By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The original Best Sellers’ List started with a recap of the TSSAA sports year that was.
I proudly use the platform for the 2021-22 look back showcasing 10 special moments. From team success to thrilling games to shocking moments, it was a memorable August to May. Toss in a few individual achievements, time to reminisce on a wonderful sports year for Tipton-Rosemark Academy, Brighton High School, Millington Central High School and Munford High School.
10. Lady Cardinals have season to remember
MURFREESBORO – The longtime Skipper of the Brighton Lady Cardinal Softball team Robin Jacobs gave his vote for the best leader in the sport for 2022 moments after his squad succumb to a 6-0 decision to the Soddy Daisy Lady Trojans.
Rolling up in his wheelchair nursing his left leg Jacobs said “There goes your Coach of the Year.” Jacobs was referring to his daughter and interim Head Coach Emily Stewart. Although Brighton’s run at State came to an end May 25, Jacobs felt the effort given by Stewart since the calendar turned to 2022 made her the best in the profession in the Volunteer State.
Brighton reaching the Murfreesboro Sports Complex & McKnight Fields was in jeopardy during the district tournament after a loss to the rival Munford Lady Cougars.
“The girls had a spark that just came about them,” Stewart noted. “They were excited to play and they wanted to get here. They did whatever it took to get here to State. I think Coach was their motivation. It has been a roller coaster of a year for Coach’s health. They took that and I think that was the reason they did what they did.”
After a surgery earlier in the year, Jacobs had complications leading to him almost losing his life. With prayers and supervision Jacobs made a recovery leading to him attending most games and being by his daughter’s side at times in the dugout.
Jacobs had to watch from the sideline when the Lady Cardinals beat Covington and the Lady Cougars twice to take the district crown.
During Regionals the Lady Cardinals took down Obion County and Dyer County to win the Region 7-3A championship.
Brighton’s debut at the 2022 State Class 3A Softball Tournament came against the Lincoln County Lady Falcons. In a slugfest, Lincoln County advanced in the winner’s bracket 4-3.
9. Lady Eagles come back down to earth
CORDOVA — The owners of 26 consecutive West Regional Division II-AA championships, the St. Benedict Lady Eagles were in unfamiliar territory May 10 on their home field.
The Lady Eagles were the underdogs coming into the 2022 West Regional Championship game. The favorites were the newcomers to the league Tipton-Rosemark Academy Lady Rebels. With St. Benedict firmly in the middle of a rebuild, the Lady Rebels expected the Lady Eagles to dig in their crawls to hold on to the title. The Lady Rebels led by Head Coach Johnie Sanfratello leaned on the leadership of their six seniors Kayla Clement, Addie Glass, Ryleigh Bowers, Myah Wright, Gracen Williams and Sophie Roane to overcome a two-run deficit to prevail 6-2.
“It feels awesome,” Sanfratello said. “The thing is they’re rebuilding but that’s still a great softball team. I don’t think they have any seniors and they’ve gotten a lot better over the past two weeks. We knew they were going to come out and battle. We were just hoping it didn’t get back to the top of that lineup. They can hit and they’re going to score runs.”
Led by the pitching of starter Glass and the relief effort of Lanie Howe, TRA escaped a couple of St. Benedict rallies with scoreless innings. Then the stage was set for the Lady Rebels to erase the 2-0 deficit in the fifth inning.
“To stop their streak is awesome,” Sanfratello said. “We moved up because we wanted more opportunities to play against better teams outside of the district. We really like the opportunity in the postseason. We’ve got to get better. I just wished we didn’t wait for the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to do that. That’s what we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks.”
8. Grand moment between Munford vs. Millington
Millington Trojans Head Coach Jewell Gates understood the moment.
With the William Osteen Gymnasium packed to the raptures with Trojan faithful and Munford Cougar supporters, Gates knew Friday’s rivalry game had extra importance. The veteran basketball leader was taking on his former player and assistant coach Nic Buford. Buford and his Cougars made the trip to Flag City short-handed with Michael Lee out of the game.
But like his mentor Gates, Buford made no excuses and Munford jumped out 6-0. The Cougars held the advantage until the 1:22 mark of the second quarter.
Once Millington’s Greg Johnson made a pair of foul shots to give the Trojans their first lead at 29-28, Millington proceeded to outscore Munford 43-26 to prevail 72-54.
“I’ve been doing this for so long, and I don’t mean to make light of it, but it’s still just a basketball game,” Gates said. “I’ve been in big games. I’ve been in the Sub-State game. I’ve been in the State Tournament. I’ve been in the State championship game.
“This was big but as I am taking it it was bigger for the community of Millington,” he added. “Packed gym, nice crowd, this was for the community of Millington. Not necessarily Jewell Gates, I am just a small part in this. I do want the players to know, the harder you work, the bigger the rewards. But you’ve got to work.”
7. Trojans push Fayette-Ware to the limit
The William Osteen Gymnasium was rocking Tuesday with Fayette-Ware and Millington faithful passionately rooting for their respective teams in the District 15-3A Championship Game.
The No. 1 seed and favorite Fayette-Ware Wildcats took the best shot for the tournament host and No. 2 seeded Millington Trojans. At one point the Trojans were ahead by double figures in the third quarter 53-41.
But the Wildcats displayed championship DNA and were able to escape the title game 71-69 victors. It was evident early that the game would be close with Fayette-Ware holding an 18-17 lead after 8 minutes.
Millington senior guard BJ Gilmore kept his team in the contest hitting a pair of three-pointers in the opening period. Mr. Basketball Finalist and Wildcat senior JaSteven Walker made his presence felt with a pair of dunks that made the score 13-12 in favor of Millington.
That was an early example of Fayette-Ware being able to comeback erasing the Millington 13-6 advantage.
Millington outscored the Wildcats 16-14 in the second period to hold a 33-32 lead at the break. Then the Trojan guards under the direction of junior point guard Seth Grandberry dominated the third quarter.
6. Rivals shine on the diamond
As the clock approached 11 p.m., Munford Cougars Head Coach Scotty Yount was relishing in the joy of celebrating graduation day with his seniors.
Yount knew he would have at least two more games with his 12th graders after surviving the 2022 Class 3A Sectional Baseball game over the rival Millington Trojans 3-2. In contrast, in the opposing USA Stadium dugout, Trojans Head Coach Colter Millican was taking a moment with each one of his seniors to say goodbye.
“It wasn’t me it was them,” Millican said of turning the program around. “These 12 seniors have balled out and yes I saw that winning culture. Everybody here tonight saw it.”
Despite being the Region 8-3A champions, the Trojans were underdogs to the Region 7-3A runner-up Cougars. Facing tough odds, Millican said the mission was simple for his team entering the Sub-State game.
“Put your name on the map and give it all you’ve got,” he acknowledged. “Give it all you’ve got and we did that.”
Yount, who guided his Cougars to State back in 2017, knew his area rival Millington would be prepared to take the 2022 State spot slotted for the winner.
5. Mo better than the rest
FRANKLIN — Munford High School is home to a State champion in wrestling. Senior Wemawamungu Moktani is the best of 132 pounds in Class A for Tennessee in 2022.
Known as “Mo,” the senior grappler’s journey to the top of the medal stand started with a win over Holden Roaten (Elizabethton). Next up was a pinfall victory for Moktani over Wyatt Davis from Whitwell.
The third match of the tournament would be a win for Mo taking down Sam Hutchison (Knoxville Halls). The only person standing in Moktani’s way of the crown was junior Grant Hawkinson from Page High School. Pakistani’s survival over Hutchison seemed to give him an extra boost as he dominated the championship round 12-4 to win the State title.
4. Byrd lands atop Division II-AA Basketball
A Tipton-Rosemark Academy player attending the Mr. Basketball Finalist banquet was chartered territory.
But trailblazer Alex Anderson came up short after his two trips to Murfreesboro. But on March 14, Anderson’s former teammate Tyler Byrd captured the elusive Division II-A Mr. Basketball wooden and golden trophy over other finalists Daniel Egbuniwe (FACS) and Eddie Ricks III (Clarksville Academy).
“It feels great to be the first one in school history,” Byrd said. “It’s a big honor. A big honor and a dream come true to make this.”
Anderson was a finalist in Division II-AA in 2020 and 2021. Byrd joined the TRA roster after transferring his junior year in 2020-21. The duo of Byrd and Anderson led the Rebels back to State for the third time in school history.
All of this was done under the guidance of Anderson’s father and TRA Head Coach Cedric Anderson. Changing the culture of Rebel Basketball since arriving five years ago, Coach Anderson said thanks to players like Byrd opponents no longer see TRA Basketball as a pushover and celebrate wins over the Rebels on the court now.
3. Brown Out in Memphis
MEMPHIS — Exercising faith, Munford Head Coach Slade Calhoun watched the Crump Stadium game clock ticked down to one second remaining in the game that Friday night.
With the Region 8-5A championship on the line, Calhoun was prepared to call on his young kicker Braxton Brown to win the game against the Memphis Central Warriors. Facing a 23-yard field goal for the title, Brown took to the field and went through his normal routine. From the hold of Kail Driscoll, Brown booted the kick right through the uprights giving the Cougars the 30-29 victory and the 2021 Region championship.
“Braxton Brown is a tireless worker,” Calhoun noted. “He kicks his leg off in practice. We got a pretty good snap game and hold game. It’s kind of like we’re at a PAT distance and he probably makes like 300 a day. The dude kicks on weekends. He’s like nuts.
“So it came down to we felt like we could make an extra point to win the game,” he added. “We surely didn’t want to kickoff again. We didn’t want to give them another possession. That all factored into it. We had a short discussion there, should we run a play to get the ball in the middle. I was like, ‘Why snap it again?’”
Calhoun’s call and confidence in Brown sealed the championship for Munford and the No. 1 seed heading into the Class 5A playoffs. The Cougars’ championship was in doubt for about 47 minutes and 59 seconds.
2. Best Athletes in Tennessee
MURFREESBORO – The best decathlon athletes from the state of Tennessee for Class 2A reside at Munford High School.
Prior to 2022, the duo of Christian Perez and Jace Hodgin didn’t even know what a decathlon was. The Munford graduate and incoming senior respectively quickly learned about the two events under the guidance of Munford Track Coach Thomas Walters. Perez dominated the field May 19-20 at Brentwood High School winning with 5,374 points. His nearest competitor was his teammate and friend Hodgin with 4,997 points.
The tandem of Perez and Hodgin shared the big stage one more time at the 2022 TSSAA State Track & Field Championships Division 1 -Class A & Class AA Meet at Middle Tennessee State University’s Dean Hayes Stadium. Hodgin and Perez participated in the Pole Vault final taking fifth and fourth respectively.
1. Games of the Year
Keeping her Millington Lady Trojans alive from her goalie position, Kalia Duckworth leaped to the opportunity to take a penalty kick to try to win the 2021 District 15-2A Tournament against the Covington Lady Chargers.
Millington Coach William Carter shouted down Hornet Field to his goalie to allow her teammate Julizeth Cuevas take the next shot, ‘You’ll get the next one.’ After 100 minutes, the game was scoreless. With 13 penalty kicks in the record book, Covington had four and Millington tallied four. Cuevas’ attempt was blocked, setting up another set of penalty kicks.
Duckworth regrouped and stopped the next Lady Charger PK, setting the table for her attempt to be the possible game-winner. Using her goalie instincts, Duckworth spotted where her counterpart was trending. With the perfect placement, Duckworth blasted her shot into the back of the net winning Millington the district title.
After Covington scored, Millington Tess Cook deadlocked the PKs at 1-1 with a goal. The Lady Chargers went ahead 2-1 after the next set of kicks.
Round Three, Covington scores again going ahead 3-1.
“Honestly I was thinking I never have to stop it or it all over,” Duckworth said. “I was about to ball out there. I realized I had so many more before it’s over. So I had to get my head back into it.”
Senior Koreena Bedford headed to the line and the leading scorer for Millington connected, keeping her team alive and making the tally 3-2.
The fourth set of kicks, Covington hit the crossbar. Thompson came up clutch darting the ball into the corner making the tally 3-3.
Covington’s fifth penalty kick was good and the Lady Chargers were ahead 4-3. The Lady Trojans were a miss away from losing the title. Senior Keria McGhee delivered and scored to make it 4-4.
Millington and Covington needed extra penalty kicks to solve the equation of who will be the champion.
Both teams missed the next round of kicks. Covington’s goalie requested to take a shot to Duckworth’s surprise. She geared up to stop her peer and slapped away her attempt.
PART II
A penalty kick gave the Millington Lady Trojans the edge in the regular season matchup.
Then the Covington Lady Chargers returned to Hornet Field Oct. 7 for the District 15-2A championship game pushing Millington to overtime of a shootout. The Lady Trojans survived that classic with a game-winning goal from goalie Kalia Duckworth.
The third game of this thrilling trilogy took place on a Thursday evening once again at Hornet Field with the Regional championship on the line. In the past two seasons Millington has only suffered one defeat at its home field, coming in last year’s Regional title game to Fayette-Ware. In 2021, the Lady Trojans were poised to make history.
Winning 1-0 in another shootout against Covington courtesy of a Micaiah Halliburton kick, Millington captured the Regional championship and will host the first Sub-State game for girls’ soccer in school history.
“We’re really excited about this,” Millington Coach William Carter said. “We’ve worked hard for this and we’re excited about hosting. We definitely wanted to host either Dyersburg or South Gibson here. We didn’t want to go to them like last year. We feel really good about our chances. We know they’re both really good teams. They’ve destroyed some teams this year but I feel we’ve got a pretty good chance.”
