Eddie

Is Skip Sparkman still doing the radio play-by-play? I thought I heard someone else working with Coach Short Friday night.

The Upperman QB (7) was running for his life much of the night. I know he was sacked at least 5 times. And he's not that big. The program listed him as a 6-footer, but he looked more like 5-9 to me. Watertown's QB (16) Phillips threw 3 TD passes and IMO looked better than the kid from Upperman.

This is an OUTSTANDING high school facility. The turf looks great. Is it a Sprint Turf-type with the rubber pellets? Did the school system pay for this or did football / boosters come up with the money? Any other teams use the field like junior high, etc. Do they practice on this field as well?

MJ had a good day of work with Oakland High Friday the 1st. Spirited play between the O and D lines. 7-on-7 work with skill players. Mt. Juliet played two quarterbacks -- both looked solid. They'll be replacing nearly every starter off last year's playoff team. Oakland's numbers were WAY up.

All Lebanon High games are broadcast on WANT FM-98.9. They are also streamed live at www.atwsportscast.com

Has Friendship Christian pitcher Hailey Rutledge signed with anyone?

bump

wilsonpost.com is reporting the retirement of longtime Watertown High coach and administrator Bill Robinson. "Old school" from the word go, Robinson coached every sport at WHS except volleyball and golf during his 32 years as a Purple Tiger. He had spent the last three years as athletic director. Counting his five years at the old Lebanon junior high, he had 37 years in education. Best of luck in retirement BR.

Ryan is getting a good man in Pat Lawson, however the newspaper article I read says he won't assume his duties until July 1st. Surely FR will have a new girls coach in place before then.

Paula Jackson was introduced earlier today (Monday) as the new varsity volleyball coach at Lebanon High School.

How many seasons did Coach Jackson head up the FR basketball program and what was her record. I understand she has landed on her feet in an adjacent county.

Well done Mr. Purvis and the Bears!

Welcome to Devilette basketball Coach Ashley Johnson. Best of luck! Just for the record, the LHS volleyball team went to the sub-state last year under Stephanie Harmon. The new volleyball coach will be a full-time faculty member and will be announced Monday. She's VERY GOOD!

Anyone know what happened to former Oakland High (1977ish) grad and former APSU standout Golena Rucker? She was one of the all-time basketball greats at Austin Peay. She was a tall, thin forward -- great shooting touch.

They are saying an announcement will be made Friday afternoon before the end of the school day.

IMO the AD is in WAY over her head. This is a BIG hire and it's going to heck in a handbasket. BTW -- the volleyball job has been open forever and there's no headway on this hiring either.

When and where will the Region 5-AAA track and field meet be held?

There are a BUNCH of smaller schools in Tennessee that NEED players to fill out their rosters. Check the on-line rosters of 4-year schools such as Covenant, King, Bryan and Milligan, the JUCOS like Hiwassee, Chattanooga State, Dyersburg. Maybe they are losing some kids at a particular position, a void your son might be able to fill. All of these give some kind of partial scholarships and coupled with the lottery money and perhaps some academic $$$ as well and a little work study, maybe the financial load won't be too bad. These schools are not the high profile D-1's or the elite NAIA's like Cumberland, Trevecca and Martin Methodist, but they are solid academic schools with very good small college programs. Speaking for myself, I'd rather play at King or Hiwassee than to sit at TN Tech, APSU, Cumberland, etc. Send the coach an e-mail, fill out a prospective student-athlete questionaire -- the NAIA's and JUCO's allow on campus work-outs. These are just a few ideas. I've seen several kids from my area -- guys I've never heard of -- sign with some of these smaller schools. Remember these teams need 25-30 players. Hope this helps.

I too was concerned about this new physical. The health coordinator in our system told me this was being mandated by the State of Tennessee Health Department -- not TSSAA. Seems they require primary care doctors to see the kids (rising 7th & 9th graders) and these must be done before they can play in the fall. I took mine for his physical on Thursday and the ONLY two things different from the usual "mass physical" was a urine sample and a check of his immunization record. They did not send the sample off -- just ran a protein check in the office. EVEYTHING else could have been done in the "mass physical" and he would have been seen by an orthopaedic surgeon, a heart specialist, an RN and a physical therapist. This would be AFTER he had been pre-screened by his school trainer for the old "turn your head & cough". A physician's assistant administered my kid's physical. It seems to me like some of docs have lobbied for this so they can get their piece of the action. Our local hospital offers a free "mass physical" for 8 or 9 area schools and I've heard docs grumbling about giving up a Saturday morning and the opportunity to charge for the service.

in an earlier post it was mentioned Lebanon lost a junior pitcher. Who was she and what was the nature of her injury?

story and photo of Coach Marshall can be found at www.carthagecourier.com Also a pretty ugly shot of the new principal at GHS.

Ashley Johnson has been ofered the job. She is mulling the situation right now.

David -- Thank you for your OUTSTANDING work keeping us up-to-date on 7-AAA. Your efforts are much appreciated.

Central won 5-4 on a sac. fly in the bottom of the ninth. Strong tripled to open the ninth, then Collins hit the fly ball. Central is now 3-4 in the league, Smyrna 6-5.

2002 Class AAA Miss Basketball Ashley Johnson (Shelbyville / Ole Miss) was on campus Friday the 18th.