The beginning of the 2007-2008 prep school season was my second year covering sports in Marshall County and it turned out to be full of great memories that included a visit to Chapel Hill by one of my boyhood idols, a fantastic performance on the golf course by a future Milwaukee Brewer farmhand, an unbelievable band competition, and the first half of a return to glory by the Marshall County Tigerettes.

I used to have a Claude Osteen baseball card

Claude Osteen, who grew up just a few houses down from where I have lived for 26 years in Caney Spring, won the 1965 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers and went on to win 196 games in his 18-year major league career.

After retiring, Osteen became a pitching coach for the St. Louis Cardinals before taking on the same role for my home team Philadelphia Phillies 1982.

Osteen coached three Cy Young Award winners in Philly as MLB Hall of Famer Steve Carlton won his fourth in 1982, John Denny in 1983, and Steve Bedrosian in 1987.

Much to my glee, Osteen came home and made an appearance at the Forrest Alumni Banquet on Saturday, July 28 where he delivered a great speech.

I was thrilled as fan and I got the opportunity to interview Osteen, who is really a very nice guy.

That was such a great start to my year.

Besides middle school football, golf and girls soccer dominated the early landscape with links action kicking off the prep season.

Lintz wins district, sudden death, and makes third trip to state

I’m a golf fan, a golf nut, and a pretty good historian of the game.

At the time, I was holding a USGA handicap index and had played in a couple Tennessee Golf Association events, including the Amateur and Mid-Amateur, so I had a pretty feel for competitive play.

I also had already learned how good the Marshall County High School golf team was and the established dominance of legendary coach Gary Wells’ squad over the district.

Besides the Tigers, I had covered a decent Forrest team at Henry Horton and the Cornersville Bulldogs at the old Hazelburn nine-hole golf course.

Coming in to the 2007 District 11A/A-AA Tournament at the Buford Ellington Golf Course inside Henry Horton State Park, the Tigers were having another solid season, especially senior Seth Lintz, who was named to the Tennessee Sports Writers All-State Baseball team a few weeks earlier.

Lintz had qualified for the state golf tournament the previous two seasons and had a really solid game, starting with some great long and accurate driving, pin-point iron play, and a deadly short game.

He started out by blistering the field at the district tournament, shooting a one-over par 73 to lead the Tigers to their 14th straight district title.

Trey Cashion shot 84, Zach Cross carded an 86, Connor Kennedy had 87, and Drew Sanford used 97 strokes.

The Forrest Rockets finished in third place behind Page with sophomore Coy Shultz leading the way with an 84, Doug Lukonen came to the clubhouse in 86 strokes, Taylor Schoenberger shot 90, Page Blasingim carded a 92, and Mikey Herron had 100 strokes.

Cornersville finished out of the running, but had a pretty young squad in Lucas Lasater, Kevin Smith, Lucas Griggs, and Seth and Able Singleton.

Page senior Kelley Maguigan lapped the field at the district, firing a one-under par 71 as the Lady Patriots won the district title, followed by the Forrest Lady Rockets and the Marshall County Tigerettes.

Chelsea “The Natural” Johnson, Amanda Hawn, and Kelsey “Trouble” Holder combined for a 212 team total for Chapel Hill, while the Tigerettes shot 218 with Kristin Cheek and Rachel Wolfe.

The region tournament was also at Henry Horton and Lintz played in the first foursome out and shot 78 before waiting almost three hours to find out if his score was good enough for a medalist spot and his third consecutive trip to Old Fort.

In the end, Lintz had to get back up for a sudden death playoff with Wayne County’s Brady Berlin for the final spot.

After pars on the first hole, Lintz drilled an 8-iron to about 15 feet while Berlin pushed his tee shot over the green.

The best Berlin could do from back there was 20-feet under the hole on the par 3 second hole and he two-putted for a bogie.

Lintz’ lag putt ended up about four feet under the hole and he calmly drained the par putt for the victory as the rest of his Marshall County teammates cheered him on.

"The only thing I was thinking on the four-footer for the win was 'draino',” Lintz said. “It is a great accomplishment and a goal fulfilled for me to go to the state tournament."

He was the lone county golfer to qualify for the state tournament that year.

After a pretty good 79 in the first round of the state championships, Lintz had one of those bad days we all know about on the links and finished with a 170 total.

It was the end of a great high school golf career for Lintz, who said after the state tournament, “I really wish I had one more year of eligibility, I have learned so much about the game. I am not disappointed in myself, I am disappointed in the score. This was fun while it lasted.”

“I wanted to do well for Coach Wells, he really believed in me and I want to thank him for that.”

Lintz would later commit to the University of Kentucky, but changed coursed and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers after being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Lintz had one more season on the mound for the Tigers and it was another great one. More on that later.

Lady Rockets can’t duplicate feat, hat tricks galore

Dr. Larry Miller’s Forrest Lady Rockets’ soccer team was coming off its best season in school history and brought back another talented squad for the 2007-2008 season that started with a 1-1 draw with Lawrence County on a scorching August 21st night at Chapel Hill.

Senior Heather Collins scored the only goal on a picture perfect unassisted corner kick that curled untouched in to the back of the net with two minutes remaining in the first half.

Two days later, Forrest hosted the Marshall County Tigerettes in a heated intra-county rivalry game and won 6-2 behind a pair of goals apiece by sophomore sensations Anna Wiser and Taylour Allen, who had led the Lady Rockets in scoring the previous season.

Brianda Elmore also scored from the defensive position and Collins netted her second goal of the season.

Kaitlyn Pung and Elisa Raffo had goals for the Tigerettes.

The Tigerettes bounced back with 6-0 win over Wayne County in their home opener as Brittany Pung recorded a hat trick, while Kaitlin Pung, Micky Scarfone, and Cece Raffo all had one goal apiece.

Marshall County goalkeeper Ethan Stewman was still sending me awesome reports from MCHS and they were scoring a ton of goals.

The Tigerettes won big versus Huntland as Brittany Pung had her second hat trick of the season in a 7-0 shutout win over the Lady Hornets.

Cece Raffo, Vanessa Schultz, Hannah Jeter, and Crystal Jones all had a goal.

Unfortunately, the Tigerettes fell 6-4 at Cascade a few days later, but Pung remained on fire, adding her third hat trick of the season. Raffo had the other goal in the District 11A-AA contest.

Forrest split its next two games before travelling to Cornersville where they won 4-1.

Collins continued her stellar play on the season as she came up with a hat trick and Jordan Petrone added a goal.

Sarah Davis had the lone goal for the Lady Bulldogs.

Forrest net-minder Kenzie “The Brick Wall” McKee had 39 saves in the contest.

Wiser went nuts two days later versus Middle Tennessee Christian School, scoring all four goals in a 4-1 win over the Lady Cougars.

The heat was still blazing and so was Wiser as she scored all four goals in a 4-0 shutout over Huntland with Allen assisting on two of the Wiser goals and senior Olivia Collins had an assist as well.

Next up for the Lady Rockets was Spring Hill, the defending district and region champions

The Tigerettes made the long trek to Loretto and picked up their third win of the season with a balanced scoring attack and a stout defense, including keeper Janice Cathey, who made four saves in the contest.

Both Pung sisters scored and Raffo continued her fine play with another goal.

The Spring Hill game was rained out, but Forrest continued on, beating Huntland 5-0 and Richland 2-0 in back-to-back home games at the Lions Club Memorial Field in Chapel Hill to move to 6-1-1 on the season.

On September 27 the first place Lady Raiders came to Chapel Hill for senior night and it was an epic battle with Wiser scoring first.

Spring Hill standout Heather Halstead tied the game before Heather Collins gave Forrest a short-lived 2-1 lead because Halstead again scored just before the halftime buzzer.

Early in the second half, Halstead made it a hat trick and the Spring Hill defense held for the 3-2 win.

Forrest needed a win or a tie to hold on to second place in the district standings two days later in a rare Saturday game at Page and they got the draw as two Allen goals were matched by a brace by Page’s Katie Maguigan.

Cascade spoiled the Lady Rockets’ spot in the standings with a 1-0 home win over Forrest, who finished out the regular season with a 5-1 win at FC Boyd.

The Lady Rockets opened up the District 11A-AA Tournament at home versus MTCS and came away with a solid 5-1 win, setting up a rematch versus Cascade in the semifinals.

Forrest got its revenge in a big way, shellacking the Champions 6-2 at Spring Hill with Wiser scoring four more goals, including a pretty header for a first half goal off an Amanda Evans corner kick.

Allen and Jessica Grimwood also scored and McKee posted 19 saves in the semifinal game.

The Lady Rockets ran out of gas as they were shutout 3-0 by Spring Hill in the district tournament title game and lost 6-0 at Columbia Academy in the Region 6A-AA opener to end the season with a 9-5-2 record.

Spring Hill beat Columbia Academy 4-3 in the region title tilt, but lost 6-1 to CPA in the state sectional round.

The Tigerettes season was over as well, but Lisa Raffo’s squad had a great season, especially on offense, scoring 42 goals in the campaign.

Top scorers were Raffo with 14 goals and seven assists, Brittany Pung with 12 goals and five assists, and Kaitlynn Pung with nine goals and three assists.

Schultz and Jeter had two goals apiece, Scarfone and Heather Reel and Caitlyn Jackson all had one goal. Andraya Tears had two assists and Jeter, Rachel Zajac and Crystal Jones had one assist apiece. Janice Cathey had 114 saves, Lyndsay Riggs had 27 saves, and Rachael Rosenbalm finished with eight saves.

Forrest Rocket Band of Blue reaches the echelon

I was well aware of the success of the Forrest Rocket Band of Blue as I was receiving many updates along the way about their countless top finishes in competitive band championships around the state.

Lynchburg native Billy Bateman was already recognized as one of the premier band directors in the state and on Saturday, October 13th I got my chance to see it for my own eyes and hear it in my own ears for the first time when they hosted the First Annual Middle Tennessee Small Band Championship in Chapel Hill.

It was a real gala as 20 bands from around the state came together for a heated competition to claim the coveted number-one spot.

The Milan Marching Bulldogs claimed the overall title over Beech, Cascade, Goodpasture, and Hillwood to take home the monstrous trophy and the title of 2007 Middle Tennessee Small Band Champions.

The Band of Blue was not allowed to compete in its own event, but put on a thrilling exhibition, along with a surprise visit from the 179-member band Siegel Stars from Murfreesboro.

The Stars arrived in four school buses and a tractor trailer full of equipment and covered the playing field at The Rock, serenading the night with a flavorful mix called The Persis Project.

With the crowd still abuzz from the Stars’ magnificent performance, the hometown Rocket Band of Blue took the field in their usual gallant and focused style and treated the cheering crowd to the operatic sounds of The Phantom of the Opera.

It was a great day and from then on I knew the importance and effort put forth by student band members equaled any other sports team.

The Rocket Band of Blue went on to finish in third place at the Mid-South Marching Invitational at Clarksville before claiming the program’s first state title when they won the Tennessee Division I State Marching Band Championship on November 3 at Tomahawk Stadium on the Campus of Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro.

Big leap year for county hoops

Basketball season in the county over the next several months was a whirlwind, I was working almost every night at either a middle school or high school game and watching some really good hoops.

I had a philosophy about covering a lot of middle school sports, something past sports writers for the Tribune did very little of.

It gave me a chance to learn about the kids at an early age and follow them all the way through high school and after time I became much attached emotionally to the student athletes and many of the coaches.

It was also a good philosophy for the paper, hook the reader young and keep them hooked for six years.

Anyway, the upcoming season saw every county high school basketball team sport a winning record with two of the girls’ teams making state tournament appearances.

Magical things were happening at Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium in Lewisburg as the defending state runner-up Tigerettes displayed true throughout the entire season as the claimed their fourth state title.

The Forrest Lady Rockets also made a return trip to Murfreesboro, but things didn’t turn out too well.

There were big changes after the season and we will get to all that next week.

Help me out

If you have any questions, comments, or old photos you would like to share please contact me at apuca@marshalltribune.com and I will be happy to share with everyone else.

I want to thank Scotty Brock and George “Pap” Warren for their generosity in teaching me a lot about photography and sharing their photos over that first season and up to this day.

Bill Beasley in Chapel Hill has done the same, as has Danny Parker and Jimmy Jones from the Shelbyville Times Gazette, and a special thank you to Jim Bryan for his expertise and teaching that was essential.

I want to thank all the fans, parents, athletes, coaches, school administrators, and work colleagues for helping me live this wonderful dream.