Sports
October 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
On January 25, 2024, Tyler Wynn made a simple request of his new football team at Hardin Valley Academy: “Give me 1,000 days.”
Within that timeframe, he wanted the Hawks to unlock an achievement they had not seen the previous five years: a postseason berth.
Fast-forward exactly 995 days, and Wynn and the Hawks have both delivered on that goal.
On Friday, Oct. 16, HVA knocked off Oak Ridge 32-21 for the biggest win in Wynn’s tenure. With the victory, the Hawks are guaranteed at least the 4-seed in the 2026 Region 2-6A playoffs. If Bradley Central loses
to Maryville and HVA wins at Cleveland, the Hawks will get the 2-seed and a home game.
“I wanted it for them,” Wynn said after escaping a potential Gatorade bath. “For me, it’s awesome, but when you come in and invest in kids and a community, you want it for them. You go to work for them. It’s about your impact on the hearts and lives of kids, and you want them to have return on investment.
“Football is here for a short while, but the lessons you can learn apply to everything the rest of your life. For me, the sigh of relief is because those kids got a small piece of what they have worked to get. They earned the right to win and that’s big.”
Indeed Hardin Valley did, going up by two scores at one point before holding on late for a program-changing victory.
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October 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
On a sunny Friday afternoon, Jason Price stepped out of his Chevrolet pickup and reached for a piece of equipment in his truck.
To any bystander, he could have been reaching for the weed-eater he uses as part of his lawn care business, Lawn Captains.
Instead, Price pulled out a black hockey stick — the same kind he sees every day in practice as an associate head coach for the Knoxville Ice Bears.
After becoming the Southern Professional Hockey League’s highest-scoring defenseman, Price joined the Ice Bears’ coaching staff ahead of the 2024-25 campaign after a playing career that spanned 16 seasons, seven in Knoxville.
He is the only player in SPHL history to appear in more than 700 games and served as captain, leading Knoxville to the 2015 President’s Cup.
Before returning to East Tennessee, he served as an assistant coach for Pensacola in 2021 and helped the Ice Flyers to the President’s Cup that season.
Most recently, he was promoted to his newest title in September of this year.
“It was great to be recognized in that way, the work I put into it,” Price said. “I’ve been working a bit more with the office and the general manager, but on the coaching side, the head coach and I have a good working relationship and a great dialogue. Not too much change there but definitely interacting with the office.”
The move came just before the 2026 season, which began last Friday, October 16th.
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October 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
This season, Chad Speck has leaned on three words to guide his Christian Academy of Knoxville football team: “surrender the outcome.”
Essentially, the saying means to focus on one’s effort, not the scoreboard.
Last Thursday, Oct. 15, the Warriors lived that mantra in real time. After trailing Grace Christian 27-10, they stormed back for a stunning 31-27 victory with quarterback Seaton Moffett punching in the game-winner
with just over a minute to go.
He finished the night 16-for-26 for 173 yards and one score through the air, adding 11 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns on the ground for 06 total yards.
“All the hard work paid off. I couldn’t do it without our o-line and coaches and receivers,” Moffett said. “I knew if I got the ball, I was going to make a play. And I saw green grass and made one. It had to be done.”
Prior to the game-winner, Moffett delivered a 12-yard scamper to set up the game-tying touchdown by Isaac Kannah. And when CAK got the ball back, the junior quarterback made sure they took advantage.
“He’s an absolute stud, man,” Speck said. “He’s a competitor and we knew, to win this game, 16 would have to make plays. He did it.”
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October 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
KNOXVILLE — Runners trotted toward the finish line, legs moving as steadily as the boats headed down the Tennessee River in anticipation of the Vols’ matchup with Alabama.
Yet out of all the competitors in the Knoxville Interscholastic League (KIL) championship meet on Saturday, Oct. 17, only two runners finished at the top in their respective categories.
Knoxville Catholic’s Cade Duncanson timed out at 15:24 on the course at Sequoyah Hills Park, leading an Irish team that took first overall with Hardin Valley Academy in second, Farragut in fourth and Christian Academy of Knoxville in fifth with Webb School of Knoxville in seventh.
Duncanson’s finish was followed by that of Catholic teammate Reid Bannister (15:41.2), two of four Irish runners to finish in the top seven. HVA’s Stephen Bell (15:50.2) and Aiden Rufi (16:02.7) were the Hawks’ top two finishers in third and sixth, respectively, with Farragut’s Chase Temples (16:07.2) in eighth overall.
On the girls side, HVA’s Alexandra Vesser finished first at 18:15.7, followed by CAK’s Sophie Lee (18:27.2) and Hardin Valley’s Zarah Enbom (18:40). Farragut’s Zoi LeCours (19:09.5) took ninth overall.
Vesser led a Lady Hawks program which finished first to beat out Catholic (second), CAK (third) and Farragut (fourth) with Bearden in sixth.
While both top runners were proud of their finishes, they reflected even more on the team-wide first-place results.
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October 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
Jessica Burkhart wanted to see her team’s heart.
Last Tuesday, Oct. 13, Burkhart saw that and plenty more from her Farragut girls soccer team, whose 2026 season drew to a close in a 3-2 loss to Bearden in the district semifinals.
With the result, Farragut’s final record this season stands at 10-5-1.
Ada Becker put the Lady Admirals on the board with 12 minutes left in the first half, but Landree Horner matched for Bearden with an equalizer.
Later on, with Farragut down 2-1, Oliveah Love tied the score with a shot right in front of the Farragut student section.
But Bearden freshman Avery Stevens came through with the winner 17 minutes later, pushing the Lady Bulldogs on to the district championship.
“The two goals we got were effort and heart,” Burkhart said. “We didn’t give up on balls, and that’s what you saw. You saw a senior not give up on a ball and put it in the back of the net, then a freshman not give up on a ball and put it in the back of the net. I think that’s so fitting for who we are.”
After beating West 3-1 in the district title match last week, Bearden moved on to the region semifinals this week against Knox Central.
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October 21, 2026 by Bill Howard, Correspondent
It included many highlights, but Hardin Valley Academy’s volleyball season came to an end last Tuesday night, Oct. 13, at Maryville High School.
Finishing second in the Region 2, District 4A Tournament the week before, the Lady Hawks lost in straight sets to Central High School, winners of the Region 2, District 3A Tournament. The set scores were 28-26, 25-17 and 25-18.
“Central is a really good team,” said HVA coach Eric Boden. “We really struggled blocking; we really struggled to pass.”
“We left some chances on the table that we wanted,” Boden said when asked about the oh-so-close first set.
The first set couldn’t have been closer. Numerous times it was tied as the momentum constantly swung back and forth. The Lady Hawks seemed to be in good shape at 21-18, but four in a row by the Lady ‘Cats put them up 22-21. Four split points later, CHS had a set point at 24-23.
But HVA won the next two to have a set point of its own, 25-24. Central tied it at 25, and it was again tied at 26. CHS then won two to close it out.
In the second set, Central used a number of scoring runs to first, build an early lead, then hold off Valley’s many attempts to fight back.
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October 21, 2026 by Bill Howard, Correspondent
Another stellar season for Knoxville Catholic High School’s volleyball team came up just short last Saturday at Briarcrest Christian School.
The Lady Irish fell to the Lady Saints three sets to one in the Division II-AA championship match in the State Tournament in Eads, Tennessee. KCHS won the first set 25-19, then lost 25-21, 25-17, and 25-17.
“Very proud of the grit and determination in each and every one of our girls both on the floor and on the bench,” said Catholic coach Brent Carter.
BCS defeated KCHS last year in five sets, and went on to win state.
To get to the title match, the Lady Irish beat Lipscomb Academy in the semifinal three sets to one, winning the first two 25-19 and 25-18; lost the third 27-25, then closed it out 25-19.
“We played clean, served well and hit for a good number,” said Carter. “We passed really well; we were a handful.”
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