Ortiz becomes Dragons’ all-time leading scorer among kickers
by Dan McWilliams Special to The Courier News
Clinton’s Hayden Ferguson fights through the Knoxville West defense for extra yardage after a catch during Friday night’s home game against the Rebels. Ferguson caught three passes for 38 yards in the Dragons’ 41-3 loss. - Tony Cox
After grabbing an early lead Friday, the host Clinton Dragons saw Knoxville West answer with a six-touchdown eruption that carried the Rebels to a 41-3 victory in a rainy Region 2-5A contest.
Clinton fell to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in region games. West improved to 3-4, 2-2.
The highlight for the Dragons came in the first quarter as Manny Ortiz knocked home a 34-yard field goal to give him 105 career points, breaking Garrett Zody’s school record for a kicker.
Hayden Ferguson of Clinton then intercepted a pass on West’s first play from scrimmage, but the Dragons could not score again.
Clinton struggled with fumbles in the slick conditions, and penalties, while allowing six sacks.
West scored 27 points in the second quarter and added 14 more in the third to break the game open.
Anderson County closed the regular season atop the District 4-2A standings with an unbeaten 4-0 record, while senior goalkeeper Bria Willis reached a career milestone.
“My goalkeeper Bria Willis did get her 300th save; she’s crossed that threshold of 300 saves in her career, so that was pretty cool,” Lady Mavericks Coach Chris Curtin said after his team wrapped up the regular season with a 4-1 home victory over district rival Gibbs.
Daniele Pack scored Anderson County’s first goal making it 1-1 at the break.
“We went into the locker room tied at halftime and, I’ll just say, we talked,” Curtin said. “And agreed that we need to change some things coming out.”
Clinton senior midfielder Topanga Easterday pushes the ball upfield for the Lady Dragons. Easterday is one of five Clinton seniors recently recognized as they closed out their final season with the Lady Dragons. - Tony Cox
Clinton High School girls soccer honored five players on Senior Night as the Lady Dragons hosted Gibbs.
Goalkeeper Isabella Geoffrion, midfielder Topanga Easterday, forward Mindy Cervantes, defender Natalie White and forward Emoree White were recognized for their contributions to the program.
“We have five girls that will be graduating this year; sad to see them go, but, you know, they’ve put in some great effort,” Clinton Coach Anna Orr said.
Orr had special praise for sisters Natalie and Emoree White, who took different paths to their senior seasons with the Lady Dragons.
“Natalie White is playing primarily as a left back or an outside back for us. This is her first year with us, and she’s just been stellar,” Orr said. “She’s really athletic and plays a couple other sports, but she’s jumped in and fit in really well.
“Emoree White [has] been with us for three years, and she’s just a stellar athlete. She plays primarily as a forward for us.”
Clinton finished the regular season in fifth place in District 4-2A, and will open the district tournament on the road against Union County on Monday, Oct. 12.
Clinton senior middle blocker Parker McGhee goes up for a block during the Lady Dragons’ match against Gibbs. McGhee later reached a career milestone, recording her 300th block during Clinton’s straight-set district victory over rival Oak Ridge. - Tony Cox
Clinton volleyball closed the regular season with a pair of milestones as the Lady Dragons prepared to make their run in the district tournament.
Senior middle blocker Parker McGhee recorded the 300th block of her career during Clinton’s straight-set district victory over rival Oak Ridge on Thursday, Oct. 1, at Clinton High School.
“I’m certain it’s a school record even though we don’t have official records,” Lady Dragons Coach Lorri Johnson said.
McGhee wasn’t the only Lady Dragon to reach a milestone.
Johnson recorded the 700th victory of her high school head coaching career — including 144 at Clinton — when the Lady Dragons swept Halls on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Anderson County opened the District 4-2A volleyball tournament with a 3-0 victory over Halls at home, advancing the Lady Mavericks to the second round.
The second-seeded Lady Mavericks were scheduled to face No. 3 seed Clinton in the next round. Results of that match were not available at press time.
Anderson County entered the tournament with an 11-3 district record after rebounding from a loss at Hardin Valley Academy early last week. Straight-set victories over district foes Campbell County and Gibbs closed out the regular season and helped the Lady Mavericks find their stride heading into postseason play.
Lady Mavericks Coach Jayme Smith praised the recent play of junior setter Julia Owens and senior defensive specialist Delaney Long.
“Julia gets 30 assists a match, and Delaney probably gets 10 digs a match,” Smith said.
Smith said she likes where her team is as the postseason gets underway.
“I feel like we are definitely starting to get to that point where we want to be when tournament season gets here,” she said.
“We’re climbing that ladder, and we’re starting to really come together as a team.
“We’ve been through so much adversity. We’ve been through a lot and worked through it, and they’ve done a really good job.”
Oak Ridge heads into its bye week riding high after closing out the first portion of its schedule with a dominant road victory.
The Wildcats improved to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in Region 2-6A with a 48-10 rout of Bearden.
“There was no school, so we spent more time doing football activities” leading up to the trip to Bearden, Oak Ridge coach Derek Rang said. “I thought we played well. I mean, you know, we gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, which is an area we’re still trying to work on, our kick coverage.
“We’ve got three big games coming up after the bye week,” Rang added. “So I thought it was a nice way to start out fall break for Oak Ridge.”
Running back Damillyan Porter provided plenty of fireworks for the Wildcats, scoring three touchdowns. He turned a swing pass out of the backfield into a 69-yard touchdown and added scoring runs of 21 and 28 yards.
By winning the region championship Monday, Sept. 28, the Anderson County boys golf team earned a trip to the TSSAA Class A State Tournament at Sevierville Golf Club.
The Mavericks opened the two-day tournament Monday, Oct. 5, with senior Luke Baldwin leading the way.
Baldwin fired a 2-over-par 74 in the opening round, carding birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 16 on the par-72 course.
Junior Maddox Tackett finished four shots behind Baldwin with a 6-over 78. Tackett birdied the third hole before providing a strong finish to his round with an eagle on No. 18.
Senior Hoyt Chadwell shot an 82, recording birdies on Nos. 7 and 10, while senior Hunter Turpin finished with an 84.
Sophomore Max Stanfill rounded out Anderson County’s opening-round scoring with a 90. He birdied Nos. 5 and 8.
The Mavericks were scheduled to play the final round Tuesday, Oct. 6. Results were not available at press time.
Volleyball players from Anderson County, Clinton and Oak Ridge high schools were well represented on the District 3-AAA postseason awards list following the 2026 season.
Clinton collected three of the district’s individual honors. Senior middle blocker Parker McGhee was named Hitter of the Year, while Jailie Rodd earned Server of the Year honors. Brooke Pebley was selected as Newcomer of the Year.
McGhee’s honor capped a season in which she recorded her 300th career block for the Lady Dragons.
Clinton also placed Anslee Carmichael and Maggie Moke on the All-District Team. Maggie Turbyville, Hanna Harvey and Alaina Staudenmaier received honorable mention.
Rodd, Moke, Harvey and McGhee were also recognized on the Academic All-District Team.
Anderson County had three players earn All-District honors. Emerie Bullock, Bethany Lowe and Khloe Wilkersonwere selected to the team.
Five other Lady Mavericks — Delaney Long, Addison Thames, Lillian McCormick, Julia Owens and Kinleigh Hood— received honorable mention. Long was also named to the district’s academic team.
Oak Ridge’s Stephanie Kenworthy, a senior, received one of the district’s top individual awards when she was named Defensive Player of the Year.
Lady Wildcats junior Camryn McGinnis was selected to the All-District Team.
Oak Ridge had four players receive honorable mention: Ella Hay, Coco Plothrow, Lindley Sullivan and Aly Wilson. Da’Miracle Strickland earned all-academic recognition.
The postseason selections gave all three area programs representation among District 3-AAA’s top players, with Clinton and Oak Ridge combining to claim four of the district’s individual awards.
Clinton cross country Coach Tim Kumes came away encouraged by the performance of his young teams on a challenging course at the Johnson University Invitational on Thursday, Oct. 1.
“Typically, that’s a course that the kids kind of get worked up about because they know it’s a difficult course, but the changes were well received by the kids,” Kumes said. “The weather was a little bit warm at the start of the race, but hey, that’s just part of the season this year. We had good results.”
Senior Cooper Bostrom led the Dragons, finishing in the top 15 and earning a medal with a time of 18 minutes, 7.80 seconds.
Joe Patton was another finisher for Clinton, placing 160th.
Sophomore Lilian West paced the Lady Dragons with a 19th-place finish.
“Lily had a great race,” Kumes said. “Lily’s a little competitor. Every time that she goes out, she runs hard.
“I think that looking forward, she should be right where she needs to be for qualification for coming through sectionals and into the state race.”
Freshmen Caroline Jones and Adah Freels also turned in strong performances for Clinton, finishing 40th and 49th, respectively.
Kumes said the youth on both rosters gives Clinton plenty of reason for optimism beyond this season.
“We have really young teams,” he said. “There’s some nice talent coming in from the middle school next year. So while it’s a down year for us as far as numbers go, I’m hoping that next year we’ll have a bigger team with a little bit of experience, and hopefully they can mentor these younger kids coming in next year.”
Anderson County cross country runners swept the individual titles at the Johnson University Invitational on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 2, as freshman Ella Tyler and senior Cameron Hardy raced to victories.
Tyler continued her strong freshman season by winning the girls race in 19 minutes, 53.10 seconds. Junior Jordan Walker gave the Lady Mavericks two runners in the top three, finishing third in 20:37.30.
Their performances helped Anderson County finish second in the girls team standings.
“We were really close. I mean, we had it right there,” Anderson County Coach Harrison Calhoun said. “I think it’s very promising for the future. I think it’s very promising for our girls, but also our guys, because the thing about it is that, yes, two of my top boys are seniors, but we have lots of young depth.”
Hardy led the Mavericks, winning the boys race in 15:56.30 and helping Anderson County finish eighth in the team standings.
Other Lady Mavericks competing were Daisy Dyer (23rd), Jenna Meadows (29th), Lila Sharon (31st), Rachel Garbes (42nd), Lily Franklin (43rd), Cassie Newman (52nd) and Kate Clotfelter (61st).
Other Anderson County boys finishers were Rylan Vanlandingham (35th), Tanner Warman (48th), Avian Laster (64th), Benson Skidmore (85th), Dane Templin (110th), Kason Hansard (134th) and Gabe Mounger (141st).
Clinton Middle School football is preparing for the playoffs.
The Hawks, the No. 2 seed with a 5-3 record, will host Cherokee at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, at Clinton High School in the first round of the Class 4A East Tennessee playoffs.
“We did have a decent season,” Woodard said. “We had 1,000 yards rushing, 700-something yards passing. Obviously, we’d like to have the Jacksboro game back.”
Clinton lost that game 24-22.
“And even the Scott County game,” Woodard said of a 22-0 loss. “We played defense really well. We were down a couple of starters on offense.”
Westin Gladon rushed for 493 yards and eight touchdowns. He also had 179 receiving yards and three touchdown catches.
Kooper Bayless rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns and had 160 receiving yards and two touchdown catches.
Visitors to last year’s fall festival at the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue check out some of the goats. - G. Chambers Williams III
This year’s Fall Festival at Anderson County’s Little Ponderosa Zoo and Wildlife Rescue in Dutch Valley will be held this Saturday (Oct. 10) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday (Oct. 11) from noon to 5 p.m.
The festival is an important fund-raising event every fall for the Little Ponderosa, helping the zoo to buy the necessary feed and supplies to keep its animals warm and happy over the coming winter.
Besides the many animals on display both inside and outside the zoo’s buildings, there will be vendor booths set up throughout the property, and several food options to keep visitors fed, including a Kona Ice truck.
“We will have live music, vendors, face painting, games, pony rides, inflatables, great food, buckets of food to feed the animals, and a gift shop,” zoo officials said.
