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Archives
9-15-2004
Cats take region
win 35-14 over Tigers Cats take region win 35-14 over Tigers
Lyndon Johnson/OCN staff By MAC McLEOD, OCN Sports And for the entire Livingston Academy Wildcats, it was a night to bounce back after a heartbreaking loss the previous week and collect win number 2. "It was pretty," smiled Wildcats Coach Matt Eldridge. "As a matter of fact, it was ugly, but an ugly win is always better than a pretty loss." With an "ugly" 35-14 whipping of Macon County Friday night at home, Livingston upped its season record to 2-1 overall, and evened its Region 4-3A mark at 1-1. Lineman Matt Reeder said, "This was much better. Last week, we just gave out in that hot weather (at Carthage) and down in that hole where no wind was blowing. Tonight, it felt more like football weather, and last week our coaches got us in much better physical condition." That statement was echoed throughout the team as players related to the physical conditioning they experienced throughout last week's practice. Quarterback Wilson Cates added, "We weren't ready for the heat last week. Last week, heat took its toll on a lot of us. But this week, we were in much better condition." But despite being better physically prepared, Livingston had its low points as well as its highs. On the Wildcats' first possession of the night, they rumbled for 20 yards on 4 plays following a fine punt return to post the first points on the board. Jamey Vaughn went the final 2 yards for his first of 3 touchdowns of the night. The point after kick was wide. Macon answered with a fine 68-yard drive on the ensuing kickoff, and made the extra point to take the lead, 7-6 with 1:51 remaining in the first quarter. That was the high water mark of the night for the Tigers. On the very next series, Colson bulled his way for 22 yards, Cates scrambled for 15, and Allred hauled in a Cates' pass for 15 more. On the third play of the second quarter, Livingston took a 14-7 lead and never looked back. Reeder said, "I think that series took a lot out of their sails. You could tell early that they were getting tired, and I think we were getting better." Midway through the second period, Colson became a one-man wrecking machine when he carried only twice, but bulled his way for 44 yards and scored his first touchdown of the season. Wesley Puckett's point after gave the Wildcats a 21-7 lead, which held up at the half. A pair of fumbles in the third quarter stopped two more good LA drives and brought some disappointment to the coaching staff, but veteran coach Bobby Gore put that in perspective. "Our runners run hard and they fight for every yard they can get. So, you can expect them to fumble once in a while. You just hope it's not at a critical time when it hurts," Gore pointed out. Coach Eldridge added, "I guess coaches are never really satisfied. We want perfection, and we know we aren't going to get it. "Tonight, we played well at times, but we still made mistakes we should not have made. We dropped the ball five times and lost two of those, and we had a pass intercepted. Those are things that happen in football games, but we will work hard next week to see if we can eliminate them. "It was a good win and we needed a win. The kids put a lot into it and they can enjoy it tonight, but tomorrow we start getting ready for Trousdale County. "It will be on the road, and Trousdale will be tough. (Trousdale beat Portland, 34-14 Friday and will bring a 2-1 record into the game.) Hopefully, we will stop the mistakes and play well. We'll have to," Eldridge concluded. On the night, Colson rushed for 113 yards on 8 carries, while Vaughn added 57 and Cates 58. Allred had 6 receptions for 74 yards. Defensively, Livingston held the Tigers in check most of the night, but had several breakdowns in pass defense. For the season thus far, Colson is the leading rusher with 273 yards on 25 carries. Vaughn follows with 196 yards on 45 carries, and Cates has 185 yards on 28 carries. Vaughn is the leading scorer with 8 touchdowns, while Cates, Colson, and Puckett each have a TD each. Cates is 17 for 29 in the passing department for 201 yards. The Yardstick: 1st Downs 23, 11 Yds. Rushing 245, 126 Yds. Passing 103, 84 Passes Att./Comp. 13/9, 14/3 Passes Int. By 0, 1 Fumbles Lost 2, 0 Punts/Avg. 1/33, 5/37 Yds. Penalized 55, 45 Score by quarter: MC: 7 0 0 7 Total: 14 Scoring: MC - Dallas, 7 run. Hernandez kick. LA - Vaughn, 2 run. Puckett, pass from Cates. LA - Colson, 29 run. Puckett kick. LA - Cates, 17 run. Puckett kick. LA - Vaughn, 2 run. Puckett kick. MC - Prock, 28 pass from Kirby. Hernandez kick.
LA soccer wins 2-1 over Wilson Central
Lyndon Johnson/OCN staff By LYNDON JOHNSON, OCN Sports LA Soccer Coach Ethan King said, "Warren County was supposed to come up here, but, um... it was kinda rained out." Bypassing the scheduled Tuesday contest then, the Lady Cats played but one other game last week, that being a special Saturday noon kickoff at home against class-AAA school Wilson Central. The match was tight in the early going, with both teams getting their share of possession time with the ball. After the first 40, neither side had managed a notch in their belts, and the score remained tied at 0-0. In the second half, though, things would get a bit more interesting. In minute 55, the Wilson Central squad managed to squeak a goal by the LA fullbacks and goalkeeper Michelle Allen to make the score 1-0. With the play on the field still being evenly matched, it was obviously anybody's game, and LA proved that point rather hurriedly by answering the Wilson Central goal with a goal of their own just a few minutes later, thanks to a well-aimed direct kick from Brittany Ray. With a score of 1-1, the teams were both overheard saying to "play like it's 0-0 again." "That was big for us," Coach King said, "because they had just scored a goal, and for us to get it back, I think it really sparked up the team." The teams again equally split possession and shots-on-goal as play continued, but LA was showing a bit more ferocity. Then, the proverbial tug-o'-war was broken, as LA scored a second goal late in the half on a Katrina Marshall direct kick from just past the 18 yard line. Coach King said, "She saw that they weren't ready. She took advantage of that and had a good shot and caught them off guard. It happened to us last year when we played Warren County and they scored on us. "Basically, this time we took advantage when we saw they weren't ready, took a quick shot, and scored." Though Wilson Central would muster a couple more attempts, none saw net-swooshing glory, and after two minutes' stoppage time, the final whistle blew. Result: LA 2, Wilson Central 1. After the game, Coach King commented, "Wilson Central's a pretty good-sized school from just outside Lebanon. They've scheduled a lot of tough teams this year, and they're a team that's better than their record shows. Our two teams matched up pretty good, so it was a fairly even game. "We started playing a little bit better (in the second half)," he said. "Mallie Stephens was really ill and wasn't able to play in the first half, but she got to where she was willing to try it a little bit in the second half. Having her there with a little extra speed helped us out a little bit. "She went for a while and seemed okay, but we took her out to make sure she was okay. She said she was still feeling good, so we went ahead and put her back in. "Having those players with speed, which is one of the big differences this year - that we've got a lot of speed," he said, "our skills are improving, but speed is something you can't coach and it's hard to defend. That's what we want to try to get on the field as best we can - speed. "The other girls picked it up and played well. They passed the ball well second half. You could tell we played better. We played a little bit more like a team during the second half." A notable peculiarity was the presence of Michelle Allen at starting goalkeeper position. Coach King explained, "Michelle has come huge strides since the first year she was out here. I decided to give her a shot because Jessica McDonald is a great fullback and she's a great goalie. But if I could get Michelle in there and have her do a good job, I'd have another good fullback in Jessica that would really help us a lot defensively. "She did a good job in there today. She had a lot of hard shots at her. She does a good job getting her body behind the ball. She has improved tremendously. It's a position she has earned through opportunity and hard work. Really, having her in goal and being able to bring Jessica out has made us a stronger team." Stronger they may be, but complacent they are not. Some players were moved about the field throughout the game, a tactic King explained as "looking for the right combination of players in different places." "We're trying to find out what's working best and we're still kind of changing things around. The girls are out there working and competing trying to get better, and I think you can see that from our first game to this one we have gotten better. That's all we're trying to do, is get a little better each day." Several younger or less-experienced LA players saw game time despite the relatively close game. "It being a really hot day like it was today, we did a lot of substituting, and I got a lot of people in today to keep our starters fresh towards the end," Coach King said. "It was going to be a close game, and we had to be able to last all 80 minutes, so we pulled some of our starters out, gave them breathers, got them some fluids, and let it serve as an opportunity for some of our younger players to not only get in playing time, but to get in when it really mattered. "Being able to have a deep bench like that really helped us today." This week will be a big week for Livingston, with two District 9A-AA games on their schedule. The first, a home game versus Mt. Juliet Christian on Tuesday, Sept. 14 will be followed by a game on the road at Friendship Christian School on Thursday, Sept. 16. Livingston Academy will host Smith County at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21.
Cats push volleyball record to 8-1
photo courtesy of Bob Jones By SAMANTHA BARLOW, OCN Sports The Wildcats defeated Van Buren's Eagles 25-19 and 25-14, and then defeated Red Boiling Springs' team 25-4 and 25-7. "We played very well, and we played as a team," Coach Merl Smith said. "Jada Ledbetter did an excellent job spiking the ball and playing the net." The Wildcats' next wins took place at Cannon County on Thursday, Sept. 9 against Cannon's Lions and Jackson County's Blue Devils. Scores for the games were 25-19 and 25-20 against Cannon County and 27-25 and 25-12 against Jackson County. Coach Smith said, "Unfortunately, the only game we played to our full potential was the one against Jackson County; however, we are improving the way we play during matches and it is showing." These games brought the Wildcats' district record to 8-1, moving them into 2nd place in their district so far. After playing White County at Sparta on Monday, Sept. 20 and Upperman High School and Monterey High School at Baxter on Tuesday, Sept. 14, Livingston Academy will host Friendship Christian on Thursday, Sept. 16. The Cats will travel to Carthage on Tuesday, Sept. 21 to play Smith County's Owls and Mt. Juliet Christian's Saints. "Our team has some tough matches coming up," Coach Smith said, "but I am sure that we can pull through as winners if we give it all we have."
Outlaws, Jr. Outlaws overpower Titans
Lyndon Johnson/OCN staff The Overton County Senior Outlaws scored early and often en route to a 35-2 victory over the Pickett County Titans. The win was the Outlaws' third in a row. The Outlaws reached down into the trick play bag to record their first touchdown, which came on a 21-yard reverse scamper by Jim Officer. Halfback Dylan Roberts ran in the conversion, giving the Outlaws a 7-0 lead. Later in the first quarter, Paul Daniels capped a 48-yard Outlaws drive with a 2-yard TD run. Daniels also ran in the conversion, making the score 14-0. The third Outlaws score came in the second quarter, again on a trick play as Daniels hit Officer on a halfback pass covering 51-yards for the touchdown. Daniels ran in the conversion, making the score 21-0. The Outlaws then scored with 1:13 left in the half on a 39-yard run by Roberts. Two Pickett County players were injured on the play and were taken to the hospital by ambulance. Their condition was unknown at press time. The conversion failed, and the halftime score stood at 27-0. The Outlaws' defense continued their dominance in the second half as they allowed Pickett County to pick up only 4 first downs in the game. The final touchdown of the game for the Outlaws came on a 9-yard run by Roberts, after a 55-yard kickoff return by Carson Bailey set the Outlaws offense up inside the Pickett County 10 yard line. The conversion was good on a pass from Paxton Eldridge to Kyle Lee. Pickett County's only points were gained on a fourth quarter safety, which made for a final score of 35-2. Roberts led the way offensively for the Outlaws with 93 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, Matthew Allred led the way with 8 tackles. Individual Statistics Carson Bailey 1-26-0 Jim Officer 1-21-1 Paul Daniels 3-12-1 Kyle Lee 2-10-0 Paxton Eldridge 2-(-14)-0 Passing Paxton Eldridge 1-1-0-0 Receiving Jim Officer 1-51-1 Paul Daniels 1-0-0 Tackles Fumble Recoveries Interceptions 10 & 11 Year-olds Standings Baxter 4 0 Carthage 3 0 Fentress Co. 3 1 Overton Co. 3 1 DeKalb Co. 2 2 Monterey 1 2 Clay Co. 1 3 Pickett Co. 0 4 Jackson Co. 0 3 Jr. Outlaws roll to 3-0 record David Resto 6-46-1 John Michael Dishman 2-40-0 Lukas Reagan 2-21-1 River Harris 1-1-0 Bubba Jolley 2-0-0 Passing Bubba Jolley 1-2-8-0 Receiving Robert Farnsworth 1-8-0 Matthew Stockton 1-5-0 Tackles 8 & 9 Year-olds Standings Overton Co. 3 0 Carthage 2 1 Monterey 2 1 Pickett Co. 2 2 Baxter 2 2 Clay Co. 1 3 Fentress Co. 0 4 Jackson Co. 0 3
Overton County News
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