NEMCABB Update

Photo by Brandon Speck/Monroe Journal
Just got done here in Corinth. Enjoying some Taco Bell.
The East won the 3A/4A/5A game, 7-2. Tupelo’s Gardner Richey had a two-run blast to give the East a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning. His Golden Wave teammate, Joseph Koon, tossed three shutout innings in middle relief for the win.
Lee [...]

NEMCABB Baseball

Photo by Shelby Daniel
The annual NEMCABB All-Star Baseball Games will be held in Corinth today. My preview in today’s paper focused on New Albany’s Daniel Tunnell, who had a breakout season for the Bulldogs.
The 3A/4A/5A game is at 2 p.m., with the 1A/2A to follow at 5:30. Both will be nine-inning games, which means [...]

Best Photos of 2007-08

In today’s Journal, I took a look back at the 2007-08 sports year. I listed the top 10 stories, wrote about East Webster’s spring dominance, highlighted some of the year’s top performances, and reviewed some of our area athletes’ likes and dislikes.
I have also selected the 10 best photos, according to me, taken by our [...]

Players of the Week: The List

A little tardy, but as promised, here is the list of honorees for the Players of the Week feature for 2007-08. There were some weeks we received no nominations or had no prep page.
Aug. 31: Kortny Tucker, Hickory Flat; JoJo Pearson, Hebron Christian
Sept. 7: Katherine Steinman, Tupelo; Marcus Hinton, Aberdeen
Sept. 14: Lori Crudup, Pontotoc; Hubert [...]

In Today’s Journal

Turns out the new baseball playoff format was not set in stone. Coaches met Wednesday with the MHSAA and made a couple of tweaks to the current setup: a revised first-round schedule for Class 5A, and fewer coin flips to decide Game 3 sites.
In basketball news, West Point hired Winston Varnado to coach its boys [...]

West Point Hires Varnado

You know the name. Jarvis Varnado is Mississippi State’s 6-foot-9 center, who led the nation in blocks last season as a sophomore. His father, Winston Varnado, is now in the area. He’s been named as West Point’s boys basketball coach.
The hiring will become official in June, but Varnado will meet the team Thursday. He comes [...]

Coaches: All-Area Time

I just went over the nominations I’ve received so far for the Daily Journal’s All-Area baseball and fast-pitch softball teams. I have received nominations from 13 baseball coaches and seven softball coaches. The deadline for submissions: FRIDAY!!!
That means a lot people out there need to get on the ball. You know who you are. Just [...]

No Holiday Here

Happy Memorial Day, and many thanks to those who’ve served our country so faithfully. Hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday. As for me, I’m in the office, because I’ve got a ton of work to do.
Much of that work involves what you’ll see in Friday’s Journal. I’ll be looking back at the 2007-08 school year [...]

More for Gas=Fewer Games

In today’s Journal, I explored how the recent schedule shrinking could affect athletic programs in the area. As we reported last week, the state’s superintendents and the MHSAA agreed to cut the number of games teams can play by 10 percent, starting next year; football was exempt.
A lot of NeMiss coaches, while understanding the need [...]

Various & Sundry Thoughts

Ken Byars, you might have heard, has resigned as Okolona’s football coach after one season. He’s taken an assistant’s position at Pontotoc. I’ll have a story on that in Friday’s Journal.
In other coaching news:
• New Hope basketball coach Robert Byrd turned in his resignation a couple of weeks ago, but the administration was trying to [...]