Sports

After trailing by three points at the end of the first half, the Trojans (1-1) went on a double-digit run early in the third quarter only to have South Side (2-0) answer with one of their own moments later as the Hawks were able to fend off Dyersburg down the stretch for the 60-58 win in the Terry Glover Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon...

The question of when the Choctaws and Trojans would get back to the business of renewing their rivalry on the football field after a 10-year break was answered late this week when it was announced the two teams will meet in Week 2 of the 2021 football season. 

MIKE SMITH msmith@stategazette.com Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, high school basketball teams haven’t had much of an opportunity to prepare themselves for season openers, much less the regular season. However, the Trojan and Lady Trojan squads at DHS showed no ill effects of the lack of preparation on Thursday night when hosting McNairy Central to open the 2020-21 basketball season in a pair of Hall of Fame contests...

The Lady Choctaws and Choctaws got their 2020-21 season off to a positive start on Thursday night as both teams picked up wins in their season and home opener in Newbern over visiting Trinity Christian Academy.

JASON PEEVYHOUSE  jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com  To say this year has been trying would be making an understatement. But, after the initial shutdown and the loss of much of our spring and summer sports, things have come to a new normal as we head through the holidays towards the final month of 2020...

It’s been the beginning of March since many local prep basketball fans have been able to get their fill of hoops action, but that drought ends Thursday as both Dyersburg and Dyer County will be at home to open the 2020-21 high school season.

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com August 1998. That was the last time I was able to see football teams from Dyer County and Dyersburg on the field against each other. And that was the annual jamboree at the start of the season in what would become in later years Week 0...

Thursday, Nov. 19 McNairy Central at Dyersburg (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Trinity Christian at Dyer County (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Saturday, Nov. 21 South Side at Dyersburg (Basketball, 1 p.m.)

School officials at DCHS and DHS have announced the rivalry between the two schools on the football field is set to resume in 2021, if the respective schedules can be worked out.

MIKE SMITH msmith@stategazette.com The last time Dyer County and Dyersburg met on a football field more than a decade ago, it was apparent a break was needed. At the time, perhaps nobody knew it would take 10 years before the two programs would see each other again...

Friday the 13th proved to be unlucky for Dyersburg as offensive struggles by the Trojans along with a strong performance on both sides of the ball by Haywood led to a 42-14 win by the Tomcats in the second round of the TSSAA Class 4A playoffs in Brownsville on Friday night.

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com When a football team takes the field on offense, it is the quarterback who gets the unit rolling as he calls the plays in the huddle (or at the line). On the other side of the ball, the defense can have this same role filled by a player in order to communicate with the sidelines...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com Rounding out my look at the new districts and regions we move over to the pitch - for those who don’t follow soccer, that’s the field - and the volleyball court. And, like basketball, baseball and softball, these will be sports where Dyersburg and Dyer County will be battling other teams as well as each other for the district title. In this case, unlike other sports we already talked about here, this will be District 14AA...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com The Northview girls closed out their week on Thursday night, holding Ripley to two points after the opening quarter on the way to a 30-8 win in Newbern. “I had three starters out tonight,” Northview head coach Robert Hubbs said. “I was really concerned with this game and how we would play. But, I was really glad with my girls and how they stepped up tonight. It’s going to help us a lot for our team.”...

The road to Cookeville takes another turn south this week for the Trojans as Dyersburg (6-2) heads to Brownsville to take on Haywood (7-3) in the second round of the TSSAA Class 4A State Playoffs on Friday night at 7 p.m.

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com Staying with the Christmas present theme we started here this past Saturday, let’s begin with a question. How many of us remember that one present that we got but didn’t even know we wanted? Maybe even one where the first question in our minds became “why did they get me this?”...

The Northview girls and boys opened their week in successful fashion, sweeping visiting Halls on Monday night in Newbern. After taking an early lead against the Tigers, the Choctaws held on to take a 10-point win after Halls rallied late. Northview took the lead early, getting eight first-quarter points from Ryker Hayes to help the Choctaws take a 15-7 lead at the end of the first six minutes...

The Dyersburg Middle School girls remained unbeaten on the 2020-21 season, dominating Huntingdon on the Fillies home court Tuesday night with a 46-15 win. The win moves the Lady Trojans to 7-0 on the season. Despite a balanced scoring first quarter with buckets from Joya Crawford and Haylen Ayers, the Lady Trojans found themselves trailing 7-5 at the end of the opening quarter...

The Lady Choctaws continued their winning ways to start the season on Monday as Three Oaks travelled to Humboldt and returned with a 46-13 win over the Lady Vikings. Led by Kayleign Strayhorn with six points and Kalli McLin with five in the opening quarter, the Lady Choctaws jumped out to an 11-7 lead after the one frame...

Monday, Nov. 9 Halls at Northview (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Three Oaks at Humboldt (Girls Basketball, 6 p.m.) Tuesday, Nov. 10 DMS at Huntingdon (Girls Basketball, 6 p.m.) Humboldt at Northview (Girls Basketball, 6 p.m.) Friday, Nov. 13 Dyersburg at Haywood (TSSAA Class 4A Playoffs Second Round) (Football, 7 p.m.)...

With the Trojans in the postseason for the 10th straight year, a lot of what the Dyersburg football team does begins up front – as head coach Bart Stowe likes to point out.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s Hunters for the Hungry program is encouraging hunters to donate their deer to help feed those in need this Thanksgiving season. Hunters can find a participating processor near them at tnwf.org/processors...

Things may have not been going Dyersburg’s way during the first minute of action, but a lot went the DHS Trojans’ way the rest of the way as the black and gold took a 57-27 win over Millington in the first round of the TSSAA Class 4A Playoffs on Friday night in Shelby County.

MIKE SMITH msmith@stategazette.com BRIGHTON — As the strange and unpredictable 2020 high school football season highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic continued on Friday night for Dyer County, the Choctaws made a quick exit from the state playoffs as Brighton proved to be too much for the local squad, winning 48-28...

The Dyer County cross country team finished up its 2020 season on Thursday as the Choctaws competed in the TSSAA Large Class State Meet at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville. Matthew Parker was the highest Choctaw finisher in the meet, completing the course in a time of 18:27.68 to place 147th in the field. ...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com Now that the new districts and regions are out, it looks like we’ll finally see black and gold battle orange and white as our two local schools are in the same district in virtually every sport. With basketball especially, there are benefits of having both the Choctaws and Trojans in the same district...

Many sports fans have waited on the day when teams from Dyersburg and Dyer County would be able to renew their rivalry in all sports. Play between the two rivals stopped in 2010, leaving the student athletes as well as respective supporters of both schools wondering if and when they would face each other again.

With the 2020 regular season now in the books, the Choctaw football team will take to the road for the postseason as their first stop will be down in Tipton County as Dyer County (7-2) travels to Brighton (5-5) on Friday night for the first round of the Class 5A Playoffs...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com Coming off a pair of big wins to close the season, the Dyersburg football team will hit the road as the No. 3 seed coming out of Region 7-4A as the Trojans (5-2) will travel down to Millington (3-7) on Friday night for the first round of the Class 4A State Playoffs...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com Carrying on from this past Saturday’s column, let’s take a look at what the football regions could look like next season. Again, these are based on the latest numbers from the TSSAA. Dyersburg moves down to Class 3A and finds themselves joined in the move with Region 7-4A rival Ripley...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com The Dyersburg Middle School boys bounced back after their season’s first loss last week, pulling away in the second half of their home opener against Brighton for a 40-28 win on Monday night. “We just stayed physical and played a hard game,” DMS head coach Jamal Ahmad said following the win. “That’s been they key almost every game – staying physical and playing our style of ball.”...

Three Oaks continued its strong start to the week and the season on Tuesday as both the Lady Choctaws and Choctaws picked up wins at Ridgemont on the road. In the opening game, the Lady Choctaws took a 39-36 win over Ridgemont while the boys completed the sweep with a 39-29 victory...

The Northview girls picked up a win at home on Tuesday night, handing visiting Caruthersville a 40-18 loss in Newbern. Northview was able to turn a six-point first-quarter lead into a 15-point halftime lead on the way to a 22-point victory. Alijah Robinson led the way for the Lady Choctaws with 18 points while Tykeria Kennedy added 12. Anitra Honore tossed in 10 in the win...

Monday, Nov. 2 Brighton at DMS (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Black Oak at Northview (Basketball, 6 p.m) Three Oaks at Ripley (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Tuesday, Nov. 3 Caruthersville at Northview (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Three Oaks at Ridgemont (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Thursday, No. 5...

The Dyersburg girls’ soccer team’s season came to a close on Friday night in Murfreesboro as the Lady Trojans fell 2-1 to Livingston Academy at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex in the quarterfinals of the TSSAA Class AA State Tournament. “These girls fought and they were there all the way from the first minute to the 80th minute,” Dyersburg head coach Musa Manneh said. ...

With a quartet of scores in the second half to go along with three in the opening half, the Trojans (5-2, 2-1) secured third place coming out of Region 7-4A with a 47-14 win over Crockett County (4-4, 2-1) in Alamo on Friday night in the teams’ regular season finale...

MIKE SMITH msmith@stategazette.com Facing Kenwood on the road to end the regular season, as well as region slate, Dyer County looked to continue to build momentum leading to the TSSAA state playoffs which begin next week. The Choctaws simply found little resistance against the Knights, winning the contest with relative ease, 56-20...

Earlier this week, the TSSAA released how tickets for next week’s playoff games as well as those that follow will be sold throughout the course of the playoffs. For the 2020 TSSAA State Playoffs, all tickets will be allocated through the GoFan digital ticketing platform. Physical tickets will not be used for the 2020 TSSAA State Playoffs...

When the newest set of numbers were released by the TSSAA regarding the upcoming classification changes, I can’t say that I was too shocked. Very few teams opted to play up in classification - I found only 10 instances in the sports Dyer County and Dyersburg play where someone moved up...

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com The Three Oaks record for most points scored in a girls game had stood for much of the school’s history after being set by Shaunda Strayhorn at 32 points before being broken recently by Netala Dixon last season with 34...

Coming off a strong bounce-back win over visiting Liberty last Friday night at J.C. Sawyers Stadium in the team’s home finale, Dyersburg (4-2, 1-1) will look to end its regular season on a strong note as they travel to Crockett County (4-3, 2-0) looking to secure third place in Region 7-4A.

With the playoffs looming on the first Friday in November next week, the Dyer County Choctaws (6-2, 3-1) have locked up the No. 3 seed coming out of Region 7-5A and will conclude their 2020 regular season on the road at Kenwood on Friday night at 7 p.m.

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com This roller coaster ride of a regular season in high school football will see itself come to a close this weekend as the Trojans and Choctaws will hit the road to play their final regular season and region contests of 2020...

Throughout the Lady Trojans run to Murfreesboro, the Dyersburg girls’ soccer team has been getting an early start.

For the second year in a row, the Dyer County boys cross country team extended its season past the Region 7 Large Meet at Crockett County High School in Alamo on Tuesday, placing third overall as a team to advance to the Large Class State Meet next week in Hendersonville.

The football season that once seemed like it would never begin reaches a dramatic conclusion this Friday as 311 teams are set to take part in the final series games of the 2020 regular season. Week 12 features 136 region games and decisive contests in 24 regions where region championships are on the line.

Monday, Oct. 26 Westview at Dyersburg (Freshman Football, 6 p.m.) Three Oaks at West Tennessee Athletic Conference Jamboree at Lake County (Basketball, 6 p.m.) Tuesday, Oct. 27 Dyersburg, Dyer County at Region 7 Large Meet at Crockett County (Cross Country, 4 p.m.)...

Due to the projected rainfall from Tropical Storm Zeta expected to hit the Murfreesboro area on Wednesday and Thursday and the resulting likelihood of unplayable conditions at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex, the decision has been made to postpone the 2020 Girls’ Soccer State Championships by two days. The tournament will now be held Friday, October 30th through Monday, November 2nd at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex.

For the first time in a decade, the Dyersburg girls soccer team will compete at the highest level of the postseason as the Lady Trojans headed to the TSSAA Class AA State Tournament. With a quartet of first-half goals, the black and gold girls punched their ticket to Murfreesboro on Saturday night with a 4-0 win over visiting Millington in the Class AA Sectional match at J.C. Sawyers Stadium...

Dyersburg (4-2, 1-1) bounced back from its region loss to Ripley last week, defeating Liberty in the team’s final regular season home game while celebrating Homecoming 2020 with a 43-6 win over the Crusaders (0-8, 0-4) on Friday night at J.C. Sawyers Stadium.