Stories from Sunday, January 15, 2017

The depth of strength in District 9A came to fruition Wednesday in a weather related makeup game at Huntland when the Lady Hornets easily handled Forrest 68-51. "I told them in the locker room that there are no excuses, we can name some moments in the game, but they just outplayed us," Forrest coach Jeremy Jean said. The Lady Rockets, coming off a big win over third-ranked Moore County on Tuesday, were a step slow and off their game and it cost them a loss that sends the district standings into tiebreakers for first place.

The Forrest Rockets picked up their first District 9A win of the season Tuesday night at Chapel Hill, beating the Moore County Raiders 68-61. "It's a very nice win in the district, hopefully we can have a good afternoon to follow up from last night," Forrest coach Randy Toombs said. All three of Forrest's district wins the last two seasons have come over Moore County.

The Tigers jumped back into the District 12AA race versus Spring Hill and looked for some consistency on Tuesday after coming off an impressive third place finish in the Battle of Franklin Christmas Tournament Marshall County with a win over 3A Lebanon 12 days prior. The long break did not seem to bother the Tigers, who finished off the Raiders before the halftime buzzer sounded, giving Marshall County its first district win of the season at 77-34 before a brutal stretch of the schedule commences.

Almost every boy that grows up in the great state of Tennessee and straps on shoulder pads during the fall dreams of running through the "T" and playing for the home state Vols, but very few get that opportunity. Aaron Medley, a former Marshall County Tiger, not only got the opportunity, but is excelling in Knoxville. Following another standout season in which the Marshall County native finished with 11 field goals in 16 tries, a perfect 56-for-56 on PAT and a perfect a career best 42 touchbacks on kickoffs, Medley will return for a senior season in which he could rewrite the Volunteer record books. "My senior year will be fun," Medley said. "Visiting all the places one last time including Neyland (Stadium) will be sentimental."

The Moore County Raiderettes came into Tuesday night's huge District 9A showdown at Forrest as the number three ranked team in Class A and winners of 11 out of the last 14 games versus the Lady Rockets, including two season ending wins since the 2012-2013 season. "I think it showed who we really are in our district and set the bar for us," Forrest's Kyleah Hengesbach said. "We practiced all week for this, we played to our full ability and we were ready."

The Huntland Hornets (5-12, 4-2) have just five wins this season, but all five of those victories have come against District 9A foes, including an 81-67 weather related makeup game home win over Forrest Wednesday. The Rockets (3-17, 1-5), coming off their first district win of the season on Tuesday night versus Moore County were in the game for most of the first half before Huntland began to pull away.

Coming off an 11-day holiday break, the Marshall County Tigerettes welcomed a Spring Hill squad to Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium on Tuesday night and needed a couple of quarters to shake off the rust before running away with a 62-38 win. "It was a good win, a district win," MCHS coach David Steely said. "Just too sloppy was the main problem. Not consistent and that's what we're trying to get better at." "To beat better teams we're gonna have to get more consistent, but I like the fact that our expectations are changing from we just want to win some games to it's not ok to play a certain way even when we win big."