DCHS Tigers and Lady Tigers Tip off 2020-21 Basketball Campaign Tuesday Night, November 17 (View video here)

November 14, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Tigers and Lady Tigers will tip off the 2020-21 basketball campaign with two nights of Hall of Fame games on Tuesday and Saturday, November 17 & 21.

Whitehouse comes to town Tuesday night, November 17 with girls action beginning at 6 p.m. followed by the boys showdown at DCHS. The Tigers and Lady Tigers will then travel to Pickett County on Saturday night, November 21 starting with girls play at 5 p.m. followed by the boys.

DCHS Lady Tiger Coach Danny Fish from dwayne page on Vimeo.

In a WJLE Tiger Talk video interview Friday , Lady Tiger Coach Danny Fish talked about the pre-season and how the team has had to contend with COVID-19. (WJLE will post a video interview with Tiger Coach John Sanders on Sunday)

“We have been following the guidelines that were set in June and started conditioning in September when we got back in school. We were lifting and working in groups of three and then we hit a snag in October when a couple of players tested positive for COVID-19. We (team) were at home for 18 school days in the month of October which made it hard for us to train and we missed the first four days of official practice in November but we have been having two-a-days since then. The girls have had good energy and a good work ethic in those practices and I feel pretty confident in where we are at today. We will have a learning curve at the beginning of the year but I think we will come out and play some exciting basketball,” said Coach Fish

Last year’s Lady Tiger team compiled an 18-15 record and a semi-finals finish in the Region Tournament led by seniors Mya Ruch, Emme Colwell, Kenzie France, and Megan Walker.

Coach Fish will be looking to the four seniors on this year’s team to follow in their footsteps.

“We have four seniors. Megan Cantrell was our best 6th man last year. I expect her to have a good year. She has really grown in her leadership and skill level which I hope will translate to the floor. Grace Griffin is coming back. She came off the bench last year. I am expecting good things from Grace. Hannah Willingham was our backup point guard last year and she will contribute and Ellie Cripps is back with us this year. She has been a good team member for us,” said Coach Fish.

As for the juniors, “Everybody is wanting to know what Kadee Ferrell is going to do this year. I think she is going to be healthy and will have a good year. That Junior Class also includes Natalie Snipes, Summer Crook, and Kennedy Agee but she (Agee) is down with an ACL again. The Sophomore Class includes Madison Martin. We are expecting some good play from her and Xharia Lyons has also come along. Our Freshman Class is large and looks good. I think we will have at least a couple of freshmen like Ella VanVranken and Cadee Griffith that will probably get a lot of playing time. The rest are doing developmental work to be ready when those seniors graduate. I like the energy of our team and their consistency and effort in practice. That makes me think we’re going to have a pretty good year,” Coach Fish continued.

With so many teams in the district returning experienced players from last year, Coach Fish knows the task for his team will be challenging.

“There are a lot of unknowns for us. Macon County is ranked pre-season as 4th in the state and they are returning most of their team. Upperman is a pre-season number 1 and they are returning everybody. Livingston Academy returns everybody and so does Smith County and York Institute. It seems everybody is returning everybody except for us and Cannon County,” he said.

“Our style of play will be a little bit different this year because we are more athletic than we were last year. The group last year was more of a physical, bruising team. This year we have a lot of kids who can run and get up and down the floor. It should be exciting. I will be interested to see how we come out. The question is are we going to be able to finish off games because in District 8AA that is what you have to do especially on the road. That experience is what we have been missing over the last couple of years with girls who played so many minutes and have graduated. That experience of being on the floor in crunch time is what we are missing. There will be some ups and downs but by the end of the year I believe we will be right where we need to be,” said Coach Fish

With Covid-19 still a threat, Coach Fish understands there is no guarantee the season will go according to schedule

“Hopefully we can stay healthy. I know the girls and their parents are doing everything they can to make sure our kids have a season this year. We can’t take things for granted. We may be here one day and then be off for two weeks if something happens. Its going to be a roller coaster,” he said.

Because of the pandemic, attendance will have to be limited.

“We’re looking at about 330 people in attendance. We sold season tickets to our parents and it will be opened up to the public per day according to however many tickets can be allotted. We will follow the rules and be at no more than 33% gym capacity. If we are in compliance that gives our kids the best chance to play,” added Coach Fish.

The 2020-21 DCHS Basketball Schedule is as follows:
(*) denotes District 8 AA games.
(^) denotes Region 4 AA games

Game times listed start with girls game followed by boys contest

Tuesday, November 17: White House (Hall of Fame)- Home- 6 p.m.
Saturday, November 21: Pickett County (Hall of Fame)-Away- 5 p.m.
Monday, November 23: Warren County-Away- 6 p.m.
Tuesday, November 24: Red Boiling Springs- Home- 6 p.m.
Saturday, November 28: ^Grundy County-Away- 6 p.m.
Monday, November 30: ^Sequatchie County-Home- 6 p.m.

Friday, December 4: *York Institute- Away- 6 p.m.
Tuesday, December 8: *Livingston Academy- Away- 6 p.m.
Friday, December 11: *Watertown- Home- 6 p.m.
Thursday, December 17-Saturday, December 19: Sonic Shootout (boys and girls)- Sparta- TBA

Tuesday, January 5: Warren County-Home- 6 p.m.
Friday, January 8: *Cannon County-Away- 6 p.m.
Saturday, January 9: ^Sequatchie County-Away- 6 p.m.
Tuesday, January 12: *Upperman-Home- 6 p.m.
Friday, January 15: *Macon County-Away- 6 p.m.
Tuesday, January 19: *Smith County-Home- 6 p.m.
Friday, January 22: *York Institute- Home- 6 p.m.
Tuesday, January 26: *Livingston Academy- Home-6 p.m.
Friday, January 29: *Watertown- Away- 6 p.m.
Saturday, January 30: ^Grundy County-Home- 6 p.m.

Tuesday, February 2: *Cannon County-Home- 6 p.m.
Friday, February 5: *Upperman- Away- 6 p.m.
Tuesday, February 9: *Macon County- Home- 6 p.m. (Senior Night)
Thursday, February 11: *Smith County- Away- 6 p.m.
Friday, February 12: Red Boiling Springs-Away-6 p.m.

Lady Tiger Roster:

Megan Cantrell- Guard- Senior

Ellie Cripps-Guard-Senior

Hannah Willingham-Guard-Senior

Grace Griffin-Forward-Senior

Kadee Ferrell-Forward-Junior

Kennedy Agee-Guard-Junior

Summer Crook-Forward-Junior

Natalie Snipes-Guard-Junior

Madison Martin-Forward-Sophomore

Xharia Lyons-Guard-Sophomore

Ella VanVranken-Guard-Freshman

Cadee Griffith-Guard-Freshman

Ella Hendrixson-Guard-Freshman

Tess Barton-Center-Freshman

Alyssa Crook-Center-Freshman

Camryn Branin-Forward-Freshman

Ally Fuller-Forward-Freshman

Makayla Scales-Forward-Freshman

Managers: Elisabeth Seber, Jenna Wright, Zoe Cripps, and Maleah Ruch. Assistant Coaches, Maddison Parsley and Hanah Panter. Head Coach Danny Fish.

Tiger Roster:

Luke Jenkins-Senior

Aidan Curtis-Senior

Evan Jones-Senior

Jordan Young-Junior

Nathaniel Crook-Junior

Brayden Antoniak-Junior

Robert Wheeler-Sophomore

Elishah Ramos-Sophomore

Isaac Brown-Sophomore

Zack Birmingham-Sophomore

Stetson Agee-Sophomore

Conner Vance-Sophomore

Connor Paladino-Sophomore

Andrew Tramel-Sophomore

Ian Colwell-Freshman

Conner Close-Freshman

Kaleb Spears-Freshman

Alex Antoniak-Freshman

Jacob Hendrix-Freshman

Marquez Chalfant-Freshman

Managers- Aiden Whitman, Brayden Summers, Courtney London, and Summer Pedigo. Head Coach John Sanders. Assistant Coaches Logan Vance and Seth Hackett.

DCHS Basketball Cheerleaders

Presley Agee-Senior Captain

Makayla Cook-Junior Co-Captain

Evie Day-Junior

Chloe Hale-Junior

Kyleigh Hill-Junior

McKenzie Pack-Junior Co-Captain

Hannah Lohorn-Sophomore

Katherine Gassaway-Sophomore

Katie Patterson-Sophomore

Kortnee Skeen-Sophomore

Kenlee Taylor-Sophomore

Morgan Walker-Sophomore

Carlee West-Sophomore

Amelia Atnip-Sophomore

Hope Bain-Freshman

Zoi Hale-Freshman

Elaina Turner-Freshman

November 14, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Although it was a much closer game than last year, the Nolensville Knights have again denied the DeKalb County Tigers from advancing in the TSSAA Class 4A Football Playoffs.

(Click Link Below to Hear the Last WJLE Football Tiger Talk Program)

https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk-november-13/

The Knights won Friday night’s second round playoff game over the Tigers 24-17 in Smithville. A year ago the Knights beat the Tigers 42-6 in the quarterfinals of the playoffs at Nolensville.

The season ends for the Tigers at 7-5 although one of the losses was not on the field but a COVID-19 forfeit to Cumberland County. The 2020 Tigers made history by being the first DCHS football team to win a regular season region championship and the first to host back to back state playoff football games in Smithville.

The Tigers got the first points of the game on 2 yard touchdown run by Desmond Nokes with 3:38 left in the 1st period capping a 98 yard drive. Jasper Kleparek came on for the extra point and DeKalb County led 7-0.

Nolensville answered on an 11 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryder Galardi to Parker Price with 11:52 left in the 2nd period. Reese Miller added the extra point and the game was tied at 7-7.

DeKalb County reclaimed the lead on a 20 yard field goal by Kleparek with 5:55 left in the 2nd period. The score was 10-7 in favor of the Tigers.

After an interception by Isaac Knowles, DC took over on offense and extended its lead on a touchdown pass from quarterback Axel Aldino to Isaac Knowles covering 47 yards for the score. Kleparek tacked on the extra point and DeKalb County held a 17-7 advantage with 3:21 left in the first half.

The Knights pulled to within 3 with 40 seconds to go before halftime on a 14 yard touchdown run by Samson Johnson. Miller converted the extra point and Nolensville cut the Tiger lead to 17-14.

Nolensville tied the game at 17-17 on a 34 yard field goal by Miller with 6 minutes left in the 3rd period and then scored the go ahead touchdown with 8:21 left in the 4th period on a 24 yard pass from Galardi to Chance Fitzgerald. Miller added the extra point and the Knights went on to win 24-17.

The Tigers threatened late in the game but Desmond Nokes was stopped 2 yards short of the goal line on a 4th down pass.

Nolensville will travel to Tullahoma next Friday night for the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. Tullahoma is unbeaten at 12-0 and ranked #2 in the state. The Wildcats eliminated Marshall County 35-7 Friday night.

November 13, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Whether you want to research minutes of the last county commission meeting or one from as far back as 1882, you will soon be able to do it at your convenience online by visiting www.tncountyclerk.com and selecting DeKalb County to access scanned images of those documents.

(Click the link below)

https://secure.tncountyclerk.com/minutesSearch/index.php

County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss recently began the process of converting the original paper documents to digital with the help of Business Information System, a company that offers software solutions to local governments.

More than 138 years of county commission meeting minutes are currently stored in the archives of the clerk’s office and up until now they have only been available in their original paper forms, bound in books. Realizing that the county needed a better means of preserving those records, Poss reached out to BIS for help. The work is almost complete as these minutes have all been scanned, saved and are currently being uploaded to a web-based server where they will soon become available for public viewing and printing, possibly by the end of next week.

“This is something I have wanted to do for a long time and its finally getting accomplished and I am proud its being done,” said Poss.

Aaron Greer, BIS consultant, said Poss should be commended for providing this service. “Being able to search from all the books that are currently in the office up unto the present time online is something that very few of the counties in Tennessee have. It has been great to work with Jimmy. This has been something he has been pushing for a long time. It’s a great achievement for his office and the county,” said Greer.

Anyone wanting do a web-based research of the minutes for a particular issue can do a keyword search on their computer and every meeting in which that issue was discussed will appear on the screen. “You will have the ability to perform key word searches of the minutes and they will be searchable by dates, displayed in grids, images, and will be available pretty much by any kind of computer, ipad or iphone technology,” Poss said.

“If someone wants to know about a road say “Sunset Drive” for example, they can enter that road name into the search window on the computer and the software will search all of the documents that have been scanned, listing each of the documents the keyword search appears in. All of the results will then be displayed, allowing you to access every document that matches your search criteria,”.

“The searchable program was added to tncountyclerk.com on October 29, 2018. We have a number of these records currently searchable. Once you’re on the website and select “DeKalb”, near the bottom of the page you will see Minutes Search. You are able to key in a single word, road name, specific month, etc. to view these records which are available,” said Poss.

“Scanning and storing these minutes by computer makes the searchability quicker, more accessible and certainly much more secure. We are protecting these records from fire, water and or smoke damage, physical and or aging. Simultaneously, we are backing each document up in our computers as well as an off-site center. We will also continue producing and storing minute books as we scan all future minutes,” said Poss.

Anyone wanting to do their research of county commission meetings the old fashioned way will still have access to the binder style minute books which will remain in the county clerk’s office. “People are always welcome in our office to continue looking through our hard copy minute books and if you want a copy of a document we can assist you by pulling that up on the computer and printing it for you,” said Poss.