DCHS Basketball Teams Claim Victories in Tuesday Christmas Tournament Contests

December 22, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

After losing their first Christmas tournament games on Monday, the DeKalb County Tigers and Lady Tigers came roaring back Tuesday to claim victories in their respective games.

The Tigers (7-4) defeated the Cornersville Bulldogs (6-3) 53 to 27 in the Adidas Classic at Murfreesboro Riverdale while the Lady Tigers (6-5) knocked off the Cosby Eagles (2-10) 52 to 45 in the consolation bracket of the Heritage Christmas Tournament at Maryville

The Tigers are now finished for the week while the Lady Tigers will face the Grace Christian Rams of Knoxville (1-10) today (Wednesday) at 1 p.m. eastern time in the Maryville tournament. Grace Christian got its first victory of the season Tuesday with a tournament win over the West Rebels (0-9)

The Tigers outscored Cornersville 17 to 11 in the 1st period and led 27 to 17 at halftime, and 39 to 21 after the 3rd period before notching a 53 to 27 victory.

Robert Wheeler scored 14, Stetson Agee 12, Isaac Knowles 8, Zach Birmingham 6, Elishah Ramos 5, Ian Colwell and Jordan Young each with 3, and Alex Antoniak 2.

Meanwhile the Lady Tigers led Cosby 16 to 8 after the 1st period, 26 to 21 at halftime, and 38 to 36 after the 3rd period before going on to claim a 52 to 45 win.

Ella VanVranken scored 25 followed by Avery Agee 9, Dare Collins 7, Kadee Ferrell, who returned with limited play after being out of the lineup recently due to an ankle injury, scored 6 and Madison Martin had 5 points.

On Monday, December 20 the Tigers lost to the Smyrna Bulldogs 60 to 55 in the Adidas Classic at Murfreesboro Riverdale while the Lady Tigers were defeated 61 to 31 by the Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish in the Heritage Christmas Tournament at Maryville. Knoxville Catholic is a private school and ranked #3 in the state.

The Tigers led Smyrna 18 to 9 after the 1st period, but the game was tied at 28 by halftime and 41 all after the 3rd period. The Bulldogs went on to outscore the Tigers 19 to 14 in the 4th period to get the win 60 to 55.

Isaac Knowles scored 17 for the Tigers followed by Stetson Agee 12, Elishah Ramos 8, Jordan Young and Zach Birmingham each with 7 and Robert Wheeler and Nathaniel Crook each with 2.

The Lady Tigers trailed 20 to 9 after the 1st period of their game with Knoxville Catholic and were down 34 to 18 by halftime and 49 to 23 after the 3rd period before losing 61 to 31.

Avery Agee scored 10, Ella Van Vranken 6, Ally Fuller 5, Xharia Lyons and Ella Hendrixson each with 3 and Madison Martin and Cam Branin each with 2.

December 22, 2021
By: Bill Conger

In her first year at DeKalb Middle School music teacher Erica Birmingham wanted to do something special with her classes. So, she polled her students about what genres of music they liked. Taking the results, she used her creativity to weave together an 8th grade Christmas musical.

“I stitched them together through dialogue to create the story about what the Christmas time or holidays really meant to these people. It was about sharing love with everyone around you, getting together with your friends and family, and holding onto that childlike wonder no matter how old everyone was,” said Birmingham in a WJLE interview

The students’ recent performance in front of a packed house at the community complex was met with lots of laugher and even a few tears. That was just part of the whirlwind first semester Birmingham enjoyed since stepping into her new role. The 2017 D.C.H.S. graduate was helping out this summer with the high school band’s percussion section when she was asked to interview for the music teacher position.

“It came as a shock to me,” Birmingham said of the job offer. She had just graduated from Belmont University in April with a degree in Commercial Music.

“I was kind of scared but in a very exciting way,” she added. “It’s the unknown. I’m stepping into something that I’ve never stepped into before. It was just an exhilaration. Now, I get to do what I love doing and sharing my passion with other kids and creating a space for other kids to be passionate about their own interests and hobbies.”

Her passion was clearly evident whether Birmingham, who is also the Assistant Band Director, was on the ground repairing drums, kicking off the tempo to the next song, or dancing along with students in the football stands to the groove of the pep songs.

She first started developing her love of music as a child who would tag along with her mother, former Assistant Band Director Kelly Jo Birmingham.

“I grew up around music,” Birmingham said. “I was always on the marching field with high schoolers as they were playing music almost every day after school.”

“Erica was practically raised in the music world,” Kelly Jo Birmingham said. “After school, she was usually found on the marching band field with me, or in my music classroom, helping me lay out the instruments I was going to use in class the next day. Of course, as most children are, she was always curious about how to play those instruments and how each of them made music.”

Mother Birmingham joined band as a percussionist in 6th grade and went on to wear many musical hats in DeKalb, including assistant band director, percussion instructor, countywide general music teacher and high school chorus director.

“Erica always had an appreciation for all types of performing arts. However, it was her 5th grade year at Northside Elementary School when she really latched on to music. Until then, she was a very quiet, shy, and reserved child. She never wanted to stand out in the crowd or have attention drawn to her in any way. But in 5th grade, she sang two solos in the NES 5th grade musical that I was directing at the time. She joined beginning band the next year as a 6th grader at DMS.”

“As I grew older, it became a part of me,” Erica said. “It’s always been a way for me to express my thoughts and my feelings and my passions. By the time I got old enough to get into the high school marching band in 7th grade—I joined it because it was more time to spend with my mother— it actually became not something that my mother was a part of. It was all of me. It holds a special place in my heart, and she is absolutely a wonderful supporter of the arts and of her children. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without her supporting me along the way.”

Like her mother, Birmingham started off as a percussionist and then graduated to other instruments including the trumpet and French horn for the last two years in band. She became proficient in most instruments.

“I can pick up an instrument, practice, and learn with everyone else. I’ve grown fond of learning new instruments like piano, guitar, ukulele. I just like to bring in more knowledge and expertise so that I knew what I had to do over here and over here in these different areas.”

She added singing to her repertoire, and the talented alto refined her skills even more during college.

“My unique voice is my unique voice,” she said. “We were having to grow and cultivate that so that I wouldn’t go out and sound like Adele or another artist whose already out there.”

Birmingham had originally planned to take her talents upon graduation and audition for musical theater in Nashville. Later she had set her sights on opening a performing arts studio with her brother, Nicholas, a dancer. While she is currently an educator for the school system, Birmingham still holds to that dream to teach classical or commercial music or any type of dance to students after school. But for now she’ll continue to pursuing her passion next semester teaching music at DeKalb West School where she plans another performance for students there in the spring.

December 21, 2021
By:

After winning the Central Region 4-H Grill Master Challenge contest, the DeKalb County 4-H grilling team went on to compete in the State Competition and finished third. The team was comprised of Avalynn Smullen, Paul Oliver, Riley Fuson, and Lilly Waggoner. They competed against eight other teams from across the state that had placed in the top three of their respective regions. Along with the team placing third for the entire state, Lilly Waggoner was the second highest scoring individual in the poultry category.

The contest is comprised of four different species: beef, pork, lamb, and poultry. Each contestant cooks a cut from one of the species and submits it for judging along with a copy of their recipe. A special thanks goes out to C&S Farms, the Smithville Food Lion store and the DeKalb County Cattlemen’s Association for helping to sponsor the team.

Since Lilly Waggoner finished second in the poultry category, she was invited to go on the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference held in Louisville, Kentucky and compete in the Turkey BBQ contest where she competed against 4-H members from across the nation. In that competition, along with grilling, she also completed an oral presentation on the turkey industry and placed seventh overall. Congratulations to these young people for their hard work throughout the Fall.

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