Lady Senators lend Lady Tigers uniforms in act of sportsmanship
The Clinton City Blaze opened play against the Andersonville Tigers on Tuesday night at Norris Middle School. The Blaze posted the first wins of the season for both boys' and girls' teams, but wins are not the big story of the night. Andersonville's uniforms were not ready for opening night, so the Norris Senators stepped up. Sportsmanship wins every time.
Chocolate lab Ella hunts down tees at Anderson County High home football games
by Fred Strohl - Special to The Courier News
Anderson County mascot Ella
Anderson County football has a new mascot who is gaining notoriety quickly.
Ella is a four-year-old chocolate labrador retriever that has been running onto the field at Maverick Stadium during the past two weeks to grab the kicking tee after AC kickoffs.
Anderson County Principal Ben Downs said Ella is gaining a following far beyond Maverick football season.
“Through today there have been almost 250,000 views on Facebook,” Downs said Friday after the Mavericks won their sixth game of the year in seven tries with a 42-14 home win over East Ridge.
Ella is owned by Lance Freeman of Andersonville, who bought the puppy four years ago as a birthday gift to his daughter Ansley, who is now nine years old and a fourth grader at Andersonville Elementary School.
Clinton earns shot against Lady Mavs in Dist. 4-AA
volleyball tourney
by Ken Lay Special to The Courier News
Clinton’s Imagin Cooper goes up for a tap-in during district tournament play last week - Ricky Williams
A little extra work paid off for the Clinton High School volleyball team last week and the Lady Dragons, who have had their share of struggles in 2019, picked up a district tournament win.
It took four sets but Clinton outlasted Union County 21-25, 26-24, 25-23, and 25-14 in the opening round of the District 4-AA Tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Gibbs High School.
The Lady Dragons were eliminated in three sets by crosstown rival Anderson County (which went on to beat the host Lady Eagles in the championship match).
But Clinton (7-23), who was able to beat the Lady Patriots after dropping the first set despite having leads of 8-4, 14-11 and 16-14, did some extra work in practice before heading to Northeast Knox County.
Erin Cantrell (12) and Bailey Wilder send back a Lady Eagle offering at the net during the district volleyball tournament. - Ricky Williams
Anderson County and Clinton both traveled to Gibbs High School on Wednesday, Oct. 8 for the district championships. Four schools competed, with the winners playing a second game for the title of district champs. The first match-up was Clinton and Anderson County.
Clinton played on Tuesday against Union County for the final playoff spot, with Clinton winning that game as Savannah Norman returned after her injury earlier this season.
Anderson County handily beat Clinton for the first two sets, coming away with sets of 12-25 and 8-25. For the last set, though, Clinton seemed to find its footing and gave the Lady Mavs a run for their money, gaining an early lead and keeping it for most of the set. Then the Lady Mavs took a timeout to pull themselves together and rallied to close the gap before finishing the game-set at 25-20.
Gibbs, meanwhile, played against Union County, with both teams struggling to get a leg up on the other.
Josh Graham jumps over a Fulton defender. He’s assisted by Josh Patton (number 50). Also in the photo is Trevor Linderman (number 56, rear center). - Collin Riggs
Clinton hosted Fulton on Friday, Oct. 11 and came up on the short end of a 36-13 final score.
The score was one-sided from the start, with Fulton scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter, including one on the first possession of the game. By the end of the first quarter, Fulton was already up 13-0.
Clinton came alive in the second quarter as both teams began to snipe at one another and argue. The penalties, personal and not, bogged down both teams. Clinton pulled seven penalties for 66 yards, while Fulton pulled 10 for 105 yards.
Multiple times, teammates on both teams pulled their own players away from confrontations that were spiraling.
The Blaze and Lady Blaze will host rival Caryville Thursday in the newly renovated Arowood Arena.
Both teams will begin their third season and both the boys and girls made great strides in 2018.
The home of Clinton Blaze basketball has gotten a facelift. The home of the Blaze and Lady Blaze basketball teams has a new floor, new backboards, new bleachers and a state-of-the-art public address system.
“Anything you can do to a gym, we did it,” Clinton City Schools Athletic Director E.T. Stamey said. “It’s really nice.”
Another single game is scheduled this week as AC travels to Chattanooga Central to play the Pounders, while Clinton takes itsr (much-deserved) bye week. Anderson County goes in as the clear favorite. Currently, they sit at 32 in the state and third in their district, while Chattanooga Central currently sits at 277 in the state and 41 in their district. In a similar vein, AC’s record as of writing is 6-1, while Chattanooga Central sits at 1-6, with their only win coming against Sequoyah.
