to Greenback. Getting set for kickoff here at Cooper Field where the ‘Kees (2-4, 0-2 Dist. 3-A) seek their fourth straight home win and first district victory against Midway (1-4, 0-2). The Green Wave have lost four straight since a 14-0 win over Wartburg Aug. 28. The only common opponent for these two so far is Harriman. Midway lost to the Blue Devils by just a touchdown, 21-14, on Sept. 4. Of course, Greenback fell to Harriman in that painful 20-18 loss two weeks ago.

Getting ready to head out for my fourth straight Greenback game, and I thought it might be time to check out the Cherokees playoff scenarios.
It doesn’t look pretty.
Greenback (2-4, 0-2 Dist. 3-A) currently sits near the bottom of District 3-A, just barely ahead of tonight’s opponent Midway (1-4, 0-2). It’s safe to say tonight’s game, and every game from here on out, is a must win. Teams make the playoffs via an automatic qualifier or wild card.
The ‘Kees have four games to go, including three in the district that are at home. To “automatically” qualify for the postseason, Greenback needs to jump over Grace Christian (4-1, 2-0) or Harriman (3-1, 2-0).
The good news is all of the Cherokees wins have come at home. The bad news is two of those games are against Grace, whose allowed seven points in district play, and Tellico Plains, a 5-1 (1-1 District 3-A) 2A school. In order to gain an automatic qualifier, Greenback needs to win all three remaining district games and hope either Harriman or Grace loses its last three. This makes that painful loss at the Blue Devils a little more excruciating. The TSSAA does a decent job of explaining automatic qualifying in each district here.
As the standings currently fall, there would be six wild cards in Class A. Greenback is in a tie for tenth based on total wins, the second tie breaker. Head-to-head is the first tie breaker, which will rarely come into play. For a full list of playoff procedures, look here. Two wins down the stretch would put the Cherokees right in the thick of things, especially considering Lookout Valley, Greenback’s opponent next week, is leading the wild card standings.
Chances for a return to the playoffs are slim, but not impossible.

ONEIDA —

GB gets onside kick.

Sellers 12 yd TD pass to burnette.

Sellers intercepted. This one’s over.

Hood takes it in from a yard out.

4th and 5 OHS at the 12.

Sellers fumble sets Oneida at the GB 14.

Willie Woodard goes 86 yards on a pass from Houston hood. Touchdown.

Sellers rolls out. Incomplete

GB has a 4th and 2 15 yards from the end zone.

GB gets a stop and great field position at the 23.

63 yd Td pass, sellers to Glenn.

Braxton Hudson gets loose for 44 yard TD rush.

Double reverse pass from Glenn to Tyler burnette sets GB at the 19 but Sellers is sacked and time expires.

GB punts and Oneida is pinned deep. Neither team has any offense in this weather.

10 yard rush by Richard Seymour ffinally produces GB first down.

Oneida has 4th and 5 at GB 38. Kees unable to move in slop.

GB has 2 drives, no first downs

Oneida’s Sam Woodard rushes in from 34 yards out.

GB 3 and out. Oneida down to the GB 20.

Oneida defers. Greenback will receive.

Live here in a sopping wet Oneida as we get set for a rivalry matchup between Greenback (2-3) and the Indians. Remember, Oneida delivered Bunkie Vanskiver and the 2008 ‘Kees their only two losses, including a 50-21 rout here in the Class 1A quarterfinals. The Indians (2-2) have won their last two by a combined score of 71-7. Of course, the Cherokees had that heart-breaking, 20-18 loss to Harriman last week. It’s getting down to must-win time for coach Justin Ridge. Trey Glenn returned to the lineup last week, and Ridge said his team is down to just four players with the flu. The only other question mark is how will Shawn Petty’s confidence rebound, and will freshman Richard Seymour reappear as a major threat? Stay tuned.