Past Articles (August 2023 - Present)

White County High School students and staff are excited to announce that six of the schools in the White County district have been named Tennessee Reward Schools by the Tennessee Department of Education. 

Being honored with this award means that the schools are doing well academically compared to other schools in Tennessee.  To receive this award, schools need a high overall student performance or significant academic growth and improvement over the course of the school year. Reward School status also takes graduation and attendance rates into account. 

This award is the highest honor a public school can receive in the state, reflecting a remarkable level of dedication from students, educators, staff, and the community. 

The Schools in the White County District that received this reward are: BonDeCroft Elementary, Cassville Elementary, Doyle Elementary, Findlay Elementary, Northfield Elementary, and White County High School. 

It's an honor given to schools that are performing at a very high level or showing outstanding improvement. To be named a Reward School, the schools must show high levels of performance and improvement by meeting demanding objectives across multiple indicators. It is difficult to achieve, as the state emphasizes performance across the entire school.

The students of White County play a vital role in the achievement by showing perseverance and commitment to their work. The collaboration between students, teachers, parents, and administration creates a positive school culture centered around success. 

Earning this recognition means that White County Schools is among the top-performing schools in the state. It reflects the hard work of students, teachers, and staff who have committed themselves to academic excellence and continuous growth. From higher test scores to stronger classroom engagement, the reward status shows that students are not only performing well but also improving year after year. 

Assistant Principal of White County High School, Amy Hawkins said, “We are very excited to be named as a reward school. We didn't make it last year by a 10th of a point, so we were even more excited to make it this year.” 

“It shows that we have really good teachers in our building who really care about what they’re teaching, but we also have a great group of kids at White County High School. We are really lucky to have those kids who want to work and take things seriously.” 

Reviving the Tennessee Reward School status is more than just a title. It is a reflection of growth, resilience, and a shared commitment to excellence. As the school looks toward the future, this achievement serves as motivation to continue to improve and inspire every student to succeed.

The Livingston Academy boys basketball team was suspended on Friday, November 7th, after allegations of hazing made light.

Authorities are conducting investigations over the reports of the allegations and are working to determine if the incident crossed the line of serious criminal violations.

Upper Cumberland Reporter broke the news after Overton County Schools made a social media post addressing the reports of the allegations.

Overton County Schools' post said that they were "thoroughly investigating the matter; however, due to the incident involving minors they are unable to share further details.”

Overton County Schools are also unable to take disciplinary action until confirmations are made and due process requirements are solidified. 

According to WSMV, multiple students reported the alleged incident to the School Resource Officer, Police Chief Ray Smith.

In speaking to WSMV, Smith said “I would rather not put a label on it right now. Instead of making a decision off hand, we are working very close to get all of the information and bring it over to our DA’s office.”

Smith’s department is conducting their own investigation of the incident as Overton County Schools continues theirs.

On the campus of Livingston Academy classes continue while both investigations are underway.

Smith addressed to WSMV that the information needed has been gathered and officials are now working with key community stakeholders.

The student athletes are aware of the gravity. To WSMV, Smith said, “ Everybody understands that there are consequences to things. They are really intelligent young men and they realize this.”

The team’s season will remain suspended until the criminal investigation is completed, though according to WSMV, it could take several weeks until final decisions are made

On Tuesday, Celeste Reed was named Miss Basketball for the state of Tennessee, making her the first Warriorette in White County High School history to be a finalist for, and win, the title of Miss Basketball. 

In the long, storied history of Warriorette Basketball, no other players have been nominated for such a big award. Names like Kellie Jolly Harper, Ginger Jared, and Lisa Leftwich are among these players.

“It’s really a big honor to be chosen and I’m so grateful for the experience,” said Reed.  “I want to thank family, coaches, and teammates for helping me get this far.”

Shanee Wallace, the Warriorette’s assistant coach, said. “Celeste couldn’t represent our program any better. She is a true Warriorette!” 

Head Coach Michael Dodgen understands the weight that an award like this can bring to an already historic program.

“It is a major honor and award for our school and community,” Dodgen said. “The support that our players get from the community is great. The Miss Basketball award will only amplify that.”

Reed’s example goes past the court. Both coaches had high-praise for her ability not just to play basketball, but to lead her peers as well. 

“Celeste is a great leader on and off the floor,” Dodgen said. “Her personality to lead our kids in the locker room is something that you can't teach. It is a given talent that not many players have.”

Wallace added, “She was one who led by example and was an excellent motivator during both practices and games for her teammates. She didn’t assume the title of being a leader, she earned it.” 

While Reed led her teammates by being a great leader, she also led her team during the games. 

According to MaxPreps.com, Reed is leading the State of Tennessee in double doubles.

Reed ended her high school basketball career with four years of varsity experience. She gathered 1323 points, which puts her amongst the all-time scoring Warriorettes. 

She also had 342 offensive rebounds, and 538 defensive rebounds, adding up to a total of 880 rebounds throughout her career.

Her stats for the 2024 season included a total of 536 points, 132 free throws made, 376 rebounds, and she shot 50% from the field. 

Reed’s stats this season have shown that she has played differently than the rest of her competition all season, and that she has earned the award. 

Wallace said, “Coach Dodgen and I have said all year, Celeste is just different.”

Sam Dicus (‘25) got to watch Reed play all season and commented on what makes her at a higher level than those she competes with.

“She’s the heart and soul of the team,” he said. “She takes any defensive assignment. She attacks the paint no matter who is down there. She is always working on her game, and her ability to shoot her hook shot with both hands is unguardable. 

Dodgen sees value in Reed and her natural ability to play the sport. 

“She has an uncanny knack for the basketball, and knows when to make plays at all levels on the floor,” Dodgen said. “She will be a great steal for someone that gives her the opportunity to excel (in) college.”

On December 29th, White County High School’s girls basketball team played their third game of the Sunshine Classic Tournament, at Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Warriorettes took on Letcher County Central’s Cougars, from Whitesburg, Kentucky. The Warriorettes came out with a 54-15.

This was the Warriorettes third game of the tournament after winning their first game 78-15 against Cornerstone Charter Academy and their second 61-42 against Ramsay.

White County started off this game immediately finding the basket, ending off the first

quarter of the game up by 14 with a score of 18-4.

The Warriorettes kept up this momentum, continuing to score 19 more points sending the score into halftime being 37-12.

In the 3rd quarter, White County continued with this momentum. The Warriorettes scored 13 more points and played heavy defense leaving the score to be 50-12 into the 4th quarter. 

Once in the fourth quarter, head coach Michael Dodgen dove into his bench, which continued to play heavy defense. The Warriorettes ended the game only allowing the Cougars to score one more point leaving the final score 54-15.

This big win in the tournament allowed the Warriorettes to advance to the championship game of the tournament.

These games within this tournament allows for White County to be able to play for against teams of different levels which they’ll continue to see all throughout the rest of the season.

This was a major game for the team offensively with Bella Winningham ('26) having 17 points followed by Lakelyn Grasty ('26) who had 12 points.

Following these two in scoring was Gracie Clark ('26) with 9 Points, Kylee Norris ('28) with 5 points Ashlyn Selby ('27) and Kaylee Sanders ('27) both with 3 points, followed by Kyra Fox ('26) and Sarah Winfree ('28) with 2 points apiece, and Sarah Peak ('28) having 1 point.

The Warriorettes had 12 overall assists with Selby having 5 followed by Whinningham who had 4.

Besides this being a heavily offensive game, the Warriorettes also put up numbers on defense with 8 defensive rebounds, 15 offensive rebounds, leaving the team at 23 overall rebounds, 20 overall steals, and 2 blocks.

Leading in rebounds this game was Selby and Clark who each had 5 rebounds overall.

Not only did Selby lead the team in this game but she also leads the team overall in rebounds having 144 this season, averaging 8 per game.

When talking to Dodgen about this game and his thoughts of the girls being able to hold this other team at such a low score where he said, “You just have to do the little thing and, you know, defensively, we did a good job and you know, you’re not trying to embarrass anybody, but you want your kids to play hard. And I feel like our kids played hard.”

This set the Warriorettes with a record of 17-2 and Letcher County Central with a 7-5 record breaking their 2 game win streak.

The Warriorettes would continue to play on Tuesday, December 30th in the championship game of the Sunshine Classic Tournament.

On December 27th, 2025, the White County Warriorettes won 61-41 in the second round of the Sunshine Classic tournament against the Ramsay Lady Rams, out of Alabama.

The starters for the Warriorettes were Gracie Clark ('26), Bella Winningham ('26), Lakelyn Grasty ('26), Kyra Fox ('26), and Ashlyn Selby ('27).

Unfortunately, there is not a roster available for the Ramsay Lady Rams, so there will also not be stats available either.

Ramsay won the tip off, and they had an early three pointer for the first points of the game. Grasty responded back with a middy to get White County on the scoreboard.

At the end of the first quarter, the Warriorette were up 23-13. Clark put up eight points, and Winningham followed with five.

In the beginning of the second quarter, the Lady Rams were starting to come back, but the Warriorettes’ defense held them to seven points.

Going into halftime, White County was up 35-20 against Ramsay, and they outscored the Lady Rams 12-7.

Both Norris and Grasty scored four points each. Selby and Taegan Angell ('27) put up two points of their own.

The Lady Rams fought back in the third quarter. They outscored the Warriorettes for the first time the entire game 17-7, cutting the lead down to 42-37.

Clark was had four points, and Norris scored three of her own.

Fox talked about the mindset going ino the fourth. “Our mindset going into the fourth quarter was make it this the best fourth quarter we’ve had of the year. We answered with that and knew that we were going to come out on to top, if we got over that bump and carried that mindset throughout the game.”

White County’s offense came back alive in the fourth, outscoring Ramsay 19-5. Grasty lead them in the fourth with eight points, and Clark followed with her own six. 

In the end the White County Warriorettes finished on top with a 61-41 victory against the Ramsay Lady Rams.

Head coach Michael Dodgen talked about the back and forth, especially in the second half. “They got some good basketball players, and they gave us a challenge with their athleticisms. And I felt like we stepped up and did a good job.”

Clark was the top scorer with 18 points, and Grasty had 16, which is her season high. Selby and Grasty had four assists each. 

Dodgens talked about the offense. “You got to be able to develop scorers, and Gracie, Ashlyn, Bella, Lakelyn, they can score. When Kyra, Kylee, and Sarah Winfree are able to give us extra points it is a plus because teams are going to try to start taking our best options away.”

Selby also had the most rebounds of the night with 10; eight defensive and two offensive. Grasty and Clark both had six total rebounds of their own.

On defensive, Clark stole the ball six times, and Grasty followed with four steals of her own.

The victory allowed the White County Warriorettes to head to the semifinals against the Letcher County Central, out of Kentucky, on December 29th, 2025.

On December 27th, 2025, the White County Warriorettes won the first round of the Sunshine Classic Tournament at Daytona Beach 78-15 against the Cornerstone Charter Academy Lady Ducks.

The starters for the Warriorettes were Kyra Fox ('26), Lakelyn Grasty ('26), Ashlyn Selby ('27), Gracie Clark ('26), and Bella Winningham ('26).

Kaidyn Claiborne ('29), Makenah Maddox ('28), Jayden Janis ('27), Lalelei Cox ('27), and Fernanda Sanchez-Trasladino ('28) got it started for the Lady Ducks.

Selby won the tip off, and Clark was able to grab the ball and pass it to Winningham. The ball was then overturned to the Lady Ducks.

The Warriorettes’ defense kept them from scoring, and Selby took the ball back from Sanchez-Trasladino.

After a few back and forths, Clark was the first to put up points on the scoreboard with a layup assisted by Winningham.

Clark then tipped the ball passed by Cox, and Grasty was able to steal it. Clark scored again on another layup assisted by Grasty.

The White County defense kept Cornerstone to zero points, and their offense came alive, putting up 33 at the end of the first quarter.

Winningham lead the team with 12 points of her own, and Grasty followed close behind by scoring eight.

After a 53-0 run, Claiborne put the Lady Ducks on the scoreboard after two made foul shots in the second quarter, but the Warriorettes continue to reign 57-2 going into the half. 

Clark said, “We made a huge offensive run 53-0 because we turned them over a lot with our agressive defense and traps.

“We helt them to only one shot attempted in the first half because our press was hard to beat,” she continued.

Grasty and Sara Winfree ('28) both had four points each out of the 24. Fox also made two points. 

The bench showed how deep they can go by spreading out the rest of the points made. Kylee Norris ('28), Kylie Norvell ('26), Miah Swindell ('27), and Kaylee Sanders ('27) all shot two in the second quarter.

Head coach Michael Dodgens said, “It’s good for them because they work just as hard as your first five, six, seven kids do. So when they get that opportunity it’s good for them to go out there and have success and be on the floor and do what they need to do.”

At the end of the third quarter, the Warriorettes outscored the Lady Ducks 8-5. Winfree lead the way with four points of her own. Norris and Sarah Peek both had two each.

For the Lady Ducks, Sanchez-Trasladino put up three points, and Claiborne had two.

By the end of the fourth quarter, White County outscored Cornerstone 13-8. Five of those points came from Halle Floyd. 

Norris and Taegan Angell ('27) both scored four points each of their own.

Sofia Domadia ('28) put up five points also for Cornerstone. Aviana Selva ('29) shot a three in the fourth.

White County ultimately won 78-15 against Cornerstone after coming off their first loss.

Clark spoke about it. “Our team needed an easy first round just to get us back on our feet and build up our confidence after the tough loss, and also just tog et us back into our rhythm after taking a few days off for Christmas.”

Everyone was involved in the victory. Winningham was the top scorer of the night with 14 points, and Grasty followed with 12. Sophomores Norris and Winfree had 11 and 10.

Grasty and Swindell both had three assists. Angell grabbed six rebounds, and Sarah Kate Peek ('28) grabbed five.

On Warriorettes’ defense, Selby stole the ball four times. Winningham and Grasty both had three steals.

Dodgens talked about the strong offense and defense displayed in the game. “Well that’s what you want to do. You want to get better every time you step on the floor, and you want to getbetter offensively and defensively. 

“ I felt like we did that and we moved and had gaps and angles and did what we were supposed to do and finish the way we were supposed to finish,” he continued.”

For the Lady Ducks’ offense, Domadia lead the way with five points, and Claiborne put up four of her own. Sanchez-Trasladino and Selva both had three.

Jayden Janis ('27) had two assists, and Makenah Maddox ('28) had one. Claiborne grabbed four rebounds. Selva and Janis both grabbed three. 

In a huge 78-15 victory, the White County Warriorettes move on to the second round of the Sunshine Classic Tournament, where they face the Ramsay Lady Rams later that night.

The White County Warriorettes faced the Mount. Juliet Lady Bears in the semifinals of the Frank’s Christmas Shootout Tournament, on December 21st, 2025.

Bella Winningham, Lakelyn Grasty ('26), Kyra Fox ('26), Ashlynn Selby ('27), and Gracie Clark ('26) got the game started for the Warriorettes.

The starters for the Lady Bears were Addy Osborne ('28), McClaine Ringenberg (27), Claire Emery ('26), Isabella Craig ('28), and Makayla Hopson ('26).

Ringenberg scored the first two points of the game to give Mount Juliet an early lead.

Clark was then fouled on by Hopson and sent to the free throw line. She made one of her shots to put White County on the score board.

After a few back and fourths between the two teams, Clark got a layup put the Warriorettes up 3-2.

On both sides of the court, the Warriorettes contained the Lady Bears in the first quarter, and they also went into the second with a 22-12 lead.

Clark racked up nine points. Winningham and Selby both put up four.

For the Lady Bears, Ringenberg also dropped nine. Osborne shot a three pointer for the rest of the points.

At the end of the first half, they outscored the Warriorettes 18-14. Mount Juliet narrowed the deficit to 36-30. 

Obsorne lead the way with seven points, and Aaliyah Holman ('28), who subbed in for Hopson, helped by dropping a three pointer.

For the Warriorettes, Winningham and Selby had five points each. Clark and Grasty both had two of their own.

In the third quarter, White County held their lead by ending the quarter winning 58-51. 

Winningham came alive in the third quarter, dropping ten points. Clark, Selby, and Grasty all had four each to add onto the score.

Osborne also made her prescence known. She racked up 12 points for Mount. Juliet. Emery, Craig, Hopson, and Clayton all scored two of their own.

Winningham continued to her reign in the fourth quarter with scoring another ten points. Grasty and Selby helped out by putting up six points each, and Clark scoring four.

For the Lady Bears, Osbrone dropped another 12 points, but the Warriorettes still came out on top.

They defeated Mount. Juliet 84-69 to move onto the tournament championship.

Grasty talked about the win. “This win prepared us for under pressure games, and it gives us more expierence playing a team that is versatile.”

Winningham ultimately scored 29 points, and 20 of them came from the second half of the game. 

This was the highest scoring game she has had all season, and she was named the Tri-Star Player of the Game.

Head coach Michael Dodgens spoke about her offensive game. “Shooters find a way to make shots. And sometimes you go through a little bit of a drought, but people that handle it and do what they’re supposed to do, they always find ways to get it out.”

“She spent a lot of time the other day in the gym. I think the other day she got up about 500 shots after practice, and that’s what it takes to get your rhythm back,” he continued.

Grasty also dropped her highest points for the season with 14, and Clark put up 19 points in the end.

Grasty talked about her mentality offensively. “I just went into the game like every other and took shots when I was open and created.”

Selby almost had another double-double. She had 19 points and nine rebounds.

Dodgens said, “I thought we had a really good job offensively tonight, and we got some stops. Mount Juliet is a good team, and they’re going to win a lot of games.”

Osborne racked up 34 points for Mount Juliet. Ringenberg added to the score with 11 of her own.

The Warriorettes handled both of sides of the ball to defeat a tough Mount Juliet team. 

Dodgens talked about the victory. “It’s a good win for us, just because of who they’ve played, and they beat a lot of good teams. We have just to continue to get better.”

They will play again on December 22nd at 7:30 p.m. against York Institute in the Frank’s Christmas Shootout Championship.

On Saturday, December 20th White County Boy’s Basketball team went into round two of Frank's Christmas Shootout, which was being hosted at Roy Sewell gymnasium, where they played Liberty Creeks Wolves from Gallatin Tennessee.

 The Warriors took their second win of this tournament over the Wolves 59-48 sending them into the championship game on Monday, December 22nd.

In the first quarter the Warriors took a 11 point lead over the wolves with Tucker Pinion ('27) scoring 7 points followed by Cole Sims ('27) and Jack Carpenter ('27) who both had six points each.

The Wolves were only able to put up eight points with Riley Clifton having four points followed by Cole Hillis having two points and Wyatt Graves and Keller Haack each having one.

The Warriors continued this stretch of taking the lead in the second quarter where they led with the score being 36-22.

Cole Sims led the team this quarter putting up 7 points, with Pinion following closely behind with 5 points. Following these two was Carpenter with 3 points and Lukas Smith ('26) with two.

The Wolves were able to put up 14 more points with Rett Hogg having 4, Tre Foster and Cole Hillis each having 3 points followed by Clifton and Malachai Lowe having two points apiece.

This left the Wolves in a 14 point deficit, which teams don’t tend to come back from, going into half time.

Going into the third quarter, White County struggled to move the ball as much on offense, only having 13 points with Sims scoring 10 of the 13 and Tucker Pinion scoring the other 3.

On the other hand, Liberty Creek found the hoop a little more this quarter having 15 points. Rett Hogg scored 6 of the 15 followed by Hillis having 3, and Clifton, Tre Foster, and Lowe all scoring 2 apiece.

This left the score going into the final quarter being 49-37, the Wolves trailing behind by 12 points.

The Warriors went into the fourth quarter with Cole Sims scoring 7 points. Following Sims' scoring was Smith who put up 3 points off of foul shots allowing the Warriors to score 10 points in this final quarter.

The Wolves continued to try and find the basket to come back, being unable to do so, only scoring 11 in this final quarter with Lowe scoring, Hogg scoring 4, and Clifton scoring 2.

This left the game with a final score of 59-48. This sends the Warriors into the Championship game where the Warriors look to face Cannon County who is currently undefeated in the 25/26 season.

Sims, who received the player of the game, scored 30 points this game. Sims was asked what his mindset was going into this game allowing him to have such a good performance where he said, “Going into today's game, we knew they were a big physical team so we knew we had to crash the boards and play hard to let our defense translate to offense and score.”

Going into this championship game, head coach Eric Mitchell gave his opinions going into it where he said, “We’re very proud of these guys for getting there. We’ve won several in a row. I think we’ve won 10 games and I think we only won 12 last year so they’re playing really well, but we face a tough opponent Monday in the championship Cannon County is really good.”

Going into this game Monday against undefeated Cannon County, Sim said, “We know they’re good, they’re a well coached team. We are going to have to come out and play hard on Monday.”

The Warriors will face Cannon County's Lions on Monday, December 22nd in the championship round of Frank’s Christmas Shootout.

The White County Warriorettes’ basketball team defeated the Southwind Lady Jaguars in the first round of the Frank’s Christmas Shootout Tournament, being held at  Roy Sewell Gymansium, on December 19th, 2025.

The starters for the Warriorettes were Bella Winningham ('26), Ashlyn Selby ('27), Kyra Fox ('26), Gracie Clark ('26), and Lakelyn Grasty ('26).

On the other side, Ashley Guest ('26), Kirsten Hinton ('28), Canija Madison ('26), Carrianna Madison ('27), and Unique Burnett ('28) got it started for the Lady Jaguars.

Burnett got the momentum started with the first points of the game for Southwind. She turned around again and scored to extend the lead 4-0.

Grasty followed with the first points for the Warriorettes. She shot two free throws and made one after a collision going up for a layup. 

Clark then created back to back turnovers, and she gained points off them to give the lead back to the White County.

The Warriorettes never gave back the lead to the Lady Jaguars. After the first quarter, they were up 23-6.

Clark shot 14 points of the 23. Selby helped also with her own eight points.

Head coach Michael Dodgens talked about getting the momentum started offensively. “I thought offensively we did a really good job, especially when our shots weren’t falling, but we played defense and created some offense off our defense”

For Southwind, Burnett scored the majority of the points in the beginning of the quarter, and Madison having the rest.

White County continued to extend their lead in the second quarter. They finished the second half winning 40-12.

Kylie Norris came alive off the bench and made two three-pointers, and Winningham also racked up nine points. 

Robinson made four out of the six of the Lady Jaguars points in the second quarter. 

In the beginning of the second half, Clark added four more points to her stat sheet, and Selby dropped five points of her own.

The starters for the Warriorettes were then taken out towards the end of the third quarter, but the bench showed how deep they can run.

Norris continued to racked up seven more points. This is her second game in a row of reaching double digits in points.

Miah Jo Swindell and Sara Winfree both dropped some points. Swindell shot a three, and Winfree put up two.

White County also continued to contain Southwind for the third quarter, only allowing them four points. Madison and Robinson were the only Lady Jaguars to score.

Lady Jaguars outscored the Warriorettes 11-8 in the fourth quarter, for the first time since the beginning of the game. 

Zaria Blocker shot five out of the 11 points, and Burnett put up another four points. 

For the Warriorettes, Rhaleigh Cloyd made two three-pointers, and Teagan Angell shot the other two points.

White County defeated Southwind 69-27 in the first round of the Frank’s Christmas Shootout. 

Clark finished the game with 18 points, and she was rewared the Tri-Star Player of the Game.

Both Norris and Selby added 13 points to the score, and Winningham followed by putting up 11 points of her own.

Burnett had ten out of 27 of the Lady Jaguars points, and Robinson dropped eight points.

The Frank’s Christmas Shootout is filled with tough team. Dodgens spoke about the potential opponents in the bracket. “ It’s a challenge, and for us to get where we want to, we need to challenge ourselves and compete against the best.”

Clark added about the rest of the tournament. “I’m excited because every team for the most part in this tournament is really good. It’s making a statement, if we win.”

Following the White County versus Southwind game, Dyersburg and Mount Juliet faced off, and Mount Juliet came out victourious in the end.

The Warriorettes will play the Mount Juliet Lady Bears in the second round of the Frank’s Christmas Shootout on December 20th, 2025 at 8 p.m.

On December 19th, the Warriors kicked off Frank’s Christmas Shootout at Roy Sewell 

Gymnasium. The Warriors took on the Whitwell Tigers coming out with a 96-70 win.

The Warriors took the lead in the 1st quarter with Mason Steele ('26) putting up 11 points 

and Tucker Pinion ('27) followed close behind with 9.

The Tigers trailed behind by 8 with Tyson Brashears ('26) scoring 13 and Ryder Burns ('28) following behind him with 5 points.

This allowed the Warriors to lead into the second quarter 28-20. In this second quarter the Warriors capability to move the ball offensively with Jack Carpenter ('27) having 11 points and Cole Sims ('27) having 7 points.

This strong offensive scoring allowed White County to put up 29 points combined in the second quarter leaving them with a 22 point lead over Whitwell who was only able to score 15 points this quarter with 10 of the 15 resulting from player Jordan Powell ('28).

Heading into the second half of the game, in the third quarter the Warriors moved the ball seeing four different players score putting up 33 points with Pinion having 14 points and following behind him Carpenter scoring 8 points, Steele with 7 points, and Sims with 4.

The Tigers were only able to put up 19 points in the third with Brashears scoring 8, Brody Harvey ('28) having 7, and Powell and Burns both having 2 points. 

This set White County with a 90-54 lead over Whitwell, setting the Tigers in a bad spot going into the fourth quarter.

Taking this lead allowed head coach Eric Mitchell to go deep into his bench allowing new players to come in which he’s now been able to do much this 25/26 season. 

“It was good for those younger guys to get some playing time. They haven’t seen much time on the court this season and we may end up needing them down the road.” said Mitchell when asked about this unexpected play time after taking this big lead.

In the fourth quarter, minimizing the play time of starters White County only scored 9 with Noah Skieth ('26) having 5 and Griffin Adams ('28) scoring 1.

The Warriors showed that even deep within the bench they still have defense deep within only allowing Whitwell 16 points. 

Whitwell was led in the fourth quarter with Powell having 14 of the 16 points and Harvey having the other two. 

This resulted in the game ending 96-70 with the Warriors taking a big win over Whitwell for the second time this 25/26 season.

Pinion ended the game with 24 points, winning player of the game. 

“It feels great because I played well but more importantly we got the win so I'm pleased with the outcome of the game regardless,” said Pinion.

Following Pinion in scoring was Steele who put up 21. “It felt good helping out but the team won as a whole we came out pretty slow but eventually we found the 3 and then we picked it up,” said Steele when reflecting on his input to the team's win.

“Its gonna get a lot tougher,” Mitchell stated when asked about the outlook of the rest of the tournament. Mitchell followed up saying, “Liberty Creek is really good.They’re big, they rebound, We’re gonna have to keep shooting like we’ve been and pick up our defensive intensity.”

Steele also made a similar statement saying, "There's some good teams but I think we can win if we keep playing like we’ve been playing.”

The Warriors are set to play Liberty Creek’s Wolves on Saturday, December 19th at 2:00 P.M..

On Monday night, the Lady Bees traveled to the King’s Academy Lions, losing the game 62-56.

This will be the only time the Lady Bees play the Lions this season.

Later in the week they hosted the Blackman Blaze and won 52-50 with a buzzer beater in double overtime.

The Lady Bees offense has looked great with great leaders and scorers.

Defensively the Lady Bees are really strong where they get a ton of rebounds, steals, and all around a great group of defenders

Despite their 6-3 record the Lady Bees have played some very talented teams in non-conference play. 

As the Lady Bees continue their 25-26 season they look to win some more games.

The Lady Bees from Baxter will host North Broward Prep Eagles on December 19th. The Eagles are currently 7-1 on the season.

On Monday night, the Upperman Bees traveled to the Lawson Lighting, winning the game 62-42. 

As the Bees won the tough game against the Lighting this will  be the only time they face off in the 25-26 season 

The Bees started the season off facing the Brentwood Bruins losing 59-62. 

Eventually the Bees got on the winning side as they only lost one since falling to the Bruins. 

As the Bees had a high powered offense last year it has carried over to this season with the Bees scoring over 60 points in each game except for their two losses. 

Defensively the Bees have looked great with most teams not even scoring 60 or more on them. 

Baxter will be playing at home against the Tavares Bulldogs on December 18th. The Bulldogs currently sit at 5-4 on the season.

The Upper Cumberland girl’s basketball had a busy first half of the week. 

The White County Warriorettes continue their eight game winning streak and undefeated season so far. 

At home, on December 8th, 2025, they beat the Smith County Lady Owls 60-43. 

The next day, the Warriorettes defeated the Dekalb County Tigerettes 74-41 at Dekalb County.

The Cumberland County Lady Jets were on a three game winning streak; one game coming from a 60-53 away victory against the Silverdale Lady Sea Hawks on December 8th.

The streak came to an end the following day from a 33-49 loss to the York Institute Dragonettes.

The Dragonettes are ranked number one in District 6 AA, and they haven’t lost at home so far this season.

The Livingston Lady Wildcats haven’t had a strong start to the season despite going to sectionals last year.

They had their first win of the season on December 8th in a 62-40 victory against the Macon County Tigerettes.

The Wildcats then lost the next game 53-46 against Jackson County at Jackson County. 

The Stone Memorial Lady Panthers are also on a hot start to the season. They are 8-0.

On December 8th, they won 68-59 at home against Clarkrange. The following game, they defeated Pickett County 69-64 in a thriller OT.

The Upperman Lady Bees only played on December 8th. They lost 62-56 to The King’s Academy in Seymour.

The Cookeville Lady Cavaliers lost to Lipscomb Academy 73-63 on December 9th in Nashville. Despite the loss, they are expected to have a strong season.

The Van Buren Eaglettes went 1-1 in the past two days. They won their first game 74-21 against the Sequatchie County Lady Indians at Sequatchie County on December 8th.

The Eaglettes then lost 72-65 the next day at Coalfield against the Coalfield Lady Yellow Jackets.

The Warren County Lady Pioneers only played December 9th against Franklin County Lady Admirals at home. They started a two game winning streak with the 63-48 victory. 

There are more games the rest of the week, but due to the deadline, they cannot be covered.

The Upper Cumberland Boys basketball teams have started off with a busy the early half of the December 8th through 12th week. 

On December 10th, White Counties Warriors took on Smith Counties Owls. The Warriors came out with a buzzer beater winning shot by Mason Steele(26’) to make the score 62-61 with zero seconds left on the clock.

Following this game, the Warriors took on Dekalb Counties Tigers on the road where they took a 62-42 win.

Heading to the top of the plateau, Stone Memorials panthers took on Pickett County Tuesday, December 9th. The Panthers took their third loss for the season 37-44. 

The Panthers are having a rough start after losing their key player Cade Capps compared to their 24/25 season where they started off with a 5-1 record. 

On the other side, Cumberland Counties Jets played York Institute where they won 60-43. This win set the Jets to have a 7-2 win streak already setting them to have a better season then their 24/25 season where they went 8-22.

On the other side of the Upper Cumberland program, Cookeville's Cavaliers took on Lipscomb Academy where they took their second loss of the 25/26 season. 

The Cavaliers lost 63-73 to the Mustangs setting their current record to 4-2.

Moving back to the 3A district 7, Upperman Bees took on Lawson’s Lightnings on December 8th, where they won 63-73. 

This win set upperman with a 7-2 record with a four game win streak after their loss to Tennessee Heat November 25th in the Mt Juliet Thanksgiving Tournament.

Following this, Livingston Academy’s Wildcats came back after having their season postponed. Livingston took on Jackson County for their first game back.

The Wildcats took a rough loss to the Blue Devils, 68-31. This set the Wildcats record 0-1 looking to hopefully get their season back on track.

On the other hand, in 4A district 6, December 9th Warren County Pioneers played Franklin Admirals taking a 70-68 loss.

This loss set their record to 5-1 where they look to play Page December 12th where they hope to come back and win again. 

Moving down to district 1A district 6, Van Buren Eagles won 34-31 December 8th against the Sequatchie County Indians.

This set the eagles with a 3-3 record currently in the 25/26 season.

The expectations look high for the Upper Cumberlands boys basketball teams going further into the season.

The White County Board of Education has implemented new rules regarding the use of phones in athletic settings.

Due to the recent events at Livingston, there is now extra precaution placed in White County athletics to protect the players.

White County Schools’ Director Kurt Dronebarger said, “White County Schools holds all of our athletic programs to the highest standards of sportsmanship and integrity.”

“We constantly monitor and evaluate our athletic programs and seize the opportunities to pursue excellence. As a result, all current and future coaches in White County Schools will be required to take an additional course in the prevention of bullying, hazing, and inappropriate behaviors” he continued.

From a coaching perspective, head boys’ basketball coach Eric Mitchell spoke about the change he implemented with his team. “They [White County Board of Education] informed us the locker room has to stay locked till practice, and we take up their phones before practice and games now.”

Spring sports are also taking action during their winter conditioning.

The softball team has removed phones in the locker room, and they have to be placed in a container till practice is concluded.

Along with the new changes in the athletics program, coaches are having to take additional educational courses to further their knowledge over bullying and hazing in sports teams.

Dronebarger said, “We consider the health and safety of our student-athletes with the highest regard and will continue to set high expectations for our athletes, coaches, and fans.”

The White County Board of Education has taken early action to protect the student-athletes with new rules regarding the use of phones in an athletic environment.

1. Indiana (13-0)

The Hoosiers move to number one after a dominant win in the Big Ten championship with Heisman finalist quarterback Fernando Mendoza throwing dimes down the field and the defense racking up five sacks. 

2. Georgia (12-1)

The Bulldogs move up to the number 2 spot after taking over the SEC championship and their strength of schedule.  

3. Texas A&M (11-1)

The Aggies make the third spot because of how good both the defense and offense are looking right now.

4. Texas Tech (12-1)

The Red Raiders look great defensively as they won the Big 12 conference championship 34-7. 

5. Oregon (11-1)

The Ducks have looked great under their explosive offense with quarterback Dante Moore. 

6. Ole Miss (11-1)

After losing their head coach to LSU the Rebels still remain great and are in the playoffs. 

7. Ohio State (12-1)

The Buckeyes drop six spots because of their strength of schedule but still remain top twelve because of only having one loss. 

8. Oklahoma (10-2)

The Sooners have looked great this season and look to have that same mentality in the playoffs.

9. Notre Dame ( 10-2)

After dropping the first two games the Fighting Irish have won ten straight but didn’t make the playoffs according to the college football committee. 

10. Vanderbilt (10-2)

The Commodores looked great this season with qb Diego Pavia but didn’t make the playoffs. 

11. BYU (11-2)

The Cougars dropped out from the playoffs after their loss to Texas Tech this past week.  

12. Tulane (11-2)

The Green Wave made the playoffs after winning the ACC championship. 

1.Ohio State- (3-0)

The Buckeyes took on Ohio and won 37-9 with their defense looking great but also the offense needs some cleaning up. 

2. Penn State- (3-0)

The Nittany Lions looked great in their game against Villanova racking up 228 yards in the air.

3. LSU- (3-0)

The Tigers took on Florida having a big defensive day picking off DJ Lagway five times.

4. Miami FL- (3-0)

The Hurricanes took on South Florida, having a big time win 49-12.

5. Oregon- (3-0)

The Ducks took on Northwestern winning 34-14.

6. Georgia- (3-0)

The Bulldogs took on the Volunteers with a big win in Neyland Stadium 44-41. 

7. Florida State- (2-0)

The Seminoles had a bye week but the last few weeks they have looked good. 

8. Texas A&M- (3-0)

The Aggies took on the Fighting Irish winning with a touchdown on 4th & goal at the end of the game.

9. Tennessee- (2-1)

The Vols lost a hard fought game in overtime but their quarterback Joey Aguilar had a game with 371 yards. 

10. Iowa State- (4-0)

The Cyclones have had a great season so far with them winning their last game 24-16. 

11. Georgia Tech- (3-0)

The Yellow Jackets took down Clemson winning big time 24-21. 

12. Illinois- (3-0)

The Fighting Illini had a good game against WMU winning 38-0.

On November 12th, 2025, Kylie Norvell (‘26) signed to play softball for Belmont University. 

Belmont University is a Division-1 private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. 

In an interview with Michael Lindsay, Norvell talked about her commitment. “I’m so happy I’m officially a Bruin. I love the community at Belmont; it’s very Christ-centered, and that’s what I wanted in a college.”

Norvell is the second White County softball player in recent years to have signed to a D1 school. Caydrah Parker (‘22) signing to University of South Carolina was the first in 2022.

In the same interview, head coach Jerry Roberts (‘93)  said, “Any time you can coach a player of Kylie’s standard and see her go onto the next level is special.”

He continued, “What an awesome accomplishment for her; all the tears and sweat that kid has put in for softball is amazing. She deserves every bit of this.”

All through her high school career, she will start all four years at shortstop for the Warriorettes.

In her first three years, she was on the 7-3A All District and All- Tournament Team. She was also awarded the Offensive MVP back to back her sophomore and junior year.

Norvell has made her mark in White County High School history with her D1 signing to be a Lady Bruin at Belmont University.

The White County Warriors’ football team faced the Greeneville Greene Devils at Burley Stadium for the second round of the TSSAA Playoffs on November 14th, 2025.

The first quarter was not recorded. Greeneville took the lead 14-0.

Heading into the second, the Warriors’ offense started second down and 12 on their own 19-yard line.

They were not able to get a first down, and Dowell punted the ball to the Greene Devils’ 48-yard line.

OLB Carter Rich (‘26) had a huge stop by sacking QB Caden Baugh (‘26) for a loss of five-yards.

Bryson Hogg (‘27) added another one-yard loss by stopping Taren Claridy (‘27). Baugh then overthrows WR Zaydyn Anderson (‘26) to bring the Greene Devils to fourth down and 16.

Cole Franklin punts the ball to Hogg at the Warriors’ 27-yard. 

On the first play of the drive, QB Tucker Pinion (‘27) faked a bubble screen pass to RB Cole Sims (‘27) and threw a 28-yard pass to Hogg for a first down.

Later, on fourth down and six, Sims is brought down by Jude Dyer (‘27) for a loss of four yards. A delay of game flag is called on White County to push them back to fourth down and 15.

Pinion pouch kicked to start Greeneville at their one-yard line.

WR Cole Smith was wide open for a 14-yard run for a first down and more. Franklin finished off the second drive for another first down. Claridy then picks up his own 15-yards.

Greeneville's reign down the field was stopped when DE Lex Winfree took down Baugh. When he was falling, he threw a soft lob in the air that was intercepted by Eli Smith (‘27).

White County’s offense took over at their 28-yard line, but they were not able to capitalize off the interception. 

At the end of the first half, Baugh recovered his interception by throwing a pass to Claridy over the middle for a 70-yard TD to increase the gap 21-0.

Head Coach David Foster talked about the offense heading into the second half.  “We started running. We started cracking their linebacker and pinning and pulling, and getting them on edge.”

In the third quarter, a personal targeting penalty was called against the Warriors that gave the Greene Devils a 15-yard gain.

With two-yard to the endzone, Dyer ran in another TD to extend the lead 28-0.

On White County’s third down, Pinion had a huge 19-yard pass to Eli Sparkman (‘27), but a holding flag brought them back.

Foster spoke about the play. “We threw Sparkman down the scene because of how they played their weak side safety, and we had a play. He didn’t bring it in.”

Another sack against Pinion by Dyer brought on another seven-yard loss and a turnover.

During Greeneville’s offense, Baugh threw another deep throw to Franklin for a 35-yard TD, expanding the lead 35-0.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Pinion threw a 30-yard pass to Hogg over the middle. 

On the following play, Sims was brought down by Claridy for a loss of four yards. 

White County went for the fourth down. Pinion threw an incomplete pass to Eli Smith, but it was brought back after a pass interference was called against Greeneville. 

They went on fourth down again, and Pinion was a few yards shy from getting a first down in the redzone.

The Warriors were not able to take back the lead and ultimately lost to the Greene Devils 35-0.

Foster spoke about defense keeping a strong Greeneville offense down. “Jojo traveled with number one and did a great job and to put them under pressure. Their quarterback completed eight straight passes in a row in the game before.”

He continued, “They had not felt under any pressure, other than the Sevier County game, this whole year, so we sacked them, forced an interception, and made them drive it. We wanted to hit them hard.”

Bryson Hogg led the way in receiving yards with 52-yards, and Sparkman had his own 19-yards.

On the rushing side, Sims had 30-yards, and Pinion added his own 22-yards. For Greeneville, Baugh had 13-yards, and Dyer had 10-yards.

The White County Warriors finished their season in defeat by losing 35-0 by the Greeneville Greene Devils in the second round of the TSSAA Playoffs on November 15th, 2025.

In the 2024-2025 Tennessee high school playoffs, TSSAA changed how the bracket is laid out. Many schools, including White County High School, are feeling the effects of the change.

The bracket before led to closer regions playing against each other. That layout had a high chance of district matchups facing once again.

The new layout changes the teams up and allows them to face someone new, but this also creates chaos for the traveling school.

White County football head coach David Foster talked about the change. “I like getting the chance to have rematches in the playoffs under the old system.”

He continued, “ Like last year, if Stone had beat Loudon, we would have played them in the second round, and then in the third round, we played Macon. I think that makes your rivalry stronger”

This season the Warriors’ football team had to travel 168 miles, almost three hours, to face the Greeneville Greene Devils.

Athletic director Terry Crain spoke about the distance. “Anytime that you have to travel more than an hour, that's too much. I think they could do something different to make it easier on the team. The old way that we used to do the playoffs was a good way, I thought.”

The travel time also caused issues for the fans that wanted to support the football players in the playoffs, and for the students themselves, it was too long of a distance for them to drive.

The fans were not the only ones that had trouble with the distance. Principal Greg Wilson (‘85) said, “It’s a burden on the schools transportation wise, expense wise. And, you know, if we’d been in the second round in the previous way, we would have traveled probably no more than 30 miles.” 

“Mr. Wilson, Scott Wilson, said it looks good on paper, and I agree. But when you have to pay for buses, you know, to go 168 miles you get into some calls. I would like to go back to being regionally closer and everything; where it brings expenses down,” he added.

For schools like Science Hill, who had to travel 270 miles to Lebanon to face Green Hill, they expected to get back the next morning at around 4 a.m. 

The late arrivals can cause a safety issue for the high school student athletes who have to drive that late after playing a football game back to their homes. 

Fortunately, the Warriors were able to arrive back at school as late as midnight. 

The trip back home is not the only issue. Administration and coaching staff also have to plan around getting there.

Luckily, they were able to make it an enjoyable day for the football players. The coaching staff took the players out to eat in Knoxville then had a pit stop in Jefferson County to go through walkthroughs prior to the game itself.

Foster said, “We were lucky to have boosters help our kids that wanted to make it happen.”

White County High School was fortunate enough to handle the situation well, but not all schools are able to.

TSSAA changes in playoffs have made it difficult for the majority of the traveling schools regarding cost and safety of the student athletes.

The White County Warriors will play a district game against the Macon County Tigers at Dee Harris Field on September 26th, 2025 at seven pm. 

The Warriors have been on a hot streak. After the first game loss, they have not been defeated. 

White County’s offense has been led by RB Cole Sims (‘27), who has 803 total yards in the last five games. QB Tucker Pinion (‘27) accompanies him with his own 207 rushing yards and 319 passing yards.

On the other side of Pinion throws, WR Bryson Hogg (‘27) has 39 receiving yards per game, and WR Eli Smith (‘27) has 12.2 receiving yards per game. 

The true strength of White County comes from their defense. They have had five interceptions in their last four games, three coming from Smith. He also holds the most tackles for the team with 8.6 per game

 DE Hunter Broyles (‘26) has recorded four sacks, Lex Winfree (‘27) has two of his own, and he has caused two fumbles.

The defense held their own against the Tullahoma Wildcats, who were 3-0. The Wildcats had previously outscored their opponents 131- 57, but they were only allowed 13 against the Warriors. 

White County played their first region game away at Livingston Academy. The entire game was close, and they ultimately came out on top, winning 14-13.

 Hogg was the one who secured the victory with a hard catch that was surrounded by Wild Cats. He stumbled at first, but he was able to run it into the endzone for the first region win.

On the other side of the field, the Macon County Tigers are the defending Tennessee 4A State Champions, and number 46 in Tennessee. They are currently 4-0, out scoring their opponents 134-28. 

In their games against Westmoreland, who they beat 35-15, they had a total of 345 yards: 50 passing and 295 rushing.

 When they beat Trousdale 44-7, they recorded negative seven passing yards, 175 rushing yards, for a total of 168 yards.

The Tigers played their first region game against the Dekalb County Tigers. They stayed ahead throughout the entire game, ultimately winning 42-0.

The White County Warriors and the Macon County Tigers will both be fighting to keep their streaks alive and move onto 2-0 in the region. 

The White County Warriors traveled to play their first region game against the Livingston Academy Wildcats. In a long fought battle, the Warriors secured the win 14-13.

K Noah Skeith kicked off the game to the Livingston 40-yard line with a pooch kick. The Wildcats were unable to get a first down in their first drive of the game. This will be a running theme of the entire game for both sides.

White County began their first drive at their own 25-yard line. RB Cole Sims (‘27) was able to get the first down at their 40-yard line with a gain of five-yards.

They were ineffective in completing another first drive. Marcus Azzalini (‘26) punted the ball to WR Jesse Gentry (‘26) at the Livingston 30-yard line.

In the following play, QB Adrian Jenkins (‘26) threw to WR Rocco Carwile (‘26) for a first down at their own 45-yard line. 

They couldn’t capitalize off the first down. K Coy Smith (‘27) punted away to Sims at the White County 23-yard line.

The Warriors were not able to complete a first down. Jojo Dowell (‘27) punted the ball to the Livingston 45-yard line to Gentry. Gentry muffed the ball, and Eli Smith (‘27) recovered it, giving it back to White County.

QB Tucker Pinion then threw an interception to Kaden Weitzel (‘26) to the Warriors’ 46-yard line to give the ball back to the Wildcats, just after gaining the ball back.

In the beginning of the second quarter, C. Smith punted the ball on fourth down to Sims. He failed to catch the ball, but he was able to recover it.

Dowell then punted for the Warriors on their own fourth down to Gentry at the Warriors’ 35-yard line. Weitzel ran for 12-yards for a Livingston first down at the 47-yard line.

On the fourth down for Livingston, in the following play,, the Wild Cats pulled a fake punt to the right side. They secured the first down.

In the same drive, Hunter Broyles (‘26) stopped Livingston on fourth and one at White County’s 27-yard line. Both teams entered the second half 0-0.

Heading into the second half, head Coach David Foster talked about the gameplan after the scoreless first half. “Livingston was playing well and making things difficult, and you're playing an undefeated team on the road that soundly beat three other teams.”

Foster continues, “So part of it was just it’s a game of attrition, and we wanted to play field position, stay confident. We’re not going to score on every drive. We have to earn everything.”

C. Smith kicked-off the second half to Sims. He returned the ball to the Warrior’s 31-yard line.

Later in the third quarter, Dowell lands a punt at the Wildcats’ one-yard line for an almost 55-yard punt.

Jenkins then threw a sling pass to Carwile. He ran a 99-yard TD to take a 7-0 lead and the first points of the game.

Foster spoke about defense and offense staying alive, especially after the big Livingston TD. “We don’t believe we lost. We just ran out of time, so as long as there’s time on the clock, we’re going to keep playing.”

Gavvin Conley added, “Just remembering that we are not a momentum based team and taking it one play at a time like we’ve been coached. That’s how we kept our morale and resilience up.”

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Pinion threw a deep pass to E. Smith, but there was a pass interference against Livingston that started them at the Wildcats’ 20-yard line.

Sims tied up the game 7-7 with a 20-yard TD on the following play, but Weitzel answered back with his own 20-yard TD. The extra point was no good, leaving the score 13-7.

The Warriors started their drive at their own 35-yard line. Pinion got loose for a gain of 25-yards to Livingston's 35-yard line.

White County wasn’t able to score to at least tie up the game with limited time left in the game. The Warriors' defense stayed alive and let the offense start at their own 45-yard line. 

Pinion then threw a deep pass to WR Bryson Hogg (‘27) at the Wildcat’s 35-yard line. He caught the ball, even though he was surrounded by blue jerseys. 

Hogg ran in the TD for White County. The extra point was good, which gave a 14-13 victory for the Warriors.

Conley talked about the ending relief. “After a long fought game on both sides of the ball, I was relieved Hogg made a huge play for a hard win.”

White County moved their winning streak up to four and started region play with a hard fought victory.

The White County Warriors will play another region matchup against the Macon County Tigers at Dee Harris Field on September 26th, 2025 at seven p.m.

September 9th, The Warriorettes played taking a big district win over Watertown high school's Lady Purple Tigers.

The Warriorettes had two goals by freshman Kylee Morton(‘29). These goals put Morton at 3 goals so far for her freshman season. Sadly Morton will be out on medical relief due to a sprained ankle their following game against upperman.

September 11th, The warriorettes traveled to Baxter, Tennessee and took on uppermans Lady Bees soccer team. 

After starting the game slow, the Warriorettes brought home a 3-0 win over the Lady Bees.

During the first half of the game, the Warriorettes came out slow only having one goal, which came from an own goal against the lady bees on a corner kick. 

After their slow first half, the Warriorettes came back swinging having two goals by Freshman, Makayla Sullivan (‘29). 

Sullivan's first goal came from a shot far outside the 18 yard box, hitting the back left corner of the goal. 

On the defensive side freshman Kady Brymer (‘29) has stepped up filling the role of goalie while Kylie Allen (‘28) has been on medical relief for a concussion.

Brymer has had two shutouts, the first being against Watertown and the second being Upperman, within this short period of time only allowing 4 goals against her out of the 4 games played.

Following Brymer stepping up this season, after losing many key players last season, the Warriorettes have had many people step up filling in roles all across the field such as Maleigha Usrey(‘27), their foreign exchange student Agatha Anderson(‘27), Ali Ornelas(‘29), Maddie Austin(‘28) and many other players.

September 16th the Warriorettes will take on Smith Counties Lady Owls who are currently 7-1-1, having a loss to Watertown and a tie with Springfield.

Following this game the Warriorettes will be playing a big district game playing Dekalb county who is currently 4-3. Dekalb County has lost to Central Magnet, Hopkins County Central, and CSAS.

The Warriorettes are looking to hopefully keep their win streak going against both of these teams and take a big district win.

The White County Warrior football team played a non-conference game against the Tullahoma Wildcats at Dee Harris Field on September 12th, 2025.

WR Bryson Hogg (‘27) started the game with a kick-off return to the Warriors’ 42 yard line. Tullahoma got a flag for holding, moving the Warriors forward to Wildcats’ 48 yard line, which will be a common theme in the game.

After a long drive, RB Cole Sims (‘27) was able to secure a 7-0 lead with a 20-yard TD for White County, 6:23 minutes into the game.

K Noah Skeith (‘26) did a pooch kick on kick-off. Wildcat MLB Corbin Avins (‘27) got Tullahoma to start offense at their 32-yard line, but another holding flag would move them back 10 yards.

Head Coach David Foster spoke about the change in kick. “The first time they touched the ball, number two ran it back 100 yards. 22 had run it back multiple times, so we just wanted to limit that part of the game and make them drive the field if they wanted to beat us.”

Warrior defense contained the Wildcats from scoring at the end of the first quarter. White County started on their nine-yard line for the beginning of the second quarter.

Sims began the second with an 18-yard run to the Warriors 38-yard line, but they were unable to complete the drive.

Tullahoma received a fair-catch at their 40-yard line. QB Lucas Reed (‘26) completed a throw to WR Alex Bobo (‘26) at the Warriors’ 10-yard line. 

RB Marvancy Johnson (‘26) finished the drive with a 10-yard TD and 3:49 minutes remaining of the half, tying up the score 7-7. 

With 2:01 minutes left of the half, QB Tucker Pinion (‘27) got loose. He had a 51-yard run. Skeith completed a punt, for the first time of the season, to bring a 10-7 lead back to the Warriors going into halftime. 

Skeith kicked another pooch kick, and WR Zion Jeffery (‘28) recovered and ran 13-yard for the Wildcats to start the second half at their 40-yard line.

11:45 into the third quarter. Reed threw a pass intended for WR Julian Cole (‘27), but it was intercepted by Smith. He then fumbled the ball, but the Warriors recovered it.

White County wasn’t able to capitalize off the interception, and ultimately Tullahoma was given the ball back. 

Two minutes left of the third, DE Lex Winfree (‘27) sacked Reed and caused a fumble. DE Hunter Broyles (‘26) swiped the ball, giving possession back to the Warriors.

Hogg had a 16-yard run with 44.8 seconds left to start the fourth quarter at Tullahoma’s 13-yard line. Pinion wiggled his way into the red zone.

Sims was then tackled by Sam Bobo (‘26) that caused a fumble. White County was able to recover the ball, but in the end they lost yard to the fumble.

With 10:46 minutes left of the game, Sims got even with a 10-yard TD to extend the lead 17-7.

On defense, Broyles sacked Reed for a loss of two-yards. OLB Eli Sparkman (‘27) intercepted the throw made by Reed that was tipped by OLB Carter Rich (‘26).

Foster spoke about the defense throughout the game. “I thought our defense played super hard and played with a lot of focus and intensity to carry out the game plan.”

Hogg ran for 27 yards. Pinion added to the run with his own 22-yard run. Sims finished the drive off and entered the end zone with 5:48 minutes remaining of the game, continuing the gap 24-7. 

With 3:44 minutes remaining of the game, Johnson scored, closing the gap 24-13. The Wildcats went for an extra point, but the snap was low to backup QB Brady Scott (‘28). Scott tried running to the endzone, but he was stopped by Hogg.

Broyles added onto the overall game and moving into district play. “I was extremely proud of this team. It’s a big win and a huge morale booster going into the region games.”

The White County Warriors ultimately secured a 24-13 win against the Tullahoma Wildcats. Warriors are set to play their first district game against the Livingston Wildcats at Tom Davis Memorial Stadium on September 19th, 2025.

The White County High School soccer team won their opening two games this week with a combined score of 8-2.

Including their preseason friendly against Middle Tennessee Christian School of Murfreesboro, the Warriors have won three straight. 

The Warriors couldn’t have asked for a better start to their season as the two wins give them momentum and confidence moving into week 2.

First-year head coach Cameron Dronebarger said, “To start the season 2-0, it’s hard to have many complaints.”

He added, “It gives myself, coach Kurt Dronebarger, and the players much needed momentum and confidence moving forward into a tougher stretch of our season.”

The Warriors traveled to Jamestown to take on the York Dragons on Tuesday. They won the match in dominant fashion, beating the Dragons 6-1. The Warrior goal scorers included Jordan Brown (‘25), Andrew Joliff (‘27), Carter LaLonde (‘26), and Joi Stepp (‘25) as the hat trick hero scoring three goals.

On Thursday, the Warriors hit the road again as they traveled to Pikeville to take on the Bledsoe County Warriors. 

At halftime, WCHS was down 1-0. However, they stormed back behind the shots that came from  a couple of freshmen. Samuel Svaighert (‘27) scored two goals, while Bruno Sergio (‘27) capped off the game with a goal before the clock struck fulltime. Stepp provided assists on all three goals. 

The Warriors comeback shows a character that hasn’t been seen in a Warrior soccer team, as they fought back from a first-half deficit.

Dronebarger said, “The last forty minutes, they gave every last ounce of energy and heart they had. That showed me everything I needed to see from this team.”

The players are noticing as well.

Jordan Brown (‘25) said, “This team is different from last year’s team. We think before we do things and continue to fight.”

Dronebarger thinks that the spirit of the team has created confidence and thinks the outlook is positive for the season. 

“They are believing in themselves right now, and that’s half the battle. If they play every game like they did the second half last night, there is no on on our schedule we can’t compete with.”

The Warriors continue play this week as they take on Jackson County at home on Tuesday, Bledsoe County at home on Thursday, and open their district season away with DeKalb County on Friday. 

Last week the White County High School tennis team kicked off their season at home.

The tennis team faced one of their rivals, Dekalb County High School. 

The varsity boys took a tough loss 2-7, but the girls pulled through with a decisive 6-3 win.

The head coach, Topher Wiles said,“In each and every match, our athletes showed growth and integrity.” Wiles explains his team’s tenacity and grit on both sides of the team.

Lorelei Bouldin, a sophomore on the team remarked, “I’m proud of the athletes and all the hard work they put in during the matches.” 

Bouldin, representing the girls team, encourages her fellow teammates and expresses how she is proud of each and everyone.

The team represented White County well through wins and loses playing with great sportsmanship. 

Coach Wiles commented on the respectfulness of his athletes saying, ”When the lines were questioned, when shots were close, and when scores were tight, the White County tennis teams showed they know the game and they know how to play it with respect.” 

The tennis team looks to continue their success from last season with an overall positive record for the mens and womens teams.

The White County Warriors Baseball Team run-ruled the Clinton County Bulldogs (KY) 11-1 in five innings at home on Tuesday night. 

With the win, the Warriors moved to 2-0 for the first time since the 2013 season, as they have outscored opponents a combined 23-3 in their two victories. 

Warriors head coach Tyler Thompson is in his second year at the helm of the baseball team, and he seems encouraged by the hot start from his team. 

Thompson said, “I think defesnively we’ve been solid. We’ve got a lot of guys stepping up, young guys at that; our offense his being carried right now by the young guys.”

“The energy everybody is bringing every day is encouraging. Everyone wants to be at the ballpark, and everyone wants to compete, so I think we can really do some damage in the district this year,” continued Thompson. 

Trenton Wilson (‘25), the ace of this pitching staff, picked up the win for the Warriors, as he threw a complete game and gave up three hits, three walks, one earned run, and struck out 5. 

Despite the dominant performance from Wilson, there are still some things for him to work on. 

Namely, Thompson wants to see “pitchers stop dancing around hitters… they need to do a better job of trusting the defense and getting out of there in 3 or less pitches.”

The Warriors' offense scored 11 runs on seven hits, seven walks, and two hit-by-pitches; second baseman Eli Smith (‘27) and designated hitter Cole Gentry (‘27) knocked in 5 Warrior runs as they each had two hits. 

White County faced some adversity early, as the leadoff hitter for the Bulldogs reached on an infield hit, but Wilson closed the door with a strikeout and stranded the runner at third base. 

In the bottom half of the first inning, the Warriors put three runs up on the board before a tremendous diving play in left field ended the first frame. 

Sam Dicus (‘25) led off the bottom half of the second inning with a walk, and he would come up to the plate later in the inning as the Warriors plated six runs and batted around. 

A bizarre case of interference on the on-deck hitter ended the second inning for the Warriors, but the damage had already been done, as they were up 9-0 at the end of two. 

Both teams traded zeroes in the third inning, and the Warriors entered the fourth inning searching for another runner to score to secure the 10-run advantage for a run-rule. 

Wilson silenced the Clinton County bats again in the fourth, but they would return the favor in the bottom half of the inning by getting him to strike out with two men on base.

Dicus picked his teammate up in the next at-bat, as he smoked a long fly ball down the left field line for a two-run double to push the lead out to 11-0. 

Wilson would give up a sac fly in the fifth, despite the best efforts of his throwing partner Jonathan Boswell’s (‘24) strong arm in right field, before eventually ending the game on a groundball to shortstop Austin Pionke (‘26). 

The Warriors filled up the box score and inflated the ERA of Clinton County’s starter, who had all 11 runs charged to him in his 3 1/3 innings of work. 

Cleanup hitter and first baseman Jack Everett (‘24) watched eight non-competitive pitches go by for two walks (the lefty received the Barry Bonds treatment), and he scored twice.

Catcher Kason Seal (‘25) went 1-1 with an RBI double, two runs scored, and two hit-by-pitches; Seal also threw out his second runner of the year during the fifth inning.

Seal said, “I thought we were able to do our job as hitters well. We adjusted to any inconvenience, and we kept a good momentum all five innings.”

“We were also efficient on defense,” Seal continued, “We only had the one error and we did our job whenever we needed an out.” 

Defensively, the Warriors had a different starting outfield than they did in their first game, as the corner outfield spots changed between the two games. 

Boswell started in right, Dicus in center, and Wyatt Dilts (‘25) played left field in place of Malachi Brown (‘24), who quit the team earlier in the week to pursue a job opportunity. 

The Warriors also played Thursday night at Roane County, losing 2-1 despite the best efforts of starting pitcher Will Thomas (‘26), who gave up one run over five dominant innings.

The Warriors had two more games this week, but Friday’s game at Cannon County got rained out.

They have a home game at 1 O’clock against Cannon County on Saturday remaining, but at the time of release, we did not have the results. 

The White County High School Girls’ Soccer had a tough week as they dropped their two matches. The Warriorettes took losses to both Cookeville and Stone Memorial.

Unfortunately, the girls soccer team was outplayed by the performance of Cookeville High School with a score of 0-9. 

“As a captain, facing Cookeville for the last time, I feel like we could have done so much better, “ stated Kaydence Dishmond (WCHS girls soccer player). 

Dishmond has a motivating voice for the team, to help inspire her fellow teammates. 

“ I’m proud of our girls for staying strong walking off the field with their heads held high,” Dishmond said. 

The girls have encouragement from each other forming a stronger team together to push through the upsetting events.

“We can not get into the mindset of losing every time, because if you give up mentally then you will physically as well,” Dishmond remarked.

Dishmond believes a good mindset will result in good performance, to become a solid team. 

“We have grown a lot from this game and the best we can do is apply the corrections given to us to succeed in the future, " Dishmond commented. 

The girls are learning and growing for the best they can be for the team's benefit.

The team is continuing to try their best and never give up even when they get defeated. They are very proud of each other and excited to where the rest of the season takes them. 

In the new movie Regretting You directed by Josh Boone there were many conflicting emotions and several different themes one could identify depending on the perspective you are coming from.

The movie was released on Friday, October 24, 2025, following the book written by Colleen Hoover released in 2016.  

Regretting you is a dramatic romance that is centered around the complicated relationship between family.  

Each character faces struggles and they try to heal and understand each other after a painful life changing event. 

Throughout the movie all characters unfold their regrets and mistakes and learn to reconnect and move forward with love and hope. 

The film highlights the importance  of family bonds and the powerful opportunities of a second chance.  

Coming from a 16 yr old High School girl, as I watched I picked up themes such as family dynamics, forgiveness, and personal growth. 

The story allows the ones watching to connect to the characters and their journeys without feeling forced. 

Many teenage girls can see themselves through the main character Clara Grant and many mothers can see themselves through Clara's mother Morgan Grant. 

Clara Grant suffered through loss and had to learn how to forgive and grow through the trauma she enhanced at such a young age. 

Morgan Grant was a strong mother that did everything for her daughter despite the personal trauma she had endured from the people closest to her. 

Each performance was strong minded and the actors brought genuine emotion to every role that was played. 

The characters were relatable and their struggles were powerful and compelling. 

It is not like other dramatic romance movies, it has its own unique story that allows people to see love through another lens, whether it is family love or romantic love.  

The movie is a touching film that has major emotional depth and an ongoing relatable mood that keeps the viewers attention. 

Overall it was a classic differential drama/romance movie that everyone can find relatable in their own unique way.  

The NFL Draft is April 25-27 in Detroit, Michigan, and 257 future NFL players will be selected and starting their professional football careers.

The 2024 Class is one of the deepest and most talented draft classes in recent years, with some real game-changers at all the skill positions and one of the most intriguing QB classes in the history of the draft.

In some mock drafts, there are as many as six quarterbacks off the board before the second round, but universally, every draft expert agrees that there will be at least four taken in the first round.

USC QB Caleb Williams, LSU QB Jayden Daniels, UNC QB Drake Maye, and Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy are the four best quarterbacks in the draft, and Williams, Daniels, and Maye will be the first three players taken.

But in what order? Williams is one of the most highly sought-after prospects in the last 20 years, more on that in a bit, and the second overall pick is a toss-up between Daniels and Maye because the Washington Commanders have not tipped their hand.

McCarthy is the ultimate wild card; he did not have to do anything more than make easy throws off play action and hand the ball off in college, but multiple teams are looking to trade up to draft him as early as number four overall.

The next QB up is Oregon’s Bo Nix, who holds the record for most college starts during his career that spanned for what seemed like an eternity, and looks as if he will be a part of the dumpster fire that is the Denver Broncos at number 12 overall, but that is far from certain.

He has also been taken 13 overall by the Las Vegas Raiders in some mock drafts, but ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. does not think he is even a first-round talent.

The sixth and likely only other quarterback who could be off the board on Day One is the lone southpaw, Washington's Michael Penix Jr. 

Penix is widely considered an early second-round pick, but crazier things have happened during the draft than a good college quarterback going a round too early, so I would not rule out a team taking him in the first round.

The other quarterbacks in the draft I do not foresee being drafted in the first two rounds, but due to Brock Purdy’s brilliance in San Fransisco, they are all worth mentioning and are as follows:

South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler, Tulane’s Michael Pratt, Florida State’s Jordan Travis, Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman (who will be cashing social security checks soon), Tennessee’s Joe Milton III (who is terrible), Western Kentucky’s Austin Reed, and South Alabama’s Carter Bradley. 

With all that out of the way, I will focus on those first six quarterbacks and what I think about them, starting with the consensus first-overall selection: Caleb Williams.

Williams is a great talent who put up big numbers his Sophomore season at USC before the worst defense I have ever seen play college football cost him multiple wins his Junior year, but he needs a slice of humble pie.

Williams is probably the most arrogant draft prospect since Eli Manning in 2003 (Manning had the pedigree of an NFL star due to his last name and now no one blames him for forcing his way out of San Diego on draft night, but until his first Super Bowl a lot of football purists held it over him).

Williams and his father have come out and said some of the wildest things I have ever heard an amateur football player say, such as how if they did not like the team with the first overall pick then Williams would return to USC or that whoever drafts him needs to give him part ownership of the team.

Get over yourself.`This is from a guy who has not played a snap in the NFL, nor been drafted by a team, and I believe he will be in for a world of hurt whenever these NFL-caliber defenders get a hold of him.

Daniels is a very talented and gifted athlete, and he had one of the greatest statistical Heisman seasons in recent memory.

However, he has also been very hit-or-miss as a starter before then, both at Arizona State and at LSU.

I compare him to Anthony Richardson, who was drafted in the first round last year by the Indianapolis Colts, but with more experience and accomplishments than Richardson’s one year as a collegiate starter.

Maye seems like a prototypical NFL QB with his 6-4 frame and big throwing arm, but he also played college football in the ACC (or as I call it, a joke), and he led his team to an underwhelming 8-5 record while going 4-4 in the ACC.

McCarthy at his best is Jimmy Garoppolo during the 49ers' Super Bowl run or Mac Jones during his rookie year, but to me, he is one of the most overrated and overpraised QBs in any draft class.

He had the country’s best offensive line at Michigan, a great running back duo, and all the throws he ever had to make were off play-action against Big Ten opponents (seven of the 10 teams had three wins or less). 

My two favorite QBs are the dark horses from the Pac-10 in Nix and Penix, but Nix never had to throw the ball downfield, and Penix is older and very injury-prone. 

They also never had to play against a defense in their conference (which is no longer even a conference if we are honest), and no draft expert seems particularly bullish on either one.

History suggests that at least two or three of these guys will be busts; Zach Wilson, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Mitchell Trubisky, Mac Jones, and Trey Lance were all first-round picks.

But Williams has the opportunity to be a generations quarterback, Daniels has too much upside to pass on, Maye looks like the next Josh Allen, McCarthy could carve out a long career in the right system, Nix is very experienced and very adaptable, and Penix has the arm talent to be a starter in the NFL in the next few years.

Picking a quarterback is dangerous in the first round is dangerous. If you select the right one, your team becomes a Super Bowl contender, but if you pick the wrong one, you set your team up for failure for years to come.

Teams have put too much stock in rookie quarterbacks in recent years, and there are multiple guys in this draft (Daniels, McCarthy, Nix, and Penix) that I would not waste a Day One pick on if I did not have to.

But I am not in any NFL teams’ selection rooms, so if your favorite team picks up a QB in this year’s draft you need to be prepared for a whirlwind of highs and lows that come with a first-year quarterback under center. 

Jack’s Top BBQ and Home Cooking is tucked behind a bank in Sparta. For many years, it was known as Second Act Deli, followed by Squealin’ Bob’s, and then finally as Jack’s.

Jack’s has a menu that has a variety of different foods.

One of the first things I think of when I think of Jack’s is their cheeseburgers.

I think that you could make an argument that they may have the best cheeseburger in Sparta.

But this isn’t Cheesdrewger. This is Bar-B-Drew, and Jack’s has BBQ literally in their name. Not only is it in their name, but they put the word “top” before it.

More than likely, if you are going to get barbeque in Sparta, you’re probably thinking of going to another spot.

This isn’t a dig at Jack’s. I just think that Jack’s menu has so many options, that people probably forget that barbeque is there. I think that this is both good and unfortunate.

The good is that Jack’s is a solid option to sit down and eat a meal out in Sparta. When my wife and I go out, she has ordered many different things. Meatloaf, pot roast, and the club sandwich.

And like I said earlier, it’s a great place to get a burger.

The drive-thru window is killer, and during the pandemic, was like a bright beacon in the dark night.

The unfortunate side is that if Jack’s just focused on being a BBQ restaurant, I think that they could really be a serious BBQ option.

My meal at Jack’s was the pork plate. I got baked beans, French fries, and chose cornbread muffins over Texas toast.

The pork smelled and looked great. This matters to fellow Q-lovers.

You could smell that the meat had been truly smoked, and there was good barking to the pork. It had a good color to it, also.

I honestly thought that the pork was delicious, and this came as a surprise to me. I’ll come back to this, but I really enjoyed the pork.

The sauce was very good as well, and as a man, I will confess: at one point I thought that Jack’s sauce was not made in-house.

This is one of those things that I think a serious house of barbeque must do is create their own sauce, rub, or both.

This goes into what is real barbeque to me. A true pitmaster is going to craft a sauce that fits their food.

There are some who make an argument that real barbeque shouldn’t need sauce. The sauce should be there just to compliment the meat. That’s pretty radical.

Am I that radical? Not yet, but I have been reading the message boards and joined a few Facebook groups. There’s more than what they're telling us, man!

Anyway, I found out that Jack’s in fact does create their own sauce. Another plus for the meal.

The cornbread muffins were delicious, and I have just come to the conclusion that cornmeal and barbeque just go together. The cornbread fritters at Jim & Nick’s were excellent, and OG Bobby Q’s used to serve cornmeal cakes only on Friday nights that would blow your doors off.

It just works. It's one of those things that I can’t really explain other than that both are hallmarks of Southern culture, and when you have Southern plus Southern it equals delicious.

Have you ever had barbeque at the beach? Add that pinch of Southern to the meal and it will have you feeling all catawampus.

Jack’s baked beans were good also, but I will make an argument that these were store bought. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it seemed like they had been taken out of the can, directly into the pan to warm.

I really like baked beans, so I still enjoyed my beans, but I’ll circle back to this as well.

Jack’s serves crinkle-cut fries, and that is always just a solid option to any meal. However, the fries were the low point of mine.

They tasted undercooked, and desperately needed a shake from some salt and pepper. However, they didn’t detract that much from the meal.

So you’re probably thinking, “Sounds like you had a solid meal. You still think Jack’s isn’t a serious barbeque option?”

With all due respect to the people at Jack’s (who are great people), no.

Let me do some explaining.

Jack’s is great for what it is: a good restaurant in Sparta. However, I think that if they sold out to barbeque, it would be a win for the Q community.

A while back, I got a pulled-pork sandwich from Jack’s to compare it to Moogie's. The bun for my sandwich was the same bun that they used for their burgers.

While Jack’s burgers are delicious and huge, the serving size that was put on my bun was not big enough for the buns.

That’s why it came as such a surprise to me at how good the pork was because my last experience I tasted more bun than pork.

It’s something that I think would be noticed if it were BBQ first and only.

Barbeque joints all over the country serve burgers, and that is fair, but the pork sandwich is a staple in a barbeque restaurant. It could be a showcase piece.

The baked beans are another thing that I think could be even better if this was devoted to barbeque only. There were no shreds of pork, bits of brisket, chopped up jalapenos, green peppers, or even bacon in the beans.

It’s almost a given that when you order beans from a Q spot, you’re going to have some type of food in there that shows that places unique take on it.

Jack’s is missing that.

I’d like to see what would happen if the great folks at Jack’s

smoked some brisket. I’d bet it’d be great.

They have the framework to be a legendary barbeque spot in the Upper Cumberland.

Their pork is great. Their sauce is good. They have good fried catfish. They have BBQ baked potatoes and fries, and they have homemade desserts in the form of some banging pies.

In the words of Emeril, “BAM!”

Another part of my criteria for true barbeque restaurants is dessert that is homemade in the restaurant, and Jack’s has that.

Maybe part of me still has a Bobby Q’s shaped hole in my heart and would like to see a legend like that rise out of my hometown. I can see it in Jack’s.

Their chocolate chess pie tastes so much like Bobby Q’s, that I wonder if they stole it from them.

Maybe I just need to accept that Bobby Q’s is gone.

Jack’s could be the small-town kid that makes it big and puts their town’s name on the map, but it looks like it is ok with being the small-town kid who just wants to stay home and make their small town the best that they can.

When I finished my meal, I was happy and satisfied, and that is never a bad thing.

Bar-B-Drew rating: six-and-a-half pig squeals out of ten.

In her April 4 opinion piece, “Biden Created the Border Crisis”, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R - Tennessee) reasons that the current crisis at the southern border lands squarely on the shoulders of President Joe Biden, implying that Biden’s goals are to eviscerate border protections while the helpless state of Texas remains bereft of Federal support.

She makes a strong argument, and more than that she makes it eloquently.

But she’s projecting.

Blackburn’s claim that President Biden ‘took 94 actions’ relating to the border in his first 100 days in office is true.

However, the characterization that they were meant to ‘open our border and weaken immigration policy’ is misleading.

According to both CBS News and MigrationPolicy.org, while President Biden did roll back many of his predecessor’s immigration policies, much of the most restrictive have remained in place well after Biden’s first 100 days.

“Trump actions on asylum and… immigrant detention in facilities run by private prison contractors”, as one example, are as alive and well as they were during the height of the Trump administration.

Blackburn goes on to directly claim that ‘Under Republican leadership, Texas is accomplishing so much to secure our border, protect families, and save American lives.’

I obviously can’t verify the claims about protecting families or saving American lives, but I can say with certainty that Texan efforts to secure the border via lacing it with razor wire have successfully defied not only the President of the United States, but also a 5-4 supreme court ruling (Dept. of Homeland Security V. Texas) that upheld the right of Federal Agencies like ICE to administer the border and remove razor wire.

Frankly, regardless of which powers states should have compared to the Federal government, Texas does not have the right to defy the government regarding the border. John Roberts and Amy Coney Barret agree. Texas is out of bounds.

A smaller note: Blackburn cites the statistic that between December and January of this year, illegal border crossings fell 54% from 150,000 to 68,000. She cites Texas border policies as the reason for this decrease, but discounts the fact that December through January is the beginning of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

PBS Newshour notes that most incoming migrants are from South or Central America. and surprisingly, Mexican deserts can get pretty cold.

It seems logical to me that fewer people would be willing to undertake a dangerous, thousand mile journey into increasingly freezing temperatures.

However, the Senator is right in proposing that those people dedicated enough to make that journey on foot through cartel territory, across major highways and waterways, through deserts, jungles, and city streets, and give up who-knows-what along the way will be absolutely flummoxed by concrete barriers and razor wire.

Her piece reminds me greatly of the Republican response to the 2024 State of the Union, delivered by junior Alabamian Senator Katie Britt. Britt’s disjointed, disturbing speech contained an anecdotal reference to a victim of human trafficking that she clearly implied could have been saved if not for apathy from the Biden administration.

Britt was talking about Karla Jacinto Romero, a women’s rights activist who was trafficked in Mexico between 2004 and 2008. For context, this means Britt tried to blame Biden for something that happened in another country, eighteen years ago, while someone else was President.

How is Blackburn’s piece like Britt’s propaganda?

H.R.815, known as the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, was a bipartisan bill created with support from both Democratic and Republican congressmen and the President of the United States.

The initial purpose of the bill was to provide emergency funding and material aid to American allies in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, as well as providing funding for FEMA.

Senate Republicans were able to stall the bill until major, generous provisions were given in the area of border security.

As it stood most recently, the bill would have increased funding for immigration judges, given more funding to combat human trafficking and smuggling, given $210 million to the US Marshals to increase capacity in jails and detention centers, and much more.

For a Congress that has been trying to hash out border security debates for decades, this was absolutely the opportunity Congressional Republicans have been waiting for.

H.R.815 should have sailed to the President’s desk and into law, so that American troops could protect our southern border instead of Kyiv’s business sector. Instead, Senate Republicans voted against their own bill at the behest of Mr. Donald Trump, who openly admitted to doing everything he could to “fight it all the way.”

Blackburn is trying to do largely the same thing that Britt tried to do. Instead of blaming Biden for human trafficking in Mexico City 20 years ago, she tries to blame the President for not fixing something she and her colleagues stopped him from fixing.

Kim Mulkey is the head women’s basketball coach for the Louisiana State University Lady Tigers after coaching for the Baylor Lady Bears from 2000-2021; she played at Louisiana Tech from 1980-1984 before staying on as an assistant coach from 1985-2000.

Mulkey is something of a dinosaur, an old-school, hard-core head coach who pushes her players to the limit every day of the year and clashes with the media regularly.

She is at the top of the news cycle now, not for LSU’s attempted repeat championship in the Women’s Tournament, which ended Monday night at the hands of Caitlyn Clark and Iowa in the Elite 8, but for a Washington Post profile about her instead.

Kent Babb, author of Across the River: Life, Death, and Football in an American City and Not A Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson, is a well-respected and widely-acclaimed journalist who for the last two years has been researching and working on a profile piece on Mulkey.

After he assembled all the necessary background information to write such an in-depth and personal story about a high-ranking member of college sports, Babb contacted LSU and Mulkey about answering questions for his article.

She profusely refused. She claimed she did not appreciate how Babb had written an article, or as she saw it, a “hit job,” on LSU’s head football coach, Brian Kelly, and told him she would never sit for an interview two years prior.

She also claimed, in one of her two NCAA Tournament press conferences she used to discuss this matter, that she would sue The Washington Post if they ran a “false story."

However, that was not her only bold claim of the night, as she said, “Not many people are in a position to hold these kinds of journalists accountable, but I am, and I'll do it.”

The best way to see if Mulkey has “held these kinds of journalists accountable” is to sort through her claims and see which side, Mulkey or Babb, came out on top.

Firstly, the “hit job” on Kelly does not exist. Yes, Babb wrote an article criticizing LSU when they hired Kelly away from Notre Dame, but he was criticizing the nine-figure salary they gave him, not his coaching ability.

Babb was sticking up for the faculty and staff at LSU, who are experiencing poverty and the ripple effects of generations of racial discrimination on LSU’s campus.

His article points out the hypocrisy of a university that can pay a football coach up to $100 million but not be able to spread that wealth to the students and faculty.

Babb said, “In a state where one in five residents lives below the poverty line, on a campus where the football team’s player workforce is unpaid, in a city where the predominantly Black state house district that includes Tiger Stadium has a median household income of $24,865 a year, the White man who will coach there will be paid no less than $24,657 a day.”

He also focused on the unease that Black students have with attending LSU, a university formerly plagued with Jim Crowe Laws, then remained segregated and then housed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who wore a Nazi uniform on campus.

Babb was on the side of the students, the young men and women on LSU’s campus who are going through the trials and tribulations of college life. So, if we are keeping score, it is Babb 1 and Mulkey 0.

Secondly, Mulkey criticized the story before it ever came out. This was an attempt on her part to come out ahead of the story and force people to read it with a preconceived notion of what it would be.

I read the Kelly article enough to get background information on it, and I read the Mulkey article word for word, and neither of these stories resembled any aspect of a “hit job.”

Mulkey sounds like a spoiled young child who just lost at a game and is now saying everything is unfair.

The only difference is this young child gets paid $3 million a year and can afford lawyers to make anything sound unfair, which is why she threatens legal action. Babb 2, Mulkey 0.

Lastly, Mulkey accused Babb of tricking her former assistant coaches and players into saying negative things about her.

Whether there is any truth to this remains unknown, but as a budding journalist, this story upsets me.

I want to pursue a career in journalism and write widely acclaimed, well-regarded sports stories with wider-reaching messages, which is what Babb did.

The only reason Mulkey has gone out of her way to slander this story is because she has rocky relationships with her family, star players, and players on her teams who have been gay, and Babb reported all of it. Babb 3, Mulkey 0.

To be clear, Mulkey is on the shortlist for the greatest women’s basketball coach of all time, along with Geno Auriemma of UCONN, Pat Summit of the University of Tennessee, Tara VanDerveer of Stanford, and Dawn Staley of South Carolina, to name a few.

Overall, she is 723-118 as a head coach, with four championships as a head coach, one as an assistant coach, and two as a player, to complement her three Coach of the Year Awards.

But she has had numerous controversies involving various issues, the least of which was her complete overreaction to Babb’s article.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she showed up to a press conference sick and claimed she did not care if this resulted in reporters getting sick.

This was two years after contracting COVID-19, resulting in the cancellation of a game against UCONN, and three months removed from the game, she urged the NCAA to do away with testing for the disease.

She publicly supported Baylor amidst a horrible sexual assault scandal involving the football team by saying, “If somebody is around you and they ever say, ‘I will never send my daughter to Baylor,’ you knock them right in the face.”

But the most polarizing of all is her reported treatment of gay players, with some rushing to Mulkey’s defense and others accusing her of poor treatment towards gay athletes.

Brittney Griner was one of the gay players who had a rocky relationship with Mulkey at Baylor, and she was detained in a Russian prison for suspected Marijuana possession for almost a year.

While President Joe Biden and NBA superstar Steph Curry were lobbying for her return to America, Mulkey remained largely quiet about her former player’s situation.

Mulkey also had a fight break out at home between two players on her team who were in a relationship, choosing to punish only the one who came and told her.

That player eventually transferred, before the transfer portal was in place, and Mulkey told everyone that she had simply quit.

These are the main reasons, including a poor relationship with her father and sister, why Mulkey did not want this story to come out, and why she went out of her way to bash the story before it ever made it to print.

On the other hand, Mulkey is far from the only college coach to have controversies during their coaching tenure.

Bobby Knight threw a chair and assaulted players at Indiana, Rick Pitino had Congressional violations at Louisville, Jim Boeheim struck and killed a pedestrian while at Syracuse, and Jerry Tarkanian paid players before that was acceptable and left all three coaching jobs he had on the heels of probation. 

All these men are among the greatest coaches of all time and are far from the only college coaches to come under fire, but their reputations will remain stained by their mistakes, and Mulkey is no different.

If you do not agree with me or want to draw a conclusion for yourself, please go to The Washington Post online and read the story for free.

Once there, you will find a thorough, fair article about a complicated head coach who refused to assist the writer in any way, shape, or form.

Have you ever wondered what happens when a zealous hypochondriac makes a deal with the devil? Would you like to know what evil thoughts lie within the picturesque denizens of Maple Street? Or perhaps you simply want to know how To Serve Man?

If you have even the slightest interest in any of these things, I heavily suggest you go watch the classic TV show The Twilight Zone.

Although it ran on CBS before some people’s grandparents were born, it’s still one of the best programs anywhere on television.

The basic format of the show is simple: every episode begins with a curiosity enticing opening narration by show creator and lead writer Rod Serling before a brief 30-minute vignette.

Serling was a World War II veteran, and as such he brought an extremely unique perspective to Hollywood as a television writer. So it comes as no surprise that The Twilight Zone is special.

The show is an anthology, meaning that unlike contemporary shows like Gilligan’s Island, Andy Griffith, or Lost In Space, each episode is entirely self-contained and completely different than every other.

While some epsiodes are horrific, some are dark, and some are heart-wrenching, all are excellently acted and written. 

To prove my point, I’d like to run down an episode for you.

The eighth episode of season one, titled “Time Enough at Last”, begins with the following opening monologue:

‘Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page, but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment, Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself... without anyone.’

After this opening sequence, the audience is then introduced to Henry Bemis.

Henry is a sly, harmless man with one real interest: books.

His job at the bank is extremely unfulfilling, and he often finds himself daydreaming of a book to read or trying to converse with patrons about his favorites while cashing their checks.

His relationship with his wife is extremely unfulfilling too.

One day, Henry gets the bright idea to sneak away into the bank vault and steal time to read a book and while there unwittingly survives a nuclear war.

Upon waking in the vault and exploring the ruins of the world, he realizes that he finally has enough time to read all he wants.

As he sits to read the first of his books, he accidentally lets his glasses slip off of his face.

They tumble to the ground and shatter. The episode then closes with a close shot of Henry’s face as he repeats the phrase ‘That’s not fair. That’s just not fair!’

The above may be a somewhat lackluster description, but even so, the sheer brilliance of The Twilight Zone’s writing is on full display.

On top of that, the music for each episode is composed for orchestra, adding an especially effective, classic cinematic feeling to each episode.

And luckily, the special effects are actually good enough that they still hold up against more modern tv productions.

When I was little, I used to watch Saturday morning cartoons on the Boomerang channel.

I was especially fond of Scooby-Doo.

Now that I’m older, I’ve switched out Scooby and the gang for whatever strange fever dream The Twilight Zone conjures up.

As a product of the early ‘60s, The Twilight Zone does more than simply entertain.

Many of its episodes offer extremely poignant social commentary, whether it be on beauty standards in “Eye of the Beholder” or on the necessity of death in giving life meaning in “Long Live Walter Jameson”.

For those who may still be hesitant to consider giving The Twilight Zone an earnest chance, consider the fact that it has been part and parcel of the creation of several other incredibly popular and influential pieces from media.

The X-Files, Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark, The Magnus Archives, Black Mirror, and the widely known online SCP Wiki all take some clear instruction from The Twilight Zone’s sci-fi/horror anthology structure.

Most of these media contain itemized episodes or articles with little influence on other episodes, just like The Twilight Zone.

So if you’re already a fan of any of those, absolutely go check out The Twilight Zone. You just might like it.

Many schools have come and gone in the long and storied tradition of the Southeastern Conference.

Surprisingly few charter schools remain, while many others have migrated elsewhere.

Some original charter members are so removed from the SEC that they’re surprising to remember, like The University of the South, or Tulane.

But just as many former members come as a surprise, there are some contemporary schools whose presence at the conference is just as shocking.

Recently, there has been a controversial inclusion of two former Big 12 participants: the Universities of Oklahoma and Texas.

The addition of these two universities caused quite a stir amongst dedicated SEC fans.

The locations of these two institutes cause the most commotion in the public. Both schools are viewed mostly as part of the West.

Kentucky Wildcats fan, Lunar Mcgill from West Virginia, voiced her opinion on the matter, “I believe that the two need to stay on their side of the country.”

Some believe this is a good opportunity for the region.

When asked about his thoughts on the introduction, Mark Frasier said,  “I think It’ll make the competition even better. Whoever comes out of the SEC is going to be a National champion pretty much year in and year out.”

Furthermore, football coaches of other SEC participants are welcoming these fresh opponents with open arms.

During the 2023 SEC media days, when asked about his take on the arrival of OU & UT, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, had this to say: "Obviously we are bringing two powerful, storied programs into the SEC. So we know they are going to be really great opponents.” 

The coaches' respect for these schools is apparent in their interviews.

Josh Heupel, coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, expressed his joy for the expansion of the SEC, but made this comment in regards to Texas, “There's only one UT. One right shade of orange."

Friendly and sometimes not-so-friendly competition will be actions the new universities can handle to be able to thrive in their new league.

Due to alleged cuts in full revenue shares, the schools decided to step away from their careers in the Big 12.

The universities were originally supposed to join the conference at the end of the 2024-2025 school year; after paying The Big 12 an exit fee of $100 million they were added a year early.

The addition of these larger universities will bring increased media fees and attention to the division.

The SEC is regarded as one of the most competitive conferences, so this will bring improvements to Texas and Oklahoma’s programs as well as additional fan bases and revenue.

But what does this mean for the preceding teams?

Since taking office three years ago, President Biden has taken every step necessary to make illegal immigration legal.

In just his first 100 days, the President took 94 actions to open our border and weaken immigration law, including halting border wall construction, pausing deportations, and ending the successful Remain in Mexico policy.

As a result, 9.2 million illegal immigrants—including countless cartel members, violent criminals, and suspected terrorists—have entered our country.

While President Biden continues to push his radical agenda, border states such as Texas are stepping up to do what the administration won’t: secure our border and secure our communities.

To see firsthand how Governor Greg Abbott and authorities in the Lone Star State are working to keep Americans safe, last week I visited Eagle Pass, Texas—once a hotspot for illegal entry that has seen a dramatic decrease in migrant encounters.

One of the biggest reasons for the decline: border barriers—including buoys, shipping containers, and razor wire fences that Texas officials have placed in and along the Rio Grande river as part of the state’s Operation Lone Star campaign to deter migrants from illegally entering our country.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials and Border Patrol agents point to these barriers, more than anything else, as the driving force behind the state’s decreasing number of illegal entries: As the state has ramped up its efforts to put in place temporary barriers, illegal border crossings in Texas fell from 149,806 in December to 68,260 in January—a 54 percent decrease.

Instead, illegal immigrants are now traveling further west to other border states, such as California and Arizona, that have much weaker restrictions on illegal entry.

At the same time, Texas has deployed thousands of National Guardsmen to the border to help block illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and human trafficking.

In total, Texas authorities have apprehended more than 500,000 illegal immigrants and intercepted 467 million lethal doses of fentanyl, among countless other illicit substances.

One thing is clear: Under Republican leadership, Texas is accomplishing so much to secure our border, protect families, and save American lives.

Yet, without support from the Biden administration, the state and its localities face a tremendous burden in defending their communities.

While in Eagle Pass, I heard from ranchers who have had their property destroyed, stolen, or broken into by illegal immigrants crossing into our country from Mexico.

In one instance, two migrants broke into a rancher’s home while his 16-year-old daughter was studying at home alone.

Texas law enforcement also warned about the ways cartels are using new technology to aid their smuggling operations, including by using Chinese-owned TikTok to recruit Americans into their human trafficking rings.

At the same time, cartels are flying drones into the United States to scope out the location of border agents and redirect their smuggling routes.

More than anything else, authorities in Texas told me that they need more border wall construction, better technology, and additional agents to help combat this threat.

But time and again, President Biden has refused to help them.

Instead, his administration is suing Texas for placing barriers along the border to prevent illegal entries and for enacting a new state law that empowers local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants.

Make no mistake: President Biden is targeting Texas because Texans are standing up to his open border policy.

And if the President refuses to support the communities on the front line of combating his border crisis, Congress must step up.

That’s why in the U.S. Senate I introduced the Creating Obstructions Necessary to Address Illegal and Nefarious Entry Rapidly (CONTAINER) Act, which would empower border states such as Texas to place temporary barriers on federal land to protect their communities.

No state or locality should face lawsuits from the federal government for trying to secure our border and protect the sovereignty of the United States.

I also introduced the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act, which would reaffirm the authority of state and local governments to enforce federal immigration laws by apprehending, detaining, or transferring illegal immigrants to federal custody.

Among its important measures, this legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to provide grants to state and local governments to help them enforce immigration law and construct detention facilities.

It would also require DHS to take illegal aliens into custody within 48 hours after receiving a request from a state or locality and provide the Justice Department with essential information about illegal immigrants who have overstayed their period of stay.

After my visit to Eagle Pass, I know these pieces of legislation would do so much to support border states and communities that are forced to confront the consequences of President Biden’s border crisis every single day. It is far past time Congress took action to help them.

If you’re not paying attention while driving down Spring St. in Cookeville, you’ll miss the chance for some great Q.

Moogie’s is a BBQ spot that is located just off of the square, and tucked just behind all of the restaurants and boutiques from the old town.

It sits unassumingly in a small, red building, and is known more for it’s drive-thru as there is limited seating inside.

Think Stroud’s but actual BBQ.

And if you think Stroud’s is real BBQ, wait a few weeks and we’ll get around to that. Like the Moogie’s menu says, if you don’t see smoke, it isn’t real BBQ.

For me, when I think of Moogie’s, I think of good memories. My first experience with Moogie’s was in college. A friend of mine suggested that we go to Moogie’s for lunch.

To be honest, I thought that he had made the place up. I had driven past it many times, and never really considered what it actually was. One bite and it became a weekly staple.

When each of my three children were born, the first meal my wife and I had together while in postpartum was Moogie’s. In 2020, when my son was born, my wife asked me to chance the strict restrictions due to the pandemic to bring back Moogie’s.

There was a chance that I would not be allowed back into the hospital and return from my journey, but I arrived back like one of the Wise-Men with gifts. Instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, I bestowed upon my son pulled pork, baked beans, and BBQ sauce.

In my opinion, Moogie’s has the best pulled pork sandwich that I have had so far in my BBQ journey.

The pulled pork alone is great, but not the best. For some reason when it is placed on the bun and you add the sauce, it transforms from this pretty caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. The sauce seems to be crafted specifically for the pork.

If there is one knock I can give to Moogie’s it is that they don’t have brisket or really a homemade dessert option. These can be some of the essential building blocks of a great BBQ restaurant.

In fact, Moogie’s offers wings (which they are famous for), ribs, and pulled pork. They do have options that play off of these three like a loaded baked potato, a BBQ quesadilla, etc.

On this round, I was accompanied by one of my best friends and a fellow BBQ connoisseur. He got ribs, wings, and baked beans. My plate was the pulled pork plate with baked beans and sweet potato fries.

A rule for Bar-B-Drew is if the restaurant in question offers a sampler plate, then that is the automatic order so that we can sample all their different offerings.

Moogie’s doesn’t have a sampler, so my friend and I divided up our spoils to create our own.

The ribs were fantastic, and as usual, the pulled pork was great.

The baked beans which were dancing a saucy tango with the smoked meats.

Sometimes, Moogie’s sweet potato fries will not be as crispy as I like. That was the case for this meal, but it still did not detract from the overlooked BBQ greatness that we were enjoying.

When I think of Moogie’s, I think of Robert Horry. Horry was an NBA player who played most famously with the Lakers and Spurs.

Robert Horry was kind of a role player. He wasn’t the superstar of the team, and is probably unknown to a casual sports fan. However, Horry has won seven NBA championships.

That’s more than Michael Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, and Shaq.

Moogie’s doesn’t have to be the superstar of BBQ in the Upper Cumberland to be great. You may pass it more often than you realize. To the casual BBQ eater, you may not even know it’s there, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t creating great food.

So, if your friend says, “Let’s drive-thru Stroud’s?”, maybe you should say, “why not Moogie’s?” It’s real BBQ after all, and it might surprise you.

Bar-B-Drew rating: Eight pig squeals out of ten.

Let me be frank: Sparta doesn’t have everything in the world going for it. 

We’re pretty small, located far from large metro areas, and we’re the poster child for small town politics. 

But there is one thing solely Sparta can lay claim to, that is leagues and miles above any competitor: Meson San Pedro.

San Pedro is by far not only the best Mexican restaurant in town, but also the best restaurant in town.

And even more importantly for this article, it is clearly the winner when compared to El Tap. 

I frequent it so often that a list of my favorite things about it would probably take more than my lifetime to write. So for the sake of brevity, I’ll try to keep it quick.

1. Better Food - Everyone has had both El Tap and San Pedro’s food. I could probably end my article here. I’ve heard countless people say that San Pedro’s food is tastier, whether it be the preparation, the spices used, or the obvious fact that San Pedro serves all of their food with real love.

2. Better Location - Churchill Drive is a significantly calmer street than North Spring Street. I myself know several people that have been in car accidents on North Spring in the last year alone, some even being in multiple. Granted, the intersection of Bockman Way and Churchill Drive can be dangerous, but the street itself is extremely calm. Not only that, but San Pedro’s dining room is larger and more vibrantly decorated. If that weren’t enough, it also has a sports bar section!

3. Better Service - Whether it be dining in or eating out, Meson San Pedro always greets its customers with a friendly smile and expedited service! The sheer quantity of customers they have to seat every day - objectively larger than the comparable El Tap crowd - makes this especially impressive.

4. Public Opinion - Ask yourself one basic question in making your decision: After Football games, concerts, plays and musicals, or the ceremonies on Graduation Night, where do you go? If you go to a place where the service is speedy and the quesadillas are cheesy, you go to San Pedro’s.

But don’t take my word for it, or your friend’s word, or your own.

Take Madonna’s. In her hit song “La Isla Bonita” she specifically mentions the previous night, in which she “dreamt of San Pedro”.

I don’t know about you, but that seals it for me.

Close your eyes and imagine a place where you can hear the fajitas sizzle, smell the aroma of a burrito, and taste Sparta’s, nay the world’s, most delicious food, regardless of ethnicity. 

Now open your eyes and ask yourself: Where are you? The answer: where you were when you started reading this, but subconsciously, you are at 243 North Spring Street, Sparta, TN, home of El Tap, Sparta’s best dining option. 

People drive from miles around to come and explore the wonders of El Tap, and Mexican connoisseurs from the Upper Cumberland who need to break up the monotony of your run-of-the-mill Mexican foods flock to the inviting front door of El Tap.

Meson San Pedro, which might be the top dog of Mexican food anywhere else if not for the world’s best being in the same small town, enjoys the spotlight only on Mondays when El Tap closes to throw the other restaurants in town a bone. 

Even if you take the food out of the equation, San Pedro still lacks the hospitality and care that El Tap has. Each server at El Tap is personable, friendly, and invested in supplying you with the best food possible. 

If I were at El Tap right now, I would have already had two drink refills and received another order of their chips, which is better than the ones at the “other Mexican restaurant,” as many of the locals refer to it. 

Many families have raised their kids on El Tap’s food, and these are the same people who go there after church on Sundays and after football games on Friday nights, where they can enjoy the thrilling sports exploits on television without worrying about the problems involved with eating somewhere with a full bar.

Needless to say, El Tap is the superior dining option in Sparta because of its superior secret ingredient: love. 

Bobby Q’s is a Bar-b-Que restaurant that opened in Cookeville, TN in 1985 that became a staple of local Upper Cumberland cuisine.

Bobby Q’s was originally located on 10th street in Cookeville just off the campus of Tennessee Tech. Around the mid 2010’s, the restaurant moved locations to E Broad Street right next to the town square.

In its original form, Bobby Q’s offered classic BBQ food alongside catfish (fried or smoked) and chicken cooked in various different forms. Bobby Q’s also became famous for their hushpuppies, fudge pie, and their unique take on banana pudding.

One thing that I always found unique to Bobby Q’s was their beef slices. They were shaved slices of brisket, but didn’t taste like traditional brisket. Paired with their steak fries, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and their toast. What a meal.

Did I mention their curly fries? Those also had built up a reputation amongst locals.

Long story short, Bobby Q’s was a local haunt that was endearing to many locals.

When the restaurant announced its closing, many people were left with a special place missing. Also, Bobby Q’s may have been my favorite restaurant of all time.

I can remember going with my parents and their friends when I was very young. As I rose through my teenage years, my friends and I would go to Bobby Q’s nearly weekly.

One of my closest friends (and fellow Bobby Q’s lover) had a Bobby Q’s cover on his putter that I coveted. I don’t even golf,

but that cover was going to be on my $10 Wilson putter (that someone gave me).

Bobby Q’s was the first “sight” word that my oldest daughter could read. If you don’t believe me, ask my friend with the putter cover. He saw it happen.

During the pandemic, not only did my family keep Bobby Q’s going, but it kept us going, also.

What I am trying to say is, Bobby Q’s meant more to me than a restaurant should mean to a normal person.

So when news broke that restauranteurs in Nashville had purchased and saved Bobby Q’s, I was nervously elated.

Would it be what it was? Short answer: No.

The building at New Bobby Q’s looks great. It looks like a modern BBQ joint. It has great outside seating that we took advantage of.

One difference is that you walk up to the counter, order your food, and they scoop it out cafeteria style in front of you onto a styrofoam to-go box. I got the pulled pork (as the beef slices no longer exist) with macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and chose a hushpuppy over cornbread. My BBQ partner chose Catfish with potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and a hushpuppy as well.

Rumor has it that the same pitmaster is still there. I could almost taste it. The food was like tasting the ghost of Bobby Q’s. It tasted like Bobby Q’s that had been forgotten.

The catfish I thought was good. I don’t really eat fish at all, but as I sampled the catfish a thought crossed my mind that I might order this next time, which terrified me.

If a friend said, “Hey Bar-B=Drew, let’s go to Bobby Q’s for dinner.” I would say, “Sounds good.” The food is still pretty good. However, it is not at the top of Upper Cumberland BBQ anymore.

The building bearing the name probably does not help the situation either. However, so many people are moving into Cookeville that are not even from the state, that may not be of concern to the new owners.

I tried to keep expectations low and hope high. As I was eating though, all that I could see were ghosts and memories of a great place that has passed.

Think of the show “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” when Janet Hubert (Aunt Viv) was replaced late in the show’s run by Daphne Maxwell-Reid. Same character, but still not the same. “Fresh Prince” was still good, but we all knew it was missing its matriarch.

New Bobby Q’s is new Aunt Viv.

Bar-B-Drew’s rating: Six pig squeals out of ten.

Over spring break, the White County High School Future Farmers of America organization won big at the annual FFA state convention.

The organization competed at the 96th Tennessee FFA State Convention, in Gatlinburg.

The Chapter won State Superior Chapter, National Chapter Award – 3 Stars, and the Platinum PLOW Award.

Five members of the White County FFA chapter were declared winners in their proficiency divisions for Middle Tennessee.

These members included : Marlo Selby, Dustee Savage, Daniel Austin, Hunter Rigsby, and Austin Davis.

After winning in the Middle Tennessee division, the members went on to compete with the winners from East and West Tennessee.

Overall, Austin came out on top, earning the Tennessee State Veterinary Medicine Proficiency award.

“This week was very successful for Daniel as he also won the Tennessee State Star in Placement award,” Kim Eller, one the WCHS FFA sponsor, says in an interview with The Expositor.

“He will be able to go around with other Stars from Tennessee and visit agriculture businesses and industry professionals.”

Austin will be traveling to Indianapolis, Indiana, in November, to compete with members of other FFA chapters in the 2024 National Convention.

These awards that the members were presented with are high honors and will impact the organization in many positive ways.

Eller says that her students are very dedicated to the club and will continue to work hard even after these major awards, in hopes to win more in the future.

“All the success this week has shown just how dedicated they are and how willing to work at achieving their goals”, Eller said.

“We are very proud of the White County FFA members for all of their dedication and hard work.”