Sports

The oar will remain in Baxter.

For the fourth straight year the Upperman Bees have won “The Battle of Center Hill” after knocking off the DeKalb County Tigers 27 to 21 in Smithville Thursday night.

The oar, a trophy instituted a few years ago between these two schools, is affectionately nicknamed “The Battle of Center Hill,” because the teams are on opposite sides of Center Hill Lake. The winner of the annual grudge match gets to keep the oar for a year until the next meeting.

The game was moved from Friday to Thursday night due to expected heavy rains and possible lightning moving in from the remnants of Hurricane Laura.

The Bees scored first on a 42 yard touchdown run by Terrance Dedmon with 4:50 left in the 2nd period. Joshua Manis added the extra point to give Upperman a 7-0 lead.

The Tigers answered with 2:09 left in the 2nd period on a 5 yard quarterback keeper by Axel Aldino capping a 47 yard drive. Jasper Kleparek split the uprights for the extra point and the game was tied 7-7 by halftime.

Daniel Metzgar extended the Upperman lead on an 82 yard kickoff return to open the second half. Manis tacked on the extra point and the Bees led 14-7 with 11:40 left in the 3rd period.

Upperman’s Ty Dutchess scored on a 57 yard touchdown run with 8:38 left in the 3rd period. Manis connected on the extra point and the Bees built a 21-7 advantage.

The Tigers cut into the Upperman lead with 6:02 left in the 3rd period on a 10 yard touchdown pass from Aldino to Desmond Nokes. Kleparek added the PAT and DeKalb County trailed 21-14.

Upperman quarterback Thomas Ensor scored on a keeper capping a 56 yard drive with 27 seconds left in the 3rd period. The PAT attempt was blocked but the Bees extended their lead to 27-14.

The Tigers got on the board with 1.5 seconds left in the game on a 10 yard pass from Aldino to Evan Jones for a touchdown. Kleparek tacked on the extra point but DeKalb County fell short losing 27 to 21.

DeKalb County (0-2) will travel to Stone Memorial (1-1) in Crossville for the 1st region game of the season Friday night, September 4. Kick-off is at 7 p.m. WJLE will have LIVE coverage. Upperman improves to 1-1. Stone Memorial opened their season with a 34 to 14 loss to Grace Christian of Knoxville last week but defeated Clay County 32-0 Thursday night.

After a week into the season, the Lady Saints Soccer team sports a 1-0 conference record with an overall 1-1 start.

On Tuesday, August 18th the Lady Saints played host to Thurman Francis Middle School, a soccer powerhouse from Smyrna. At half time the Lady Saints found themselves behind 1-0. During the second half, possession went back and forth, and finally, Lady Saint Katherine Knowles scored to tie 1-1. Shortly after, Thurman Francis added another goal to make it 2-1. The Lady Saints had hoped to tie the match again but last-second goal by the visitors made the final score 3-1. The Junior Varsity team also fought hard but lost 3-0.

On Thursday, August 20th, the Lady Saints had their first away game against conference foe Upperman. The Lady Saints didn’t take long to get started as they scored 4 goals in the first 10 minutes of the contest. Defensive mids Zoe Keys, Hailee Merriman, and Larissa Mooneyham helped keep the ball on the offensive third of the field as the Lady Saints added 5 more goals in the second half enroute to a 9-0 victory.

The goal-scoring didn’t stop there as the JV team cruised to a 3-0 victory.

Varsity:
Goals: Katherine Knowles (3), Tatum Young (3), Addison Miller (2), Emily Robinson (1)

JV:
Goals: Yoselyn Garcia (2), Elizabeth Sanchez (1)

The Lady Saints are on the road again as they travel to Jackson County on Monday, August 24th. The next home game will also be 8th-grade night set for Thursday, August 27th where the Lady Saints will take on the Avery Trace Raiders. Ceremonies start at 5 pm with kickoff at 5:30 PM.

The season opener was not what the DeKalb County Tigers had hoped for Friday night as the Warren County Pioneers came to Smithville and left with a 30 to 24 victory in this annual border rivalry showdown.

(Listen to WJLE’s Tiger Talk Program below

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It was the 16th straight meeting between these two programs since 2005 and Warren County leads the series in wins during that stretch 9 to 7.

The Tigers never led in the game.

Warren County scored on its first play from scrimmage as Pioneer Quarterback C.J. Taylor raced 53 years for a touchdown with 11:42 left in the 1st period. Kicker Steven Tony Curtis tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 Warren County lead.

After a Tiger turnover, Warren County mounted another scoring drive as Taylor again rambled 50 yards for his second TD of the night with 5:10 left in the 1st period. Curtis added the PAT and the Pioneers led 14-0.

DeKalb County answered with 2:06 left in opening period on a 30 yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Axel Aldino to Isaac Knowles. The PAT attempt by Aldino was no good and the Pioneers lead was cut to 14-6.

Warren County extended its lead with 8:36 left in the 2nd period as Taylor found his target on a 21 yard touchdown pass. Curtis added the extra point and the Pioneers held a 21-6 advantage.

The Tigers answered with 1:49 left in the 2nd period as Aldino found Desmond Nokes on a 20 yard touchdown pass. The 2 point conversion attempt failed and DeKalb County trailed 21-12 at halftime.

After exchanging fumbles early in the 3rd period, DeKalb County cut the gap on a touchdown strike from Aldino to T.J. Alexander with 11:37 left in the period. The 2 point conversion try failed but the Tigers were down by only 3 at 21-18.

Warren County extended its lead to 24-18 on a 31 yard field goal by Curtis with 7:03 left in the 3rd period and then took a two score advantage with 7:55 left in the 4th period after Taylor took it in on a 1 yard plunge. The PAT by Curtis put the Pioneers on top 30-18.

The Tigers added one more score with 3:46 left in the game as Alexander caught a 15 yard touchdown pass from Aldino. The extra point attempt was no good and DeKalb County lost 30 to 24.

The Tigers will host the Upperman Bees next Friday night in Smithville. WJLE will have LIVE coverage. Upperman lost at Cookeville Thursday night 28-0.

Bill Miller, a senior at DCHS and a star Tiger soccer player signed a letter of intent with Milligan College on Monday to play collegiate soccer for the Buffaloes next season after he graduates in May.

Joining Miller for the signing were members of his family, coaches, and fellow players.

Milligan College, located near Johnson City, Tennessee, is one of the South’s premier Christian liberal arts colleges and offers more than 100 majors, minors, pre-professional degrees, and concentrations in a variety of fields, along with graduate and adult degree completion programs.

The Buffaloes compete in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national affiliation.

“I am glad to see him going to a good school. It’s a Christian school and he will get a good quality education and play some soccer along the way and do what he loves doing so I am really excited for him,” said DCHS Soccer Coach Dylan Kleparek.

“I really like the school (Milligan). It has a very strong Christian base and in academics as well as soccer so I will get to improve my mind as well as my body,” said Miller.

“In addition to playing soccer, I am thinking about furthering my education in sports medicine. My grandfather is a doctor and my mom is a pharmacist so the medical field is something that has always interested me and this is a way of getting the best of both worlds,” Miller continued.

Although all DeKalb County sports have been temporarily halted with schools closed due to the coronavirus threat, Coach K said he will be counting on Bill once the season resumes.

“Bill is an excellent soccer player and an excellent kid. He plays at outside back. He is a left back now. He was a right back last year but I had to move him over. He usually faces the other team’s best players and he does a great job. They (opponents) usually try to pick on him but he shows them up. He is the kind of guy you want to have around your team. He is a quality individual with great character and a great leader. Bill is also a really hard worker. He came into the program a little smaller than everybody else and had to work really hard to get where he is at but he has put the time and effort in and has shown himself to be an outstanding person and an outstanding player. Bill means a lot to our team and to me. I have coached him since he was little through recreation league and on up,” said Coach Kleparek.

“I have a strong connection with my coach and other teammates and they have helped me to improve and grow, not just on the field but as a person. It is really nice to know that my teammates are behind me and support me on this journey,” said Miller.

Another highlight of his senior year would be for Bill to share the soccer field with his younger brother Cameron, who is also on the Tiger team as a freshman. Cameron, who was diagnosed with Leukemia last year underwent successful Car T cell treatment and a bone marrow transplant with his father being the donor.

“Cameron is getting stronger and hopefully he will be able to get back on the field again with us this year. This is our year to be able to play together and we’re still hoping to be able to do that toward the end of the season,” added Bill.

The DeKalb West School Bulldogs fell behind early and couldn’t mount a comeback in a 7 to 2 loss to Prescott on Thursday.

Prescott scored 7 runs on 6 hits and made 1 error. The Bulldogs scored 2 runs on 1 hit and made 2 errors.

Prescott scored 2 runs in the 1st inning, 1 run in the 2nd, 2 runs in the 4th, and 2 runs in the 6th inning. The Bulldogs scored 2 runs in the 1st inning.

Ian Colwell, the losing pitcher, gave up 3 runs on 2 hits over 2 innings. He struck out 1. Jordan Parker and Tyler Jackson each came in relief for 2 innings.

Ty Webb had a hit for the Bulldogs.

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