Head football coach Ken Colquette leads his Sequatchie County team through their first use of their new indoor practice facility Tuesday. Built behind Griffith Elementary next door to the high school, the facility will be used by the high school football, baseball and softball teams as well as by elementary students. Marion County High School will name its football field in honor of legendary former coach Ken Colquette during a ceremony before tonight's game against Sequatchie County. In 17 seasons with the Warriors, Colquette won 82 percent of his games - 181 of his 257 career wins came at Marion - and four state championships.
During one stretch in the early 1990s, his teams went 56-1 with three state titles in four seasons. All former players are invited to be there for a special night.
"It's a little bit embarrassing," Colquette said. "I would've been fine if they had named it Alumni Field, because there were a lot of other coaches that contributed to what we accomplished. But I guess when you're the head coach you get too much credit and too much blame. I certainly wasn't a one-man show.
"I appreciate them doing it. I really do. I hope everybody comes to watch the ballgame and gets to see us win, but however many of the former players come, I'll be anxious to see them for sure. It's enjoyable to get to see them all."
McKnight avoids injury
Calhoun senior middle linebacker Eric McKnight suffered only a bone bruise in last Thursday's opening-game win over Ridgeland, according to coach Hal Lamb.
McKnight crumpled to the ground after helping make a tackle at Rome's Barron Stadium, and the initial reaction from players and officials was a significant knee injury for the 6-foot-1, 220-pounder.
"It didn't look good, but X-rays were negative," Lamb said. "He got leg-whipped and he was scared, but he's going to be fine."
Lions' resumption not set
The Christian Heritage football game against Riverside Military Academy that was suspended due to severe weather last Friday will be completed, but no one knows exactly when.
The Lions were leading 17-7 with two minutes gone in the second half when play was halted. Fortunately, both teams are scheduled to be off next Friday, but there may be a problem getting officials to work the game.
"The GHSA is having trouble getting us officials, so we may have to do it Thursday," Christian Heritage coach Jay Poag said. "I've been doing this for 30 years, and it's the first time I've experienced something like this. It's not a win or loss yet, but I like going into games up 10."
A new GHSA rule says that all varsity games must be played to their completion. Ringgold and Dalton had to finish their game Monday after it was halted at halftime Friday.
Lesson learned for Trion
Football scrimmages often can be taken with a grain of salt, but Trion's outing against LaFayette to wrap up summer preseason work didn't sit well with coach Justin Brown or his players. The Class A Bulldogs made sure it didn't happen again and opened the season with an upset win over Class AA Coosa, a playoff team last year.
"In the scrimmage we weren't ready to play, but LaFayette did a lot of things really well and we didn't," Brown said. "The good thing is we took the negatives and focused on fixing those. The kids showed a lot of resilience, and to turn around and play as well as we did against Coosa and their athletes, I was very proud of them."
New Bucs mat coaches
Boyd-Buchanan has named Mike Sutherland as its new varsity wrestling coach and his son Blake Sutherland as its middle school wrestling coach.
Mike Sutherland has 35 years of wrestling experience, including 20 years of coaching, and has guided 25 individuals to state titles. He is currently the regional director and operations director for Tennessee AAU wrestling and is the Tennessee AAU national team coach. Blake Sutherland is a former two-time state wrestling champion.