After a postseason run that saw the Highlanders make it to the third round of the TSSAA playoffs last year, Gatlinburg-Pittman returns several of their weapons across the board as they hope for another chance at a run toward Chattanooga.
This marks the third year under Head Coach Brad Waggoner. Coach Waggoner has established himself at G-P, and said he feels like the standard for what he wants out of his program has been set.
“Going into year three, I think the kids know what
I expect,” Waggoner said. “Coaching staff is all on the same page, not that we weren’t before, but this is our third year together.”
“I think that just from a program standpoint, we kind of set the standard year one, continued the standard year two, and these kids know the standard now,” he said. “So I think we’ve improved a lot in the weight room, we’ve gotten stronger.”
Several of the Highlanders’ seniors have been on the field for significant reps for all three years of Waggoner’s tenure as head coach.
Waggoner said the team’s
success this year starts with their senior class.
“I think that most of those guys, a lot of that senior class, played as sophomores. So, they were thrown into the fire early and they have just really bought into what’s expected of them,” Waggoner said. “They’ve worked extremely hard in the offseason. We’re really excited for them.”
“I think it starts with the senior class,” he said. “I think every program I’ve been with, you’re only going to be as good as your senior class.”
The Highlanders managed to put up points in bunches last season, averaging 38.8 points per game. With quarterback Brady Hammonds returning, alongside two Division-I wide receivers in Wake Forest commit Whitman Whaley and Illinois commit Carlos Orr, the Highlanders’ offense has the potential for another huge season.
Adding to the equation a 1,000 yard rusher from last season in Teagan Avera, Waggoner said any given week could be a standout game for any of their skill players.
“I think you just have to have a team full of team players that aren’t going to be selfish,” Waggoner said. “Any one of those guys can have a huge night, but they’re all really good friends, all work really hard together.”
“We have a lot of skill guys back from last year’s team. We’re just going to have to be able to spread teams out and get our playmakers the ball,” he said. “We have some weapons to get the ball to. It’s nice to have a quarterback back as a senior, and he has improved every year since I got here.”
The Highlanders joining a new region this year means a list of new opponents on the schedule compared to last
year, such as Chuckey-Doak and Johnson County, two teams that the Highlanders haven’t seen in the regular season since 2008 and 1998 respectively.
G-P’s non-region games include some new matchups like Carter and Fulton, two teams that the Highlanders haven’t seen since 2014.
Of course, everything starts with an in-county rivalry as the Highlanders take on the Seymour Eagles in their first game of the season.
“We have a challenging schedule, our first five games are against schools that are much bigger than us,” Waggoner said. “We’re going to get challenged. We’re going to be tested before we ever get into region play, so we have to be focused heading into week one.”
As far as the biggest hole that the Highlanders have tried to fill this season, Waggoner said the role that Luciano Lopez left on both the offensive and defensive line has been the key role they’ve needed to fill.
“I think any time you lose somebody like Luciano, he was a big player for us last year,” Waggoner said. “Any time you lose seniors, someone that played a lot of football for us, it’s just someone else’s time to step up.”
Although they graduated some offensive linemen in Lopez and Brady Taro, Waggoner said their current linemen still on the roster are going to be a huge help to their offense’s success this season.
“We have some really good
linemen as well, they kind of get lost in the mix when you talk about all of the skill guys,” he said. “We have Luke Burkett, Grayden Wear, Joe Ryznic, Jackson Case, we have some guys that we’re really excited about.”
As far as their goal for the offseason, Waggoner said they put an emphasis on getting into the weight room and improving their physicality.
“I wanted us to get a little bit stronger in the weight room. Speed agility, condition wise, we’ve had a good first half of the summer,” he said. “We’ve been able to try some kids out in some different spots.”
The Highlanders finished last season with a trip to the third round of the playoffs. This year, the goal remains the same, making a run into the playoffs and hopefully making a trip to Chattanooga for the state championship.
“Everybody at the start of the season, their goal is to win a state championship,” Waggoner said. “You only have 10 guaranteed games, you have to take it week by week because every single week someone is trying to beat you.”
While the goal is to play for a state title, Waggoner said they can’t get too ahead of themselves. The first goal of the year for G-P is to be 1-0 after the first week of the season, taking a win against their rivals in Seymour.
“Obviously the first goal is we have to beat Seymour,” Waggoner said. “We have to do a good job of just taking it week by week, we have to prepare the right way. It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint.”
“Everywhere I’ve coached the ultimate goal is to win a state championship, but to do that you have to take care of your business to start with,” he said.
* DENOTES REGION GAME
Friday, August 18 - Seymour High School
Friday, August 25 - @ Cocke County High School
Friday, September 1 - Carter High School
Friday, September 8 - @ Austin-East High School
Friday, September 15 - Fulton High School
Friday, September 22 - Johnson County High School*
Friday, September 29 - @ Unicoi County High School*
Friday, October 6 - Claiborne High School*
Friday, October 20 - @ Pigeon Forge High School*
Thursday, October 26 - @ Chuckey-Doak High School*
Kevin Burkett graduated from Gatlinburg-Pittman High School in 2021 after a high school career that saw him receive All-State honors.
Burkett has helped pave the way for the Highlanders, including his own younger brother, that want to pursue football at the next level.
Burkett said the biggest adjustment from high school to the college-level play at Elon University was the work off of the field more than the play on the field.
“The transition wasn’t super difficult. The biggest transition is the off the field work more than the on the field work,” he said. “The amount of film, studying the other team, the sheer hours of film work we do and meetings we have.”
Burkett said it’s a rewarding feeling to him to be able to set the example for Gatlinburg-Pittman football players that want to continue their playing careers at the next level.
“I know growing up G-P wasn’t always the biggest school and not a lot of kids had the opportunity to play growing up,” he said. “So, showing them that it is possible to go and play at a high level after high school it feels good.”
Kevin’s younger brother Luke Burkett is going into his senior year at G-P. Kevin said he’s excited to see how he does this year, and hopes that he can share his advice with his brother and the rest of the senior class.
“Absolutely. I’ve known his friend group ever since they kind of bonded together, so I try to keep in touch and see how they’re doing. I’m excited to see how they do this year,” Burkett said. “I tried to come back and share some of the wisdom, try to tell them what to prepare for and what to expect.”
Burkett said his favorite
moment from his time at G-P was facing Pigeon Forge in the second round of the postseason of his senior year.
“We finally got home field advantage in the playoffs, the second round of the playoffs, playing Pigeon Forge for the second time that season,” he said. “Very good game, tied pretty much the entire way until the final two minutes. We scored the winning touchdown late, and the place went crazy.”
“That was one of the most fun games I’ve ever played in, the environment was crazy,” Burkett said.
As far as the biggest change in his game from his first year of high school ball to his senior year, Burkett said it was becoming more consistent in his approach to the game.
“I think the biggest thing
that helped me was just the consistency. I think that my biggest thing was just pure consistency,” he said. “I think I improved my consistency and that’s what helped me to get here now.”
The biggest piece of advice that Burkett said he continues to carry with him to this day is finding the drive and a reason to stay motivated.
“Just find motivation, find a reason to continue to work hard,” Burkett said. “I wanted to go to the biggest school, I wanted to go to UT, that opportunity wasn’t there for me, so I took that as motivation to go ‘okay I have to prove these coaches wrong’.”
The biggest piece of advice that Burkett said he has for the current juniors and seniors at G-P is to enjoy the grind that comes
with the sport. Burkett said you have to enjoy the hard work in order to continue to improve.
“The biggest thing really is to love what you do,” he said. “You have to love coming in every day, busting your butt, you have to love it and you have to love that you’re going to do it again tomorrow.”
As far as his goals for his upcoming junior season, Burkett said the team goals come first, but he still has some personal goals that he wants to cross off of his list.
“Last year we had a really good year. The biggest goal for our team is to win the conference. For me I’d love to be an All-Conference player,” he said. “I’d love to become All-Conference this year, and maybe next year be an All-American.”
BY MONTANA FINDLEY SPORTS REPORTER
The Northview Cougars enter their second year under Head Coach Justin Anderson. After finishing one win away from a playoff berth last year, coach Anderson is looking to retool and continue to build up the Northview program.
This is the second year of the program with coach Anderson at the helm, and while the state of the program is still not exactly where he’d like it, he said it’s heading in the right direction.
“It’s taken some time, but
I feel like we got over the hill and now we’re just increasing and learning,” Anderson said.
“We’re still going over some philosophy things; we’ve
installed everything that myself and our coaching staff expects, and I think the players are responding well.
“They know the
expectations, when we walk onto the field every day, when you walk over that line it’s business,” he said. “I think they understand that, and I think the kids have responded well to everything we’ve brought into Northview.”
As far as the biggest changes that coach Anderson has brought to the football program at Northview, he said the athletes understand how to work hard, and the value that their hard work brings.
“Get them to understand to work hard. Get them to understand that every day
you come in and put the work in regardless of what the conditions are, regardless of how you feel,” he said. “That, and trying to get better each day.”
Anderson said it’s a rewarding feeling to be the catalyst that had brought this change to the Cougars’ program.
“It’s great because when I took the job the thing was for me to come in and change the culture and change the program and get it going where it needs to go,” he said. “We’re not where we need to be, but we’re still fighting every day and making strides to get there.”
Northview finished last season with a 4-6 record, finishing just one game shy of an appearance in the TSSAA playoffs. Three of those six losses came by a touchdown or less. Coach Anderson said he’s hopeful to be on the other side of those breaks this year.
“Football is an interesting sport. You’re going to get some bad breaks, and when you get a bad break you just have to weather the storm and fight through adversity,” he said. “When you get those good breaks you have to take advantage of them.”
The Cougars bring back a lot of talent on both sides of the ball including linemen Richard Bell and Evan Poticher, running back Nick Schroth, and two quarterbacks that will battle for the starting spot in DJ Thompson and Mason Phillips.
“When you look at it we graduated about four or five starters on both sides of the ball, so it’s pretty good when out of 22 you have 16 coming back,” Anderson said. “They all have a lot of experience and have been in the trenches.”
“Any time you have a bunch of returning offensive lineman it makes it easy,” he said.
“They’ve been in the system for a year now, and we started this Monday with not teaching so much football because everybody knows it. They understand what we’re doing and what we expect.”
Two of those returning starters, Richard Bell and Evan Poticher, said they have high hopes for the year as they get ready for their senior season.
“We just want to do better than we did last year,” Poticher said. “We fell short in a few games last year, and we just want to get over that wall and become a better team.”
“I want to be the best team in Northview Academy
history,” said Bell. “I feel like we’re just setting the path for the next generation. When coach Anderson came it just changed the whole program.”
The biggest role that Bell, Poticher, and the rest of the senior class have had so far this summer is providing that leadership role and helping their younger teammates understand the standards that are set for them.
“Leadership, I feel like our kids have done a great job with that,” Anderson said. “They’ve done a phenomenal job. They take care of practice; they take care of any issues. They’re always on the money, doing things the right way.”
The Cougars are moving from 3A to 4A this season, meaning they have new region opponents like Cherokee and Greeneville who they’ll face for the first time, and other region opponents like Volunteer and Elizabethton, who Northview hasn’t faced since 2016.
Also an opponent they’ll see for the first time this season on the gridiron is cross-county foe Seymour, who they’ll meet on Thursday, Aug. 31.
With the move to 4A and taking on larger schools, coach Anderson said they’ve been preparing for their step up in
competition with their work in the weight room to improve physically.
“Our kids have worked hard. They’re getting better, getting stronger, getting faster,” he said. “We’ve improved flexibility and different things, improved their hips. They’re working hard and that’s really all that I can ask for.”
As far as their play on the field, coach Anderson said offensively a lot of things will remain the same, but that they want to pick up the pace in which they get the ball snapped.
“It’ll be a lot faster on offense than we were last year,” he said. “We snapped it about 20 seconds [last year], we want to go down to the 12 second range, 10 second range.”
“It just puts defenses in a bad position, doesn’t give them time to send blitzes,” Anderson said. “It makes it tough; we’re just trying to get it to where we put defenses in a bad position.”
Players in the program want to make a run towards the playoffs, but for coach Anderson he said he has a simple goal to consider this season a success.
“Just play good football, don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, and compete until the end,” Anderson said.
* DENOTES REGION GAME
Friday, August 18 - Unicoi County High School
Friday, August 25 - @ Pigeon Forge High School
Thursday, August 31 - @ Seymour High School
Friday, September 8 - Volunteer High School*
Friday, September 15 - @ Cherokee High School*
Friday, September 22 - @ Grainger County High School*
Friday, September 29 - Carter High School
Friday, October 6 - @ Elizabethton High School*
Friday, October 20 - Greeneville High School*
Friday, October 27 - Sullivan East High School*
BY MONTANA FINDLEY SPORTS REPORTER
Tyler Gildersleeve was a key player for the Northview Cougars on both sides of the ball last season. He now faces a new challenge as he looks to make an impact at the next level for the Carson Newman Eagles. Only a few weeks into his freshman season at Carson Newman University, Gildersleeve said he’s excited to be back on the gridiron and take on the challenges that come with playing at the college level.
“It’s been going pretty good. It’s definitely a lot to acclimate to, it’s definitely intense,” he said. “I’m just glad to be back around the football atmosphere again and just be out there with my teammates.”
Gildersleeve said his biggest goal for his freshman season is to make the travel roster, and hopefully make an impact on the field for the Eagles.
“My main goal is to make that travel bus, and make the biggest impact on this new team that I can,” he said.
Gildersleeve said the biggest adjustment has been the speed of the game at the next level, but said that he has been making strides towards learning the playbook and understanding what’s expected at this level.
“I’d say the speed, how much quicker things move at the next level,” he said. “There’s a lot of time you have to take with yourself to get comfortable with it all. The whole team is learning a new offense right now, so we’re all trying to pick it up, but I’d say I’m picking things up as we get going.”
While he’s still learning how things are going at the college level, Gildersleeve said he has already had upperclassmen reach out to help with the transition.
“My first day I had an older guy take me outside, help me
catch football and things like that,” he said. “A lot of the upperclassmen have been very helpful with the freshmen, very accepting of us, and just trying to teach us.”
Gildersleeve said the biggest piece of advice that he still carries with him today is, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
“That’s one of my favorites,” Gildersleeve said. “That’s something my mother has told me a lot throughout my life. You have to be willing to make sacrifices and do what other people won’t.”
Going back to his signing day, where Gildersleeve officially signed to play college football, he said it was a surreal moment.
“It was amazing; it was a dream come true,” Gildersleeve said.
“I’ve been telling my mom that I want to play college football since I was four years old, so to be able to actually make it happen and see it through, it was very cool.”
His favorite moment from his time at Northview was when the
Cougars put up the most points in program history last season, scoring 70 points in a win against Claiborne County.
“When we played Claiborne County and put up the most points onto that Northview scoreboard,” he said. “It was amazing, the environment, the feeling, it was what high school football is all about. That type of game right there is what makes you fall in love with football.”
With his final season at Northview being head coach Justin Anderson’s first season at the helm of the program, Gildersleeve said it’s rewarding to see the change that the program has gone through.
“That program is night and day from how it started to what it is now,” he said. “Coach Anderson has done amazing things with the kids, for everything around the program. The environment, the people, everyone who is involved, something is different.”
Gildersleeve now has
the opportunity to return to Northview Academy and be a role model for the upperclassmen there that want to reach the next level, something that he said he’s very excited to do.
“It’s an amazing feeling. I played for Northview for my entire life, and it’s an amazing feeling to give back what the game has given to me,” he said. “Football has taught me so many life lessons, and I just want to be able to give back what it’s taught me to the next generation of kids and hopefully they can take it with them throughout their high school career and their life.”
As far as what his biggest piece of advice would be for future Cougars that want to reach the college level, Gildersleeve said to work hard on and off of the field.
“Go to work every day, keep working. Stay in the classroom; it’s very important,” he said. “The grades, that’s going to take you further than you ever would imagine, I can guarantee them that.”
Pigeon Forge ended last season with an appearance in the second round of the TSSAA playoffs. While they’re hopeful for another run at the postseason, they have a young roster that will have to step up to the plate to make that happen.
The Tigers are looking for their fifth consecutive trip to the playoffs, with the road to the playoffs starting with their work over the summer.
While Head Coach Scott Meadows said they’ve had a successful summer, the emphasis has been on preparing their
young roster for the grueling season.
“Summer has been good. We are a very, very young group. Out of 50 we have on our roster, I think we have six seniors and that’s it,” Meadows said. “But, those six seniors have shown good leadership.”
“I think the workouts, the intensity of the workouts have been really good,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for a whole lot more.”
Although they only have six seniors on the roster, Meadows said he’s proud to see those guys lead their younger teammates and hold them to the program’s standards.
“Seniors have been doing a great job. A lot of leading by example which is fantastic because those younger guys are going to learn by watching what these seniors do,” Meadows said. “They’ve done a fantastic job.”
Having a younger roster than they’ve had in years past, Meadows said they’ve put an emphasis on playing some competition in the preseason to prepare those younger guys who will play their first start week one of the season.
“The biggest challenge obviously is the inexperience with those guys and seeing how they’re going to react when the lights come on,” Meadows said. “That’s the reason I have more scrimmages than I’ve had in the past in the preseason. I don’t want them to be wide eyed when they walk out onto the field for the first time.”
“The bright side is we have a senior group that’s leading them. I think there’s some talented younger guys,” he said. “Are they going to do everything correctly? No. But, just seeing them in practice thus far, you can see how hard they’re willing to work and willing to learn.”
The biggest hole that last year’s senior class has left for the Tigers to fill starts with one of their standout athletes from last season, Aidan Littles.
“Aidan Littles, end of story,” Meadows said. “He was just a tremendous athlete, whenever you needed something you just gave him the football.”
Littles was joined in the backfield by Aidan Howard as a one-two punch last season. With Howard returning this year, Meadows said most of the carries will end up in his hands.
“Well it’s just that. Of course, [Howard] will be a four-year starter for us this year,” Meadows said. “He’ll be carrying the load, we’re going to throw everything on his shoulders and run with it. Hopefully we can go through injury free and he can have a big year.”
For Howard, he said he’s ready to fill the shoes that Littles left behind, but said he doesn’t feel like it’s all on him. Howard said he has faith in his offensive lineman as well as the other skill players around him.
“Of course Aidan Littles was a big loss, he was a great football player, but we have a lot of experience on the line this year, so it’s not all really just on me,” Howard said. “We have some pieces around us, some wide receivers who have taken a big
step. I think we’ll be ready.”
New region opponents for the Tigers this year includes Johnson County and Chuckey-Doak, two teams that they haven’t matched up against since 2018 and 2016 respectively.
Starting at the quarterback position for the Tigers last year was sophomore Wyatt Howard. As he comes into his junior season, Meadows said they’re expecting him to take a big step up this season.
“I think he has really stepped up. I think he has worked a lot on his passing game,never really had a problem with his running,” Meadows said. “We’re expecting big things out of him.”
The Tigers had a run-heavy offense last season. While the emphasis will still be on the run game this season, Meadows said they’re making an effort to spread defenses out and have more involvement out of their passing game.
“We have to. We have to be able to throw it some, throw it
more than we have in the past,” Meadows said. “Going back to a kind of 2015 offense where we’re throwing some, running some RPO some, but we’re not going to throw it just to be throwing it.”
“We’re going to run the football. Last year we’d get eight or nine guys in the box, we want to spread it out some,” he said. “We’re still going to be able to run it, but we have to be able to throw it.”
Last year the Tigers had that identity of a team that was going to run the ball over 40 times a game and grind defenses down. This year, Meadows said he wants the team’s identity to start with their work ethic.
“The biggest identity is just their work ethic. They have to, they already have started it, working incredibly hard and they’re going to play for 48 minutes,” he said. “I don’t want them to go off of previous years’ success. I want them to have their own year, and see how far the seniors can take us.”
As the Tigers look for their fifth straight appearance in the postseason, Meadows said the two main factors in making that happen are being consistent in their approach and staying injury free.
“Consistency number one and injury free number two just because we don’t have a lot of depth,” Meadows said. “We just have to take it day by day of getting a little bit better every day and then I think we’ll be okay as the season rolls along.”
* DENOTES REGION GAME
Friday, August 18 - @ Hampton High School
Friday, August 25 - Northview Academy
Friday, September 1 - @ Unicoi County High School*
Friday, September 8 - Grainger High School
Friday, September 15 - Chuckey-Doak High School*
Friday, September 22 - @ Austin-East High School
Friday, September 29 - @ Johnson County High School*
Friday, October 6 - @ Meigs County High School
Friday, October 20 - Gatlinburg-Pittman High School*
Thursday, October 26 - Claiborne County
Anyone watching Pigeon Forge football last season is familiar with the name Aidan Littles. While the level of competition continues to rise, Littles hopes to become a standout player at the next level for Tennessee Tech University.
Littles, who was a running back for the Tigers, said the biggest transition he’s had to go through since graduating high school is preparing himself for the physicality that comes with college football.
“I was really just focused on getting stronger because I know that being a college athlete is a lot different than being in high school,” he said. “I was really just focused on getting stronger and faster, and preparing myself physically.”
Littles said he has been trying to prepare himself for the level of competition that he’ll see every day at practice.
“Instead of you being kind of like the big guy or there are only a couple of people that are like that, everybody is like that,” Littles said. “Everybody is a dog. It’s always constantly fighting for a spot and trying to prove yourself.”
Although they’re only a few weeks into summer camp, Littles said he feels as though he has done a good job at proving himself to his new coaching staff.
“Personally I think I have, it’s up to them at the end of the day,” he said. “I think I’m doing a pretty good job up here at running back and proving myself. I’m just going to keep working no matter what.”
One thing that Littles said has made the transition to the collegiate level easier is the support that he has felt from the upperclassmen at Tennessee Tech.
“The older guys are actually
very good at that. Trying to explain everything the way it needs to be done,” Littles said. “I didn’t think it was going to be like that when I first got up here; when you mess up they just try to help you as much as they can.”
Going back to his signing day, making it official that he was going to play at the next level, Littles described that day as almost overwhelming.
“It was very exciting, almost overwhelming. I had dreamed about it since I was a little kid, playing football in college,” Littles said. “It was really just exciting, overwhelming, just trying to take it all in because I know there’s not a lot of people that get to do that.”
As far as the biggest change in his game from freshman year of high school to now, Littles said it was becoming comfortable on the field. Littles credits his time at Pigeon Forge with the level of comfortability he has now.
“Being nervous about certain things. I was very nervous in high school when I first got there, trying to earn a spot,” he said. “Now I feel like I’m kind of
in my element. I’m instinctively good at what I do, so I’m just doing it.”
Littles’ favorite moment from his time at Pigeon Forge? Their win over in-county rivals Gatlinburg-Pittman to secure home field advantage in the playoffs his junior year.
“G-P my junior year. We won for starters, and I feel like that was really a game where the entire team bought in,” he said. “Defensively, they did amazing. Everybody bought in that game.”
While he hasn’t been able to make it back to Pigeon Forge to see how the team is doing, he said he’s excited to be able to go back and give back to the program, and he’s excited to see how his former teammates do this season.
“Just the thought of it has felt amazing, being able to come back,” Littles said.
“I’m excited to see what they’re going to do this year,” he said. “See how everyone has grown since I’ve seen them last.”
The biggest piece of advice that Littles said he still carries with him is something that
Tigers’ Head Coach Scott Meadows told him, giving all of your effort every time.
“Go 100 % even if you mess up,” Littles said. “If you mess up going 100 % then it kind of cancels out.”
As far as the biggest piece of advice that Littles would give the current juniors and seniors at Pigeon Forge, he said the main thing it to believe in yourself.
“Just grind, that’s all I can tell you is just grind,” he said. “Believe in yourself and believe in your team.”
While Littles understands how difficult it may be to see significant playing time as a freshman, Littles said his goal for the season is to make the travel team and hopefully see the field when he can.
“In all reality, I know as a true freshman it’s going to be very difficult for me to come in and get that starting spot as a running back,” he said. “Realistically, I want to make the special teams and the travel squad. Prove myself enough at that running back position to make special teams.”
Sevier County got off to a hot start to the year last season before injuries to some key players. With several players returning from last year’s team, the Smoky Bears look to make it back to the postseason for the fourth consecutive year.
The Smoky Bears started last season undefeated in their first four games, and posted a 6-1 record through their first seven games. However, four straight losses saw their record slide to 6-5 by the end of the year.
While on paper that may not look like a positive statistic, out of those five losses there was one 10-point loss and three games decided by five points or less.
Head coach Todd Loveday said they’ve been able to keep themselves in nearly every game they’ve been in, now the
goal is just putting it together and coming out on top in those close contests.
“When the season finally ends and you get to go back and look through everything, in the past two years 90% of our games have been within a touchdown one way or the
other,” Loveday said. “I tend to look at the positive side of it, in a two year span there’s been one game where we weren’t in the ballgame in the fourth quarter.”
“That tells me that they’ve learned to fight, now it’s time to take the next step which is
learning to finish fights,” he said. “I think we have the right guys to do that.”
As far as the biggest difference to this year’s group, coach Loveday said they’ve developed more depth on both sides of the ball.
“We have a lot of depth which is a good thing. Up front, our linemen, we’re finally going to be able to go two platoons so to speak,” he said. “We look like a 5A team with some size, so I’m just excited about that.”
“It’s huge just because we’re able to keep everybody fresh. Especially playing 5A ball in our region, it’s important to get into the last half of the season as fresh as you can,” Loveday said. “We ran into that a little bit last season with some issues. If we’re smart about it, which we will be, it’ll take care of it.”
As far as the biggest gap
they’ll have to fill this season, the Smoky Bears graduated a trio of linebackers from last year’s team, including the program’s all-time leading tackler in Garrett Hawkins.
Coach Loveday said it’s a tall task to recreate the production that Hawkins gave them defensively, but that his team is ready to step up and fill that role.
“Those guys would be the first to tell you that it takes all eleven, especially on defense, but you know that’s a lot of tackles off of the tackle chart that we lost, and somebody has to make them,” Loveday said. “That’s kind of the challenge for everybody.”
“It’s the next guy up, it’s a complete competition at every position, but specifically where you lose so much production,” he said. “We have some good guys up front, some good guys behind them. It’ll just be a work in progress.”
The Smoky Bears’ team motto is “Just Do It Right” and that’s the identity that coach Loveday wants his team to carry with them as they prepare for the season.
“Sometimes it sounds kind of simple, but it’s doing it right every day,” he said. “Everybody talks about a
culture, I think a lot of people just kind of talk about it. But, when you narrow it down it’s what these guys allow in the locker room, it’s what they expect, and you have to do it every day. There’s no days off from doing things the right way.”
The Smoky Bears play some new region opponents this year, including Tennessee High, Daniel Boone, and David Crockett. Sevier County played all three of those teams in the regular season in 2016.
Another new region opponent this year for Sevier County is Cocke County, a team that the Smoky Bears
have dominated as of late. Since 2000, Cocke County has only picked up one win over the Smoky Bears.
As far as what to expect on the field for the Smoky Bears, offensively the game plan remains nearly the same as last year. Sevier County wants to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers as early and often as they can.
“We base pretty much out of the same thing on both sides of the ball. We try to fit it with our guys,” Loveday said. “We’re not going to be stubborn and just do what looks good on paper. We’re going to get our main guys the
ball, get it to them as much as we can, and go from there.”
For Sevier County’s players, Mason Ellis and Malachi Pate, they want to see this season be more successful than last year and hopefully make a deep run into the postseason.
“Overall I feel like we’re going to have a better season than we had last year. We started off good, but we didn’t finish well,” Ellis said. “That’s my goal for the season is just to finish better than we did last year.”
“Our goal is to make it deeper into the playoffs,” said Pate. “The past couple of seasons we’ve exited in the first round, so we want to make it farther.”
Loveday agreed that the goal is to make it to the postseason. The Smoky Bears have made the postseason in the past three seasons, but are hopeful that this year can result in a deep playoff run.
“It’s a playoff sport. That’s your goal. Each of the last two seasons, our first round games [we’ve been] up by 14 points at a point in each of those games,” Loveday said. “These guys have been in those games, they have the scars built up, so they’re ready to take the next step.”
Collin Shannon is the all-time leading passer in Sevier County High School history. As he prepares to advance in his college career, he looks back at his time as a Smoky Bear.
After graduating from Sevier County, Shannon continued his football career at Virginia Military Institute. Shannon said the biggest adjustment he went through going to the collegiate level was finding himself starting over in the depth chart.
“Mainly just starting from the bottom of the totem pole,” Shannon said. “You go from being a senior in high school, leader of the high school football team and you go to college and you’re back to being a freshman, bottom of the totem pole, barely getting any reps. It was just kind of hard to know my role and go with it through practice.”
Shannon said the speed of the game was the biggest adjustment on the field, but said he felt like he adjusted quickly once he got his chance on the field.
“My first start was against Chattanooga, obviously they had some good players, they had the best defense in the conference. I definitely think it was a little bit faster for me that first half, kind of adjusting,” he said. “After the first half I felt pretty good. It took me a minute, but I was good after that first half.”
Finishing his high school career with the most passing yards and passing touchdowns in school history, Shannon said it’s special to be able to have left his mark on the football program.
“It’s awesome. It’s an honor to even be in that category with all of those guys. Obviously Deuce Wallace, Joey Matthews, Shane Kelley, just all of those guys that played at Sevier County and made their mark,” he said. “[It’s special] just to see me make my way up
there and climb those categories”
As far as the biggest lesson learned through his time at Sevier County, he said it was learning to continue to study the game outside of the time spent in practice.
“The biggest lesson was putting in that extra work. The film study, studying the coverages, I still take that with me now,” Shannon said. “I prioritize film study, I prioritize studying the other team’s coverages, different stuff like that. I still focus on those details.”
Shannon’s favorite moment from his time as a Smoky Bear, beating Carter in the regular season finale of his junior year, booking their ticket to the postseason.
“I would say my favorite memory was my junior year, the last game of the year against Carter,” he said. “To see the fans, and to see the community just erupt and cheer just because we haven’t been [to the playoffs] in a couple of years. To see all of that was so awesome.”
Shannon is going into his sophomore season at VMI and
said it’s rewarding to see how much the community around Sevier County have kept up with his career and continued to support him at the next level.
“That just shows the relationship that we had at Sevier County. It’s amazing to see that,” he said. “When you go back to your home town and everyone is asking how you’re doing, how this next year is going. They’re so invested and interested, it’s just awesome to see.”
Shannon said he tries to keep tabs on how things are going with the Smoky Bears. This year’s senior class would’ve been sophomores during Shannon’s senior season, and he said he’s excited to see how his former teammates are going to do.
“I went to a couple practices. It’s just amazing to see the progress and that drive that I had in my senior year to see it in them,” Shannon said. “They look good, they look like they’re going to have a good team this year.”
As far as what advice Shannon would give to those upperclassmen wanting to play at the next level, he said to utilize
any outlet available to get their name out there and get the attention of college coaches.
“Seize the moment, get your name out there, every platform that you can, every coach that you can talk to,” he said. “But with all of that being said, you only get one [senior year] so you have to take it all in and you have to enjoy it.”
Shannon’s goal for this upcoming season is to become the outright starter at VMI, earning the respect of his teammates and becoming a leader of the team as only a sophomore.
“I’m competing for a starting spot, getting a lot more reps, a lot more leadership responsibilities that I have to take care of,” Shannon said. “You’re trying to get a starting spot, you have to do the best you can, especially as a quarterback.”
“Earn the respect of the team, earn the respect that I can be that guy,” he said. “Take leadership, get that starting spot, go out every day like I’m that guy, and be the guy every day that they can count on.”
* DENOTES REGION GAME
Friday, August 18 - @ Carter High School
Friday, August 25 - @ Jefferson County High School
Friday, September 1 - Lenoir City High School
Friday, September 8 - @ Cocke County High School*
Friday, September 15 - Tennessee High School*
Friday, September 29 - Hardin Valley Academy
Thursday, October 5 - Morristown-Hamblen High School West*
Friday, October 13 - @ Daniel Boone High School*
Friday, October 20 - East Hamilton High School
Thursday, October 26 - @ David Crockett High School*
The Seymour Eagles are heading into their first season with Head Coach
Patrick Clark at the helm of the program. After a 3-8 finish to last year, Clark is looking to steer the program in the right direction, and get back to playing winning football.
Although it’s Clark’s first offseason as head coach of the Eagles, he said the work with the team began when he received the head coaching job.
“I feel like we’re definitely going in the right direction,” Clark said. “I had them in the weight room the whole second semester. As soon as I got the job we just started doing all of the little things we need to do to get where we need to be.”
Last year wasn’t the season that the Eagles were hoping
for, dealing with several injuries including playing several different quarterbacks.
With several of their top players returning from last year’s team, Clark said they should be able to improve on last season’s record.
“Last year we were really young, and had a lot of injuries.
We had seven different quarterbacks,” Clark said. “We have 19 seniors, you’ll see most of those guys on the field most of the time, and the junior class is about the same size.”
As far as that senior class goes, Clark said they’re a group that will bring in a lot of production for the Eagles on
both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
“Very productive group. We’ve gotten a lot of production out of that class,” he said. “They’re a good group, they’re a close group, and they just work hard.”
As far as what Clark has tried to implement into the team in his first offseason as head coach, he said the team’s success starts with their work ethic.
“The first thing is just the work ethic. It’s a lot harder to give something up when you have more invested in it,” he said. “When you value something like that, it’s a lot harder to let it go.”
While things started with their work in the weight room, Clark said the most important aspect that he wants his team to develop is mental toughness.
“The one thing that I’ve told them, we need a mental weight room more than we need a
physical weight room,” he said. “When something goes wrong, we have nuclear bombs. We averaged 168 plays a game last year, and we would have a nuclear bomb on play 27 and it would take us until play 70 to get over it. So, we’re really working on that.”
That mental maturity is something Clark hopes his team can develop. While they’re going to take some lumps throughout the season, Clark said it’s about how they’re able to respond that matters most.
“It’s all about how we handle our emotions, how we handle adversity, where our confidence is at, because bad things are going to happen in a football game,” Clark said. “Our highs can’t be so high, and our lows can’t be so low. People are going to score on us, but we’re going to score on people. So, that’s where we have to improve immediately.”
Seymour’s players seem to
have responded well to Clark taking over the head coaching position, with senior Sergio Sanchez saying he feels as though Clark was the best man for the job.
“I really like it, I think we’re going to go somewhere with him,” Sanchez said. “I think he’s a good addition as head coach.”
As far as what changes with Clark as head coach, Sanchez said there has been a notable difference with the discipline that the team carries themselves with.
“Definitely discipline, little stuff like lockers. He’ll make sure we’re good with that,” he said. “That just goes a long way on the field just from being in the locker room and in the weight room, that translates onto the field.”
Sanchez and fellow senior Zyon Rockett are hopeful that this year’s team will go down as one of the better Seymour teams in recent history.
“{We want to be] better than last year. I just want to see growth from young guys since we have a younger team this year,” Sanchez said. “Then just see my friends get better than they’ve been, get better in the weight room.”
“Be a lot better than we were last year. I want to make it to the playoffs again, but I want to go further than just the first round,” said Rockett. “The past two years we’ve been beaten out by the same team, but this year I want to change that.”
Both Sanchez and Rockett said it would mean a great deal to them for their senior season to be the turning point in the Eagles’ program and help them get back to notoriety.
“It’d mean a lot,” Sanchez said. “From being here basically all of my life, just to see the football program go up, that’d mean a lot to me.”
“It would mean a lot to know
that the program as we’re leaving it is going up,” said Rockett. “I trust Coach Clark and I trust the whole staff and Seymour to do the best they can to bring this program back to where it used to be.”
A new region for the Eagles means new regular season opponents such as Anderson County, Carter, and Fulton. The Eagles also take on cross-county foe Northview Academy for the first time ever on the gridiron.
However, Clark said the first obstacle comes during the first week of the season as they travel to Gatlinburg-Pittman to take on their biggest rivals in the Highlanders.
“We have some tough ball games. We open up with G-P,” Clark said. “Just the rivalry itself before anything else, but they’re very well coached, they have a lot of talent, so that’s going to be very taxing and a big obstacle for us.”
BY MONTANA FINDLEY SPORTS REPORTER
Eli Funck graduated from Seymour High School in 2022. As he goes into his second year of collegiate football, he hopes to use some of the things he learned as an Eagle to help him progress at the next level.
Funck said his biggest adjustment that he had to make to compete at the next level was keeping up with the speed of the game at the collegiate level.
“The big adjustment is making decisions faster because everyone is at a whole different speed,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest thing for me.”
While he’s only into his second year at Lyon College, Funck said he feels like he has quickly adjusted to the pace of play.
“I think I finally got adjusted to it at the end of fall camp last year,” Funck said. “It took more studying and knowing what to do first before you went out there and did it.”
As far as his biggest improvement from the beginning of his high school career to now is working on his personal speed and becoming more of a dual threat quarterback.
“I think my biggest improvement is probably my legs,” he said. “I wasn’t very mobile when I first started, but now I can keep up with these guys or even get out in front of them now.”
Funck only started playing the quarterback position four years ago. He said he feels blessed to receive an opportunity to play the position at the college level, and said he still has a lot of growth to do with the position.
“Exciting, dream come true. To even get a chance to play
quarterback at the next level is just a blessing,” Funck said.
“I still have a lot of room to grow, so hopefully I can make a splash at the college level.”
Funck’s favorite game from his time at Seymour was the season opener win against cross-county rival Gatlinburg-Pittman to start his senior season. Funck said their win against G-P was the catalyst for the Eagles to make a run to the postseason.
“My junior year we went 0-10, and we turned it around my senior year and made the playoffs,” he said. “The first game of the year against G-P, it set the mark for us to make the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.”
The piece of advice that Funck said he still carries with him today is what former Eagles Head Coach Scott Branton told him every time he threw a bad pass.
“Every time I threw a pick — my junior year wasn’t so pretty I threw a lot of interceptions — he just told me to reset,” Funck said.
“Even now, he said throw it in the trash can, I just throw it away and keep moving forward.”
New Eagles’ Head Coach Patrick Clark would’ve been an assistant coach during Funck’s time in Seymour.
Funck said he expects Clark to bring a new level of discipline to the Eagles’ team.
“Every chance I get I try to come up there and see what’s going on,” Funck said.
“I feel like the team is going to be a lot more disciplined,” he said. “Seymour has never been the biggest, fastest, most athletic, but they’re going to be disciplined and they’re going to know what they need to do.”
As far as what it means to him to be a role model for the younger Seymour players, Funck said it’s nice to be able to continue to give back to the program even though his time on the field as an Eagle is behind him.
“It feels great just to be able to teach them new things. It feels like I’m actually doing something there, I’m helping them out,” he said. “It feels like my time there wasn’t wasted, and I can still give back to the program.”
Funck is currently in a battle for the starting position at Lyon College this season. While team success is more important, Funck said he wants to make the most of his time on the field and has some benchmark numbers that he wants to reach.
“Wins are most important,” he said. “I’d say a benchmark, I want to get at least over 2,000 yards this year passing and try to get 500 on the ground.”
* DENOTES REGION GAME
Friday, August 18 - @ Gatlinburg-Pittman High School
Friday, August 25 - McMinn Central High School
Thursday, August 31 - Northview Academy
Friday, September 8 - Gibbs High School*
Friday, September 15 - @ Anderson County High School*
Friday, September 22 - Cherokee High
Friday, September 29 - @ South Greene High School
Friday, October 6 - @ Fulton High
Friday, October 20 - South Doyle High School*
Friday, October 27 - @ Carter
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The King’s Academy made their way into the first round of the TSSAA Division-II playoffs despite being plagued by injuries. With some key players returning on both sides of the ball, the Lions are looking to improve from last year’s 3-7 record.
The Lions dealt with injuries that threw their season off the rails last season, but the bright side of that for head coach Jonathan Sellers is they now have some players that have gained experience before they were expected to.
“Summer has been well,” Sellers said. “We have a good group, a lot of guys that probably weren’t expecting to have big roles last year that because of different injuries ended up gaining a lot of experience. I think that helped mature this team going into this offseason.”
“Going into some spots with those guys having some experience, they kind of know more about what’s going to be demanded of them this season,” he said. “You grow through every situation, so a lot of guys grew and got reps last year that we weren’t expecting, so that should carry into this year and give us a little more positive momentum.”
The biggest blessing in
disguise that came out of the troubles that the Lions faced last season is this year coach Sellers said his team is better prepared for any adversity that could be thrown at them.
“We tell them to control what you can control, and last year we had a lot of curveballs thrown at us,” Sellers said. “I think that our guys did a really good job of taking those head on and
continuing to fight and battle through adversity.
“This year, coming in with a healthy roster, hoping and praying that stays the same way throughout, but we know that a couple curveballs will probably come our way again this year,” he said. “It’s all about how you handle it.”
The biggest difference for this year’s team outside of players returning from injury is the holes that the Lions have to fill on the defensive side of the ball.
“For the first time in a while, we’re going to have a little bit of inexperience on defense. Last year’s senior class, there were three or four of those guys that played almost every snap since their freshman year on defense,” he said. “Replacing the Riley Webbers, the Zeke Connatsers, the Nick Donatos, some of those guys defensively is going to be a task.”
“I think we have some very
quality candidates that can step in and fill those roles,” Sellers said. “It’s just as we go through the next few weeks of camp and see how they adjust to filling some pretty big shoes for us defensively.”
Sellers credited his seniors for leading the way for the team, including two of his key seniors in Elijah Williams-Smith who is hoping to return to the field this year and Garrett Cogdill who is starting his fifth year of varsity football.
“I think they’ve done a good job. It all starts with these two guys right here (Elijah and Garrett),” Sellers said. “Elijah is the guy that all of our skill position guys look to for leadership, and Garrett, everybody on the team looks to him.”
Sellers credited Cogdill for his play over the previous four seasons, and say the experience
of someone going into the fifth year of varsity football is invaluable.
“He’s one of the very few in the state of Tennessee ever that can ‘hey I started every single game in high school since my eighth grade year,’” Sellers said. “Very few people walk into their senior year as a four year starter, so the wealth of knowledge just being around our program for so long, he does a good job of getting everybody else acclimated to what we’re doing.”
For Williams-Smith, he was sidelined with an injury last season and is hopeful to return to the field sometime this year. Having Avery Jordan take over the quarterback spot last season, Sellers said he has two guys that he feels comfortable with at the position.
“It’s great. Elijah started 12 games of varsity football on
Friday nights, Avery started 11. I feel comfortable with whoever walks out there with us on Friday nights,” he said. “Both of them are highly talented kids, I’d go to war with either one of those guys catching snaps.”
Williams-Smith said he has some lofty goals for the team this year, and for Cogdill he said his goal is to impose his will up front each week.
“Make a good run, getting better each week, 1-0 after every Friday night,” Williams-Smith said. “The goal is always to win a state championship.”
“I want to really focus on our run game,” said Cogdill. “Almost put it on the shoulders of the guys up front where we can run the ball and trust our guys that we can get down field.”
The Lions added two new non-region games this year in Campbell County and Chattanooga School for the
Arts and Sciences, two schools that the Lions have never faced before.
Four of the Lions’ seven losses from last year came by seven points or less. Coach Sellers said the focus this year is learning how to finish those close games.
“It’s just late in the third and fourth quarters, finding a way to make a play,” Sellers said. “I can probably point to four or five games last year where it’s a one score game at some point late in the third or fourth quarter and the break just didn’t go our way.
“In that moment it’s how you’re going to respond, turn that into a positive for you, find a way to fight out of that hole and find a way to win,” he said. “Growing through those situations going into this year so that we know how to handle those adverse opportunities that are going to come our way late into the second half in games.”
Connor Wallis was one of the defensive anchors for The King’s Academy Lions’ defense last season. He’s looking to continue to improve his skills at the next level as he joins a former assistant coach at Carson Newman University.
Although it’s only a few weeks into the Eagles’ summer camp, Wallis said he thinks everything has been going smoothly as he transitions to the college level.
“It’s been going really well,” he said. “I’ve been preparing ever since the season ended just to get ready for this. It’s going great.”
The biggest adjustment for Wallis at the next level has been learning a new program’s playbook and calls. While he’s still learning as he goes, Wallis said he’s excited to dive into his new playbook.
“Probably just adapting to a new playbook, new calls, new coaches. The hardest thing so far has been learning a new playbook,” Wallis said. “It’s not necessarily more complex, it’s something that I’m definitely excited about and definitely looking forward to.”
Going into his freshman season, Wallis said one thing that has made the transition easier is how helpful his new upperclassmen teammates have been.
“I’ve been able to start getting used to it, this whole idea of playing at the next level,” Wallis said. “How welcoming everyone is, it’s made it much easier to transition to the next level.”
“Everybody here is so willing to help out the freshmen because they were there at one point,” he said. “They’re all willing to answer questions, so that’s been great.”
Another factor that has helped the transition is former Lions’ assistant coach, Jonathan Atchley, is now also at Carson Newman as a linebacker’s coach.
“That has made this whole experience 10 times better because he’s now my position coach. After all of the meetings, I’m able to just talk with him,” Wallis said. “He’s kind of able to relate old plays that I knew into the Carson Newman playbook.”
“It’s definitely a rewarding feeling. A lot of people don’t get this opportunity to play at the college level. It was exciting, but I had that feeling in the back of my head that I have work to get to; this is all about business, that’s what I had to keep in the back of my mind.”
Wallis now has the opportunity to return to The King’s Academy and be a role model for the upperclassmen that want to also play at the next level, something that Wallis said
he’s very much looking forward to.
“I thought about that a lot recently, but when the season starts for high school I definitely want to talk to a few of the guys there that I know want to go play in college,” he said. “That is very exciting; that’s another rewarding thing is being able to help people at your old school.”
As far as his biggest piece of advice for those juniors and seniors that want to pursue college football, Wallis said to continue to work on your game even after the season ends.
“Probably take advantage of the offseason,” Wallis said. “I think that can be the biggest factor in determining how much better you get from season to season.”
The biggest piece of advice that Wallis said he still carries with him is something that coach Sellers has turned into a pillar of the Lions’ program.
“Some of the things that
coaches can’t teach is attitude and effort; that’s something that you have to do yourself and I carry that with me,” Wallis said. “I’d say that’s probably the one thing that stuck with me the most.”
Wallis is taking a redshirt for his freshman season, something he said relieves the pressure of his first college season and provides more time for him to prove himself to his coaching staff.
“It does kind of relieve a little bit of pressure,” Wallis said. “It’s a big difference going from high school to college, and taking this redshirt gives you a year to develop to this college environment, and helps you get prepared.”
“With that I just want to prove to the coaches that I’ll be ready to play my second year,” he said. “I want to prove to the coaches that I’m taking this opportunity that they gave me very seriously and I’m very grateful for it.”
* DENOTES REGION GAME
Friday, August 18 - @ Grace Christian Academy - Knoxville
Friday, August 25 - Christian Academy of Knoxville
Friday, September 1 - Campbell County High School
Friday, September 8 - @ Lenoir City High School
Friday, September 15 - @ Grace Baptist Academy
Friday, September 22 - Providence Christian Academy*
Friday, September 29 - @ Ezell-Harding Christian School*
Friday, October 13 - Middle Tennessee Christian School*
Friday, October 20 - @ Oneida High School
Friday, October 27 - @ Friendship Christian School*
FriAug.187:00PM• Seymour
FriAug.257:00PM•at CockeCounty
FriSep.17:30PM• Carter
FriSep.87:00PM•at Austin-East
FriSep.157:00PM• Fulton
HardinValleyAcademy
MorristownWest
DanielBoone
FriOct.207:30PM• EastHamilton
ThuOct.26*• DavidCrockett
FriAug.187:30PM•at Hampton
FriAug.257:00PM• NorthviewAcademy
FriSep.1*•at UnicoiCounty
FriSep.97:00PM• Grainger
FriSep.15*• Chuckey-Doak
FriSep.227:00PM•at Austin-East
FriSep.29*•at JohnsonCounty
FriOct.67:30PM•at MeigsCounty
FriOct.20*• Gatlinburg-Pittman
ThuOct.26*• Claiborne
FriAug.187:30PM•at GraceChristian-Knoxville
FriAug.257:30PM• ChristianAcademy-Knoxville
FriSep.17:30PM• CampbellCounty
FriSep.87:30PM•at LenoirCity
FriSep.157:30PM•at GraceBaptistAcademy
FriSep.22*• ProvidenceChristianAcademy
FriSep.29*•at MiddleTennesseeChristian
FriOct.13*• MiddleTennesseeChristian
FriOct.207:30PM•at Oneida
FriOct.27*•at FriendshipChristian
FriSep.22*• JohnsonCounty
FriSep.29*•at UnicoiCounty
FriOct.6*• Claiborne
FriOct.20*•at PigeonForge
ThuOct.26*•at Chuckey-Doak
FriAug.187:00PM•at Gatlinburg-Pittman
FriAug.257:30PM• McMinnCentral
ThuAug.317:00PM• NorthviewAcademy
FriSep.8*• Gibbs
FriSep.15*•at AndersonCounty
FriSep.227:30PM• Cherokee
FriSep.297:00PM•at SouthGreene
FriOct.6*•at Fulton
FriOct.20*• South-Doyle
FriOct.27*•at Carter
FriAug.187:30PM• UnicoiCounty
FriAug.257:00PM•at PigeonForge
ThuAug.317:00PM•at Seymour
FriSep.87:30PM• Volunteer
FriSep.15*•at Cherokee
FriSep.22*•at Grainger
FriSep.297:00PM• Carter
FriOct.6*•at Elizabethton
FriOct.207:30PM• Greeneville
FriOct.27*• SullivanEast