Sports

With the final week before the dead period set to begin on Monday for teams throughout the local area and the state as well, high school football teams at Dyersburg and Dyer County High Schools will get their final workouts in before the TSSAA’s mandatory two-week dead period this week.

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com Based upon the results from last season, the 2019 schedule got a bit tougher for the Trojans as a trio of sub-.500 teams were replaced after the 2018 campaign. Gone from the slate are Millington (4-7), Bolivar (2-8) and Chester County (2-8). In their places are teams with traditions of winning seasons as Hardin County (8-3) and Union City (7-6) as well as Liberty (1-9) make their way to the Trojan schedule this fall...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com When the 2019 Choctaw football schedule was released, the only real surprise on the docket was that there are no new teams on the list of opponents for Dyer County in the upcoming season. In fact, not only did the 10-team slate of games not change, the order stayed the same from the previous two seasons...

When the weather warms up and the baseballs are flying around the parks here in West Tennessee, it’s hard not to think about baseball and being back on the diamond. Well, as I learned when stepping into the batting cage late this past spring, my days on the diamond are well behind me...

Sonic's Clay Dodds (2) makes a catch on an infield flyball as teammate and first baseman Ryker Hayes looks on during Cal Ripken 11-12-year-old action at the Ed Wright Baseball Complex in Dyersburg.

Brielle Moore of the Ermco 6-8-year-old softball team at the Dyersburg Activity Center looks to make contact during recent softball action.

The spring sports season as well as the school year may have just ended late last month, but there are already some out there turning their eyes toward the fall and beyond as local high school hoops teams are hitting the road to take part in summer basketball camps through the month of June.

While I don’t really consider myself a natural basketball guy - never played organized ball but have watched the game in some form or fashion since the early ’90s - hoops is actually one of my favorite sports. Simply, it’s easy to enjoy as you don’t have to worry about people complaining about the pace of the game (like with baseball) or lack of offense usually (see this past February’s Super Bowl)...

For the first time in eight seasons, there will be a new face at the head of the Dyersburg Lady Trojan volleyball program as Lexington native Kaci Lewis was recently named the new head coach for the black and gold netters as she takes over for Marilyn Liljenquist, who stepped down earlier this spring.

Less than a month after graduating from Mississippi State and just three days away from the Bulldogs hosting Stanford in NCAA Super Regional action, former Dyer County standout and current State pitcher Trysten Barlow was given an option as to where the next chapter of his life can be written as the former Choctaw hurler was drafted in the 16th Round of the Major League Baseball Draft with the 489th pick by the Colorado Rockies.

Dyersburg State Community College (DSCC) is set to host the 2019 Honor Society “Go for the Green” Golf Tournament Saturday afternoon, July 27, at the Covington Country Club. The DSCC Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society is sponsoring this event with proceeds benefiting PTK activities and program needs. The tournament will begin with a shotgun start at noon...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com With the TSSAA-mandated dead period approaching at the end of the month, Dyersburg High School will showcase not only its high school and middle school Trojan basketball teams but teams from West Tennessee and other states as Trojan basketball hosts Dyersburg Basketball Summer League 2019 next Tuesday and Wednesday in the Terry Glover Gymnasium...

National Fishing and Boating Week is designed to introduce people of all ages to the sport of fishing. To celebrate National Fishing and Boating Week, Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge is hosting its 29 Annual Youth Fishing Rodeo on Saturday, June 8...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com After having one of the more successful opening seasons of the nine local junior golf programs, The Farms Junior Golf Program will kick off its second season in Dyersburg on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. as the league returns after serving over 90 young golfers last summer...

The Ladies League at The Farms recently dedicated a bench in honor of Shirley Carver. The Ladies League joined her husband, James Carver, at the dedication ceremony.

Dyersburg State Community College (DSCC) will host a Junior Eagle Basketball Camp during the month of June for children entering kindergarten through eighth grade this fall. The camp will be held during the weeks of June 10-14, June 17-21 and June 24-28 from 8-11 a.m. daily inside the E.H. Lannom, Jr. Gymnasium on the Dyersburg campus...

The next few months just got a bit busier for Dyersburg girls basketball coach Joel Ayers as the Lady Trojan skipper will pull double duty as he has been tapped to take over the Dyersburg Middle School girls program as well after former head coach Porche McClerking stepped down recently.

Fresh off of both their high school seasons earlier in May, Dyersburg and Dyer County high school baseball programs hosted youth skills camps earlier this week as each had a good turnout for three days of fun, learning and baseball at Tom Mathis Field and Dyer County High School respectively.

Now that the end of the spring sports season - as well as the TSSAA’s on-the-field sports calendar - has come and gone a little over a week ago, it’s time to take stock in what we saw this past spring. Needless to say, you’d have to consider the Dyer County softball team as well as Dyersburg soccer Trojans as the big winners this past season...

It was a very educational week for young baseball players around the area as both Dyersburg and Dyer County High School baseball teams hosted youth skills camp this past week at DC and DHS.

Dyersburg State Community College (DSCC) is set to host its Annual Ed Lannom Jr. Memorial Golf Tournament Friday afternoon, Aug. 23, at The Farms Golf Club in Dyersburg. The DSCC athletic department sponsors this annual event with proceeds benefiting athletic scholarships and program needs. The tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. DSCC Alumnus Kevin Cook of C&C Pharmacy will serve as tournament director...

It’s getting to be a tradition here at the State Gazette of getting to travel to Murfreesboro for the final week of the TSSAA sports year to watch at least one of our local high school teams compete in the brackets with the hopes of bringing a state championship back across the Tennessee River...

A pair of local high school athletes ended their 2019 track seasons at the TSSAA Large Class State Track Meet on Thursday morning with both local high schools seeing representation on the biggest stage in the state. Dyersburg senior Reed Bona brought his Trojan track career to a strong conclusion at the state level with a ninth-place finish in the pole vault competition, topping out with a jump of 11 feet, six inches...

The Dyersburg junior doubles duo of Leah Wagner and Rachel Finley saw their season and journey through the TSSAA Large Class Girls’ Doubles Tennis Tournament come to an end on Thursday morning in the quarterfinals as the Lady Trojans lost in straight sets to East Hamilton...

After their second morning of late-inning heroics on Thursday in consolation bracket action at the Class AAA State Tournament in Murfreesboro, Dyer County softball’s bid to become the first female sports team to capture a state title came to an end on Thursday afternoon as a five-run third inning proved to be too much for the Lady Choctaws to overcome as the orange and white fell to Knoxville Halls 5-0 at Starplex Field No. 1.

Throughout the state tournament, the Dyer County defense helped to largely keep the Lady Choctaws in the games and secure the first two victories in the program’s history in Murfreesboro.

With the team facing elimination on Thursday morning in the consolation bracket of the TSSAA Class AAA State Tournament in Murfreesboro, Dyer County junior pitcher Payton Reasons came up huge on one of the biggest stages as she limited Dickson County to just three hits while collecting her team’s only hit and scoring the only run in the Lady Choctaws’ 1-0 win over the Lady Cougars.

With the soccer season coming to an end on Wednesday afternoon in Murfreesboro, this year’s Dyersburg Trojan team can make a claim as one of the best to take the field as it was the fourth one to reach the state tournament but also scored nearly three times as many goals as the second-best scoring offense at the state level among that group of black and gold teams.

A pair of early goals from Sevier County set the tone for the Class AA Soccer Semifinal on Wednesday afternoon in Murfreesboro as though the Trojans were able to answer late in the first half, a trio of second-half scores propelled the Smoky Bears into the state title game and ended Dyersburg’s season just short of the school’s first-ever state championship game appearance.

With the way the draw of the Class AAA State Tournament played out, Dyer County had to wait an extra day to make their return to the field in Murfreesboro for the Lady Choctaws' third straight trip to the Spring Fling.

As much of a positive note as the day began for the Lady Choctaws on Wednesday on the second day of the TSSAA Class AAA State Tournament in Murfreeboro, the second game was the polar opposite as the orange and white girls fell 11-1 in the second round of the winners’ bracket at Starplex Field No. 1 in the Spring Fling.

In a game of contrasting halves, the Dyersburg Trojans picked up their first state tournament win in 13 years as the black and gold soccer team held off a late Buccaneer raid to defeat Beech 4-3 in the TSSAA Class AA Quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon in Murfreesboro.

With every team which finds itself playing ball in the final week of the TSSAA season, there is a journey to get them to where they are.

For those wanting to wish the Dyersburg Trojans well on their journey to the state tournament this week, there will be a sendoff for the black and gold soccer team today (Monday) at 3:30 p.m.

There will be a sendoff for the Dyer County Lady Choctaw Softball team on Tuesday at noon as the team departs for the Class AAA State Tournament.

At the beginning of the year, the Dyersburg soccer team made a list of goals they wanted to achieve before the end of the 2019 season and the black and gold achieved their fourth of those goals on Saturday evening as a pair of late goals sent the Trojans to the Class AA State Tournament for the first time since 2012 with a 2-1 win over visiting Haywood at J.C. Sawyers Stadium.

Following the Region 7AAA Championship game two days earlier, Dyer County head coach Shanna O'Bright said her team would have to adjust their approach and be more patient at the plate when they faced Region 8AAA runner-up Houston in Saturday's Class AAA Sectional Game in Newbern with a chance to go to the state tournament for the third straight year.

When there are two good teams in a district, those games in which the teams meet up are usually must-see viewings during the regular season. During the postseason, they become can’t-miss affairs especially when the district tournament comes down to the two teams as they can face each other as much as three times during the first tier of the postseason...

After losing four times since the middle of April to Hardin County, it proved that the fifth time was the charm for the Lady Choctaws as Dyer County snapped their losing streak to the Lady Tigers to take the Region 7AAA Championship 5-4 on Thursday evening in Savannah...

A pair of first-half goals proved to be enough for the Trojans on Thursday night in Lexington as Dyersburg withstood an early second-half goal from the Tigers then held off the red’s advance to take a 2-1 win in the Region 7AA Championship Game.

A busy two weeks of college signings continued for the Dyer County coed cheerleading program as a pair of senior girls signed to continue their careers at the college level with the University of Memphis on Tuesday.

After falling to the Brighton doubles team earlier in the postseason in the District 7 Large Finals, Lady Trojans Leah Wagner and Rachel Finley avenged the setback at the best time possible, winning the Region 7 Large Championship Match in three sets to advance to the Large Class State Girls Doubles Tournament next week in Murfreesboro.

After an exciting conclusion to the District 14AA Tournament five days earlier, the Trojan soccer team made sure the drama would be limited in the semifinals of the Region 7AA Tournament on Tuesday night at J.C. Sawyers Stadium as Dyersburg scored twice before and two more times after a lone Chester County goal on the way to a 4-1 win over the Eagles.

When the TSSAA Division I Large State Track Meet gets underway next Thursday at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, both local schools will be represented as one Trojan athlete and one Lady Choctaw field competitor qualified this past weekend at the sectional meet for state competition...

In the postseason, it can be about who gets hot at the right time as Dyersburg played well in the District 13AA Tournament to reach Monday’s Region 7AA Semifinal before running into an even hotter McNairy Central team who defeated the Trojans 14-0 as the Bobcats’ won their ninth in a row.