Anderson County’s Ava Moody added a new title to her running resume by winning the TSSAA state champion- ship cross-country meet in Hendersonville on Thursday, Nov. 7.
Anderson County High School junior Ava Moody added another state championship to her list of accomplishments last week.
Moody, who won the state title in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs in May at the Class AA championships in Murfreesboro, claimed the Class A/AA girls cross-country state championship Thursday afternoon.
She completed the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes, 17.96 seconds.
“This was really big for our program, big for our team, big for our school and big for Ava,” Anderson County first-year Coach Mollie Fox said. “It was definitely a huge win. It was great for Ava just to get to experience that.”
Anderson County qualified as a team in both the boys and girls championships.
“I was really proud of the way everybody ran,” Fox said. “I was really pleased with everybody, especially the guys. On the boys’ side, we had some people dealing with illnesses. Some of them didn’t have their best races, but they fought through it and they hung in there and they competed.”
For the Lady Mavs, Rebekah Berg finished 58th (21:46.08), Morgan Haire was 80th (22:25.19), Marley Caldwell came in 87th (22:36.30), Morgan Lindsay took 196th (26:23.34), Emma Owens finished 203rd (26:53.53), and Cate Clotfelder was 211th (27:30.23).
The top finisher for the ACHS boys was Vance Laster, who came in ninth (16:20.92). J.J. Cutler was 20th (16:48.20), Cameron Hardy finished 93rd (18:19.78), Avian Laster was 115th (18:39.42), Toby Day came in 139th (18:59.20), Franklin Downs was 140th (18:59.93), and Michael Mattson finished 181st (19:58.83).
Anderson County’s Israel Small had three receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns in the Mavericks’ first- round TSSAA playoff game on Friday, Nov. 8. The Mavericks will face Elizabethton at home in the second round of the playoffs on Friday night. - Dwane Wilder
Coming off its eighth-consecutive region championship, the Anderson County High School football team had little trouble in its Class 4A first-round playoff game.
The Mavericks opened a big early lead and cruised to a 56-7 victory over Northview Academy Friday night at ACHS.
As the final score indicated, it was a dominant performance for Anderson County, which improved to 9-1 on the season.
The Mavericks suffered their only loss of the 2024 campaign in a 30-27 defeat by Knoxville West, but wasted no time taking command against the Cougars (5-6).
The Mavs’ defense set the tone early, holding Northview on downs during its first possession.
Anderson County took over at its own 47-yard line and scored shortly after on a 2-yard run by senior running back Waylon LaRue. Jackson Payne added the extra point to give the Mavericks a 7-0 lead.
The Cougars lost a fumble at their own 21-yard line, and Anderson County scored a short time later when quarterback Landen Hensley connected with Trent Strickland, extending the lead to 14-0.
Clinton’s Alli Hollifield completed the XC state championship course with a time of 22:34. She was the only Lady Dragons runner to qualify for the meet.
The 2024 cross-country season ended on a high note for two Clinton High School athletes last week.
For the first time in recent memory, Clinton was represented in the TSSAA Class A/AA state championships.
Both the Dragons and Lady Dragons had a runner qualify for the meet at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville on Thursday.
Lady Dragons senior Alli Hollifield closed out her high school cross-country career with an 86th-place finish at the state championships, crossing the finish line in 22 minutes, 34 seconds.
For the Dragons, sophomore Cooper Bostrom completed the 5,000-meter course in 19:01.85, placing 142nd.
For Hollifield, her appearance at the state meet marked a positive ending after battling injuries during her sophomore and junior seasons.
Next up for Clinton Middle School: AWAY: Horace Maynard Middle School Thursday, Nov. 14
The Clinton Middle School boys basketball team picked up a pair of hard-fought wins last week.
The Hawks had to work overtime to edge West View by the slimmest of margins, winning 52-51 on Thursday night.
Earlier in the week, Clinton defeated Union Grove on the road, notching a 48-45 victory on Monday, Nov. 4.
“We were ahead in both games, then got behind and had to come back,” CMS Coach Bobby Williams said. “I wish we could get out to a big lead and keep it, stay ahead. But we haven’t been able to do that.”
In Thursday’s overtime win against the West View Indians, Logan Hill led the way for the Hawks with 26 points. Abel Forsyth and Benji Yarbrough added eight points each, while Tucker Hamering scored seven.
In the league opener against the Union Grove Wolverines, Yarbrough scored 21 points, Hill added 10, and Kade Webb finished with nine.
Clinton’s Aalijah Davidson led the Dragons in rushing against McMinn County.
The Clinton Dragons took a 14-7 lead early in their first-round playoff game, only to see host McMinn County score the next 41 points to coast to a 48-14 win Friday in Athens.
The Dragons finished the season 3-8 after qualifying for the playoffs as the third seed out of Region 3-5A.
The Cherokees (6-5), the Region 4-5A runner-up, advanced to a second-round game this week at Oak Ridge.
McMinn County avenged its first-round home loss to the Dragons last season.
Clinton’s leading receiver, Bryson Maddox, caught seven passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. He finished the season with more than 1,000 receiving yards.
Dragon quarterback Jaylon Benjamin completed 17 of 33 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions.
Aalijah Davidson led the Dragons in rushing with seven carries for 29 yards.
Two high snaps from center, totaling 57 yards lost, severely affected Clinton’s rushing stats as the Dragons finished with 20 carries for only 5 yards.
Bo Wright led the Clinton defense with 12 tackles, while Jaxon Herrell added 11 plus an interception.
The goal in postseason high school football is to survive and advance, and Oak Ridge did just enough to move forward Friday night against a familiar playoff rival.
The Wildcats edged Rhea County 7-6 in a defensive struggle at Blankenship Field in the opening round of the TSSAA Class 5A playoffs.
“It’s playoff football, and it doesn’t matter if you win 50-49 or 7-6, as long as you win,” Oak Ridge Coach Derek Rang said.
The victory improved the Wildcats’ record to 7-4. The Golden Eagles ended their season at 5-5.
Friday marked the fifth postseason meeting between Oak Ridge and Rhea County since 2014. The teams remained in a scoreless tie late into the fourth quarter, with both defenses dominating.
Oak Ridge’s Tyree Porter intercepted Rhea County quarterback Caleb Carr twice, while Wildcats quarterback Blaine Stansberry also threw two interceptions. Oak Ridge lost an early fumble as well.
Oak Ridge’s Mason Greenhalgh and Rhett Hovater were the top Wildcats finishers at the 2024 TSSAA state championship cross-country meet in Hendersonville. Greenhalgh finished ninth with a time of 15:58.88, and Hovater finished 21st with at time of 16:25.73.
Both Oak Ridge High School cross country teams finished their 2024 seasons on Tennessee’s biggest stage last week.
The Wildcats placed 10th in the boys’ team standings, while the Lady Wildcats finished 19th in their race Friday at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville.
For the boys, Oak Ridge’s Mason Greenhalgh finished ninth, completing the 5,000-meter course in 15 minutes, 57.88 seconds. Rhett Hovater was 21st (16:25.73), followed by Nolan Riden in 78th (17:23.73), Patrik Vodopivec in 102nd (17:42.93), William Hetrick in 103rd (17:42.94), Evan Biewer in 131st (17:59.78), and Zachary Ibanez in 164th (18:32.95).
Lily Tice was the top finisher for the Lady Wildcats, coming in 58th with a time of 20:22.93. Emily Edwards was 104th (21:18.14), Brooke Taylor, a freshman, finished 105th (21:19.35), Natalie Adams placed 112th (21:28.66), Odelia Kneiser was 166th (22:58.48), and Emily Hartman came in 177th (23:14.65).
“I was really happy with Mason and Rhett,” said ORHS Coach Ed Wright. “And I thought everybody, both boys and girls, ran about as well as they could run.”
Robertsville Middle School’s boys basketball team opened conference play with a 66-17 victory over Cherokee on Thursday night.
The Rams are off to a hot start in the 2024-25 season, winning their first seven games.
“It was a big win, and a conference win is always good,” said Robertsville Coach John Spratling. “Cherokee is always a tough place to play.”
The Rams (7-0, 1-0 in Tennessee Middle School Conference Area 2) started fast Thursday night, taking a 19-12 lead in the first quarter before pulling away with a 19-1 run in the second. Robertsville, leading 32-8 at halftime, held Cherokee scoreless over the final six minutes.
Offensively, Kamoni Willis led Robertsville with 22 points, scoring 18 after halftime, including 10 in the third quarter.
Josiah McClure added 11 points, Tre Threat scored eight, and La’Miere Porter and Kashton Seaman finished with six each.
