Prep sports came to a necessary screeching halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic that encompasses most of the globe and as we wait for this world health emergency to pass, let’s take a look back in time in the history of Marshall County sports to move our minds away from our troubles, if not just for a few minutes.

First, let me give you a little background about myself so you can kind of ride along with me during this journey.

After working 15 years at the General Motors Fisher Guide Body plant in Trenton, New Jersey that was slated to close, I moved my young family to Tennessee in May of 1993 and I started working at Saturn in Spring Hill.

I did 15 more years and was ready to get out, retiring from General Motors on June 1, 2006 after 30 years in the hole.

I was then ready to start my new career in the health care field after earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Phoenix in health care administration.

It was tough getting that degree, I had two small children and worked on the assembly line at night and studied during the day, so after I retired I decided to take the summer off before embarking on my new journey.

I played some golf and worked in the yard, but I got bored quick after having worked a full-time job my entire adult life.

Then I saw an ad in the Marshall County Tribune for a reporter’s position and that sparked my curiosity because I already loved to write and had a great experience as an intern for the school paper while studying journalism at Mercer County Community College in Trenton in my mid 20’s.

I decided to pursue the ad and went to the Tribune office to apply for the job and met then Editor Jamie Bone, who gave me the opportunity that changed the course of my life.

I can’t remember everything that happened shortly after that but I do recall covering a Mercer Marshall County Commissioners meeting and a Cornersville’s town meeting where I met Scotty Brock, who would become an integral part of the next chapter of my trip by just being my friend and helping me out by supplying me with great photographs from those early games in Cornersville.

I didn’t like the political beat, thank God.

Editor Bone asked me if I wanted to cover some sports and that was an easy yes because I grew up in a sporting family and had played and knew a lot about every sport.

First game covered at Frog Bottom

On September 21, 2006 I covered my first event, a middle school football game at Cornersville versus Zion Christian Academy and was immediately welcomed by head Coach Eric Crabtree, who also became a good friend and still is to this day. His brother Corey, the defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs, was a good dude too.

It just happened to be middle school homecoming and it was very cool seeing that extravaganza, so from the opening kickoff I was hooked, had a great time, and I was stoked to write the article.

Editor Bone really liked the results, which gave me a lot of confidence.

So, here we go.

On Friday, September 29, 2006 my first article was published and was entitled “CMS Bulldogs celebrate homecoming victory.” https://www.marshalltribune.com/story/1170517.html.

The following Tuesday, I went back to Cornersville as the Bulldogs took on the Lewisburg Middle School Tigers in what Crabtree said was the first ever gridiron meeting between the two county middle schools.

I learned quickly about the rivalry.

The potent Tigers easily beat the Bulldogs 35-7 and I began to really appreciate the purity of the game and was very excited to meet and cover all the great kids like Cornersville’s Taylor Rogers, Joe Stocstill, Josh “Boochie” Pope, Justin McCord, Chad Riner, and one of my favorites, Carlos Guzman.

That night I also got a first glance at some of the LMS stars, including Cody Vernon, Broderick Tears, Dominic Matthews, Dylan Kilpatrick, and Lewisburg legend Kedren Johnson.

Next up was two middle school football bowl games, the first an 18-12 comeback win by LMS over Heritage in the Independence Bowl.

Vernon had a huge game at quarterback, Johnson hauled in a touchdown catch, and Kilpatrick and the late Shane Hendrix both had touchdown runs in the contest.

Have you ever been to Flintville?

I was and it became a night that will be ingrained in my mind forever as an undermanned CMS squad (Rogers broke his collarbone versus LMS) travelled across US 64 to southeast Lincoln County to take on the Bobcats for the Elk River Valley Conference championship.

The title had eluded Cornersville for 20 years as they came in as the underdogs, falling behind 8-0 before scoring a school record 30 points in the second quarter that led to a 38-20 blowout win.

McCord had two touchdown runs and a fumble recovery for a score and Pope ran to pay dirt once and added a pick six.

Two-way lineman Matthew Begley was probably the player of the game as he went head-to-head with 6’2, 270-pound behemoth John Cresson and matched the Bobcat 18-wheeler the entire game.

Lady Rockets’ soccer reaches heights unseen

Next up was soccer and luckily I knew a lot about the ins and outs of the game from my days as a writer for the community college paper and the best team in the county that year was the Forrest Lady Rockets, coached by Dr. Larry Miller.

They were a fiery group with a lot of personalities and they were also very good.

The first game I covered was a District 11A/AA first round tournament game at Chapel Hill versus a Marshall County High School squad that had lost twice in the regular season to Forrest and the Lady Rockets made it three in a row with a 4-0 shutout win behind a brace by Anna Wiser and goals from Taylour Allen and Heather Collins.

A few days later, Forrest travelled to Middle Tennessee Christian School (MTCS) for a district tournament semifinal game versus a powerful Page squad and with a win, the Lady Rockets would be the first team in school history to reach the region tournament.

The weather was horrible as rain fell the entire game and it was cold, but the red-hot Lady Rockets, behind the season-long chant of "All for one and one for all" came away with a huge 4-0 upset win as Forrest keeper Kenzie “The Brick Wall” McKee shutdown the net.

Wiser scored two more goals, Amanda Evans had one, and Allen scored on a late penalty kick for the fourth goal, sending the Lady Rockets to the district title game versus first place Spring Hill, who was the only team to beat Forrest in the regular season.

Both squads came in to the October 20th contest with identical 10-1-1 records, but Lady Raider standout Heather Halstead recorded a hat trick and Spring Hill claimed the district title.

Five days later, Forrest travelled to Columbia Academy for the Region 5 opener and came up huge, winning 3-1 behind a pair of goals by Wiser and one by Allen, setting up a rematch with Spring Hill in the title region title game.

Halstead scored three more goals and assisted on another as Spring Hill won 4-1 to take the region title.

The Lady Rockets continued their record breaking season with a first-ever appearance in a state sectional game at Franklin Road Academy on October 28.

The gritty girls from Chapel Hill ran in to an FRA squad that was poised and highly experienced, losing 7-0 to end the unbelievable run.

The Lady Rockets had several good seasons after 2006, but never matched those heights again.

Smoke em if you got em

My first high school game was also an adventure I will never forget when I made the long trek to tobacco country to “The Dungeon” in Cedar Hill as Forrest took on then Class A powerhouse Jo Byrns.

If you have never been to Jo Byrns for a football game as a visiting team it’s intimidating to say the least as the good ole boys back up their pickup trucks near the fence and before the game starts, they all let it rip and the field fills up with smoke.

The atmosphere and the talented Red Devils were too much for the Rockets, who left with their tails between their legs after a 37-0 shutout loss. On the bright side, there is an unbelievable barbeque stand inside the complex.

Forrest went on to win three in row after the loss, including a school record 70-0 pasting over Nashville Christian School.

On October 27, 2006 the Rockets played their last game on the Lions Club Memorial Field and the sendoff was not in their favor as White House won a 21-14 thriller.

Rocket senior running back Dominique Johnson ran for 170 yards and a score in the contest.

Even though they lost, head coach Kyle Stacey and the Rockets were in the playoffs, but they had a monumental task in front of them as they travelled to Mt. Pleasant to take on the powerful Tigers, led by the state’s leading rusher in Marco Dailey.

Forrest fell behind 28-7 in the third quarter before mounting a serious comeback when freshman linebacker Parker Holton forced a Dailey fumbled and Blake Arceneaux came up with the loose ball.

Colin Henson scored on a 20-yard touchdown run to cut the score to 28-14 and Forrest executed a perfect onside kick that was recovered by freshman Levell Quezaire at the Mt. Pleasant 39-yard line with 6:15 to play in the game.

Moments later, Johnson took a fourth down handoff and scored from 40 yards out, making it a 28-21 contest with 3:51 remaining in the game.

It was not to be as Daily put the icing on the win for Mt. Pleasant with a 40-yard touchdown run to cap off a 244 yard effort on the night and eclipse the 2,000 yard mark for the season.

In the county seat, the Marshall County Tigers were not having a good year which was capped off by a 36-32 season-ending loss to archrival Giles County.

The game at Sam Davis Park was another etched in my mind because of something that happened off the field when the coaching staff burned a Giles County shirt in the locker room before the game.

The motivational stunt paid off for a long time as the Tigers held a 26-22 halftime lead after a 10-yard pass hookup from Cavalla O’Neal to Jaron Jones.

Giles County scored 14 straight points before future Class 3A Mr. Football, two-time college football national champion, and three-time Super Bowl winner Dont’a Hightower scored a late touchdown, but it was too little too late as the season ended for the Tigers and head coach William Johnson’s tenure was over.

Tiger golfers win district and region crowns

The Tigers played some good golf that season as coach Gary Wells’ squad won the district tournament at Henry Horton by 28 shots over Page as all five players shot a round in the 80’s.

Trey Russell led the way with an 80, Seth Lintz had an 85, Zach Dalton 86, Trey Cashion carded an 87, and Eric Tietgens shot 88.

Forrest’s Doug Lukonen (86) and Corey Shankle (91) also qualified for the region tournament.

On the girls side, Marshall County’s Kristin “Sweetie Pie” Cheek had a 101, while Forrest’s Sara “The Squirrel” Schoenberger (112) and Chelsea “The Natural” Johnson (120) all moved on to the region tournament.

The Tigers went on to win the region tournament by a slim eight-shot margin over Giles County to qualify for the state tournament at Old Fort Golf Course in Murfreesboro.

The three-time state champions didn’t fare so well, finishing in eighth place.

Forrest Band Competition

I also remember covering the Middle Tennessee Small Band Championship Championships at Forrest and was really impressed by the host Forrest Band of Blue, which did not compete in the competition.

That was a Saturday and I was there for over eight hours.

Marshall County’s band was also very good and they won the Class 3A title at the event.

Basketball season was a blur

It was basketball season and I remember working really hard trying to get the team previews ready, but it was also a lot of fun talking to the coaches and meeting all the players.

The first game I covered was a Forrest Middle School Thursday night game versus Moore County and the girls game was very exciting with the Lady Rockets winning in overtime behind 23 points by eighth-grader Christina Curtner. Moore County standout Andrea Garland had a game-high 28 points for the Raiderettes.

The Rockets came up with a huge 45-23 win over the Raiders with current head coach Corey Bishop nailing a pair of 3-pointers and stifling his man on defense.

Taylor Schoenberger led the team in scoring with 10 points, Kyle Gugger had eight, and Zack Ray also had six points for the Rockets.

One week later, the infamous “Zack the Wrong Way Ray” play happened when Ray scored on the wrong basket in a win at home versus Community.

Defending champs

I was in the stands at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro one year earlier when the Forrest Lady Rockets captured the school’s first state championship and I was pumped to be able to cover them in 2006.

From the time the season started it was a whirlwind for me as I was working every night and on the weekends until the end of the year covering hoops by myself in Marshall County.

I was going to middle school games at all three schools as well as covering Cornersville, Forrest, and Marshall County High School basketball.

The most memorable game leading up to Christmas that year was on November 21 at Cornersville when they hosted Collinwood.

It was the first time I saw Lady Trojan star Abby Andrews play alongside teammate Lesley Daniel and they were good, really good and handily beat the Lady Bulldogs 68-44.

Andrews finished with 18 points for the night and Daniels led the Trojans with 21. Sara Barnett scored a team high 14 for Cornersville and Kristin Fagan had eight points.

The boys game still remains one the best basketball games I have ever covered as the Bulldogs and the Trojans battled in a war that was tied after regulation at 55 and after one overtime, the score was 58-58.

Jimmy Civils started the second extra period with a beautiful dish to Garrett Stiles, who drove for a lay-up and was fouled.

The Trojans fought back to take a slim lead and things looked bleak for the hometown Bulldogs, who trailed by two points with 8.1 seconds remaining in the game.

Cornersville coach Adrian Wilson called a play in the huddle and it worked to perfection as Kyle Hammack took the inbounds pass, raced up floor and passed to Steven "Ice Man" Nelms, who rose up and buried the three-bomb for the win as time expired and the placer went nuts.

I was going everywhere to cover Thanksgiving and Christmas basketball tournaments from Columbia Central for the Rotary Classic, Eagleville, Lewisburg, Santa Fe, LaVergne, Smyrna, and Upperman.

The Upperman tournament is memorable for another reason because my son gave me a Tupac CD and I listened to it all the way to the tournament and back.

That was first time I actually took the time to listen to that kind of music and I really liked it.

I was also introduced for my first time to high school wrestling, more about that later.

I knew the kid was special

At the end of December I found out that Hightower had made the All-State team as a linebacker and I went to his house for an interview.

Hightower was a junior at the time, but was way beyond that in character and maturity.

Mom L’Tonya was raising Dont’a and his sister Quenette and from the first moment I was welcomed in their house, I knew the family bond was incredible with their faith in God as the backbone.

I asked him a bunch of questions for the interview about his favorite TV shows, music, food, world interests, the firing of coach Johnson, the hiring of Don Thomas, and his favorite sports teams.

The following fall, Hightower won the Class 3A Mr. Football Lineman of the Year Award and was named as the Tennessean’s Defensive Player of the Year.

This is the quote I will never forget and I was certain big things were coming for the young man.

“Ever since I was little I wanted to be on TV and let my family see me play,” Hightower said. He was certain he was going to sign with a Divison I football program and as we know that turned out really well with two national titles at Alabama.

“I want to be a pro, but if I don’t make it I will fall back on my education.” He made it alright, becoming a first round NFL draft choice and winning three Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots, an organization he has spent his entire career with.

Hightower will be entering his ninth season in the NFL in 2020.

Help me out

This is where we will pick it up again next week, big things were coming in the remainder of the basketball, wrestling, and spring sport seasons.

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.