Stories from Friday, February 14, 2014

Basketball Awards will be presented to the top girls and boys in five classifications of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association prior to the championship game awards presentation for each class, respectively. A statewide committee of sportswriters selected winners based on performance during the 2013-2014 regular season. Academics and character were also taken into consideration. High school head basketball coaches and members of the media nominated the finalists.

The Marshall County Tigers (16-10) were bounced from the playoffs in the first round of the District 12-AA tournament for the second straight year, as they suffered a heartbreaking 92-86 double overtime loss to sixth seeded Page at home on Tuesday night. MCHS had won the last 12 meetings against the Patriots and were welcoming back senior guard Aaron Hobbs, who had had sat out the last eight weeks due to a hand injury, but Page (9-16) didn't seemed fazed by the recent history of the series and battled Marshall County to a 70-70 tie at the end of regulation.

Santa Fe ended the Cornersville Bulldogs' season for a third straight year, as CHS lost 63-51 to the fourth seeded Wildcats on the road in the first round of the District 11-A tournament on Tuesday night.

As a coach, when you go to sleep the night before a district tournament ballgame you dream about a performance like the Forrest Rockets turned in Tuesday night versus MTCS in the District 9-A semifinals at Community. The fourth-seeded Rockets (12-17) dominated the top-seeded Cougars (23-4) in a coast-to-coast, no doubt about it 60-40 win, catapulting the surging Chapel Hill squad to Friday night's championship game versus No. 3 Fayetteville, who knocked off the second-seeded and host Community Vikings 65-60 in the bottom portion of the bracket.

Ernest Edward Braden, 89, of Lewisburg, died Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, in NHC Oakwood Healthcare. Mr. Braden was a native of Marshall County, and son of the late Samuel and Lydia Reynolds Braden. He was retired after 44 years in maintenance with the Marshall County Board of Education. He was a member of the Church of Christ...

Paul Timothy Ratcliffe, 54, of Cornersville, died Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, at his residence. Paul was a native of Marshall County, and son of the late James Edward and Cletas Christine Holden Ratcliffe. He was a 1977 graduate of Cornersville High School. He was a farmer and was associated with the Ostella Church of Christ...

James Michael Ratcliffe, 56, of Cornersville, died Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, at his residence. James was a native of Marshall County, and son of the late James Edward and Cletas Christine Holden Ratcliffe. He was a 1976 graduate of Cornersville High School. He was a farmer and retired from Inter City Products. He was associated with the Ostella Church of Christ...

From Staff Reports Before dawn Thursday, Operations Supervisor Tony Crowell and Lineman Brian Seals left Lewisburg to join 39 other electric cooperative workers from Tennessee who went to South Carolina to help restore power to those affected by a powerful winter storm...

By Karen Hall Editor School board members heard the first report on how the Cenergistics energy-saving program is working in the schools when they met this week. Roy "Bam" Haislip, the energy specialist hired by the system, presented the report. "This is an overview," he said. "We are five months in, and the initial review will be in March or April."...

By Karen Hall Editor Before making their historic unanimous vote in favor of the Vision Plan, Lewisburg's City Council welcomed four local Eagle Scouts from Troop 173, along with their Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster. Councilman Steve Thomas told the group he earned the Eagle Scout distinction in Columbia in 1966 and said, "It's still something I'm proud of."...