Sports
Farragut avenges earlier loss to Webb
September 17, 2025 by Bill Howard, Correspondent
Anyone familiar at all with the game of volleyball knows how streaky the game can be, both within and between the sets that make up a match.
Monday night at Webb School of Knoxville, streakiness was the rule throughout as Farragut High School won the first two sets, dropped the next two, then held on in the fifth to win the match, three sets to two.
“We’re just very bipolar right now,” Lady Admirals’ coach Andre Alves said. “We find our rhythm, we find our game, then something triggers which I need to figure out, and the wheels fall off the cart badly.”
“Really good ball movement on both sides,” Lady Spartans’ coach Nicklin Hames said. “They took it to us the first two sets, then we put it to ‘em in the next two. Fifth set was a battle back and forth.”
A 6-1 run in the first set helped Webb build a 17-13 lead. FHS then won four points in a row, gave up two, won three, then five of the last six to take the set 25-20.
Two scoring streaks by FHS in the second set 7-0 early on, six of which were served by Hailey Aiken, and 9-3 at the end – gave the Lady Admirals the set, 25-18, and a two-set lead.
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September 17, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Knoxville – The 2025 college football season continues this week as Tennessee will look to get back on the winning track as it plays host to the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Kickoff is slated for 12:45 p.m. at Neyland Stadium.
Prior to each Vols’ home game, farragutpress will shine the spotlight on players or coaches who, after their high school careers in West Knox County, moved on to the University of Tennessee to don the Big Orange.
This installment will look back at the career of Daniel Hood, who played for the Volunteers after a stellar prep career at Knoxville Catholic High School.
Throughout his high school and college football career, Hood persevered through adversity. He played for the Irish from 2007-09 for head coach Mark Pemberton and in 2008, KCHS shocked the high school football world by winning the Class 3A state championship and going 15-0 as it battled through injuries along the way.
“That year, we weren’t expected to win many games,” Hood said. “We lost our top two running backs to start the season, and we ended up going 15-0.”
Hood, an all-region performer and all-state standout during his playing days with the Irish, had a breakout season on offense for Catholic during its state championship run.
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September 17, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
A pair of unanswered second-half goals has the Hardin Valley Academy girls perched atop the District 4-AAA standings heading into this week.
The Lady Hawks (9-1 overall, 2-0 in the district) made the short trip to Farragut for their annual regular-season showdown with the Lady Admirals and emerged from the fray with a 2-1 victory and the top spot in the league standings.
Things, however, got off to a rocky start for Hardin Valley as the Lady Hawks fell behind, 1-0, when Farragut’s Rowan Unger found the back of the HVA net just four minutes into the match.
Farragut (3-4-1, 0-2) held the lead at halftime and appeared poised to earn a victory but the Lady Hawks had other ideas. They were a different team after the halftime break.
Sophie Roberts scored the equalizer for Hardin Valley just after halftime, tallying in the 47th minute, making the score 1-1.
The match remained knotted until Makayla Hammond scored what turned out to be the game winner in the 72nd minute.
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September 17, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
No. 15 Tennessee is back at Neyland Stadium Saturday as it plays host to Alabama-Birmingham.
Kick off between the Volunteers and Blazers is slated for 12:45 p.m. and the Big Orange will be looking to bounce back from a heartbreaking overtime loss to Southeastern Conference rival Georgia.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel and the Vols (2-1) are eager to move forward as they prepare to face UAB (2-1) in Knoxville this week.
“At the end of the day in this game, you have to constantly move forward and you have to take advantage of every day,” Heupel said at his Monday afternoon press conference. “You can’t look in the rearview mirror. You have to look out the windshield and keep driving forward.”
The coach also knows his squad will have to be prepared to face a team in the Blazers (2-1) that will come in to Knoxville looking to upset the Vols.
Heupel said UAB will look to run the ball against Tennessee.
“We have to do a great job against the run,” he said. “With who we’re facing, what they do offensively, shift-trade motions, communications at all three levels and then, pass defense.
“Again, when I talk defense, you guys hear me say this a lot, it’s all 11 being a part of that. It’s communication, second and third level, it’s pattern recognition in our zone concept and it’s applying pressure to the quarterback, which can be just your front four, but it can also be any of the 11 that are in that package.”
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September 17, 2025 by Dan Harralson, Correspondent
Knoxville Catholic High School won a home girls soccer match versus Christian Academy of Knoxville, 5-1, on Sept. 11.
Emery Hawes, Sophie Pumariaga, MJ Brooks, Gabby Mendez and Eden Perkinson scored goals for the Lady Irish. Hawes, Maria Notarianni (2) and Sophia Timmerman-Pelensky were credited with assists.
Goalkeeper Sophia Hennen also recorded a win in her first start for Catholic.
Seven games remain for Catholic in the regular season. Head coach Josh Martin discussed his team following a win over CAK and at the halfway point of the season.
“I fell pretty good about us,” Martin said. “We have probably played one of the toughest schedules in the state of Tennessee. We have five of the top 10 on our schedule, I think three of the top 10 in the nation on our schedule, so we’ve had some tough games and have tough games ahead. I have loved how the girls have reacted.
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September 17, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
The struggles continued on the gridiron for Farragut High School last week.
The Admirals opened the Region 2-6A portion of their schedule Friday night and came up on the short end of a 24-10 decision against Bradley Central at Bill Clabo Field.
A slow start hindered Farragut (0-4 overall, 0-1 in the region) as the Bears (3-1, 2-0) darted out to a 14-0 lead.
The Admirals were able
to grab some momentum when they got on the board just
before halftime, when kicker Ryan McCue converted a
41-yard field goal in the waning moments of the second quarter.
Farragut pulled closer in the third quarter when quarterback Corbin Hobson threw a touchdown pass to Aaron Heatherly. Hobson was
18-for-29 through the air. He amassed 176 yards and, threw one touchdown pass while lofting one interception for Farragut, which was bitten by the turnover bug.
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September 17, 2025 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Knoxville – Another week on the gridiron produced another lopsided loss for Bearden High School.
The Bulldogs, who have scored just 13 points in three games this season, fell to Science Hill, 35-0, Friday night at Bill Young Field.
Despite seeing his team shut out in each of its last two games, Bearden coach Brad Taylor remains upbeat.
“We’re a young team and we’re still learning,” Taylor said. “We still have a lot of learning to do and we’re just going to keep working.
“We have some guys, like Connor Gilbreath, Paxton
Parrott and Logan Lamont, who are playing well on defense. Connor is playing well and Paxton Parrott is playing well for us on both offense and defense.”
Lamont had six tackles, a sack and a pass deflection against the Hilltoppers while Parrott finished the contest with seven tackles and one tackle for loss in the contest.
Bearden has played one of the toughest schedules in East Tennessee. It’s scheduled season opener against Knoxville West was canceled due to inclement weather.
The Bulldogs ended up beginning the 2025 campaign against 10-time defending Class 3A state champion Alcoa (now in Class 4A). Bearden dropped that game, 63-13, despite a solid performance from Parrott, who accounted for both Bearden touchdowns.
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September 17, 2025 by Bill Howard, Correspondent
As of Sept. 11, Bearden High School’s volleyball team had a record of 5-8. A recap of the team’s season thus far, with quotes from fourth-year head coach Kaity Davidson.
Aug. 19: 3-0 win over Christian Academy of Knoxville. “Overall played a very consistent game. Everyone was doing their job. Very clean match.”
Aug. 21: 2-1 loss to Concord Christian School. “It was just not our night. It was very good games but we just could not execute that night.”
Showdown at the Sunsphere Tournament (Aug. 22/23): 2-0 loss to a team from Kentucky on Aug. 22.
Aug. 23: 2-1 loss to Sevier Co. High School. “Very competitive match. When we played them in preseason it wasn’t a great match, but I thought ‘oh man, we could take them.’ Unfortunately we just fell short.”
Aug. 23: 2-1 win over South-Doyle High School. “Just coming off a long break and we just played our game.”
Aug. 23: 2-0 win over Seymour High School. “Started getting our rhythm back, started moving the ball around, and we cleaned up our serve-receive.”
Aug. 23: 2-1 win over Powell High School. “Very competitive. We had to make some adjustments. Just finding our rhythm. I flipped from running a 6-2 (two setters) to a 5-1.”
Aug. 25: 2-0 win over Eagleton High School. “We had a lot of fun. We were able to work on some plays.”
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