Longtime high school coach Ron Davis is closing in on another career milestone. Davis, who is in his fourth season at Sequatchie County after eight years at Copper Basin and 34 at Polk County, is just one win from his 1,000th career victory in girls' basketball.
His Lady Indians host Signal Mountain tonight.
"I never really thought about the number until we got this close," Davis said. "But now it's made me look back and realize I've been blessed. We've had some really good players who worked hard, and that's how we won so many games."
Davis also coached boys' basketball at Polk County for four years but has dedicated most of his career to coaching girls. He won a Class A state championship at Polk County in 1981 and guided the Wildkittens to the semifinals one other time.
This season Sequatchie County is 13-5 overall.
"He's meant a lot to our program, just in the short time he's been here," Sequatchie principal Tommy Layne said. "He's been around the game for a long time and that basketball mind is still very sharp."
Campbell going to Faulkner
Boyd-Buchanan senior Jake Campbell has accepted a golf scholarship offer from NAIA member Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala., and plans to sign on Feb. 7.
Campbell's grandfather is on Faulkner's board of trustees and helped his grandson make contact with golf coach Travis Laterbach. Campbell visited the campus shortly after last high school golf season ended, played a round with the team and ultimately got the offer.
"I wanted to play golf in college. He said he would contact me back, and thank goodness I was one of the ones he wanted," Campbell said of Laterbach. "I do like their campus. And it's a small school. Boyd-Buchanan's not really a big school to begin with. I know I wanted to be where the teachers could remember your name."
Campbell was the Chattanooga District Golf Association junior points leader last summer and finished second in the year-end event at The Honors Course. In the fall he led the Buccaneers with a 37.5 stroke averages for nine holes and competed in the Class A/AA state tournament for a third time.
"He's been a great team leader all four years at Boyd-Buchanan," Bucs coach Ed Connelly said. "I think from what he told me he thinks he could be one of their key players right away. He's always been able to score good."
GHSA area tourneys starts
The quest for individual wrestling glory begins today across Georgia with area traditional tournaments. Four competitors from each area weight class will advance to the sectional events next weekend. The culmination will be the GHSA state tournament Feb. 9-11 in Macon.
Team titles also will be on the line, with the goal each step to advance as many wrestlers as possible. Two of the events, the 6-AAAA at Gilmer and the 3-AAA at Bremen, will pose extra challenges to programs seeking a state team title.
The 6-AAAA event features the host Bobcats, the recent state duals runner-up and last year's state champion, and three other teams capable of top-10 state finishes: Ridgeland, Heritage and Northwest Whitfield. The 3-AAA tournament has the state duals champion in host Bremen, duals third-place team Sonoraville and last year's state runner-up, Ringgold.
Trion, last year's state traditional runner-up, will be the favorite at the 3-A tournament at Mount Zion. Armuchee hosts the 3-AA event, while Dalton will compete in the 6-AAAAAA tournament at Allatoona.