For the first half of the 2006-2007 high school prep season I began to learn my trade under fire, travelling everywhere to cover games.

I was extremely motivated and was searching for games to cover, but by the end of the Christmas season I needed a break really bad.

After a much-need trip back home to New Jersey to see my family for the holidays, I was back at it quickly in January and from that point on, it seemed like I worked every night somewhere covering three high school and middle school basketball teams and a wrestler that seeded my love for the sport.

Forrest grappler dominates before injury

I’m going to start with Forrest’s Morgan Abrigo before getting in to the remainder of the basketball season.

My neighbor, two houses down was former Forrest grappler Jason Spitzley, who took over as the non-faculty wrestling coach that year and I went to my first match in early December when the Rockets took on Franklin Road Academy (FRA).

FRA came in as the Division I A-AA state dual state runnerup and you could see the polish as they dominated the match, but in the process I got my first glimpse of Abrigo’s prowess and fierce determination.

Abrigo, the lone senior on the Rockets’ squad, was also a state runnerup at 140-pounds the previous season and you could tell that he had learned a lot and was not going to be denied.

“I had high hopes for a state title,” Abrigo said in a recent interview. “I wanted to be the first state champ for the wrestling department at Forrest.”

Abrigo didn’t just win wrestling matches, he dominated with a flare and was relentless and unwavering, looking for the first round pin every time out.

On that night, Abrigo came out with one purpose in his mind and that was to take away all hope from his opponent from the get-go and after an early takedown, Abrigo turned into a python and got the pin 17 seconds in to the match via the “Leg Truth”.

Abrigo dominated the entire 152-pound weight class and was undefeated when he severely injured his knee in late December.

It was a huge blow for an athlete that had worked so hard in the offseason and for one that was destined to be a state champion.

“I was undefeated prior to the injury and ranked number one in the state,” Abrigo said. “I believe it was the Tullahoma tournament, I was trying to run legs on my opponent and he "sat out", tearing my cartilage in my knee.”

Abrigo tried to rehab the knee as he sat out a few matches and did not participate in a home dual meet in mid-January at Forrest, also a night I will never forget.

In the first match of the night, sophomore Jonathan Wilkerson took the mat and at some point in the bout, Wilkerson dislocated his left elbow and it was gruesome. His arm was turned inside out at the elbow and he was taken by ambulance (smiling on the stretcher) to a hospital where he was informed that it was a season-ending injury.

Abrigo was the defending region champion at 142-pounds and came back from his injury for the region tournament at Warren County in mid-February where he gutted his way to another title and remain undefeated going in to the state tournament.

“I had no choice but to wrestle defensively,” Abrigo said. “I had to favor my knee and keep it as far away from the other guy as possible.”

“After the injury, I was unsure I could win it all, but was not going to bow out on my senior season.”

At that time, the state wrestling tournament was in Chattanooga and I drove down with Forrest athletic Director Scott Delk to the McKenzie Arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to watch Abrigo.

The dude was hurting and was only a shell of his former dominating self and as each match went on, his knee hurt worse and his mobility became extremely limited.

He came up with first round pin, but he had to work most of the match to get it and in his next match, he came out with a tight 8-2 win and had to be helped off the mat by his younger brother Taylor.

In the semifinals, Abrigo faced his toughest opponent of the season in Soddy-Daisy’s Jarriet Toney and the two warriors battled with Toney coming away with a 12-9 win, ending Abrigo’s dream of a state championship.

“I actually don't recall those two (wins), it's the ones I lost I remember,” Abrigo said. “Toney was a great wrestler, but I should not have lost this match.”

“I kept defaulting back to what I was good at, and should have listened to my coach. I failed to execute in the moment and lost my chance at a title.”

He wrestled twice more and lost both consolations matches, not finishing his final bout of his career when he could not go on any longer.

“I believe I could have taken the title if I was at full strength,” said Abrigo, who finished the season with a 23-3 record.

He had earned my respect and admiration and that season made me love wrestling to this day and when Tyler McClendon finally won the state title seven years later, I think I jumped higher than he did when it was over.

“I was very pleased to see a Forrest Rocket standing in the number spot on the podium,” Abrigo said about McClendon’s win. “The Rocket wrestling program has taken the right steps and their hard work and effort is showing.”

Since then, Jeff Gross won three titles in a row (2017-thru-2019), Nick McClendon won two in a row (2019-2020), and Wesley McCoy (2019) and Noah Hill (2020) have won one apiece.

The Rockets also finished as team runnerup in 2018.

Cornersville hoops

On Tuesday, January 2, 2006 the Cornersville basketball teams travelled to Columbia Academy to tip off the New Year and it was a homecoming of sorts for first-year boys coach Adrian Wilson, who had coached the private school squad for two years before taking over at Cornersville.

The Bulldogs came in to the contest with a 5-6 record and after a close first half, Cornersville pulled away for 62-45 win behind a double-double by Garrett Stiles, who scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Cornersville came up with 21 points in the low post as Tyler Cole had 11 points and Jake Agent netted 10.

The Bulldogs hosted the District 11-A Tournament that season and came in with a 10-14 record, taking on Huntland in the first round.

Wilson’s Bulldogs won the game 40-25 and were back in the region tournament for the first time in over 10 years.

Stiles had 12 points and eight rebounds, Jimmy Civils had 10 points and four steals, Agent added nine points and three rebounds, and Chuck Bassham finished with six points.

Although they lost their next three games, the Bulldogs had turned a corner under Wilson.

Micah Landers’ Lady Bulldogs came in to the Columbia Academy game with a 4-8 record, but demolished their namesakes that night with a 62-28 win.

Kristin Fagan led the Lady Bulldogs with 18 points and Sarah Nelms and Sarah King had eight points apiece.

The Lady Bulldogs played outstanding basketball after the New Year, putting up an 8-4 record and they blasted Columbia Academy for the second time in row, rolling to a 54-39 win in the first round of the district tournament, but they also lost the next three games to end the season with a 14-15 record.

Wilson also coached the CMS boys, who had the RPM boys in Taylor Rodgers, Josh “Boochie” Pope, and Justin McCord, plus Aaron Crowell, Dillon Bean, and Cody Poarch. They had a solid year, winning the Elk River Valley Conference Title.

McMasters fires up “Lady Dawgs”

That year I met one of my favorite coaches of all-time in CMS Lady Bulldogs’ coach Joy McMasters, who had played basketball at Giles County High School and Martin Methodist College.

McMasters coached at Culleoka before coming to Cornersville and she brought a passion for teaching and coaching and a game-plan, developed by former coaches Billy Mayfield (Giles County) and Joe Hardin (former Giles County Principal and Martin Methodist coach).

These girls were good, really good and they played as a unit and with a heavy heart as assistant coach Sally Hobbs was absent, fighting a cancer battle that she would eventually win.

I must admit, I think I covered this team more than any other during the first two-thirds of the basketball season.

The Lady Dawgs were fun to watch and they were destroying people, going undefeated in regular season play at 16-0 and taking the unbeaten mark to the longtime James C. Haile Middle School Tournament at the old Middle Tennessee Christian School gymnasium.

CMS was deep with eighth-graders Haley Fagan, Lindsey Dalton, Bethany VanHooser, Amber Reeves, and Nina Endsley, plus a talented group of seventh-graders in Makenzie Hopkins, Ashley Warren, Martha Jane McMasters, Chelsea Johnson, and Brittney Crowell.

The Lady Dawgs routed the Smith County Owlettes in round one with one of the most dominating first quarters of basketball I have ever seen.

They blanked Smith County 21-0 in the period and led 31-9 at the half before McMasters emptied the bench en-route to the 47-16 win.

In round two, CMS took down the McFadden Middle School Lady Mustangs, who had won six straight Rutherford County titles.

Hopkins led the Lady Bulldogs in the 40-33 win with 13 points, Fagan had 11, and Endsley chipped in with eight points.

The Lady Bulldogs faced Wilson County powerhouse Carroll-Oakland Middle School in the semifinals where Cornersville’s magical ride came to an end in a low scoring 30-22 loss to the Lady Eagles.

McMasters had several more great years with the Lady Bulldogs and eventually, the McMasters torch was passed at Cornersville when Martha Jane took over the high school team this season.

The Lady Bulldogs also won the Middle School Christmas Tournament at LMS that season.

Middle School coaches loaded with experience

Over at Lewisburg Middle School (LMS), the Tigerettes were coached by the dynamic cousin duo of Shonda Sparrow and Nicky Randolph.

Two former Tigerette greats learned the trade from former coach Wayne Aldridge and they played hard and quick.

The young squad had eighth-graders Marina Harwell, Kathryn Haislip, Allison Adcock, Whitney Byrd, DeLorean Taylor, KiKi Summers, Cali Schultz, and McKinya Crawford.

Harwell and Taylor ended up making the Southern Middle Tennessee Conference Tournament All-Team squad for the Tigerettes, who finished the season with a 4-13 mark.

Forrest graduate and current Eagleville Athletic Director Jason Brown coached the LMS Tigers and for basketball fans in Marshall County and beyond, we all got to the see the beginning of a future Mr. Basketball in the ultra-talented Kedren Johnson.

Although the Tigers finished with a 6-12 mark, the foundation for the future of MCHS Tiger basketball was being established with Johnson, Logan Osborne, Broderick Tears, Connor Kennedy, Dominic Matthews, and a host of others.

The Forrest Middle School (FMS) girls were also in good hands, being coached by two-state champion Sherry (Batten) Jones, who played under Shelbyville’s legendary coach Rick Insell.

Jones was in her fifth season as Lady Rockets head coach and was also an assistant on the high school team that was the defending state champions.

FMS was coming off back-to-back TNT state championships and were led by the two of the three Curtner triplets in Christina and Anna, who would go on to a starring high school role.

The Lady Rockets had another successful season, finishing in second place in the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association (TMSAA) District Tournament, losing to longtime nemesis Moore County in the title game.

Christina Curtner and Kim Rochester garnered post-season honors for the Lady Rockets, who finished in fourth place in the sectional round.

The FMS boys were coached by math teacher Todd Garrison, who was in his third year at the helm of the Rockets and he had an arsenal of really talented eighth-graders in Taylor Gentry, future District 9-A high school MVP Kyle Gugger, Tanner Wesson, Tyler Messick, Dane Leonard, Leland Brothers, Taylor Schoenberger, and current Forrest head coach Corey Bishop.

The Rockets beat Lewis County for third place at the TSMAA District Tournament and they also came in fourth place at the sectionals.

Gentry and Leonard made the All-Tournament Team.

Lady Rockets defend state title

The team with the bullseye on its back was the defending state champion Forrest Lady Rockets, who had captured the school’s first-ever state title in any sport with their magical run in 2005-2006.

They had a battle on their hands every night from the season opener at Clarkrange and stood at 10-7, going in to the Christmas break.

I rode the bus with Lady Rockets to Clarkrange for the season opener and the place was all it was cracked up to be.

The Clarkrange gymnasium was a hostile environment and the size of a phone booth with just a few inches of space on the end lines and sidelines, making it an extremely difficult place to take photos.

I also wanted to give that buffalo a really good backhand.

After that, the Lady Rockets reeled off six blowout wins in a row before losing up on Spencer’s mountain to a talented Van Buren squad that went on to win 20 games that year.

I think it made them really mad because they won their last four regular season games before sweeping both the District 9-A and Region 5-A Tournament titles, beating MTCS in both championship games.

None of them were close.

In the Class A sectional round, Forrest hosted longtime foe Moore County in a game that went down to the wire before the Lady Rockets came out on top 46-42.

Ayla Young had four 3-pointers in the contest, while Amanda Daughrity came up with a huge late steal and Dakota Wesson was clutch from the free throw line with one minute remaining in the contest, making one of two from the free throw line.

Young sealed the deal when she drained two free throws with 8.4 seconds left.

2005-2006 state tournament MVP Gaby Bussell and Summer Waggoner both had huge seasons, along with defensive specialist Blair Foster, Thea Ledbetter, lone senior Kalah Mathis, Bequi Bussell, Megan Porter, and future Class A Miss Basketball Beth Hawn was a freshman.

The Lady Rockets came up with an unlucky draw, opening up the state tournament versus the 34-1 and two-time state champion Gleason Lady Bulldogs.

Gleason sported Kayla Hudson, a three-year All-West Tennessee selection and a two-time all-state player.

Hudson scored 29 points in the 53-28 blowout win over Forrest and went on to win the Class A Miss Basketball and State Tournament MVP Awards.

The Lady Rockets returned to the state tournament for two more years in a row after 2006-2007, but have not been back since.

Gleason has not been back since they beat Forrest.

Talented Rockets search for elusive district title

The Forrest Rockets, who had played in four consecutive district tournament title games, came out of the break with a 7-6 record under 11th year head coach Davy McClaran.

The Rockets were a senior laden squad, led by Corey Shankle, Taylor Gentry, Dominique Johnson, Chase Baltimore, Chase Beaulieu, Brian Whitley, and junior sharpshooter Nick Schnapp.

Shankle poured in 21 points in a win over archrival Eagleville that gave the Rockets a 4-0 district record and first place.

Two more league wins led to a big home game versus Cascade on January 23 with the Champions coming away with a close 60-58 win to move in to a tie with the Rockets for first place.

Amazingly, Forrest won four consecutive district road games and added a home win over Community in the regular season finale before Shankle scored 28 points in a 51-43 win over Eagleville in the district tournament opener at Wartrace.

Forrest advanced to its fifth consecutive district title game, but had a huge mountain to climb, playing Cascade on its home floor.

The Champions prevailed in an eight-point win and four days later, they faced elimination as they trailed by 13 points to Houston County in a first round region tournament game at Chapel Hill.

Forrest stormed back in the fourth quarter, eventually tying the game on a Gentry 3-pointer.

Houston regained a four-point lead at 56-52 with under a minute to play when the Rockets staged a comeback for the ages, beginning with a 3-pointer by Johnson with 53 seconds remaining in the contest.

The Irish nailed one free throw before Schnapp was fouled and he buried his first free throw and missed the second, but the Irish tried to save the ball from going out of bounds and threw it right to Johnson, who laid it off the glass and in to put Forrest in the lead by one point.

A few seconds later, Beaulieu calmly nailed two free throws to seal the comeback win, setting up a region semifinal at Eagleville versus the host Eagles.

The Rockets had beaten Eagleville three times before the region tournament game and held a 28-23 lead after a Gentry 3-pointer with four minutes remaining in the close to the vest affair.

The Eagles outscored Forrest 7-1 for the remainder of the contest that was iced from the free throw line on two foul shots by Khameron Lillard with 4.1 seconds left in the game, ending the Rockets’ season.

Greer has breakout season for Tigers

The Marshall County Tigers were in the midst of a tough year, coming off the Christmas break with a 3-7 record.

Things didn’t get much better after the break as they lost six out of seven before stringing together a pair of road wins over Lincoln County and Loretto.

Three more losses didn’t make the District 10-AA Tournament play-in game versus Page an easy task, but the Tigers responded with a huge effort for head coach Jason Tigert.

One of my favorite players of all-time had his best game of the season in the contest.

The late Deshaun Greer was a really good kid and a great player and the junior showed it that night with a huge 29 point, seven rebound performance as MCHS rolled to a 15-point win.

The Tigers could not back up the big win, losing their next three games in a row to end the season.

Tigerettes wake up the echoes

The three-time state champion Tigerettes were coming off a 14-15 season, but returned nine players and had one lone senior for the 2006-2007 season and they all had experience.

Senior Nisha Brown, juniors Danika Hopkins, Jessica McQueen, and McKenna Moffett were joined by a talented group of sophomores in Lauren March, Addricka O’Neal, NeNe McLean, Andraya Tears, and Jakerra Simmons.

MCHS head coach David Steely and his assistant Boyd West had a great offseason and the Tigerettes played as many games as they could against anyone, anywhere to get the much-needed pressure packed experience and they were 8-5 after the Christmas break.

MCHS won five out the next six games, all within the district with the only loss coming in a one-point homecoming setback to Spring Hill that tied them for first place in the District 10-AA standings with Lewis County.

They responded with a three-game winning streak, including a big 49-43 win over Lewis County that gave them control of the district.

March had 16 points and six rebounds in the game, while Moffett had 13, McQueen netted eight, and Mclean scored six points and grabbed five rebounds.

The Tigerettes went 1-2 in three non-district games before reeling off four straight wins, including a 47-35 win over Spring Hill on February 6.

The win was number 900 for the program and also clinched a first round district tournament bye for MCHS.

The Tigerettes beat Spring Hill in round two and narrowly escaped versus Lewis County in the title game.

The game was nip and tuck the entire way before McQueen nailed a 3-pointer to put them in front for good with 3:42 to play in the contest.

Believe it or not, that was Steely’s first district title in his eight years as head coach.

The Tigerettes followed with a 65-24 blowout win over CPA and a close nine-point win over Ezell-Harding in the Region 5-AA Tournament at Spring Hill.

Marshall County faced a 30-4 David Lipscomb squad in the title game and lost by 13 points, sending them on the road to McNairy Central for a sub-state game.

I remember making the two and half hour drive to Buford Pusser country in Selmer where the Tigerettes played probably its best game of the season as they came away with a 65-51 win behind a 27-point effort from March.

The win put the Tigerettes in the state tournament for the first time since 2000 and they faced Stone Memorial in the first round at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro.

The Lady Panthers gave the Tigerettes everything they had and the game was tied 46-46 with just over three minutes to go when Simmons put them ahead by one point with a made free throw before McQueen earned her “Assassin” moniker when she buried an ice cold 3-pointer to put MCHS in front for good.

Two days later, the Tigerettes took on Livingston Academy in the semifinals and won every quarter in a 41-32 triumph, sending Marshall County to its first title game since 1980.

The Tigerettes (25-9) took on Austin East (38-2) in the title game and the Lady Roadrunners lived up to their name, speeding off to a 19-1 first quarter and they cruised to the title from there.

But the stage was set and the hunger was there for the Tigerettes, who would win the title the following season.

From that time on, the Tigerettes became one of favorite teams to cover to this day.

Spring comes to the county in next week’s edition with baseball and softball dominating the sports landscape.

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.