Bleacher Report - Articles by Dee Wilcox

Tribe Soccer Locks Down Second Regular Season Title In Two Years.

Dee Wilcox — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:54:10 -0400

FROM MY PARTNER AT TRICITESSPORTS.COM!!!!!!

BRISTOL -- A tie would have been enough to assure Dobyns-Bennett the District I-AAA soccer title on Tuesday, but David Geno made sure with a rocket that found the left-corner of the net with four minutes to play and lifted the Indians to an unlikely title with a 1-0 victory.

The win made D-B 5-0-0 in District I-AAA play with a game remaining Thursday night at Sullivan Central. Tennessee High came in 3-0-2 and could have won the title had it beaten D-B and had the Indians lost to Sullivan Central. As it is, the Vikings finish 3-1-2 in league play and are 9-3-2 overall. The Indians improve to 12-3-2 and have not lost to any Northeast Tennessee team other than Morristown West.

"We graduated 13 seniors,'' noted coach Shane Calvert. "And returned only two starters (David Geno and Danny Clark). So this is very gratifying.''

"We were dominating the game, but we just couldn't get the ball to go into the back of the net,'' said Geno. "Finally, we got one.''

Geno, a junior, said he saw the open corner and ripped the ball past a diving John Turnbull, who had made a number of spectacular saves earlier to deny the Indians.

"I saw the far post was open and just went for it,'' said Geno, who now has 27 goals on the season. He took a pass from Ben Lewis and kicked the ball home.

Though they are sure of the title, they can't take Central for granted.

"We've got to keep fighting because Central is going to be good,'' said Geno. "We have to bring our best.''

Central improved to 3-2 in Big 9 play with a 2-1 win over Science Hill on Tuesday while Sullivan South (4-1-1) wrapped up the No. 2 seed with a 5-1 victory over David Crockett.

"I told our guys: 'Let's eliminate any doubt','' said Calvert. "Let's go out there and play. I thought Tennessee High played a great game. It was one of those I wish I could have sat in the stands and watched, because both teams gave it all they had. Tennessee High had chances to bury one just like we did. I am really proud of my guys and I am also proud of Tennessee High.''

So was Tennessee High coach Evandro Valente.

"This gets us ready for the tournament,'' said Valente. "We played very well. We made a few mistakes, but Geno is a very good player and it is hard to contain him.''

Valente praised Turnbull, who has had an outstanding season. Turnbull had six saves in the game.

"He hasn't played soccer since about the sixth grade, but wanted to come out and has played very well for us,'' said Valente.

Valente said D-B would have still been No. 1 even had his team won because the Vikings lost two points each for tying Crockett and South, while D-B would have only lost three points had it lost to Tennessee High.

"The big thing for us is the tournament next week,'' said Valente.

Calvert told the Viking players he hoped to see them again next week in the tournament. Tennessee High will likely have to beat South to get there. South will be the No. 2 seed and Tennessee High will be No. 3, if Central loses. A win would give Central four league wins and 12 points to Tennessee High's 11.

"We knew coming in there were a very good defensive team,'' said Calvert. "And you can see why. They move well and their goalkeeper is very good.''

Brett Mallinak recorded the victory in the Dobyns-Bennett goal. Tennessee High took nine shots to 10 for D-B.

NL East: Hot Starts Abruptly Cooled Off

Dee Wilcox — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:46:51 -0400

For the most part, the top teams in the National League East in the beginning of the season looked to be there to stay for the season, but it was quite the opposite. The Braves, Pirates, and Marlins all had the hottest starts in baseball.

Starting with the Bravos, winning five of their first six, then dropping five straight to Florida and Pittsburgh. Injuries and fatigue halted the braves hot start with key players Chipper Jones and Brian McCann seeing time on the bench due to injury and illness. Both players are back in the lineup alone with hot rookie Jordan Schafer, Jeff Francoeur, Kasey Kotchman, and ace pitcher Derek Lowe. Look for the Braves to be a fixture at the top of the NL race and you might see them rise back to the dominance as they are a custom to.

As For the Pirates and Marlins, they were each others poison. After the braves left town, the Bucos headed for Florida where they eventually swept the Marlins, but then later returned home to drop two out of three games. The same goes for these two teams as well, look for them to get their acts together and hang around the top of things and make things very interesting come October.

I'm Back, and I'm Better than the Lions!

Dee Wilcox — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:25:12 -0400

I would like to send my apologies to everyone.

Six months ago, I said that I was coming back to write.

After dealing with school, family issues, and losing some close friends of mine, I decided to take a break and focus on family, faith, and career.

We are closing the basketball and hockey seasons, and we are beginning a summer-long baseball season.

I will be doing my best to provide coverage of the Atlanta braves, Coastal Carolina baseball, Georgia Bulldogs Football, and Tennessee high school Sports, along with a new section that I started in my communications, called "Weekend Rant."

Stay keyed in to the page for stories and updates.

Where Ya Been?

Dee Wilcox — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:38:07 -0400

After a hiatus of oh, I'd say six months, I'm back better than ever.

Get ready for Tennesse and Virginia high school football along with the SEC side of things.

Will Georgia go to the top? Can Tennessee rebound? And is Tim Tebow the Heisman this year?

All this and more when your guy Dee Wilcox writes again.

Going For Gold: Dobyns-Bennett Soccer's Quest To Be The Best

Dee Wilcox — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:23:38 -0400

When this year started, it was doubtful that Dobyns-Bennett soccer would amount to anything. With the loss of a senior and a close friend of mine, Jon Metcalf, a new coach in Shane Calvert and a new style of play left the beginning of this season unknown.

Soon we saw something out of a team that we haven't seen in a long time: unity. This team had this characteristic more than any other team I've seen in four years at Dobyns-Bennett.

The trek started in a preseason tournament in Georgia, where the Tribe played themselves into the finals. Then they returned to Kingsport to play their out of conference games, which they dominated.

When I first joined this site, my first stories were about the Palmetto Cup Classic. D-B was playing in on spring break in Columbia, S.C.

Here, the Tribe didn't lose one game, but yet won one and tied 3 more. The three ties came against the No. 2, 4, and 5 teams in the state of South Carolina.

In a controversial ending to the third tie, the Tribe was left out of the finals bracket and settled to play for fifth place when they had played better than that the whole week.

The beginning of April saw the start of the conference season, D-B was picked behind rivals South and Science Hill. Out of the gate, the Tribe quickly showed the conference that they weren't going to settle for that. The Tribe rolled off eight quick wins.

The Jon Metcalf Invitational showed again how much of a great Team the Tribe is. They beat Crockett easily in the opening game, then beat Seymoure 2-1 in the last 15 seconds on a free kick from Bryce Herlong that was headed in by Colton Clark.

The Tribe then beat Greeneville 2-1 but lost Senior Ray Menya to a broken leg. Come Sunday, the Tribe was playing in the championship game of their own tournament, in a hard fought game where it saw plenty of goals. Dobyns-Bennett won 5-3.

After talking to Coach Cal, he said he had never felt better in his life to win this tournament not just for the team, but for Jon, who I'm sure was looking over the game the whole time.

The Tribe did not miss a beat coming out of the tournament, taking down more conference opponents. Highlights included wins over Science Hill and South.

This gave them an undefeated conference record and the regular season title by beating the two teams picked to finish ahead of them in preseason.

Before you knew it, this past week was senior night, honoring all senior players, including Jon Metcalf. On Senior night, D-B faced a physical Greenville team again, a team questioned for dirty play when Menya broke his leg.

Coming out that night, the Tribe was more physical than ever and took home the win on senior night 4-1.

Also they faced Bearden, who is No. 6 in the state, with the Tribe fifth. Coming into this game, I knew they were focused by the way they were focused on the trip down.

"They were focused," said Coach Cal. "We were just not expecting them to play us with their best game, and we were flat."

Coach was disappointed with the way they played Wednesday night in Knoxville but also said it was a learning curve for the team.

Talking to my fellow seniors they were disappointed in themselves, but they knew they could bounce back and be just fine. It seemed now stress had taken over after playing the most games in the state and only losing one game.

The coaches sensed the anxiety and Thursday's practice was football, the American style. The players told me it was great to chill out and just play something fun.

With Friday and the weekend off, the pace will quicken again Monday afternoon with practice both Monday and Tuesday in preparation on a District semifinal game against the winner of Tennessee High and South. The finals are set for Friday night at 7 p.m. in Johnson City.

With full confidence, I will say that the guys are ready to win a tournament title and move on to regional play. I will keep everyone posted on the remainder of the season.

Thanks for taking the time to read this column its greatly appreciated.

High School Baseball: Dobyns-Bennett's Season-Ending Deja Vu

Dee Wilcox — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:47:22 -0400

It's A Little Thing, sometimes a big thing called "Deja Vu," and Sullivan South has been there before. Coach Anthony Richardson said that helped the Rebels this time around.

In many ways, Saturday's District I quarterfinal game was a repeat of the meeting with D-B last Monday in Kingsport.

Ben Daniels' single scored Tyler Ball from second base in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Rebels to a 5-4 victory over a D-B team that once again erased a four-run deficit in the seventh inning to force extra innings.

On Monday night, the Indians rallied from a 6-2 deficit and Saturday it was a 4-0 deficit.

And once again, D-B failed to score after loading the bases with no outs and South's Tristan Archer on the mound.

Only this time, Archer started and got the outs when fatigue was starting to get to him.

"I'm glad Ben got that hit,'' said Archer. "My legs were getting tired, and I don't think I could have gone another inning.''

"I was looking for a curveball,'' said Daniels. "He'd pretty much thrown me curveballs all night.''

The victory sends South into Sunday's semifinal game against David Crockett, which beat Sullivan East 3-0 in a game that didn't get started until nearly 9:30 p.m.

"I think having been there with them in that situation last time helped us tonight,'' said Richardson, whose team improves to 22-9.

"We had bases loaded, no outs and our Nos. 2-3-4 hitters up,'' said D-B coach Mike Ritz. "I was a little worried when our No. 2 (Jamie Crawford) hit the dribbler to third. But we still had Justin (Trent) coming up and I figured he'd hit a line drive — and he did — but it was right at somebody.''

South second baseman Dylan Ellis caught it and threw to third to double off Trevor McNew, who instinctively broke toward the plate after seeing the line drive and couldn't get back.

What would have been a game-winning hit Monday night was snagged by Rebel shortstop Seth Johnson.

"It's a win,'' said Richardson. "Give them credit. They battled back. They probably had more chances that we did. I looked at it and figured we got the toughest draw, the way they had been playing. If they'd played all season the way they did at the end, they wouldn't have been a No. 7 seed.''

Richardson said he was concerned about Archer (7-2) tiring, "but when I checked his pitch count, he was still only about 70. I wanted to stay with my best in that situation.''

"I just tried to keep the ball down,'' said Archer, "and get ground balls. He (Trent) really hit the ball well, but fortunately is was right at one of our guys.''

D-B had loaded the bases in the top of the eighth on consecutive singles by Dylan Harvey, McNew and Lane Taylor, with Taylor's of the infield variety. Crawford then hit a dribbler to third that Ben Begley fielded and threw home for the force. That's when Trent hit a shot that Ellis snagged.

South had built a 4-0 lead with some good hitting and some sloppy Indian fielding. Three of the four runs were unearned off D-B ace Gabe Overcast (5-4).

"We told the kids coming in we couldn't afford to make fielding mistakes against South, but we did,'' said Ritz.

Tyler Ball singled, stole second, went to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a throwing error in the third. Ball then doubled home Begley, who had singled and was sacrificed to second in the fourth.

In the fifth, Stephen Owenby doubled and scored when the D-B second baseman dropped a pop-up will looking back into the sun. Then, in the sixth, Reid Mathews doubled and scored on another throwing error.

Still, the Indians nearly overcame the boots.

Harvey singled to open the top of the seventh and came home on McNew's triple. Taylor then singled home McNew. Crawford followed with a single and the third run of the inning scored on Trent's ground out and the fourth on Nathan Millsap's single.

But with no outs, Archer retired the final three batters to keep it at 4-4 and then survived the bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth.

D-B outhit South, 11-9, but on the scoreboard South had one more run and that's all that mattered.

Weston Carr is expected to pitch for South on Sunday. In the other game Sunday, Science Hill (26-5) will face Tennessee High (16-13), which spotted Daniel Boone a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh before rallying for two runs in the bottom of the inning to advance with a 6-5 victory on freshman Stephen Mullins' clutch single with the bases loaded and one out.

Ball led South with three hits, two of them doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Owenby also had two hits.

Ritz, whose team finished 13-17 after a 5-14 start, said there is a lot to look forward to next season.

"We lose some really good players,'' said Ritz, "but we've got 16 boys back and a good group of freshmen coming up. We have to go to work this summer and make progress, but we'll be okay.''

Sullivan South 5, Dobyns-Bennett 4, 8 innings

Dobyns-Bennett 000 000 40 -- 4 11 4
Sullivan South 001 111 01 -- 5 9 3

Gabe Overcast and Nathan Millsap; Tristan Archer and Ben Daniels. WP--Archer (7-2); LP--Overcast (5-4).

Dobyns-Bennett Baseball: Miles Chase Throws Gem On Senior Night

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:52:48 -0400

KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- Four seniors started and made significant contributions as the Dobyns-Bennett High School baseball team beat Sullivan North, 11-0, to make Thursday's senior night a high point to end an up-and-down season.

Miles Chase, one of the seniors, extended D-B's string of consecutive shutout innings to 14 by pitching a two-hit shutout. Kyle Brandon had thrown a no-hitter against John Battle on Wednesday.

The Indians, who finished the regular season at 13-16, needed just five innings to put the Raiders away. Senior Lane Taylor belted a solo home run in the first inning and finished 3-for-4 on the night; classmates Garrett Rich and Trevor McNew each produced a 2-for-2, two-RBI performance.

"They all played very well on senior night,'' assistant coach Josh Warner said. "I am real proud of them.''

The only hits by North came on singles by Hunter Hart in the second and Matt Summey in the fourth. North, which also lost a conference game at Johnson County on Wednesday, 12-2, slipped to 12-15 heading into the District I-AA tournament at Elizabethton. The Raiders will play Happy Valley at 5 p.m. Saturday.

"We played them twice,'' said North coach Steve Dixon. "We beat them in nine innings at our place the first time and they beat us in nine innings at their place the second time. It should be a really good game.''

Dobyns-Bennett 11, Sullivan North 0 (5 innings)

Sullivan North 000 00 -- 0 2 1

Dobyns-Bennett 632 0x -- 11 12 0

Zach Ball, Dylan Price (1) and Brandon Black; Miles Chase and Nathan Millsap, Aaron Long (3). WP--Chase (3-1); LP--Ball. HRs-Lane Taylor, D-B, none on in first.

Tennessee Basketball: Chris Lofton Fights Cancer

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:49:36 -0400

KNOXVILLE -- There was more wrong with Chris Lofton than his shot last season.

Thursday, it was revealed that the Tennessee All-American underwent surgery and radiation treatments to battle testicular cancer following the end of his junior season. The fact he was randomly drug-tested during the NCAA tournament in 2007 may have saved his life.

Reports indicate he is currently cancer-free, but must be monitored for a recurrence of the cancer for the rest of his life.

Lofton underwent surgery in March of 2007 to remove a cancerous tumor from one of his testicles.

The initial diagnosis came a few days after UT lost to Ohio State in the Sweet 16 during the 2006-07 season after Lofton failed a random drug test.

It was later determined that the failed test was not a result of drugs, but a tumor. Bloodwork and an ultrasound followed, and Lofton had surgery two days later. He underwent radiation treatments but was cleared to play the 2007-08 season.

The university, Lofton and basketball coach Bruce Pearl issued a statement Thursday confirming the illness but offering few details.

"I would like to thank everyone for respecting my privacy during the past year and I hope they continue to do so," Lofton said in the statement. "This has been a very difficult time for me and my family, but it has brought us closer together.

"I have been very blessed that we were able to catch everything early so that now I am OK," he added.

Lofton has had regular checkups since the surgery and doctors have told him the cancer has not spread.

Lofton finished as the SEC's all-time leader in three-pointers with 431 and is third on the NCAA's all-time list. He led UT in scoring last season with 15.5 points per game and plans to play professionally.

"Chris Lofton is one of the toughest players I have ever been around," said coach Bruce Pearl in statement. "Not once did he make an issue of what he has gone through. Never once did he complain.

"I think that his health issues were a factor in his play early this past season," Pearl added. "He physically and mentally overcame all of the challenges associated with battling cancer and serves as a tremendous role model to all of us.

"Even with everything he has gone through, he will go down in history as one of the best basketball players at the University of Tennessee. One day his jersey will hang in the rafters alongside some of the greats like Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King. It was an honor, privilege and joy to coach No. 5."

ETSU Baseball Wins Big Again Out Of Confrence

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:46:10 -0400

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The ETSU baseball team defeated Maryland Eastern Shore Friday afternoon at Cardinal Park as they put on a hitting display to get the win, 22-2.

ETSU (16-31, 9-18) out hit the Hawks 31-9 and drew seven walks. Starter Dustin Plumlee (Powell, Tenn.) threw four scoreless innings while surrendering three hits and striking out four.

The Bucs scored four runs in the bottom of the second as Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) singled up the middle to score Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.). Later in the inning Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) doubled to right center scoring Bubba Herbold (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Byrne, and Chris Rankhorn (Gallatin, Tenn.) drove in Fabry on a single to third to make the score 4-0.

In the bottom of the third, the Bucs scored eight more runs on a two-run double by Byrne, a RBI single by Fabry, a grounder to short by Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.), a Petro walk, a two-run single by Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) and a grounder to second by Byrne to give the Bucs a 12-0 lead.

Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) crushed a two-run home run over the fence in left center in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 14-0 Bucs.

The Hawks scratched two runs across in the top of the fifth as Tyler Love drove in a run on an infield single and Phil Vaughn singled in a run to cut the ETSU lead to 14-2.

The Bucs scored six more in the bottom of the fifth on RBI singles by Fabry and Russell, and a grand slam home run to right center by Trent to give the Bucs a 20-2 lead.

In the seventh, the Bucs got a pair of solo home runs as Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) homered to right field and Jon Edmonds (Johnson City, Tenn.) center to dead center at close to 430 feet to make the score 22-2.

The Bucs scored seven more runs in the bottom of the eighth on RBI hits by Russell, Hoilman, Trent and Edmonds to make the final 29-2.

Trent set two school records as he had eight RBI in the game and his 12 home runs is a ETSU freshman record. Allen, Rankhorn and Fabry each had four hits for the Bucs.

The ETSU bullpen pitched well combining to allow only two runs on six hits while striking out five and walking two. The 27 run win is the biggest margin of victory in ETSU history.

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow as will take on Maryland Eastern Shore at noon at Cardinal Park.

ETSU 29, Maryland-Eastern Shore 2

UMES 000 020 000 -- 2 9 2 (5-40, 4-12 MEAC)
ETSU 048 260 27x -- 29 31 0 (16-31, 9-18 A-Sun)

Pitchers: ETSU – Dustin Plumlee; Matt McGahey (5); Darren Caldwell (6); Robbie Campbell (7); Drew Story (8); Chas Byrne (9). UMES – Ken Richardson; Brian White (3); Russel Deutschmann (5)
Win – Dustin Plumlee (3-2) Loss – Ken Richardson (0-7)
HR – Derek Trent 2(12); Paul Hoilman (9); Jon Edmonds (1)

Tennessee Basketball: Duke Crews And Ramar Smith Let Go

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:43:43 -0400

KNOXVILLE -- Just one day after the Tennessee basketball program beamed with pride about the character and courage of Chris Lofton in his silent battle against cancer, the program was hit with a double dose of bad news.

Head coach Bruce Pearl announced the departures of sophomores Ramar Smith and Duke Crews.

"I am disappointed to announce that neither Duke Crews nor Ramar Smith will be a part of the 2008-09 University of Tennessee basketball program," Pearl said in a statement. "Both were provided every opportunity to succeed here, but have not met our expectations."

Immediate speculation centers on academics and/or substance abuse by both players.

Crews was suspended last summer after a failed drug test. Smith was involved in a peculiar incident in which he wrecked a friend's car but left the scene to go to the hospital before police arrived.

Smith also struggled to gain admission due to academics after signing with the Vols in the spring of 2006.

Both started and played extensively as freshmen in 2006-07, earning spots on the SEC's all-freshman team. However, their playing time diminished during their sophomore campaigns.

Crews missed over a month after a heart monitor exam revealed a condition that required treatment and threatened his career. Smith averaged 7.4 points per game, while Crews produced 5.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per outing.

Pearl added the dismissals are not related.

"With both Ramar and Duke, we came to the conclusion that it was in their best interest to transfer to another institution in order to continue their academic and basketball careers," added Pearl.

This spring, the Vols signed point guard Daniel West out of Michigan and also played J.P Prince at the point during the NCAA tournament.

Crews' minutes could be gained by rising senior Ryan Childress or signees Phillip Jurick and Renaldo Woolridge.

TENNESSEE BASKETBALL AWARDS

The University of Tennessee basketball team held its annual postseason awards banquet Thursday night at the Knoxville Marriott to honor one of the most successful teams in the 99-year history of the program.

The Vols posted a school-record number of wins, achieved the program’s first No. 1 national ranking, won their ninth overall Southeastern Conference title and then advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Tennessee finished the season with a 31-5 overall record, easily breaking the previous school record of 26 wins in a season. The Vols’ 14 league wins are the school’s most since the SEC went to a 16-game schedule.

Bruce Pearl was named the league’s coach of the year and the Adolph Rupp National Coach of the Year, while Chris Lofton and Tyler Smith each earned first team All-SEC recognition. JaJuan Smith was a second team pick.

Lofton, a second team All-America selection for the second time in his career, finished his career third in NCAA history with 431 career 3-pointers and fourth in school history with 2,131 points.

Here is a rundown of the awards:

Burchfield-Moss Most Courageous Award: Tyler Smith

Lowell Blanchard Most Improved Award: Wayne Chism

Team Before Self: Chris Lofton

John Stucky Lifter of the Year Award: Jordan Howell and Chris Lofton

Thornton Athletics Student Life Center Awards, VOLScholar Individual Awards: Quinn Cannington, Ryan Childress, Wayne Chism, Rick Daniels-Mulholland, Jordan Howell, Justin Jackson, Steven Pearl, J.P. Prince, Tanner Wild and Brian Williams

VOLScholar Team Awards: Ryan Childress, Jordan Howell, Cameron Tatum, Justin Jackson, Quinn Cannington

Highest Fall Grade Point Average (Term): Tanner Wild and Jordan Howell

Highest Fall Grade Point Average (Cumulative): Quinn Cannington

Most Improved: Brian Williams

Best Attitude: Wayne Chism

Sophmore Throws A No-No; Tribe Baseball Wins 1-0

Dee Wilcox — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:56:34 -0400

KINGSPORT -- Dobyns-Bennett sophomore pitcher Kyle Brandon walked the first John Battle Trojan hitter he faced to lead off the game, but that was the only Trojan to reach base in the 1-0 D-B victory as Brandon threw a no-hitter.

Center fielder Josh Osborne was the man who reached, but Indian shortstop Jamie Crawford backhanded a hot shot deep in the hole between short and third off the bat of John Battle 2B/P Tim Arnold to start the double play that would erase Osborne and end the first inning and allow Kyle Brandon to face the minimum of 21 batters to achieve the 21 outs over the seven-inning game.

“It is really good for our team to have a chance for John Battle come down and for us to play against a good powerhouse from Southwest Virginia,” explained D-B assistant coach Ryan Wagner. “We knew they’d be a good test for us today. They haven’t played as many games as us; their season starts later and their playoffs are later than ours, but you always see John Battle playing in the playoffs.

"Coach (Larry) Cannon had been at Pigeon Forge and been very successful taking that program consistently to the state, so we knew this would be a real good team. Kyle (Brandon) went the distance for us Saturday in getting the win (4-3 over Gate City) and we needed him to give us to give us some innings today, so we could save some pitching in getting ready for this weekend.”

Brandon achieved all 21 outs of the no-hitter without an out being recorded in the outfield. He struck out seven, earned nine ground ball outs, and coaxed four infield pop-ups out of the Trojan’s bats (one out was recorded as a force out on the front end of the first inning double play).

The Indians put base runners on board in every inning except the third. The left the bases loaded in the first; had runners at first and second with one out in the second, but left them stranded; left runners at the corners in the fourth; and again stranded bases loaded in the sixth. The Indians came up with eight hits in the game, drew four walks, and had another batter reach base safely on an error and the Tribe left 12 runners on base and scored one run.

In the fifth inning, SS Jamie Crawford led off the inning with a single between first and second (Crawford was 3-4 on the night). Crawford went to third on a double by 1B Justin Trent (his 11th double of the year to lead the team), and with one out, D-B 2B Nick Loughry hit a grounder to the Trojans' 1B Taryn Hayden that took Hayden to his right a few steps to field. He threw to the plate, but Crawford slid under the tag of C Jerry Jones and the Indians took a 1-0 lead. D-B would leave runners at second and third in the fifth inning, but the run by Crawford held up as the winning run with the masterful pitching of Kyle Brandon.

“Kyle (Brandon) was in complete control tonight, obviously” said D-B pitching coach Josh Warner. “He walked the lead-off hitter and then only had three or four other hitters that he even went to two balls on. He threw strikes and did a great job keeping the ball low in the strike zone. He was so good with his cutter we only used his curve maybe three times all game. Kyle has improved each of his last four outings. He is a great kid and works real hard. Kyle has a ton of potential and is only going to get better. He really went after the hitters, worked quickly, and really did a good job with his control.”

Added Warner: “We put a bunch of people on base, we just need to get them in. We hit the ball hard and Battle made some fine defensive plays, but if we can just get a couple of those hits with guys on base, we can and will score some runs.

“Tomorrow (Thursday) is Senior Night and we have four seniors who have done a great job for us (Miles Chase, Trevor McNew, Garrett Rich, Lane Taylor). They are great kids and outstanding leaders for this team. They have worked hard and taught the other guys how to work hard and we hope to have great crowd out here tomorrow night to congratulate them on outstanding careers; they deserve the support and we hope to see the fans out showing their support for the seniors and the team.

“Kyle did a great job tonight, real proud of him; tomorrow is another opportunity for us to get better and that is what we are working to try to do.”

Brandon threw only 68 pitches in the game and is now 4-2 on the season, 2-0 against teams from Southwest Virginia.

D-B plays host to Sullivan North on Thursday at J. Fred Johnson Stadium for Senior Night with the first pitch being scheduled for 6 p.m. Senior Miles Chase will start for the Indians.

D-B, 13-16, will play Sullivan South, Saturday at 6 p.m., in the District Tournament at Cardinal Park in Johnson City.

John Battle 000 000 0 -- 0 0 1
Dobyns-Bennett 000 010 0 -- 1 8 0

Denton, Johnson (5), Arnold (6), and Jones; Brandon and Millsap

Tribe Soccer Beats Greeneville On Tuesday; Drops 1st To Bearden A Day Later

Dee Wilcox — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:50:22 -0400

KINGSPORT -- The Dobyns-Bennett Indians, No. 9 in this week's EurosportScoreboard.com rankings, upped their record to 15-0-3 Tuesday with a 4-1 victory over Greeneville.

The Indians are one of only two Class AAA games still unbeaten in the state. Brentwood, ranked No. 2 with a 14-0-0 record, is the other. Farragut (15-1-2), which lost to Paul John Paul II this week, 2-1, is ranked No. 1.

David Geno upped his school-record goal total to 27 with the Indians' first goal 18 minutes into the game. Mitch Gardner assisted on the goal. Other goals were scored by Craig Mitcham, with and assist from Colton Clark in the 34th minute; Bryce Herlong, who booted a goal in from mid-field for the third time this season in the 60th minute; and Daniel Murphy, who scored with an assist from Colton Clark in the 65th minute.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, the tribe dropped their 1st loss all season to the powerhouse out of knoxville, the Bearden Bulldogs.

Earlier in the day, Dobyns-Bennett's soccer team had been elevated to No. 5 in the state -- one spot ahead of Knox Bearden.

When the teams met in Knoxville on Wednesday night, the Bulldogs took notice and ruined the Indians' perfect season by scoring a 7-1 victory.

"They jumped on us early,'' said D-B coach Shane Calvert, whose team falls to 15-1-3 on the season and saw an 11-game winning streak snapped. "They were up 4-0 just 20 minutes into the game.

"It was like we were running in quicksand. We had played the night before and I think that had something to do with it. And they scored with five seconds left in the game. They definitely had their foot on the throttle the entire game.''

Bearden, which had lost four times while playing the best teams in the state, got two goals each from Aaron Schenfold, Alex Wilkerson and Ryan Campbell and a lone goal from D.J. Pleasant -- the final goal.

Daniel Murphy scored D-B's only goal with an assist from Mitch Gardner.

D-B's game with Knox Powell was cancelled. Powell had to make up a conference game.

"Our next game will be next Wednesday against the Tennessee High vs. Sullivan South winner,'' said Calvert. "We will try to get ourselves ready for that.''

The schedule for this year's District I tournament allows a day of rest between matches. Instead of playing the first round on Monday and the second round on Tuesday, the semifinals have been moved to Wednesday at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., and the finals have been moved to Friday night.

In Monday's first-round game, South will host Tennessee High at 5:30 p.m.; Sullivan Central will host Boone at 6 p.m., and Science Hill will host David Crockett at 7 p.m. D-B will play the THS vs. South winner at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday at Memorial Stadium, with the other two Monday winners meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Breaking News: ESPN Reports UCLA's Patrick Cowan Out for Season

Dee Wilcox — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:07:32 -0400

About an hour ago ESPN broke a story continuing from yesterday. The two UCLA QBs competing for a starting job in spring practices went down on back-to-back plays in non-contact practice.

Olson the first to go down has a broken metatarsal—a broken toe in layman's terms.

The next play, Cowan stepped in to take over the snaps when he went down awkwardly, resulting in an injury to his ACL. His injury is going to require season-ending surgery.

Today, Cowan was quoted saying to the press, "I dont know how bad it is, I just know I need surgery."

New head coach Rick Neuheisel was already facing a tough decision on making a pick for QB, but now he has a bigger problem on his hands—finding a backup.

More details to come when they become available.

Its The Turf: Tribe Baseball Stays Unbeaten on Turf, Sweep Double Header

Dee Wilcox — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:00:05 -0400

KINGSPORT -- Home is where the heart is and it has also been where the wins have come for Dobyns-Bennett's young baseball team.

After losing to Morristown East on Friday, April 18, 2-1 on the road, the Indians have been on a roll.

In one week's time, they have doubled their season wins total -- taking their record from 6-14 after the loss to Morristown East to 12-14 Saturday after a doubleheader sweep over Greeneville (11-4) and Gate City (4-3).

Four of those six wins have come on the new artificial surface at J. Fred Johnson Stadium.

"It helps being here,'' said coach Mike Ritz. "But two of those six wins were at Hunter Wright and we've won seven of eight now.''

Ritz said in earlier losses, his young team has been close but made just enough mistakes to lose.

Now, they are making just enough plays to win.

"They are a lot better,'' said Greeneville coach Randy Richards, whose team had beaten D-B early in the season, 7-3, in the middle of a streak that saw the Indians lose their first five games. "They are playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores and they're getting better. They're doing a good job hitting the ball.''

D-B jumped on Greeneville starter Zach Fillers, who was making his first start, and had all nine batters reach against him -- and score -- in a nine-run first inning. Ryan Everhart relieved and limited D-B to just two runs the rest of the way, but the damage was done.

"That's been the story for us lately,'' said Richards. "We've had one bad inning. That was his (Fillers') first start.''

Trevor McNew's two-run double highlighted that inning and was one of five hits given up by Fillers before Everhart replaced him. Two others reached on walks and two others were hit by pitches. Lane Taylor had two singles in the inning, including a run-scoring single that plated McNew in his second at bat.

After that, D-B managed only single runs in the second and fourth and left it to Joe Doran to hold Greeneville in check after starter Dylan Harvey experienced wildness that led Ritz to pull him after an inning and a third -- though he was still ahead, 9-2.

"He kept getting behind hitters and we can't afford to do that at this point in the season,'' said Ritz. "If you can't it over, I am going to pull you out and put someone in who can.''

Doran went 4 2-3 innings, allowing just one hit to pick up the win. He didn't walk any batters. He got his first win after five losses.

"Joe pitched well,'' said Ritz. "But he also pitched well last week against David Crockett and held them down.''

McNew finished 2-for-2 with three RBI and a run scored, while Gabe Overcast scored three runs, reaching when he was hit by a pitch, on a double and on an error. Lane Taylor also had a pair of RBI in that game.

Greeneville, which got a pair of doubles among three hits in the seventh, scored two runs in its last at bats to close the final gap to seven. The Greene Devils, now 9-15 overall and 3-5 in the IMAC where they are fourth, had six hits total in the game with Josh Hall getting two of them.

In the second game, freshman Sean Seabolt delivered a pinch-hit, RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to keep D-B in the win column.

"Nick Loughry had been having trouble with the left-hander,'' said Ritz, referring to Gate City's Terrance Harvey. "Sean has been getting two and three hits in JV games and I felt like he could go up there and get a hit.''

His single plated pinch-runner Garrett Rich from second base. Rich had been inserted to run for Justin Trent after Trent reached on an error to start off the inning. Nathan Millsap then singled to move Rich into scoring position.

"It was a good game,'' said Gate City coach Shannon Carter. "It was well-played by both teams. Both pitchers did well and both teams fielded the ball well. We just made some mistakes that cost us.''

D-B had jumped out early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first after the Blue Devils had plated a run against Kyle Brandon in the top of the inning.

Trent's two-run double chased home Lane Taylor, who had singled and advanced on Jamie Crawford's single. They executed a double steal before Trent lined his double to left. Trent singled home Dylan Harvey in the second inning to make it 3-1 but Gate City's Harvey then allowed just three hits in the next four innings -- taking the game to the seventh tied at 3-3.

Gate City had tied it in the third when Trey Clark walked, stole second, went to third on Ked Byrd's single and scored on a wild pitch. Byrd came home on Dusty Clark's ground out. The Blue Devils got just one batter as far as second the rest of the game, however, as Brandon went the distance to pick up his first win. Brandon allowed just six hits, striking out five batters and walking just one. The first run against him -- which came when Buck Eldridge opened the game win a single, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error -- was unearned.

Gate City is now 6-5 and plays four games this week. The Blue Devils host Twin Springs on Monday and then go on the road to play at North on Tuesday, at Elizabethton on Wednesday and at Virginia High on Friday.

"Our last seven games will be on the road,'' said Carter.

D-B hosts Sullivan South on Monday, Science Hill on Tuesday and then play a doubleheader on Wednesday after Sullivan North at 4:30 p.m., and John Battle at 7 p.m.

Here are Saturday's linescores:

Dobyns-Bennett 11, Greeneville 4

Greeneville.............020..000..2 -- 4...6...1
Dobyns-Bennett......910..100..x -- 11..10...1

Zach Fillers, Ryan Everhart and Justin Merkle; Dylan Harvey, Joe Doran (2), Rob Cross (7) and Nathan Millsap. WP--Doran (1-5); LP--Fillers (0-1).

Dobyns-Bennett 4, Gate City 3

Gate City.................102..000..0 -- 3...6...2
Dobyns-Bennett......210..000..1 -- 4..10...1

Terrance Harvey and Seth Clark; Kyle Brandon and Nathan Millsaps. WP--Brandon (3-2); LP--Harvey (0-2).

Tribe Baseball Extends Winning Streak, Beats Cherokee 4-2

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:25:54 -0400

The Dobyns-Bennett Indians have worked all season trying to put it all together -- good pitching, solid defense, aggressive baserunning, and timely hitting -- and as the 2008 baseball season grinds toward tournament time, the Tribe is starting to jell.

They made it four in a row and the second in as many days on the new FieldTurf surface at J. Fred Johnson Stadium, a 4-2 victory over the Cherokee Chiefs, on Friday.

The Indians got great pitching from senior right hander Miles Chase as he gave up two runs, both unearned, on two hits. Chase struck out nine Cherokee batters and only walked one, in a controlling performance that allowed the Indians to overcome leaving 10 men on base.

D-B assistant coach Josh Warner lauded Chase.

“Miles throws strikes. He keeps the ball low in the strike zone. His last outing he had trouble finding the strike zone and he hasn’t pitched for a couple of weeks, but tonight he showed confidence and really battled and he controlled the game.”

“We felt like Miles would do fine today”, D-B assistant coach Ryan Wagner said. “It is that time of year when you have to be focused everyday and Miles Chase is a great kid with great focus.''

Chase struck out the first batter he faced, then walked the Chiefs LF Coleman Elliott, who would be stranded at first and be the only base runner for the Chiefs until the fourth inning when first baseman Jed Fisher got the first hit of the game for Cherokee, a solid single to right center field.

The Indians got on the board first as sophomore 2B Nick Loughry walked to lead off the second inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior 3B Gabe Overcast. Freshman CF Jake Bellamy walked to put runners at first and second for the Tribe. Cherokee pitcher Timmy Ivey attempted to pick Loughry off of second and threw the ball past his SS and 2B into center field for an error, allowing Loughry to advance to second. Loughry then scored the first run of the game as junior DH Dylan Harvey picked up his 12th RBI of the season on a swinging bunt that was fielded by Ivey and thrown to first for out number two of the inning. Senior LF Trevor McNew drilled an RBI single to score Bellamy and the Indians led 2-0 after two.

Justin Trent scored in the third after reaching safely on a single to left he came home on an RBI double rapped by Loughry giving D-B a 3-0 lead.

The fourth inning saw Fisher reach base on a single, but was forced out at second on a fielder’s choice off the bat of C Ethan Blair. A single by Timmy Ivey and back to back errors by the Indians off the bats of the Chiefs SS/P Brandon Lester and 2B Jacob Fleenor, put two unearned runs on the board for Cherokee, making the score 3-2 D-B.

Trevor McNew singled in the bottom of the fourth inning. His hit was followed by a single by senior RF Lane Taylor and an RBI single by junior SS Jamie Crawford and the Indians were back on top by two, 4-2.

The rest of the game belonged to Chase, as only one Cherokee Chief would reach base over the next three innings and that was due to a defensive error in the fifth by the Tribe. Chase struck out 4 of his 9 batters in the final three innings including a strikeout to end the game.

“We are confident in Miles, in what he can do and he showed it tonight. This is another good win for this team against another good team; Cherokee battles. They have battled us twice and this is a hard-earned win. We are learning to win games that earlier we weren’t winning. The only negative in this game is the fact that we left 10 runners on base. We got some big hits from Trevor, Nick, Lane, and Jamie, but we have to get runners home; but this was a win and a good one and we’ll get back out tomorrow and get after it again.”

“This team is excited about playing here, in this stadium, on this surface. We are going to come out excited everyday and take advantage of what we have here”, said Wagner.

D-B hosts Greeneville at 2 pm and then Gate City immediately following the Greeneville game (approximately 4:30 p.m.) on Saturday.

Cherokee 000 200 0 -- 2 2 3
Dobyns-Bennett 021 100 x -- 4 8 3

Ivey, Brandon (4), Ivey (6) and Blair. Chase and Millsap.

WP – Chase 2-1 LP Ivey

Perfect! Indians Beat Rival south 2-0 To Cap Off Undefeated Season

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:20:10 -0400

KINGSPORT—Whenever Dobyns-Bennett and Sullivan South hook up in soccer, it is going to be close and Friday's matchup at Indian Highlands Park was no exception.

The Rebels held Dobyns-Bennett scoreless in the first half, but with the wind at their backs the final 40 minutes, the Indians took advantage as Bryce Herlong scored on a kick from mid-field for the second time this season to put them up 1-0 early in the second half and then David Geno broke the school record for goals scored in one season and gave D-B some security in the process by booting a free kick home with nine minutes left to play for a hard-earned 2-0 victory.

"South played a great game,'' said D-B coach Shane Calvert whose ninth-ranked team improved to 14-0-3 on the season. "They have the potential to do a lot of damage in the district tournament. They're solid.

"Any time South and D-B play, you are going to see two teams that play hard and play physical and that's what happened tonight.''

"D-B is always the team we want most to beat the most,'' said South junior Josh Wood. "We played hard. We knew, with the wind at our back the first half, we needed to get a lead. It was tough when the wind was in our face.''

But with the help of goalkeeper Chad Strickland, the Indians dodged some bullets in the first half, then got another magical kick from Herlong.

Herlong, a lanky senior, hit it with a hook and the wind pushed it over the head of South goalie Aaron Pinto and into the back of the net.

"It just keeps happening,'' said Herlong, who had another go in against Science Hill from mid-field. "I am just trying to get the ball down there in hopes someone can flick it in.''

"We need to find a way to bring him back next year,'' laughed Calvert, referring to his senior who has also had three assists from that free kick from mid-field.

"We knew they had strong legs,'' said South coach Malora Quisenberry. "We just misplayed that.''

Later, Pinto made a great save on a penalty kick from close in by Geno, but Geno later scored the second goal on a free kick where Craig Mitcham made first contact, faking a kick and let Geno come up from behind to boot it past Pinto for the second goal.

The goal was No. 24 for the season, one more than the previous record held by Nick Cooper in 2002 and Jessie Macharia in 2001.

"I just do whatever I can to help the team,'' said Geno, who had 14 goals as a freshman last year and finds himself just six goals short of the career record of 44 goals set by Cooper from 1999 to 2002.

Geno will have three more regular-season games to improve on his record. The Indians host Greeneville on Tuesday, then play at Knox Bearden and Knox Powell next Friday and Saturday. The Indians will draw a first-round bye in the District I tournament and play the winner of a Monday game between Tennessee High and South in the semifinals on Tuesday, May 6.

"What's amazing is that Geno has done that and he missed five games with an injury,'' noted Calvert.

A key to the victory Friday was the play of goal-keeper Chad Strickland. He had seven saves, a couple of them spectacular ones.

"He was huge,'' said Calvert. "Chad's had a great season. He made some great saves tonight, but then so did their guy Pinto. He had a heckuva block on Geno's penalty kick.''

South is now 8-6-2 and 3-3 in District I play. The Rebels lost to Science Hill and Sullivan Central by one goal each.

The Rebels will play at University High on Tuesday.

D-B also won on Thursday, 3-1, at Elizabethton. In that game, Geno scored two goals and Craig Mitcham one. Mitch Gardner and Mitcham had assists.

"Elizabethton played us tough and I think our guys were a little tired from that game,'' said Calvert. "We were also missing two players. Zach Jenkins was in Toronto with the orchestra and Jack Dale wasn't able to be here.''

Here is the scoring from Friday's game:

Sullivan South 0 0 -- 0
Dobyns-Bennett 0 2 -- 2

D-B—Bryce Herlong, free kick from mid-field, 46th minute.
D-B—David Geno, free kick with assist from Craig Mitcham, 71st minute.

Shots on Goal: D-B 21; SS 12.
Saves: Chad Strickland, D-B, 7; Aaron Pinto, South, 3.

Get The Brooms: D-B Boys And Girls Sweep Big Nine Track Titles

Dee Wilcox — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:38:29 -0400

JOHNSON CITY -- Dobyns-Bennett surged from behind with a first, second and fourth finish in the 200 dash -- the next-to-last event -- and then placed second to Science Hill in the 4x400 relay Thursday to hold on and edge Science Hill in the girls' portion of the Big 9 Track & Field Championships, snapping the Lady Hilltoppers' three-year domination.

The win was by the narrowest of margins, 219-218, but Science Hill coach John Hyatt only applauded the Lady Indians when the result was announced and did not ask for a recount.

D-B also won the boys' meet, finishing 96 points ahead of Tennessee High despite having one of its best relay team eliminated by a violation in a relay and one of its best runners felled by cramps.

"We ran out of people,'' said Hyatt, who ran just one sprinter in the girls' 200. "We had a lof of firsts and did well. I'm pleased with the effort. D-B just had more depth than us and really took it to us in the field events. We would win an event, but they'd finish 2-3-4 and we couldn't compete with that.''

"It was huge,'' said D-B coach Bob Bingham of the turnaround the finish produced. "In a meet like this (at this time of the season), everyone is banged up a little bit. We had our issues, too. We were hoping to go 1-2-3 there and we almost did.''

D-B also had some walking wounded, including Laura Loveless who has been bothered by nerve damage in her leg but was second in the 800 and 1600 runs.

"Laura was a warrior today,'' said Bingham.

Brit Brewster also won the 100 hurdles, despite a hip flexor problem.

D-B had a triple winner in Tori Head, who led the 200 dash effort with a personal-best 26.09. She also ran a leg on the winning 4x100 relay team and won the long jump on Wednesday. She is close to school records in both the long jump and 200 dash.

In addition to Head's win, Olivia Lawniczak was second in 26.46 and Haley Phipps was third in 26.64. Emma Bowers was third in 26.55, but picked up just six points for her effort while D-B got 10 for Head's win, 8 for Lawniczak's second-place effort and another five for Phipps' fourth-place finish -- a total of 23 for the one race and 17 more than Science Hill.

Hannah Bowers was a trooper for Science Hill, winning the 100 dash in 12.61; the 400 dash in a meet-record 56.91 and running the anchor leg on the winning 4x400 relay.

Bowers is headed to Western Carolina on scholarship with sister Emma, who competed but is still limited by tendinitis in a knee.

D-B's boys won despite having their vaunted 4x100 relay team disqualified and having cramps cause star middle-distance runner Josh Vasquez to drop back to fourth in the 1600 and not run the 800 at all.

Freshman Reggie Peterson won both hurdle events for D-B and the Indians dominated the sprints -- including a 1-2-3 effort in the 100 dash that piled up 24 points early in Thursday's portion of the meet. Robert Hogg and Adrian Sensabaugh later finished 1-2 in the 200 dash and both ran legs on the winning 4x200 relay team.

"This is the first time in five years we have won both the boys and girls,'' said Bingham, whose boys have dominated the meet in recent years.

"The thing that helps us is our stable of sprinters. We have seven girls who can really run.''

Houston Martin interrupted the D-B sprint domination by winning the 400 meter for South in a career-best 51.38.

"I got an offer from Milligan today and will probably accept it,'' said Martin, who never broken the 52-second barrier in previous open 400 attempts.

David Crockett also picked up a win in the 4x400 relay for a second straight year, running a 3:32.74.

Here are results from the meet with members of winning relay teams included:

Big Nine Conference
Track & Field Championships
Liberty Bell Complex, Johnson City, TN
April 23-24, 2008

FINAL TEAM SCORES

GIRLS
DOBYNS-BENNETT 219
SCIENCE HILL 218
TENNESSEE 74
DANIEL BOONE 50
VOLUNTEER 40
SULLIVAN CENTRAL 38
SULLIVAN SOUTH 19
SULLIVAN EAST 17
DAVID CROCKETT 14

BOYS
DOBYNS-BENNETT 198
TENNESSEE 102
SCIENCE HILL 101.5
DANIEL BOONE 76
DAVID CROCKETT 68.5
SULLIVAN CENTRAL 52
SULLIVAN EAST 48
SULLIVAN SOUTH 36
VOLUNTEER 14

Girls 100 Meter Dash Finals
1, Hannah Bowers, Science Hill, 12.61. 2, Olivia Lawniczak, Dobyns-Bennett, 12.84. 3, Emma Bowers, Science Hill, 13.08. 4, Haley Phipps, Dobyns-Bennett, 13.17. 5, Edith Hill, Science Hill, 13.22. 6, Kelsey Moyher, Sullivan East, 13.60. 7, Blakley Bourleson, Tennessee, 13.77. 8, Kim Dishner, Volunteer, 13.80.

Girls 200 Meter Dash
1, Tori Head, Dobyns-Bennett, 26.09. 2, Olivia Lawniczak, Dobyns-Bennett, 26.46. 3, Emma Bowers, Science Hill, 26.55. 4, Haley Phipps, Dobyns-Bennett, 26.64. 5, Summer Dalton, Volunteer, 28.26. 6, Kristin Collette, David Crockett, 28.55. 7, Kim Dishner, Volunteer, 28.61. 8, Elizabeth Shipley, Daniel Boone, 28.66.

Girls 400 Meter Dash
1, Hannah Bowers, Science Hill, 56.91$. 2, Olivia Lawniczak, Dobyns-Bennett, 1:00.09. 3, Tori Head, Dobyns-Bennett, 1:01.26. 4, Savannah Garland, Science Hill, 1:02.11. 5, Sydney Collette, Dobyns-Bennett, 1:02.80. 6, Shawna Austin, Daniel Boone, 1:04.03. 7, Jordan Littleton, Daniel Boone, 1:04.58. 8, Catherine Hyatt, Tennessee, 1:06.02.

Girls 800 Meter Run
1, Kayla Kuziola, Science Hill, 2:23.36. 2, Laura Loveless, Dobyns-Bennett, 2:24.19. 3, Rachel Bowers, Science Hill, 2:28.36. 4, Sarah Kenny, Science Hill, 2:28.41. 5, Lauren Hubbard, Dobyns-Bennett, 2:30.76. 6, Kendra Sokol, Dobyns-Bennett, 2:34.28. 7, Elaine Hitch, Sullivan South, 2:36.04. 8, Michele Smith, Sullivan Central, 2:39.15.

Girls 1600 Meter Run
1, Allie Scalf, Science Hill, 5:14.94. 2, Laura Loveless, Dobyns-Bennett, 5:15.76. 3, Kendra Sokol, Dobyns-Bennett, 5:25.14. 4, Sarah Kenny, Science Hill, 5:28.13. 5, Olivia Loveless, Dobyns-Bennett, 5:37.09. 6, Elaine Hitch, Sullivan South, 5:44.06. 7, Mary Seward, Science Hill, 5:45.18. 8, Danielle Mitchell, Daniel Boone, 5:50.33.

Girls 100 Meter Hurdles Finals
1, Brit Brewster, Dobyns-Bennett, 15.81. 2, Kayla Kuziola, Science Hill, 16.09. 3, Kyndal Kind, Science Hill, 17.75. 4, Taylor Miller, Tennessee, 18.89. 5, Kailey Rogers, Tennessee, 19.04. 6, Meredith Hardy, Dobyns-Bennett, 19.16. 7, Greta Wininger, Volunteer, 19.42.

Girls 300 Meter Hurdles
1, Diamond Knox, Science Hill, 47.53. 2, Jamie Rutledge, Dobyns-Bennett, 48.40. 3, Taylor Miller, Tennessee, 51.49. 4, Kyndal Kind, Science Hill, 52.34. 5, Meredith Hardy, Dobyns-Bennett, 52.40. 6, Angela Johnson, Volunteer, 52.98. 7, Emmanuelle Warren, Daniel Boone, 53.39. 8, Kelsey Collins, Sullivan East, 53.47.

Girls 4x100 Meter Relay
1, Dobyns-Bennett 50.13 (Abbie Cooper, Olivia Lawniczak, Darah Karst, Tori Head), 2, Science Hill 52.27. 3, Tennessee 52.75. 4, Volunteer 53.73. 5, Daniel Boone 54.16. 6, Sullivan East 54.32. 7, Sullivan South 56.02. 8, Sullivan Central 56.97.

Girls 4x200 Meter Relay
1, Daniel Boone 1:52.86 (Katie Smith, Emmanuelle Warren, Shawna Austin, Elizabeth Shipley), 2, Science Hill 1:53.62. 3, Volunteer 1:54.14. 4, Tennessee 1:58.96. 5, David Crockett 2:00.21. 6, Sullivan Central 2:02.45. 7,
Sullivan South 2:03.87.

Girls 4x400 Meter Relay
1, Science Hill 4:06.74 (Savannah Garland, Kayla Kuziola, Rachel Bowers, Hannah Bowers), 2, Dobyns-Bennett 4:18.66. 3, Daniel Boone 4:27.75. 4, Tennessee 4:40.07. 5, Sullivan Central 4:42.44. 6, David Crockett 4:45.55. 7, Volunteer 4:45.65.

Girls 4x800 Meter Relay
1, Science Hill 10:16.26 (Kara Szalarski, Kayla Kuziola, Sam Gosey, Rachel Bowers). 2, Dobyns-Bennett 10:35.24. 3, Daniel Boone 10:44.97. 4, Tennessee 11:01.89. 5, Sullivan South 11:01.96. 6, David Crockett 12:15.67. 7, Sullivan Central 12:26.20. 8, Volunteer 12:37.35.

Boys 100 Meter Dash Finals
1, Adrian Sensabaugh, Dobyns-Bennett, 11.11. 2, Robert Hogg, Dobyns-Bennett, 11.13. 3, Steven Dukart, Dobyns-Bennett, 11.45. 4, Darryal Wilson, Tennessee, 11.47. 5, Keenan Sheperd, Tennessee, 11.59. 6, Houston Martin, Sullivan South,
11.64. 7, Matt Pendleton, Tennessee, 11.75. 8, Robert Herring, Sullivan Central, 11.78.

Boys 200 Meter Dash
1, Robert Hogg, Dobyns-Bennett, 22.82. 2, Adrian Sensabaugh, Dobyns-Bennett, 22.91. 3, Keenan Sheperd, Tennessee, 23.51. 4, Austin Hayes, Daniel Boone, 23.61. 5, Derrick Steele, Dobyns-Bennett, 23.91. 6, Matt Pendleton, Tennessee,
24.49. 7, Reggie Lucy, David Crockett, 24.50. 8, Josh Kaiko, Sullivan Central, 24.70.

Boys 400 Meter Dash
1, Houston Martin, Sullivan South, 51.38. 2, Brendan Hawkins, David Crockett, 52.26. 3, Chris Sensabaugh, Dobyns-Bennett, 52.67. 4, Corey Miles, Tennessee, 53.21. 5, Derrick Steele, Dobyns-Bennett, 53.89. 6, Ben Hemphill, Science Hill, 54.39. 7, Ben Scott, David Crockett, 54.56. 8, Xavier King, Tennessee, 54.60.

Boys 800 Meter Run
1, Isaiah Greer, Science Hill, 2:04.35. 2, Cameron Ragsdale, Dobyns-Bennett, 2:04.72. 3, Walter Hendrickson, Dobyns-Bennett, 2:06.73. 4, Justin Humphreys, Tennessee, 2:07.34. 5, Evan McConnell, Science Hill, 2:08.11. 6, Brendan
Hawkins, David Crockett, 2:10.00. 7, Justin Little, Daniel Boone, 2:10.11. 8, Aaron Kelly, David Crockett, 2:13.10.

Boys 1600 Meter Run
1, Walter Hendrickson, Dobyns-Bennett, 4:32.94. 2, Michael Mansy, Science Hill, 4:37.91. 3, Isaiah Greer, Science Hill, 4:38.11. 4, Josh Vasquez, Dobyns-Bennett, 4:39.18. 5, Justin Humphreys, Tennessee, 4:41.64. 6, Justin Little, Daniel Boone, 4:49.55. 7, Greg Hanson, Tennessee, 4:52.01. 8, Adam Chase, Dobyns-Bennett, 4:52.26.

Boys 110 Meter Hurdles Finals
1, Reggie Peterson, Dobyns-Bennett, 16.86. 2, Carlos Howard, Tennessee, 17.67. 3, Wesley Williams, Sullivan South, 18.10. 4, Chase Seeger, Sullivan Central, 18.73. 5, Tre Hutchinson, Dobyns-Bennett, 19.57. 6, DJ Conner, Daniel Boone, 20.54. 7, Landon Wood, Tennessee, 21.72.

Boys 300 Meter Hurdles
1, Reggie Peterson, Dobyns-Bennett, 44.56. 2, Chris Winkle, Daniel Boone, 45.04. 3, Jordan Osborne, Daniel Boone, 46.61. 4, Chase Seeger, Sullivan Central, 47.60. 5, Tre Hutchinson, Dobyns-Bennett, 48.64. 6, Tyler Merendino, Daniel Boone, 49.73. 7, Derrick Page, David Crockett, 50.50. 8, Nick Cavello, Science Hill, 52.33.

Boys 4x100 Meter Relay
1, Tennessee 44.89 (Keenan Sheperd, Carlos Howard, Daryl Wilson, Matt Pendleton), 2, Sullivan East 46.35. 3, David Crockett 46.70. 4, Volunteer 47.14. 5, Sullivan South 47.66. 6, Daniel Boone 47.89. 7, Sullivan Central 48.08.

Boys 4x200 Meter Relay
1, Dobyns-Bennett 1:32.73 (Lane Dukart, Kevin Kay, Adrian Sensabaugh, Robert Hogg), 2, Tennessee 1:34.08. 3, Science Hill 1:36.56. 4, Volunteer 1:39.35. 5, Daniel Boone 1:40.04. 6, Sullivan Central 1:41.13. 7, Sullivan South 1:41.34. 8, David Crockett 1:41.61.

Boys 4x400 Meter Relay
1, David Crockett 3:32.74 (Travis Casteel, Ben Scott, Justin Haston, Brendan Hawkins), 2, Science Hill 3:35.34. 3, Dobyns-Bennett 3:35.72. 4, Tennessee 3:41.54. 5, Daniel Boone 3:56.84. 6, Sullivan Central 3:59.76.

Boys 4x800 Meter Relay
1, Science Hill 8:28.94 (Ben Hemphill, Evan McConnell, Yukie Ngoy, Trishad John), 2, Dobyns-Bennett 8:30.87. 3, Tennessee 8:43.79. 4, David Crockett 8:52.34. 5, Daniel Boone 9:27.11. 6, Volunteer 9:46.35. 7, Sullivan South 9:52.72. 8, Sullivan Central 10:20.16.

Slowly But Surely: Tribe Soccer Climbs up Another Spot In State Ranks

Dee Wilcox — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:33:37 -0400

The unbeaten Dobyns-Bennett Indians moved up to No. 9 in this week's state soccer rankings.

They beat the top two teams in the district, Science Hill, 6-3, and Sullivan Central, 7-1, last week to lock up the regular-season title and the top seed for the District I tournament set for Johnson City.

D-B Beat Elizabethton 3-1 thursday night and is set to host Sullivan South in its final District I regular-season game tonight
Here are this week's EuropesportScoreboard Tennessee rankings:

Pos., Team, Record
1 Farragut 15-0-1
2 Brentwood 12-0-0
3 Gtown Houston 8-1-1
4 Knox West 6-3-0
5 Bearden 8-3-1
6 Cleveland 12-4-0
7 Riverdale 9-0-1
8 Independence 9-1-1
9 Dobyns-Bennett 12-0-3
10 Hendersonville 6-4-3
11 Collierville 7-2-2

Tennessee Football Orange vs. White Preview

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:18:15 -0400

Tennessee plans for the No. 1 Offense to oppose the No. 2 Defense and the No. 2 Offense to be matched against the No. 1 Defense in Saturday's Dish Network Orange & White Game set for today at 2:30 p.m., at Neyland Stadium. Admission is free.

Fans will be invited to Fan Day for an autograph and photo session from 11:45 a.m., to 1 p.m., at Haslam Field, located across from Stokely Center and next to Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Fans should enter Haslam Field from Pat Head Summitt Drive and receive their Fan Pac of Vols football information.

Tennessee players and staff will be at various locations on the two practice field areas. The offensive and defensive players will be grouped by position and UT coach Phillip Fulmer will be in an autograph line in order to facilitate as many autographs as possible.

Fan Day is being held at Haslam Field because of construction going on at the stadium.

The Vol Walk will follow at 1. The team will come down Peyton Manning Pass and will enter Neyland Stadium through the south tunnel as opposed to Gate 21, which is closed because of construction in that area. Fans should enter Neyland Stadium through Gates 1-10.

There will be free parking on campus with fans allowed to use any lot except Lot 9 or the G10 garage, which are reserved parking.

SportSouth will televise the Orange and White Game on Sunday at 7 p.m.

Indians Ambush Cougars 7-1, Take Regular Season Title

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:14:07 -0400

BLOUNTVILLE -- Dobyns-Bennett struck quickly offensively and smothered Sullivan Central's best players with its defense Friday and made short work of what was expected to be a close game.

The Indians got two goals from David Geno in the first seven minutes of play and a career-best four goals from the talented sophomore and went on to beat the Cougars, 7-1, and wrap up the District I soccer title with one conference game remaining.

"To come out and win the district title was one of our goals,'' said first-year coach Shane Calvert. "I'm not sure how many others thought we could do it, but these guys believed it all along. We really came through as a team. This team has the best chemistry of any team I have been around.''

The Indians were picked fourth in preseason -- behind Science Hill, Sullivan South and Central.

Eric Hammonds, who is one of three returning starters, said being picked fourth in preseason served as a catalyst to help the team play well.

"When we saw that,'' said Hammonds, who had a goal in Friday's game, "we wanted to go out and prove people wrong.''

D-B is now 5-0 with a game remaining against Sullivan South. That game has been moved to Friday night. The No. 10-ranked Indians are now 12-0-3 and next play Elizabethton on Thursday.

"We knew we had good players and a strong bench,'' said Geno, "so we thought we'd be better than what they were saying.''

As for his effort Friday?

"It was a good day,'' said Geno.

Geno, Hammonds and Bryce Herlong were the only returning starters. That fact and a new coach made others skeptical.

Central's Brent Baker admitted he was still skeptical going in Friday night.

"I guess we underestimated them,'' said Baker, a King College signee. "But they're a great team. I thought what they did in that South Carolina tournament was a fluke, but they're for real.''

"When we were down early 2-0 or 3-0, I knew it would be hard to come back,'' said Central coach Eric Freeman, whose team is now 7-5 and 3-2 in Big 9 play. "They attacked so quickly. One thing we couldn't match was their height.

"We talked before the game about how they would get up on Bennett (Becker). I didn't think they'd play Kenneth Long that way, too, but they did. I thought there were some no-calls a couple times when our guys got roughed up, but that didn't change the outcome.''

D-B played physical and tried to deny the two goal leaders for Central the ball and succeeded, to a large degree. But Becker got loose long enough to score the only Central goal in the second half off an assist from Austin Culbertson.

"Central really played well in the second half,'' said Calvert. "We outscored them 2-1 in the second half, but both our goals came after they bunched everyone up front trying to score goals.''

In addition to Geno's two early goals -- one on a penalty kick just five minutes in and the other on a breakaway, Hammonds knocked home a goal in the 20th minute off an assist from Dany Clark to make it 3-0. Colton Clark then scored in the 29th minute off an assist from Craig Mitcham, and Geno made it a three-goal first half with a goal that came with an assist from Brad Davidson in the 38th minute of the first half.

Leading 5-0 at halftime, D-B went into a defensive mode -- trying to keep Central out of goal -- but got offensive again after Becker's goal with 21 minutes remaining.

Geno took a pass from Mitcham and shot it through the top of the goal to make it 6-1 in the 72nd minute and Chase Givens added the final goal with five minutes remaining off an assist from Christian Morales.

The D-B players gave Calvert an ice bath with 2:50 showing on the clock and the scoreboard showing the Indians up by six.

"This will help them because now they will get a bye in the tournament and will get an extra day of rest,'' said Freeman. "But we're still in good position. We're still the No. 3 seed. We've got six games left and we like our position in the tournament.''

The only remaining District I game will be against Daniel Boone on Tuesday. The Cougars play a makeup games against Virginia High at noon Saturday at home.

Here is scoring from Friday's game:

Dobyns-Bennett 7, Sullivan Central 1

First Half
D-B -- David Geno, penalty kick, 5th minute, D-B 1-0
D-B -- David Gene, breakaway, 7th minute, D-B 2-0
D-B -- Eric Hammonds, assist Danny Clark, 20th minute, D-B 3-0
D-B -- Colton Clark, assist Craig Mitcham, 29th minute, D-B 4-0
D-B -- David Geno, assist Brad Davidson, 38trh minute, D-B 5-0

Second Half
SC -- Bennett Becker, assist Austin Culbertson, 59th minute, D-B 5-1
D-B -- David Geno, assist Craig Mitcham, 72nd minute, D-B 6-1
D-B -- Chase Givens, assist Christian Morales, 75th minute, D-B 7-1

'perfect Play' Gives Indian Soccer Last Minute 2-1 Victory over Seymour

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:21:28 -0400

Bryce Herlong and Colton Clark executed the "perfect play'' at the end of the Jon Metcalf Invitational game between Dobyns-Bennett and Seymour on Friday and it resulted in a final-second 2-1 Indian victory.

The win kept the Indians unbeaten on the season and made them 2-0 in Metcalf tournament play. Herlong had a free kick from mid-field and booted it directly to Clark, who turned and headed it into the goal to give his team a 2-1 lead with "80:00" showing on the clock.

All anyone around could do was stand and watch. It happened so quickly, no defender could react. Seconds later, the ball was placed at midfield and before Seymour got a chance to even move toward a tying goal, the whistle sounded to end the game.

"That's a perfect ball right there,'' said Clark. "It just landed on my head. It was a beautiful ball and it came right at the end of the game.'' Clark said he saw the ball coming and "just went after it and gave it all I've got.''

Herlong said that wasn't the first time this year the two have hooked up on the play. "Down in South Carolina, we played Brookland Cayce and Colton did the same thing,'' said Herlong. "I kicked it to him and he just headed it in.''

David Geno had scored in the 69th minute of the game on a penalty kick to erase a 1-0 deficit that resulted when Ray Menya accidentally knocked the ball into the D-B goal for what is ruled an "own goal'' in the opening minutes of the first half.

"We had a great comeback against Dutch Fork in South Carolina when we scored three goals in the final 17 minutes to win, but I told the team I was even more proud of them for this win,'' said D-B coach Shane Calvert, whose team is now 8-0-3 and ranked as high as No. 11 in Tennessee.

"This pumps us up,'' said Clark. "It showed us when it comes to crunch time against a really good team we can step up and play with the best of them.''

D-B dominated in every way but the score, having 18 shots on goal to just three for Seymour, which had just one shot in the second half.

"The first half was tough,'' said Clark, "because the wind was in our face.''

"I told the guys I was going to take the wind in our face the first half so it would be at our backs in the second half,'' said Calvert.

"It was tiring, going against it in the first half,'' said Clark.

Calvert said Seymour, now 5-2-2, was a really good team.

"I talked to the Seymour team after the game and told them I thought they had a chance to go to state in Class A-AA,'' said Calvert. "The really battled us all day long.''

D-B continues play in the tournament Saturday at 1 p.m., facing Greeneville at Indian Highlands Park. It will be a good test. Greeneville is coming off a 0-0 tie with Science Hill in a game Tuesday night.

2008 NCAA Final Four: Weekend Predicions

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:37:27 -0400

Crunch time is here for four teams in the NCAA tournament.

It promises to be one to remember as always with for the first time all four No. 1 seeds are in the final four. As well as wonderful talent fills all four teams’ rosters which also lead to great entertaining games

Star watches for UNC vs. Kansas:

UNC - Tyler Hansbrough leading in points, rebounds, and steals.

Other notable players to watch: Ellington and Lawson

Kansas - Watch Chalmers, Kaun, and Jackson to come with their "A" game.

Look for UNC to rely on Player of the Year, Psycho T with his supporting cast of many talented players to over power the Rock Chalk Jay Hawks. I’m looking to pick UNC over KU, 89-78, with a dominate performance from Hansbrough

Star watches for Memphis vs. UCLA:

Memphis: the star watch is simple, the starting five. They are so equal that they make for an amazing team, young, flashy, and high flying

UCLA: centered on Big Kevin Love Who Leads in points, rebounds, and blocks as well as Russell Westbrook who leads in assist and steals.

This will prove to be another exciting game from both teams. Look for Memphis to keep the up-tempo game they like to play while UCLA will try the press to slow it. Big Game coming for Douglass-Roberts and Rose for Memphis and Love will make his presence felt throughout.

In the end when the dust has settled from this clash of No. 1 seeds, I believe Memphis will stand tall in a close one 78-74 over the Bruins.

That would set up a colossal match-up between the Tar Heels and Tigers, but we'll just have to see what happens.

Watch closely and comment accordingly

Till Next Time,

Dee Wilcox

Atlanta Braves Look to Rebound from Slow Start in Mets Series

Dee Wilcox — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:10:18 -0400

Pick your poison seems to be the theme for the Atlanta Braves as they begin their weekend series against the New York Mets at a sluggish 1-2.

After dropping the series to the "scrappy Pirates" and a rain out Friday night, which sets up a Day Night Doubleheader on May 20th. The Braves play on a day's rest ready to take on the New York Mets (2-1), who won a series in Miami this week against the Marlins.

I say pick your poison this week for good reason.

It was either good pitching and defense and little hitting, or the exact opposite from Bravos.

Wednesday the bats came alive to take down Pittsburg, but yet again slowed on Thursday, only to see the Braves drop a 3-4 decision to Pittsburg.

As for today, a 3:55 PM start on your local Fox channel, it will be Atlanta's Tim Hudson taking the helm today against John Maine.

Hudson, after one start at Washington, has a 2.57 ERA and is looking to improve to 1-0 on the season. The Braves will look for bats to come alive and defense to follow up along with a good outing from Hudson to climb to a 2-2 record and take a quick series lead over the Mets.

A couple notes: after three games, Chipper Jones and Yuniel Escobar are leading the Braves in hitting. Both are doing well with RBI and the long ball. Look for them both to keep hot throughout the season as others catch along.

Sunday Sound Off: Where's the Love for UCLA?

Dee Wilcox — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:29:24 -0400

[article written by Ron Bliss and myself]

He could've humiliated him.

If Kevin Love was the ogre that many believe, UCLA's 260-pound forward would've swatted Desire Gabou's layup attempt into the rafters as time expired in the Bruins' 88-78 victory over Western Kentucky on Thursday.

And then he would've pounded his chest.

Love, though, did neither.

Instead, the future NBA forward stepped aside as Gabou drove into the lane seconds after being inserted in the final minute. When the mop-up player released his shot, Love didn't even jump.

"Really?" said Love, when told that Gabou hadn't scored a basket all season. "Good for him. I could've blocked it, but we were up. We were going to win.

"For all I knew the kid could've been a senior. It could've been the last game he ever played. So I figured I'd just let him score a layup in the NCAA tournament."

Gabou said the moment is one he'll always remember.

"I don't know much about Kevin Love," he said, "but I thought that was a pretty nice gesture."

Really, folks. This is the most despised team in America? This is the team that everyone suddenly loves to loathe?

Honestly, why all the hate for UCLA?

The Bruins play a team-oriented, unselfish brand of basketball that relies on strong defense. They make good grades, avoid trouble off the court and exhibit good sportsmanship on it.

Yet this weekend, there were plenty of casual basketball fans at the US Airways Center that seemed to relish booing the Bruins.

"A lot of people are starting to not like us," Love said. "They're calling us the Duke of the West Coast. We feel like the Spartans out there in '300.'

"We don't care who's on our side. It could be us against the world. We're just going out there trying to win."

UCLA hasn't always been this unpopular.

Less than a month ago it was no different than Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis, Texas and all of the other elite programs contending for league titles and a national championship.

But then came the iffy blocked shot call with 2 seconds left in regulation that allowed Darren Collison to make a pair of free throws to force overtime against Stanford. UCLA eventually won by 10.

Two days later, in the regular-season finale, the Bruins claimed an 81-80 victory over Cal when officials counted an illegal, behind-the-backboard shot from Josh Shipp.

The cherry on top, though, came in last weekend's 51-49 victory over Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Photos show that Aggies guard Donald Sloan was hacked across both arms while attempting a game-tying shot as the final seconds ticked away. But no foul was called.

Throw in the fact that UCLA (35-3) has won five of its last 10 games by three points or less, and the Bruins' reputation as one of the country's most dominant teams has taken a hit.

Even coach Ben Howland has denied conspiracy theory chatter about the Bruins.

Still, the situation has caused some otherwise impartial fans to make the Bruins the team they love to hate. Guard Russell Westbrook said he continues to hear media members criticize the Bruins, too.

"That's just how it is," Westbrook said. "The media likes to talk about how we're going to lose and how we can't handle this and that. But they're not playing. We've got to play. We've got to do what we need to do."

Westbrook also pointed out that, even during the games involving questionable calls, the Bruins made a slew of gut-check plays that were overshadowed by the ensuing controversies.

There were Collison's clutch free throws against Stanford and the tear-drop layup he made off the glass to beat Texas A&M. Shipp's behind-the-backboard shot against Cal never would've mattered if not for the double-clutch three-pointer Love swished seconds earlier.

"You can call it luck if you want," Westbrook said. "But I think it's toughness. If we weren't tough we'd be out of the tournament. But we fight down to the wire and get tough in tight situations."

These days the Bruins need all the support they can get.

"A lot of people don't like North Carolina," Love said. "A lot of people don't like Kansas because they don't like No. 1 seeds very much. Maybe that's it.

"Maybe it's a Yankees thing. They have the most championships (in Major League Baseball) and we have the most NCAA basketball championships. I don't know what the deal is."

Love chuckled when someone suggested that perhaps he was the problem.

"Me?" he said. "You guys don't like me? I think I'm a pretty likable guy. We all want to be well-liked. I don't think we're that bad

Injuries and Fouls Lead Dobyns-Bennett Soccer to Tie; Miss Finals

Dee Wilcox — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:47:50 -0400

COLUMBIA, S. C. -- The Dobyns-Bennett soccer team was hit with 42 fouls—including two yellow cards—and settled for a 1-1 tie with Brookland-Cayce on Friday, missing the semifinals of the Palmetto Cup.

Colton Clark got the only goal for D-B, with an assist from Bryce Herlong, but without leading scorer David Geno the Indians could not put enough points on the board to win.

Brookland-Cayce scored first, in the 46th minutes, while Clark's goal came just three minutes later.

D-B, 4-0-2, will play in the fifth-place game Saturday against North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

"One of the officials came and apologized to me after the game for all the fouls,'' said coach Shane Calvert. "The other team had only 13 fouls called against them.''

42-13 fouls is something that could be set to be debatable. Sound Off on this story if you feel like it, it'd be greatly appreciated!

Dobyns-Bennett Soccer Improves to 4-0-1,Ties Top Team In South Carolina; Suffer Injuries

Dee Wilcox — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:13:06 -0400

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The Dobyns-Bennett soccer team took on South Carolina's No. 1 Class AA team on Thursday and battled Bishop England to a draw.

The Indians will play another highly ranked Palmetto State team on Friday when they battle Brookland-Cayce at 8 p.m. They are 1-0-1 in pool play so far and would advance to Saturday's semifinal with a victory.

"Right now, we're leading our pool,'' said coach Shane Calvert, "but it's close. Two other teams have one win each. The team we'll play has lost two games, but those were close. We also have to play without David Geno. He hurt a knee 10 minutes in and while he could play at probably 60 or 70 percent effectiveness, we need to hold him out and let him get ready for games in our district, where it really matters. He sprained an MCL.

"One thing that will help is that we are getting Colton Clark back off a red card. He had to sit out this game. Also, his brother, Danny Clark broke a wrist in that game and though he played in this game, he wasn't as effective."

D-B is now 4-0-1 for the season. They will play at Crockett on Tuesday in a District I game and play at Knox Bearden next Friday.

Tennessee Football: Volunteers Prep for Scrimmage

Dee Wilcox — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:06:48 -0400

Two days in pads and Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer is already looking toward the team’s first full scrimmage. The scrimmage comes Saturday as a wrap up to the annual UT Coaching Clinic, which begins Friday.

Thursday at Haslam Field, the Vols included 35-40 scrimmage plays as part of their two and a half hour workout. It only seemed to whet the appetite for more from UT’s head coach.

“It was good to get our first scrimmage work done,” Fulmer said. “I certainly would deem it as productive, although we’ve got to get a lot better at taking care of the football. We had two turnovers, which doesn’t bode well for the offensive team when you stop yourself.

“But there were some good efforts, including an outstanding run from Lennon Creer. It at least gets us started toward the scrimmage Saturday,” he added.

Friday’s practice in front of the clinic coaches will be light, followed by Saturday’s half-practice and half-scrimmage format.

“Spring practice is about players,” Fulmer said. “It’s not necessarily about plays, although this year has been a little different with the offense inserting so much of a new numbering system and new scheme. But you’re still looking for players who can help."

Fulmer also added that the team was trying to build depth and find the right position for some of the players.

Also during Thursday’s practice, junior Jeff Cottam suffered what head athletic trainer Jason McVeigh reports was a right leg fibula fracture. McVeigh said the tight end will miss the remainder of spring drills but expects him to make a full recovery by fall.

Tennessee Basketball: Another Heartbreak

Dee Wilcox — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:59:35 -0400

Was this the best team in Tennessee basketball history?

No doubt about it, said Tennessee Volunteer coach, Bruce Pearl, after his team lost for the second straight year in the Sweet 16, this time 79-60 to Louisville in Bobcat Arena in the East Region semifinals on Thursday.

"I told the guys that tonight's game doesn't take much away from the finest season in the history of Tennessee basketball,'' said Pearl after the game. "No team has accomplished the things that these guys accomplished this year, and I'm awfully proud of them.''

The Vols set new standards for wins in a season with 31 and also won the school's first outright SEC championship in 41 years while going 14-2 in SEC play—two more wins than any other team in the league.

Not only did the team produce a lot of wins, but the wins came against the nation's toughest schedule. Five of the teams on Tennessee's regular season schedule made it to the Sweet 16 and the Vols were 4-1 against those teams.

They beat West Virginia, 74-72; Xavier, 82-75; Western Kentucky, 88-82 and Memphis, 66-62, and lost to Texas, 97-78. Xavier has advanced to the Elite 8 and Memphis and Texas will have a chance to get there Friday.

Tennessee also beat American and Butler in the NCAA tournament and with the loss to Louisville they were a combined 14-5 against NCAA tournament teams this year.

Tennessee also played Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Georgia, and Arkansas twice each, sweeping Georgia and splitting with the other three, and beat Temple, Gonzaga and Mississippi State in their only meetings with them.

The Vols ran into an old nemesis in Rick Pitino, who has a roster filled with high school All-Americans. They include center David Padgett, who was a McDonald's and Parade All-American; forward Earl Clark, who also was a McDonald's and Parade All-American; guard Jerry Smith, who was a Parade All-American, while Terrence Williams and Andre McGee were both finalists for the McDonald's All-American game and Edgar Sosa was a Co-Player of the Year in New York City.

Pitino is now 19-3 all-time against Tennessee in his coaching career. Louisville had now won five straight against Tennessee and 12 of its last 13. Pitino was 11-0 against Tennessee while at Kentucky.

J.P. Prince, a sophomore, said the Vols will come back next year and try again.

"Getting to the Sweet 16 has not been a problem for us,'' said Prince. "It's just taking that next step. We also have an SEC tournament title to win.''

Pearl said he expects to have another good team next season, but said it is premature to say what the expectations are because it is still very much a team in the making.

"We feel good about what we have coming back,'' said Pearl, when asked to look ahead to next season. "It's hard to answer that question right now because we were so focused on this group, but we're going to put a team out there that is representative. I feel good about our team next year.''

The Vols are after the No. 9 player in the nation (per Rivals.com), Scotty Hopson of Hopkinsville, Ky., who would give the Vols their first McDonald's All-American since Vincent Yarbrough—if he signs.

They also have a point guard committed and two inside players. The inside players are four-star prospects Philip Jurick, a 6-10, 250-pound center from Chattanooga, Tennessee and Renaldo Woolridge, a 6-8, 205-pound small forward from North Hollywood, California. The point guard is three-star Daniel West of Detroit. They also have a standout committed for 2009—6-8 Kenny Hall of Atlanta, who is a four-star prospect.

Though J.P. Prince started at point guard the last two games, he said he will be content to go back to his natural position -- wing.

"Ramar Smith is my point guard,'' said Prince. "He will be the leader of this team next year.''

Hopson is a 6-5 wing who is rated a five-star. He is also being recruited by Louisville, Kentucky, Mississippi State Cincinnati and Texas.

Tennessee will also have the services of 6-5 wing player Cameron Tatum, who redshirted this year but is a scorer and good outside shooter.

Will Pearl be back?

"It's great to be a Tennessee Vol,'' said Pearl. "I anticipate, if Tennessee will have me, being back at Tennessee. I think they'll have me.''

Pearl's name has been mentioned with Indiana. Athletic director, Mike Hamilton plans to sit down with Pearl to work out a raise and contract extension to make sure that doesn't happen.

Vols Add Ohio State And Others For Future Schedules

Dee Wilcox — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:06:54 -0400

March 27, 2008

Tennessee's dazzling array of non-conference football opponents for the next decade just got a little more interesting.

And demanding.

The Vols and Ohio State Buckeyes have agreed to a two-year series starting 10 years from now. Tennessee is hosting the opener Sept. 1, 2018, at Neyland Stadium, with the return match set for Sept. 7, 2019, at Ohio Stadium.

"We're looking forward to a series with another one of college football's storied programs," UT athletics director Mike Hamilton said. "I know our fans will enjoy going to the Horseshoe as much as their fans will enjoy coming to Neyland Stadium."

Thursday's announcement only enhances Tennessee's reputation for national football scheduling and completes a decade-long string of opponents that are a who's-who of college gridiron royalty.

A two-game set against UCLA -- this year in Pasadena, Calif., and next season in Knoxville -- completes the current decade. Then the Vols host Oregon in 2010, travel to North Carolina in 2011, host the Tar Heels in 2012, travel to Oregon in 2013, visit Oklahoma in 2014, host the Sooners in 2015, travel to Nebraska in 2016, host the Cornhuskers in 2017 and now play at home against Ohio State in 2018 before traveling to Columbus in 2019.

The latest addition also means that, including recent outings against Miami (Fla.) and Rutgers of the Big East Conference, Tennessee will have played regular season games against teams from all six Bowl Championship Series leagues by the close of the next decade.

The Vols and Buckeyes have met only once previously in football, a 20-14 Tennessee win in the 1996 Florida Citrus Bowl when both teams entered the game tied for fourth nationally in the Associated Press poll.

UT never has hosted a Big Ten Conference opponent and the only previous meeting against a league foe in the regular season was a 23-22 win over Iowa at the 1987 Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, N.J. The Vols defeated Penn State in Knoxville in the 1971 and 1972 seasons, but the Nittany Lions did not become a Big Ten member school until 1993.

Tennessee ended the 2007 season with a 21-17 win over Big Ten representative Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl.

Indians Pull Upset in Palmetto Cup, Face Bishop England Next

Dee Wilcox — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:00:15 -0400

March 26, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Shane Calvert admits he didn't expect to win when his team played Dutch Fork, one of the top teams in South Carolina on Wednesday. The fact his Indians prevailed, 3-1, gives them -- and their coach -- a confidence boost.

"It was one of those games that, when it started out, the other team was probably sitting on the bench taking bets as to how bad they were going to beat us,'' said Calvert. "They had six corner kicks in the first half and scored in the 38th minute to go up, 1-0.''

But things changed in the second half as the Indians scored three times in the first 17 minutes to take a 3-1 lead and never allowed Dutch Fork -- ranked in the top three in South Carolina in Class AAAA -- to score again.

Mitch Gardner scored the first goal with an assist from David Geno. Daniel Murphy got the second with an assist from Ray Menya and Geno got the third as D-B improved to 4-0.

The Indians will take on the No. 1-ranked Class AA team in South Carolina -- Bishop England -- at 3 p.m., on Thursday and then play Brookland Cayce, also highly ranked on Friday at 8 p.m. Who they play Saturday will depend on how they do against their last two opponents.